How often do you use it?

We honestly haven't used our fridge....we prefer coolers. We are most often camped in bear country, so the thought of putting actual food in the fridge bothers me a bit. Plus it's just another PITA to deal with cooling it 24 hours before....crawling along the floor to load it up, etc. For us a cooler is where it's at. I would personally love to replace my fridge with an ice box, I think I would get more use out of that....at least I could put my beer in there.

The sink in the p'up has come in a lot handier than I had originally anticipated. We use it primary for washing up....hands, face, whatever.....and it comes in handy with our 18 month old DS as well. We also use the sink for filling the dogs water bowls, as well as filling our large stock pot for washing dishes (outside, we don't use the sink for the actual washing). We also use that water for filling the percolator for our morning coffee. We still don't drink out of it straight (only the coffee water)....we're pretty picky about our water and I don't like the way the local tap water tastes around here, so we usually bring bottled water for drinking.

 

Just a cooler for us. We use the sink on occasions (only when there are no facilities at the camp site.)and have a board on top when not in use.

 

My previous little Starcraft had one of those ice coolers that I thought in comparison to the Coleman Xtreme cooler it was third rate. So I tore it out and made that space into a storage cabinet which worked out much, much better.

As for the itty-bitty sink ... I like it (it will grow on you!) - use it often when we are forced inside, but have to admit that most dish washing is done outdoors on the C/G picnic table.

Should note that when using the little indoor sink, also use one of those plastic dish pans for rinsing the dishes.

 

Oh yeah....forgot to mention that for the water, we've always used the on-board fresh water tank. We've never camped anywhere with hookups, so conservation of that water is usually a biggie for us and another reason we bring extra portable drinking water.

 

We use the sink when we have hookups. Mostly for washing hands, some food prep and washing smaller things. As for the fridge, we use it a lot. We either run it on 120V or propane. In bear country we will only keep bottled water or soda in it. When not in bear country we will store food in it.

We will turn the fridge on as soon as we setup and a few hours latter it's pretty cold. Until then we use our cooler.

 

As long time ground campers, with our second small pup (the first has a 6' box, the new Cobalt is 8') we continue to use a cooler. The icebox in the Palomino wasn't useable except in camp and wasn't as good as the cooler(s) we had, so the storage space was much more valuable. When I went shopping for a new pup, I really was looking for one without a 'fridge.
Having the food in the TV is a no-brainer for us, as we have a good system, and it is nice to be able to have food for lunch or snacks on the road or when out of camp for the day. That's not even getting into the food/cooking in the pup debate.

We have used the stove in the pup much more than we thought we would, but the sink was a useless waste of space for us. [Removing the sink not only created counter space, it freed up shelf space underneath, due to the sink itself and the hoses connected to it.] Even when we wash dishes in the pup, using our gray water bucket and dishpan systems works much better for us. When we brought the new Cobalt home, we found the pink (sanitizing) liquid the dealer used to prep the drain system had leaked onto the floor; the owner's manual state this "may happen". That just reinforced our decision to remove the sink as one of our first mods.

There are some other threads on these subjects, and you will find those who use their sink/'fridge/stove all the time, and those at the other end of the spectrum, as well. DH & I are sort of in the "some of each" category - we would not give up the inside stove, but have no interest in either sink or 'fridge/cooler in the pup.

 

Similar situation as you here--- Our 1984 Jayco had a fake fridge "icebox". I took it out and replaced it with a good cooler that fit nicely into the space. It's adequate for at least a few days of camping and it's rather convenient to be able to pull it out and sit it outside. I may eventually get a fridge but I'm going to wait a bit to see how it goes.

We like the sink for washing hands, brushing teeth, and getting a glass of water at night. But you're right, it's a bit small for washing dishes and anyway I'm trying to keep the Pup clean of food residue.

 

We use the fridge all the time for beverages only. Running on propane keeps the fridge icy cold. the beers are the perfect temp and the ice in coolers stays longer as we are not in and out of the cooler as often.

Sink I could do without.

 

Ice box = ice melter, now storage.

Sink is almost useless but is there if needed, rarely.

I'm not about to go in and out the PU to get a beer/food when the cooler is part of the outside kitchen. I use a smaller cooler for day trips/picnics or to take beer into the PU during bad weather.

What I found in bear country campgrounds, they provide a utility sink to wash dishes.

You'll quickly adjust to your camping style.

 

We use the fridge all the time, mostly for beverages and meats. We also love the indoor sink. It didn't get used much until I added an electric water pump. The hand pump was pretty much useless.

 

We haven't used our sink once , oh wait , we occasionally store C.D.'s there .

 

We now have a Niagara that has double sinks and a large (for a pup) fridge & freezer. We use both all the time, the double sinks are big enough to do dishes in and the fridge can be loaded up with the top down before we leave the house. We still use a cooler though for drinks only that we leave outside the popup. We don't camp in bear country and we normally camp at water & electric sites along with occasionally camping at sites with no hook ups.

Before the Niagara we had a Coleman Sun Valley and after that we had a Jayco 1006. We still used the fridge in both, and we sometimes used the sinks but not as much as in the Niagara as they were much smaller, but they did get used.

 

That's about what we've done with the Cobalt's sink so far - since it takes up valuable (to us) counter space, we ended up using it for misc. stuff that would usually be on the counter.

 

I love the fridge and the sink. I am spoiled now and can't imagine ever owning a camper without either.

We still have a cooler where most of the drinks stay. We keep some drinks in the fridge, but it is mostly for food. All of the food stays in the fridge where I don't have to worry about it.

We love having the sink too. For washing dishes, I use it to fill a dish pan, then love being able to just pour it down the drain without carrying a bin of water outside. We also use our sink constantly for hand washing. We have a potty in the pup, so sink is a must.

 

It took me 30 minutes to cut a bigger opening for the new,larger sink, and 60 minutes to make new counter top for it when not in use, we use sink all the time.

 

Your ice box is just that an ice box. Put a block of ice in it and it will keep cold for a couple days. I have had plenty of older campers with them and they work OK .

I'd much rather have a fridge

I use my fridge every chance I get , many people don't .

 

I use the sink for washing hands and face. Mine operates via the on-board fresh water tank and battery-powered water pump because I don't camp in places with hook-ups. I use the fridge (run on propane) for can and bottle goods, mostly drinks. All the real food is kept in the cooler in the TV because I'm usually in bear country and because when I'm out all day I have the food with me to make a picnic lunch.

 

We use our fridge every trip out but we do bring along a cooler just for chilling drinks.

Meh, it's not too useful without a water heater but we use the sink all the time anyway. It's nice being able to brush your teeth and wash up without walking across the CG and it's certainly handy to have if you're cleaning the camper.

I like to think that if I found a suitable double sink for super cheap, I'd entertain the idea of installing one. That'd make it much more useful, especially for washing dishes.

 

I also made a fitted top that goes over my sink and use that for extra counter space when I need it.