There’s more than one way to camp; you don’t need to give up everything to return to nature. A camping sink is one aspect of home life many campers don’t realize they can bring. Running water completely changes the camping experience, and bringing a portable camping sink isn’t all that difficult.
With a camping sink, you can easily wash dishes, clean your hands, or clean up wild game or fish you’ve procured during your trip. Access to running water will make the camping experience more hygienic, sanitary, and fun.
Outsunny Portable Folding Camping Sink Table
It’s feature-heavy, durable, relatively packable, and a great value for your money. The table is made from high-density polyethylene plastic, which is nearly indestructible.
Best Overall Camping Sink – Outsunny Portable Sink Table
For our top pick, we’re going with a sink that’s a jack of all trades, the Outsunny Portable Sink Table. It’s feature-heavy, durable, relatively packable, and a great value for your money. The table has two washbasins with wastewater pipes and drain plugs. They can be covered when not used to provide more counter space. A faucet can be connected to your campground’s water hookup to provide running water.
The table is made from high-density polyethylene plastic, which is nearly indestructible, and the legs can support up to 132 lbs. Its tabletop measures 40 by 26 inches and can double as a cutting board. Folded down, it easily fits in a truck bed or the cargo area in an SUV. Best of all, you can pick up this camping sink for a little over $100.
Best Budget Outdoor Sink – QiMH Collapsible Camping Sink
The QiMH Collapsible Cutting Board and Camping Sink is the perfect way to dip your toes into a more hygienic camping experience. In this one tiny package, you get a cutting board, a washbasin with a drain plug, and a nifty storage basket, all for the price of an after-hike meal. It doesn’t have running water or counter space, but it’s a great start. After all, even the most basic camp sinks are better than no sink.
Best Sink for Fishing Cleaning – Flash Furniture Fish Cleaning Table
Filleting a fish is dirty, but having a quality camp sink can speed up the process and make it much more hygienic. The most important feature of a fish cleaning table is drainage; you need the water, guts, and scales to flow away from the filet you’re working on. The Flash Furniture Fish Cleaning Tables excels at this while minimizing the number of nooks and crannies for debris to get caught in. This camp sink has no washbasin covers to remove or folding joints in the tabletop – just a large flat countertop with a sink on one end. The sink’s faucet attaches to campground hookups for good water pressure and cleaning power.
Best Sink for Going Off-the-Grid – SereneLife Portable Camping Sink
Most of the higher-end camp sinks require a hose connection to be fully functional, a luxury you don’t have when you’re boondock camping. This is where the SereneLife Portable Camping Sink excels, with its 30-liter reservoir and foot pump providing pressurized water. It’s also more than just a sink, having a small shelf for holding dishes or freshly caught fish and a built-in soap dispenser. The SereneLife is essentially self-sufficient; you’ll need to provide your wastewater container, which can easily be accomplished with a collapsible bucket. It’s not as packable as some of the other camp sinks, but it’s a worthwhile tradeoff for being able to go hookup-free.
Camping Sink Table
This will be the most familiar design for those looking to get a camping sink setup. The table design usually features one or two basins with a faucet connecting to a campground’s water supply. They typically don’t have storage for greywater, so you’ll need some containers to collect and properly dispose of it. This design best suits campers who want to cook seriously or need to clean a fish. Mostly, it will feel like you’re using a normal household sink.
1. Outsunny Portable Folding Camping Sink Table
The Outsunny is everything a camping sink needs to be and nothing else. If your campsite has water hookups, attach a garden hose to the detachable faucet for continuous running water. The sink has two basins, each with drainage tubes placed over a bucket to collect your greywater. There’s also a slot on the side to hang a garbage bag, allowing you to sweep away food scraps easily.
The tabletop measures 40 x 26 inches, giving you plenty of room for meal prep or cleaning a fish. There’s also a ruler printed on the tabletop for measuring a fish. The table stands at a comfortable 31.9 inches, which will be a lifesaver on your back when you’re washing dishes. When the sink is unused, the basins have hard plastic covers to provide more counter space.
Unlike most folding tables, the Outsunny can hold some serious weight – 132 lbs, to be precise. Its thick steel legs and nearly unbreakable high-density polyethylene tabletop make this one of the most durable camping sinks on the market. It’s not all that heavy either, weighing just 22.5 lbs.
Simplicity is the game’s name with this portable sink; it’s your average folding table with a sink basin and faucet attached. It’s incredibly durable, has just enough features, and comes at an attractive price.
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2. Coldcreek Outfitters Outdoor Washing Table and Sink
Similar in design to the Outsunny, Coldcreek has many great features, like two basins and a removable faucet. It also has plastic covers to cover the basins, providing more counter space. This is especially useful for gourmet camp chefs that need to chop lots of vegetables, but it’s also handy for basic storage space when the camp kitchen is not in use.
The frame on the Coldcreek is especially stable, with sturdy crossbars connecting the legs to the tabletop. This one has one of the highest weight capacities of any table-style camp sink. That being said, it’s a fairly heavy table, coming in at 33 lbs. The large tabletop makes it one of the less portable models, 41” x26”. This is hard to fit in anything besides a pickup truck.
One of the biggest complaints about Coldcreek’s table design is its faucet hose fitting. It’s a ¾-inch iron pipe fitting incompatible with standard garden hoses. You’ll need a small and inexpensive adaptor to bridge the gap. Since this table is slightly more expensive than the Outsunny, unnecessary oversight could be a real dealbreaker.
Overall, Coldcreek Outfitters’ sink provides little advantage over a table sink like the Outsunny. It’s the same counter space, albeit slightly taller, with more weight, and a higher price tag. It could be a solid choice if you’re worried about durability, as this camp sink is rock solid.
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3. LIFETIME 4 Foot Folding Fish Cleaning Table with Sink for Camping
If you’re an angler, you know how annoying it can be to clean your fish up if there’s no dedicated fish-cleaning station near your lake or river. Fortunately, some of the best table-style camp sinks were designed with anglers in mind.
The Lifetime fish cleaning table with sink is almost fifty inches long and two feet wide. This provides ample room to gut and cleans your catch, then fillet it for an evening meal. The table also has a “faucet” at one end, a detachable sprayer nozzle connecting to a garden hose, and the campground’s water supply. The fact that it’s detachable makes it much more useful for cleaning a fish.
However, the washbasin’s depth is just a couple of inches, sufficient for cleaning a fish but not so useful for dishes, much less for pots and pans. The drain on the washbasin also lacks a downspout, which is found on most other table camp sinks. You’ll want to add your own, or water won’t reliably make it into your greywater bucket. If you do a lot of food prep, the Lifetime might feel inadequate.
One of the best things about the Lifetime is its portability. The legs fold up, and the tabletop folds in half. This design introduces some durability issues, as the table isn’t as capable of holding up heavy loads. You must respect a table-style camp sink only two by two feet wide.
The Lifetime camp sink is a fairly useful fish cleaning station but is not great for other food prep. Though you’re short on space in your vehicle or gear closet, this is still a solid option.
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4. Flash Furniture 4-Foot Portable Fish Cleaning Table / Outdoor Camping Table and Sink
This is one of the largest folding sink tables, with a 49 by 24 inches tabletop. Around two-thirds of that area is countertop space, with the remaining third occupied by the sink basin. All that counter space functions as a cutting board; a groove runs along the outside edge to drain moisture, juices, or blood. It’s one of the reasons that Flash Furniture is the best portable sink for cleaning fish. To get the size of your fish, there’s also a ruler printed along the side of the table.
The Flash Furniture portable fish cleaning table is also one of the most durable camps sinks on the market. The legs on each end are tied with a crossbeam, and each leg is connected to the tabletop by a folding crossbeam. You’ll appreciate that extra stability when cleaning fish with a sharp knife.
Like Lifetime, Flash Furniture did not include a drain hose on their fish cleaning table. It has a downspout to connect any suitably wide hose for greywater collection.
The obvious downside to this table is that it’s quite a bit pricier than the other folding sink tables, at around $200. You get what you pay for, though, and the Flash Furniture table is one of the largest portable sink tables out there, so you’ll have plenty of space to clean your catch when you reel in the big one. For its size, it’s not heavy, but since the tabletop does not fold, you’ll need over four feet of cargo space to fit this in your vehicle.
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Portable Camping Sink
These types of sinks look much like what you’ve got at home at your counter. Each includes a faucet, a washbasin, and most importantly, a water reservoir you can pressurize. They’re operated via a foot pump that can push several gallons of water through the faucet head. It won’t be the same pressure as at home, but it certainly beats washing your hands in a basin with no running water or just using hand sanitizer.
5. SereneLife Portable Camping Sink With Pump & Soap Dispenser
If only the best in handwashing technology will do, the SereneLife is tough to beat. It’s a portable camping sink with a foot pump, providing running water without the need to be connected to a campground’s water supply. The foot pump is also advantageous when handling raw meat – you won’t need to touch the faucet to get the water flowing. This will reduce the time you have to disinfect everything afterward (not to mention preventing foodborne illness).
There is also a soap dispenser next to the faucet. Unfortunately, the soap doesn’t have its foot pump, so you’ll need to contaminate its handle to get your hands lathered up. Some users also complain that pumping the soap dispenser requires much effort.
This is a front-country campaign sink; it weighs ten lbs and doesn’t collapse. The five-gallon water storage tank can be removed, but the fully assembled sink is 40” x20” x13”. That’s neither portable nor packable, so be sure to carve out space for it in your vehicle. That said, it’s still one of the more packable portable camping sinks when talking about models with storage tanks and pumps.
The SereneLife is well-suited for boondock camping, with no utility hookups. The water storage container and foot pump, combined with your greywater collection bucket, give you the experience of running water while far from civilization. It does take a little more maintenance than your average camp sink; the water should be removed whenever it’s not in use (to prevent algae growth), and the greywater bucket will need cleaning at the end of each trip. Fortunately, it’s not a very expensive setup, costing less than most table-style camp sinks.
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6. SereneLife SLCASN25 Portable Hand Wash Basin
Like its predecessor, this SereneLife portable camping sink provides all the comforts of home, using a larger seven-gallon storage tank and a foot pump to give you running water. This version is considerably larger than the previous model, weighing in at 17 lbs with dimensions of 28” x16.5” x31.5”. It is not the most portable sink, but the extra size proves beneficial for washing dishes, clothes, or freshly caught fish. The basin also has an internal shelf that keeps everything a little more organized while you’re washing up.
The SereneLife is also one of the most durable camp sink options, made from thick high-density polyethylene plastic. The basin itself is nearly indestructible. However, the ultra-durable plastic does contribute significantly to the 17 lb weight. If you’re looking for portability, this is probably not your sink. It can be disassembled into several pieces, but loading it into anything besides a pickup truck will be challenging if you leave it intact. Reassembling it doesn’t take too long, but it is probably not something you want to be shouldered with in addition to setting up a tent and camp kitchen.
The larger SereneLife costs about 50% more than, the smaller version, so this one is best left to campers that need the larger basin. Anglers would be the primary market as the basin’s internal shelf makes cleaning a fish much easier than with the smaller bathroom-style sink seen in the previous model.
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Collapsible Camping Sink
Admittedly, these don’t qualify as sinks in the way that we’d normally think of one. They lack any counter space, and there’s no faucet. They’d be more accurately termed “basins” and are collapsible buckets to wash your dishes in. The closest thing you’ll have to run water is pouring a bottle over your hands and dishes, though you could also set up a collapsible jug with a valve to act as a faucet.
What they lack in amenities, they more than makeup for in portability. Most fold into something smaller than the towel you’d use to dry the dishes.
7. QiMH Collapsible Cutting Board and Portable Washing Camping Sink
If you’re looking for a do-everything storage container, the QiMH Collapsible will be a game-changer in your camping experience. The QiMH functions as a cutting board, a washbasin, and a storage basket, performing admirably at each task.
The QiMH is 16.5 by 12 inches in its collapsed form, with slightly smaller cutting board space. That’s still quite portable while providing the functionality needed for food prep work. The collapsed basin is just a couple of inches thick and can easily slide between your other camping gear for transport. Weighing just over a pound, it’s also great for backcountry campers who could strap it to their pack and barely notice it.
Once unfolded, the basin has a capacity of 8.5 quarts, a little over a gallon. The height is about five and a half inches, which isn’t enough for convenient dishwashing, but it’ll work in a pinch. The basin also sports a drain plug, which you could outfit with a small screen to filter food particles before you dispose of the greywater. The drain plug also makes washing vegetables a breeze. Unfortunately, the plug doesn’t stay in that well, so it’s not great for water storage.
The QiMH also comes with a tiny price tag, making this one of the best options for campers on a budget. You’ll still need a surface like a picnic table to prep food, but it functions well as a cutting board and basin.
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8. Coleman Folding Double Wash Basin
Coleman is a major player in the cooler and camp stove market, so it’s no surprise that they make one of the more popular washbasins to go along with them. This particular one consists of two washbasins, an intriguing design consisting of a lightweight set of supports with some plastic sheeting between them that unfolds into a fairly large sink. Each basin is 10 inches by 10 inches, which should fit the largest dinner plates and most pots and pans. This is an ideal option if you’re looking for a portable sink that can hold some water.
The Coleman is also fairly convenient for carrying around the campsite. The thick plastic frame acts as a carrying handle, though you should only move it with small amounts of water inside, or it won’t last very long. Durability is the biggest issue with the Coleman washbasin.
The thick plastic sheeting stands up to abuse quite well, and there’s little chance that a stray fork will put a hole in it. However, the seams aren’t sealed tightly enough, and many users complain that it starts to leak fairly quickly. Additionally, the basins don’t hold up to hot water very well, so expect more leaks if boiling liquids get poured into them.
The Coleman Folding Wash Basin is slightly more expensive than other collapsible camping sinks. Its larger capacity and lightweight frame make it a good choice for backcountry campers; however, its lack of durability means you’ll need to be extra careful with it.
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9. Wakeman Outdoors Collapsible Wash Bin
This collapsible basin from Wakeman Outdoors is similar to the QiMH but at a slightly lower price point and with fewer features. When expanded, it’s 14 ¾” by 10 ¾” by 5”, for a total capacity of ten liters. Collapsed, it has the same dimensions but with about two inches of height instead of five. That’s not super portable for a basin that only holds ten liters, but it’s much better than carrying a five-gallon bucket on your trip.
The Wakeman also lacks the cutting board that made the QiMH so useful. Yes, you can use the bottom of the basin as a cutting surface, but it’s not puncture-resistant and will quickly wear out. The Wakeman also lacks a drain plug, so it’ll be harder to wash vegetables and strain food particles from your greywater.
If you’re considering buying a portable sink/basin, this is one of the least expensive/most accessible options. Even if you do much cooking or dishwashing, it’s a handy item to have around to store water for dousing a campfire or washing your hands before a meal. However, it’s missing some of the best features on the QiMH collapsible sink, so it’s only appealing to users who want to use it as a basin and appreciate the extra 2 liters of capacity.
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Important Features of a Good Camping Sink
Choosing the right portable sink might not seem challenging – it just needs to wash your hands and dishes, but sinks vary widely in features, quality, and design. Before purchasing, you’ll want to consider what’s most important to you and your camping experience.
Portability
Given enough time and effort, you could set up a restaurant-worthy kitchen at your campsite, but you’re limited by how much gear you can put in your vehicle and how much time you’re willing to spend assembling everything at camp.
Start by looking for the smallest camp sink with all the needed features. Some campers must wash their hands and a few pieces of fruit; they don’t need a long fish cleaning station. Work your way up from there.
Durability
You can pick up a folding card table at your local sporting goods store for $20, but it’ll also fall apart the first time someone tries to sit on it, or it gets left out in the rain. When buying camping gear, you want to know it’s built to last.
The downside to durability is that it usually comes as a tradeoff with portability. Fewer joints and lightweight materials make for an easier-to-move (and store) camp sink. Consider whether you’ll need to move your sink around or go a few steps from the garage to your vehicle to its position at the campsite.
Extra Features
Camp sinks are fairly simple, so the features are more or less obvious. Larger, more expensive camp sinks often have a faucet. This will feel more familiar, but it must come from a campground hookup or some pumping mechanism if you want the water to come out. The latter can significantly increase the cost.
Table-style and portable camp sinks usually have a drain plug and a tube draining into your greywater collection bucket. Look for drain plugs that fit tightly and allow you to filter out food particles before it reaches the greywater bucket.
Other camp sinks will have a large food prep area; some models allow you to cover the washbasins for more space. This is an important feature if you do a lot of cooking or will be cleaning fish. Given that anglers benefit from a portable sink more than just about anyone else, it’s important to look at what kind of fish-cleaning features it might have.
Ease of Setup/Use
Thankfully, almost every portable camping sink is easy to set up; no model will take as long as your tent to become operational. That’s not to say they’re instant, though. Larger models need the legs unfolded or assembled to the washbasin. Other models need hose connections in place to function properly. This could involve running a garden hose from the campground water supply to the faucet on your sink or placing a bucket beneath the drain on your washbasin.
Conclusion
Many campers will read this and think, “camp sinks are an unnecessary luxury item; it’s not something I’m going to pack.” This mindset keeps some aspects of camping so unhygienic, and it’s a problem that’s easily solved. Don’t want to bring bulky items like a table? Go with a collapsible tub style – it’ll keep your hands clean and your dishes free of food debris. Feel like it’s not worth packing if it’s not a fully functioning sink? Choose a portable camping sink with a pump and a large reservoir. No hookups are necessary. There’s a sink for everyone, it’s a great way to conserve water, and you’ll be the envy of every hygiene-conscious camper.
Outsunny Portable Folding Camping Sink Table
It’s feature-heavy, durable, relatively packable, and a great value for your money. The table is made from high-density polyethylene plastic, which is nearly indestructible.
Ryan is an outdoor enthusiast and gear expert originally from Montana who spent four years living in Boston, after stints in India, Rwanda, Senegal, and elsewhere. He and his wife are on a new journey to travel the world and blog about their adventures at Passions and Places.
