Do you use a collapsible kitchen sink ?
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I use one but a different brand. It needs to be set on level ground.

Hey Zski
This is the one I use and I have had it for a good long time. Wouldn't be without it.

I have a small mesh bag into which goes the soap/scrubee. I use the cord on the mesh bag and "hook and loop" it around one of the handles of my sink. That way everything stays together.

This is a great size for 1 or 2 people. It is also the right amount of water to rinse soap off (away from the shore) from your person. Fill it up, set in the woods, go for a swim, soap up and grab your handy dandy granite gear sink. The loop at the bottom is a great aid for rinse off as well as drying upside down.

I keep mine on the outside of my duffel secured by a biner and straps against loss. It will stay wet for a time, even upside down so keep that in mind. And yes, a reasonably flat surface is good.......Not to big, not to small, just right :thumbup

My kitchen sink is called the "Po-Boy Sink"
I had an old 5 gallon collapsible water jug that had a tear around the spigot end.

I cut the spigot end off leaving the handle on.
Poked 2 more holes and used 2 of those plastic grommets and some 1/4 rope to make another handle.

Fold flat, doesn't stay wet, and slips into pack on edge.
Soap/squeegee go in a small mesh bag in food pack side pouch.

Seattle Sports Camp Sink...on clearance at REI presently...hold 25 liters, stands on it's own, bomber handles, very tough.  I wash out of a pot of warm/hot water and rinse into the bucket.  That way I can do dishes near camp and dump the dirty/soapy water well back in the woods.  Also serves as a bath bucket, clothes washer, fire bucket, resevoir to filter water from and adhoc live well...thought I usually catch fish too big to fit in it!!  ::)

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pd

I've use the   (You need to Login or Register sinks for several years now (so long in fact that this year I'll be using new ones to the place ones that are beginning to show their age).  I like the "hold open" design ... stays open by water pressure when filled.

I actually use 2 ... one for washing and another for rinsing (marked so they are always used for the same purpose).  The rinse model is also used for bathing and for collecting water.

dd

Portage Dog and I think alike as I use the same sink in exactly the same ways. I consider it essential gear for a group of 4 or more. I have a smaller version for solo or 2.

I use 2 different ones a Seattle Sport Bowl and a Bucket.

Bowl works for bathing and washing dishes.

The Bucket I use for collecting water. Besides dosing fires, I filter from it and leave the pump out and resting in it with the pickup end suspended off the bottom. I let the water settle in the bucket before filtering. Then someone can sit down and fill bottles when needed. Last BWJ I couldn't believe how many people were using the gravity bag filters. But I did see where some mentioned they were careful about filling them. I had newbees plug mine with pollen and dirt too easy.

We use an old rubbermaid sink. Lots of our gear fits inside, so it doesn't add to packing bulk. Cheap and works great. ;)

Thanks guys. Although ones that aren't as floppy look like a better idea, I ended up getting the granite gear ones (12.00 /ea) from sierra trading post. Lumped them in with a few other items including Stowaway Seat Packs & a traditional #4.

good choice Zski

Mine has held up very well and I am partial to it. Not so great for larger parties but perfect for solo or 2 guys.

Bear in mind larger containers also mean lots more weight when you are lifting it from the shore. This is actually a good time for an injury. Been paddling all day, don't want to get your feet wet after setting up and leaning over the water all while lifting a fairly heavy weight out from your body. Water is not light and I tend too be a little careful when lifting it. But the Granite gear size is not so bad.......

Try one of those small mesh bags to put your soap and scrubber in, very handy to have it all together.

It's always interesting to read about what other's use/do when camping.

I've never brought along any kind of "sink."  We wash the dishes in the old pot that cooks the food; then hand rinse the plates, etc, and let them dry on a rock or log. 

Not saying this method is better or worse.  It's just the way I learned back in the day. 

puckster

I always dry my dishes right away and put them up, never let them air dry.  I use a synthetic car drying towel (Absorber, Shamwow, pick a name...) cut in half.  Cheap and you don't need (or want) them to by 'dry'.  I keep it in a quart ziploc bag in my wash kit to keep it clean and from drying out.  Much cheaper than a 'camp towel'. 

I use the other half to dry me or sometimes dry the dew/rain off the tarp or tents so they pack a bit dryer than just shaking them off.

pd

Our method of drying dishes is to give them a good shake or two and put them in a nylon mesh bag which is hung on a nearby tree. ;)

Puckster wrote on Apr 16^th, 2014 at 8:57pm:

I've never brought along any kind of "sink."  We wash the dishes in the old pot that cooks the food; then hand rinse the plates, etc, and let them dry on a rock or log.

this is what we've been doing all along too. till now. we'll see how it goes

zski wrote on Apr 17^th, 2014 at 4:01am:

Puckster wrote on Apr 16th, 2014 at 8:57pm: I've never brought along any kind of "sink."  We wash the dishes in the old pot that cooks the food; then hand rinse the plates, etc, and let them dry on a rock or log. this is what we've been doing all along too. till now. we'll see how it goes

I think you've managed to avoid some serious intestinal issues using one pot to cook/wash dishes in.
Depending on who's doing the pot cleaning, you could have left over food particles or soap residue which could cause some serious problems, especially on a camp trip.

When I was in the army, I saw first hand what can happen when your field sanitation/cooking gets a little slack.

Might be the way the old timers did it, but unless you trust yourself/tripping partners, I don't think the risk is worth it.

For years this is all I would bring in, :o weight wasn't to bad either, fits nicely in the fattest part of the canoe and the sweetest part was it double as an anchor in a pinch. ;)

Enjoy,
Redowl

---

As noted by Old Salt, no need to buy a collapsible sink.  I use a small Sterilite storage box with no lid for a kitchen sink.  Something in the 10-15 qt range is perfect.  It's long enough and wide enough to allow at least partial immersion for all but my biggest cooking pot in my jumbo cook kit.

When packing up camp, I put my stoves and other potentially breakable items in this box along with small odds and ends which then goes into my gear pack.  The box protects these items and since it is full it takes up no extra room in the pack.  Also helps provide a bit of shape/structure inside the pack and keeps things organized and easy to find when unpacking.

I don't worry too much about bits of food in my dishwater.  It's kind of inevitable and if you start with hot enough water, use soap, and rinse well there's really no danger unless your dish washer does a poor job...which is going to be a problem no matter what.

Snow_Dog wrote on Apr 17^th, 2014 at 2:15pm:

As noted by Old Salt, no need to buy a collapsible sink.  I use a small Sterilite storage box with no lid for a kitchen sink.

This sounded good to me........ for about 10 seconds.......what do you use to rinse water when you soap up the bod?

I will often have a daily swim but eventually a guy or gal needs a wee bit of soap. Somehow I can't picture lugging a plastic container back in the woods and lifting it over my head.

I'm with Puckster.  I have a couple of collapsible sinks but have never used them.  The only time soap is needed is when the food has enough fat in it to make the pot or plate feel greasy.  The first key is hot water, which melts the fat, and a drop or two of soap helps.  The second key is to rinse with filtered water.

You can also clean pots and plates with ... dirt.  That's right, dirt.  It's both abrasive and absorbent.  This method works even better using oak leaves and sand.  I "washed" dishes this way for years when I was using a cast iron frying pan to cook spam, eggs and pancakes.  If using dirt, it helps to rinse.  If using sand, there's no need to rinse, just wipe.

Uncivilized, you say?  My dad told me stories of poor kitchen sanitation when he was in the army, and he taught me the dirt/sand/leaves method.  Worked for him in the South Pacific, worked for me in Boy Scouts and car camping.

mastertangler wrote on Apr 17^th, 2014 at 5:27pm:

Somehow I can't picture lugging a plastic container back in the woods and lifting it over my head.

Why not?  No different really than a collapsible sink.  Or you could just do what PJ does and use a sunshower.  :D

I wipe off the crud with a paper towel before it dries too much. (Pancake batter gets rinsed off as the last pancake cooks.) I use a pot of hot water to pour over a few drops of detergent on a scrubby sponge. Go from cleanest to dirtiest, reloading the sponge whenever the suds run out. Rinse off the suds in the fire making sure to rinse out the sponge real well too.

The sponge is all I try to dry when possible and I bring some bleach in case it goes sour. Dishes are stored wherever whey won't blow away with a rock on top. Lexanware is stored in a mesh bag tied to a tree near the fire.

At home, I wash whatever doesn't fit in the dishwasher the same way.

A group of six or more is probably the point I'd consider a sink or a sunshower.

My teflon fry pan is not dirt/sand friendly, Gavia.  I'll stick with a sponge and some soap and I wash the same way db does - cleanest first.  I highly encourage campers to lick their plates clean first too!  I prefer not to leave dishes out as they could pick up stuff from say, that Canada Jay perched on the branch above them, eyeing your crumbs.  :o  Since pots heat up, killing the germs, the real risk is on the eating gear.  All you other old Army guys must recall having to hot dip your mess kit BEFORE eating.  I also don't like having loose stuff around camp...a bit OCD on that. 

p(OC)d

Snow_Dog wrote on Apr 17^th, 2014 at 6:39pm:

Or you could just do what PJ does and use a sunshower.  :D

Like the Seinfeld episode where Kramer makes his meals in the shower, I bring the dishes back with me. Don't hate me because I'm clean and efficient.

portage dog, I don't use anything on my teflon pans either.  I mean anything, since nothing sticks.  Just a quick wipe to get any remaining bannock crumbs off and they're clean.

zski -- what prompted you to change to a sink?

puckster

Puckster wrote on Apr 18^th, 2014 at 2:08am:

zski -- what prompted you to change to a sink?

that's an excellent question puckster, one i've asked myself while reading through the various responses in this thread. A sink has been a fleeting thought from time to time but really never gave it enough consideration to actually purchase one. Then while checking out some granite gear under seat stowaway bags on sierra trading post, curious, i clicked the 'other stuff by gg' link. Well they had sinks for 12 bucks and traditional #4 packs for 74 (with email discount). Which got me thinking i've got a couple older packs and might be nice to retire one as a backup. And then these sinks, that's a pretty good price too, and there must be something to these things if so many people are using them. Do a lot of people use them? Must be otherwise they wouldn't be making them. And then looking at a BWJ back issue and there's an article on 'top ten gadgets'. One of the top ten is a seattle sports sink and one of the big glossy full page pictures highlights none other than, yep. a sink. that very night i had a dream with a sink in it too! (not really). So anyway, I'm starting to think 'am i missing something here?' I've never really missed a sink and have always used a big pot to do the job. sometimes sand and soil a was mentioned. It's kind of trivial, and i hesitated to even ask here but what the heck. A dull uninteresting topic, but everyone has dirty cookware and everyone has their own method and tools to deal with them. I liked reading all the responses. Good stuff. At this very moment a couple gg portable sinks are en route via ups. I might like em or not but will give them a try. Worst case they can be used to carry boxes of drywall or deck screws, right? Woah getting late gotta get off to work. New thought for a bumper sticker. I'd rather be washing dishes in the wilderness...   

OK......

How do the non-sink folk wash the soap off their person after washing up? I don't want to jump to any erroneous conclusions but my temp is starting to rise.

I always go well into the woods, away from the water and pick a small depression or basin to rinse off. 

Zski -- you sound like me, some might call us gear heads, always curious to try something new.  Let us know what you think after a few trips with the sinks.

MT -- gotta hand it to you, you're probably the only one on this site that can turn an interesting, if mundane, discussion about washing dishes into a debate, and judge people about their camping ethics.  Geez... 

puckster

Well Mike I had my disclaimer......(I don't want to jump to erroneous conclusions).......But I am wondering how people rinse off if they don't have a method of carrying water back into the woods?

Are folk lathering up in the lake? I can't imagine that nor do I want to insinuate as much and yet? But that makes me the bad guy if I inquire right? Don't want to make folks feel uncomfortable now do we? All is fun and games.....How do you rinse off Mike? Or is it Prouboy? Or is it Puckster? A simple question deserves simple answers. A sink is the obvious water carrying solution and I am wondering about the alternative, but I can't ask right? Can't make judgements on peoples behavior now can we?

No judgments, just asking. Curious is all. I'll save the judging till later. 

must . . . resist . . . urge . . . to . . . reply . . . :-X

ok it is now 12:44. have resisted long enough - to hell with GOOD Friday

mastertangler wrote on Apr 18^th, 2014 at 1:30pm:

OK...... How do the non-sink folk wash the soap off their person after washing up? I don't want to jump to any erroneous conclusions but my temp is starting to rise.

I don't know much, but I do know THAT statement IS judgmental, right or wrong.

Is being judgmental a bad thing (even when it comes from what is VERY LIKELY the earth stewardship ethical high ground)?

I don't know.  Hey, at least we know where the guy stands.  It's the indignant flavor of the statement that sort of jumps out at me ("but my temp is starting to rise").

My experience is: 1) most folks don't wish to be publicly judged (they'd prefer to be quietly "educated"), and 2) he/she who "judges", in turn, invites the world to judge him/her (to cast the 2nd stone, so to speak).

Being a judge and hanging a target on my own back seems like a lonely position to take.  I'm not saying it's wrong.  I'm just saying it seems lonely.

MT, I think the point you made was a valuable one.  On the other hand, I think the way you made it is not likely to win friends & influence people in the manner you intended.  To each his own.  Wear what colors you will.

I'll give you this, though.  You're not afraid to stand up, be counted... & possibly stoned.

Jimbo   8-)

P.S. An example of exercising the "judgmental" prerogative of a Moderator (albeit not of this forum) in the interest of promoting healthy & courteous discussion, not fist fights, about our dish water.

".....How do you rinse off Mike? Or is it Prouboy? Or is it Puckster? A simple question deserves simple answers. A sink is the obvious water carrying solution"

duh - I would have thought that the obvious rinsing solution would be a solar shower, not a bucket

on a two week trip, I'll bring one - a solar shower that is, not a sink.

don't cook - don't have to wash dishes - don't need sink - just rinse well with a couple of rounds of boiling water (er, the utensils, not me)

jimmar wrote on Apr 18^th, 2014 at 4:45pm:

ok it is now 12:44. have resisted long enough - to hell with GOOD Friday

Sorry jimmar.  MT is an easy target but I can't seem to get this log out of my own eye to notice the speck in his.

Now then, at the request of a friend, let's keep it to washing your dirty crockery and kitchen sinks here.  If you want to start a thread on your personal hygiene there is a way to do that.   

Thank you Jimbo, you have read me like a book. I suppose I should excercise my "tactful" self a bit more often but winning friends and influencing people was never a high priority with me. I had a friend once and I thought it was overrated......you had to spend time with them, call them, make them dinner, etc,etc

Solar shower Mad Mat, thank you. Pretty simple response and solution. That is why I inquired, alternatives did not readily come to my mind. I'm still dubious however and not as optimistic as I should be concerning this subject.

I would take a very hard line if anyone thought it was OK to rinse off in the lake and I'm not afraid to be disliked for pointing it out. I did it once almost 30 years ago and I have never forgotten the vague sense of guilt that I felt. So I am a transgressor.

Ok.....enough of that. Back to the land of sinkdom..........which can BTW doubles nicely for carrying water back.....never mind  :-X

Wow! I didn't realize all of the moral & ethical boundaries that could be violated by using the wrong sink. Thanks to Jimbo & PJ for restoring sanity.

I also carry a kitchen sink (Sea to Summit) - same one for the last 7n or 8 years.  I find it very useful for carrying water and doing dishes. It weighs nothing and takes very little space. Mostly, though, I just like to be able to tell people that I bring everything including the kitchen sink.

Here is a product that may interest: Druide Ecotrail Multi Purpose Soap.  They claim it is biodegradable, phosphate free, made from 100% ingredients of natural origin and that it biodegrades immediately in water (it doesn't need microorganisms found in soil to biodegrade.)  It is highly concentrated so you only need to use a drop or two for body or dishes.  Because it is so concentrated you don't have to carry much even on a long trip.  Now whether or not it is all that it claims, I can't say.  But according to the folks at Mountain Equipment Co-op it's bone fide.
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mastertangler wrote:
How do the non-sink folk wash the soap off their person after washing up?

I don't know about others, but I either use a cooking pot filled with filtered water or bring the whole gallon (clean water reservoir) along with me.

I've read the comments about MT's "temperature" post, and I'd like to share a different view.  The way I read it was that he was getting a little upset about something (dunno what it was) and was practicing mindful self-discipline.  I thought that was admirable.  It would have been nice to have more information, but it didn't matter because of the self-containment.

Dave

Here's how I do it:

1. Cook, eat, rest.
2. Heat filtered water in big pot.
3. Add a few drops of dish soap to warm water in pot.
4. Gather dirty dishes. 
5. If the dog is with us, he gets to clean off the crumbs from the plates.
   If we're without a dog, crumbs get scraped into small pile on a plate and
   burned, or buried in woods with dirty dishwater.
6. Walk off into the woods with warm soapy water in pot, dirty dishes, and
    nalgene of clean filtered water.
7. Clean dishes in soupy water using a scraper/sponge. 
8. Pour dirty water in small hole in ground. 
9. Rinse dishes, pot, and sponge with clean water from nalgene.
10. Carry back to camp and put clean dishes out to dry on rocks or logs. 
11. Shuffle cards for cribbage.

Pretty simple.  No dish pan.  It's just how I do it, but I'm sure there are as good, or better ways. 

Some might be disgusted by the role my dog plays in this operation.  Guilty as charged. 

puckster

We have 2 of the older square/cube shaped Seattle Sports collapsible sinks (one for washing, one for rinsing).  I'll heat water if I'm motivated but I don't budget my fuel for heating dish water so it's unfiltered lake water for the most part.  Sometimes, again, if I'm motivated I'll fill the sunshower but tripping in May and June doesn't always guarantee hot water.  Washing dishes is not rocket science (is it?).  Un-eaten food, if there is any, is burned.  I once buried un-eaten food but it was dug-up that night by something?  I don't bring a tape measure re: my distance from the lake but I feel like we're far enough away most of the time.  I don't recall ever digging a hole for my dishwater.  I can usually find an uprooted dead fall to dump it in or it's cast over a wide area on the forest floor.  Sorry if that offends any of you.  Also, I sometimes rinse my coffee cup in the lake since I'm typically fishing when I drain the mug.  To be honest, I'm not real concerned about my "efficiency" in anything when camping but the sinks are a nice tool that we have gotten a lot of use of.  Seriously, why over think it.

Tim, I think you will like using a sink for no other reason than it gives you a tool to do something that needs to be done anyway.   ;)  I've never got sick from my utensils but then again, Yukon Jack is 100 proof.

Along with my "PO-BOY" kitchen sink, I have a 3 gallon solar shower.
A few hours laying on a warm rock with even overcast skies, brings in warm enough for a shower on my lay-over/camp days.

Travel days, I can fill it enough to use to wash soapy dishes back in woods.
Like PJ, I find a hole to dump soapy water in.

I like unscented Dawn dish soap. It's concentrated so a little goes a long ways.
I figure if it's good enough for cleaning wild life covered in oil and disposals easily, it's good enough for back country use.

Gosh! Page 5 and not a bucket user in the bunch. When solo a small pan of hot water is used when dishes need to be washed. On group trips one bucket for washing and another with cold lake water with a little bleach added for the rinse and then air dry. I prefer Dawn detergent and really hot water. I needed a new scrubber and ended up with one that had a handle. It seemed like extra bulk until I found out how pleasant it was to use with scalding hot water. A pail of warm water and a bowl for pouring the warm rinse over my head to wash the suds away on a chilly day is a nice extra. No need to lift the whole bucket over my head. I was gifted a 6.5 gallon bucket at the Quiet Journey dinner and am getting my kitchen packed in it for the next trip.