Tips for Making a Sink from a Cheap Stainless Steel Bowl

First thing in the morning what do you do? Wash your face and brush your teeth. That first cup of coffee will taste horrible if your suffering from a bad case of morning mouth.

Having even a small source of water and a place to wash up a little will make your van life manageable. You don't need to take a whole bath, but a quick freshening up can get you by for a number of days.

Taking a walk through the plumbing supplies at the local home center will quickly confirm for you that they have no idea what small and inexpensive means. Your likely to see a bar sink as your only option and that alone will cost you $50 or more not including faucets or drain fixtures.

Creating a workable waste water system on the cheap will take a little out of the box thinking. First, make a trip over to the kitchen supply section of Walmart and start looking for a suitable stainless steel bowl.

I chose a 3qt. Bowl that cost less than $4. They also had an 8qt. Bowl for a few dollars more but I felt it was over sized for my needs. I was looking for something that would make a qt of water useful enough to meet my needs. Both of these bowls have a 3/8" lip around the top providing a flange to seat the bowl into the counter.

Next I visited a home center nearby and found a cheap drain fixture with a rubber stopper for about $5. For about $10 I have what's needed to create a smallish wash basin that will do what's necessary to maintain a livable level of cleanliness.

To mount the drain fixture in the bowl required scribing a circle the appropriate size to allow the fitting to seat well with enough of a flange to seal against the bottom of the bowl. A start hole should be carefully drilled inside the circle and by using a jig saw with a metal blade you can cut out the circle. Clean up any burrs with sandpaper and after putting some plumbers putty around the flange of the drain fitting press it into the bowl. Install the rubber gasket and large nut on the back side of the bowl and your sink is ready to install.

Preparing the counter will require you to cut out a circular hole large enough for the bowl to seat but small enough that the rim will extend over the counter providing a surface that can be sealed. Normally you would use plumbers putty under the lip of the bowl but since there will be no other means of securing the bowl/sink I recommend you use silicone caulk instead. Silicone caulk that has set up will act like a glue and hold the bowl/sink in place.

You have two choices for where you want your sink to drain. The easiest and most convenient is to run a rubber hose down through a hole in the van's floor and let it drain on the ground. In 90% of your possible locations this will be acceptable if no one is watching. After all the worst that will be in it is a little soap and water.

A completely acceptable way to deal with gray water is to have it drain into a container of some sorts. I happened to have a 5 gallon plastic water carrying container that I didn't mind designating as waste water and ran a hose from the sink into it. Now I can wash up anywhere and wait until I find a suitable place to dispose of the soapy water.

For a water supply I chose an insulated 2 gallon water jug with a spigot mounted on it. It can ride stowed safely and when I want water available it can sit on my counter next to the sink. Additional 1 gal jugs of water can be carried under the counter in my storage space. If I need hot water I have a small two burner propane stove that can be used on my counter as well. Now I'm all set for travel with my small water system that has no moving parts to fail and requires no electricity to work. In many cases simple is just plain better.