Washing up is the least glamorous job at camp, and the gear for it tends to be a mess: a bucket that doesn’t fit anywhere, a sponge in a plastic bag and a bottle of detergent rolling around the drawer. The Sea to Summit Camp Kitchen Clean-Up Kit puts all of it in one small, round case. I paid $65 for it, and it’s a great kit: it has a fixed spot in our car.
What You’re Getting
Six pieces: a folding 10 L kitchen sink, a scrubber with a scraper, a bottle of concentrated biodegradable soap, a double-sided washcloth, a DryLite dish towel, and the zip case that holds the lot. The case closes with a zip and a drawstring, and it has a tab to hang it from.
What we like
- Everything for dishes in one case
- 10 L sink stands up on its own
- Webbing handles to carry water
- The little brush is really handy
- Light: 259 g for the whole kit
- Washcloth: one coarse, one soft side
What we don’t
- Pricey for what’s in it
- 10 L sink is small for a group
- Only 50 ml of soap
Quick Specs
| Spec | Details |
|---|---|
| Brand | Sea to Summit |
| Model | 053701 |
| Weight | 259 g |
| Contents | SinkBrushSoapWashclothDish towelCase |
| Sink | 10 LFoldingFree-standing |
| Soap | 50 ml Wilderness Wash |
The sink
The sink is the main part of the kit. It folds flat into the case, then opens into an olive basin with a black rim, and the 10 litres are marked on the handle. The base is broad and the rim is stiff enough that the sink stands up on its own when it’s full. It doesn’t slump over like a bag.
The sink is well made where it counts. The webbing handles are stitched onto the rim with strong, reinforced stitching, the rim itself is a stiff black band, and the basin is a tough coated fabric.
Two webbing handles on the rim let you carry it full. That’s how you take the dirty water away from camp, and well away from any creek or lake, before you tip it out. Sea to Summit prints the Leave No Trace logo inside the sink as a reminder.
Ten litres is plenty for two people’s plates, cups and a pot. For a family or a group cooking for six, it fills up with dishes quickly, and you’ll be changing the water a few times.
Scrubber and soap
The little brush is really handy, and it’s the piece we reach for most. It has stiff nylon bristles on one side and a scraper edge for burnt-on food, and its holder clips around the bottle of soap, so the two travel together and you can’t lose one without the other.
The soap is a 50 ml bottle of Sea to Summit Wilderness Wash, a concentrated, biodegradable wash that also works as a body wash, shampoo and clothes detergent. A little goes a long way, but 50 ml won’t last a long trip of daily washing-up. The bottle can be refilled, as Wilderness Wash is sold on its own.
Washcloth and dish towel
The washcloth has two sides: a coarse, textured side for scrubbing and a soft side for wiping. The dish towel is Sea to Summit’s DryLite, a thin microfibre that soaks up water and dries quickly, so it isn’t still damp in the bag the next morning. Both have a press stud to hang them up.
How we use it
The kit has a fixed spot in our car, so it comes on every trip. We use the basin for the larger dishes: pots, pans and the plates after a proper cooked meal. Here it is on the slide-out table at the back of our Prado, with the sink full of water, the brush and soap beside it and the washcloth ready.
For small dishes, such as a mug or a plate after a sandwich, we often don’t fill the sink at all and use a wet wipe instead. Ours are the Sea to Summit Wilderness Wipes, which go with this kit well.
Size and weight
Packed in its case, the whole kit weighs 259 g on our scale and is about the size of a side plate. It takes up very little room in a drawer, and because everything lives in the one case, nothing goes missing between trips.
Conclusion: Sea to Summit Camp Kitchen Clean-Up KitConclusion
The Sea to Summit Camp Kitchen Clean-Up Kit puts everything for the washing-up into one small case: a 10 L folding sink that stands up when it’s full, a scrubber that clips around a bottle of biodegradable soap, a double-sided washcloth and a quick-drying dish towel. The whole kit weighs 259 g. The sink is small for a group, there’s only 50 ml of soap, and at $65 you pay for the convenience. It’s a great kit that has a fixed spot in our car, and for couples and small groups who like their camp kitchen organised, it’s a tidy way to deal with the dishes.
A 10 L folding sink, a scrubber, biodegradable soap, a washcloth and a dish towel in one 259 g case.
The sink is small for a group and $65 is a fair bit for what’s in it, but it keeps the washing-up kit together.
- Car campers
- 4WD tourers
- Couples
Yes, if you like your gear organised. I paid $65, and you could put together something similar for less, but this kit packs into one small case, every piece fits and nothing gets left behind.
