Saturday, November 2, 2013

New Sink & Faucet

While the new sink is larger, the sink alone doesn't take up any more counter space than the little one we replaced because we leveraged the unusable space at the back and right side of the old sink. We think the incorporated drain board will be highly functional for us. IKEA has the same sink without the drain board that may be workable in trailers with less counter space.

The trailer was plumbed with 1/2" PEX plumbing. The Delta 101 DST faucet had 1/4" lines terminated in 3/8" compression fittings. After a visit to my favorite ACE Hardware, I came home with a couple Watts valves that had 1/2"  PEX inlets and 1/4" PEX outlets to make the connection. Easiest bit of plumbing I've ever done. Just cut the lines square and push them into the shark-bite style valves until they're fully seated.

The Delta faucet is retained by a large half moon washer and a nut on a 4" long threaded shaft. To keep the faucet feed lines from rubbing on the threaded shaft, I slipped a piece of PEX over it and then ty-wrapped it snugly to avoid vibration wearing the lines.

The easiest part of the job was punching the hole for the faucet using the punch IKEA sells. The toughest part was adapting for the limitations of the provided sink hold-downs. They expect a thicker counter top than the Scamps, and I ended up replacing the blunt screws with pointed ones to more easily create the threads in the plastic of the hold-downs.

The position and size of the new drain interferes with the little short drawer that had been under the other sink. I took the drawer face off and adapted it to plug the open hole in the cabinet face frame.  A little Baltic birch, some screws, and a quick coat of varnish for a sealer and the drawer face was ready to go back in place.

I'd like to say that we're all done, but I'm waiting for a Hepvo valve to arrive so that I can finish the drain installation.

9 comments:

  1. Nice looking job. Bet you'll like that a lot better than the little factory sink.

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    1. Thanks! The Hepvo valve showed up in the mail today so the next trick will be to cobble up an adapter from 1.5 inch to the smaller plastic hose that Scamp uses for a drain.

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  2. I love the new sink and drainboard! No more water dripping down the cabinet!

    Nice job!

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    1. We're pleased with the way it turned out and think it is going to be a big improvement while washing dishes, etc.

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  3. Dang! I looked all over and couldn't find a sink like that with the integrated drain board. I finally gave up and put one in without it. I never thought to look at IKEA; we have one about 40 miles away.

    Pat in Minnesota (MNScamper)

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    1. We often use IKEA for ideas since they emphasize small, functional spaces. This was the result of the latest wander through the store. BTW, thanks for all the good ideas over the years.

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  4. Sorry to post to an old thread. I’m looking at your sink mod and would like to do it for our 2016 deluxe. Can you clarify what is meant by a punch IKEA sells? Thanks Ken from MN

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    1. Ikea sells a hole punch that was listed with their sinks. The sink doesn't come with a hole for the faucet. You can position it wherever you want it, using the punch is easier and cleaner than using a hole saw.

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