Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 15:42:32 -0300
Reply-To: Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Subject: $10 Westy Sink Faucet Modification
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
I, & my wife, have never really liked the Westy sink faucet. We find
that we have to stoop to get dishes under the fixed faucet and the
"switch" requires one of our two hands to operate.
I have NEVER used the shore hook-up to "mains" water so that can
be eliminated - picture me tossing it over my shoulder. I also tried a 3
way toggle bilge switch (push left = stays on; push right = hold it on =
release for off; center = off) but that did not work as I could not
waterproof the switch (I put it where the faucet was & it shorted out
after 1 week's wet use) and it also took one hand to activate it.
So, my wife and I discussed it, we discussed expensive fixes, but I'm
cheap, so this is what I/we came up with:
If you like photos, you can cut this description short by visiting
http://photos.yahoo.com/mwstebbins and clicking on the "Sink Faucet
Mod" folder. These photos will not be there for long, so if you're
reading this from the archives, these photos are no longer there, but
you may send p-mail.
The objective was to have a shower-head/wand and to have both
hands free. so I rigged up a longer hose and a foot peddle switch.
I removed the sink faucet. Removed the 2 hoses ( I plugged the
shore-station hose), removed the electrical feeds.
I went to Canadian Tire (FLAPS) and purchased a 12 volt "Horn
Button", and 2 different - smaller- clear plastic hose - similar to the
water hoses under the sink. I had a piece of clear hose with a metal
wrap on it from a water purification system that I no longer need and I
used that too.
I had to step down the water hoses; I found hoses with the OD
(outside diameter) equal to the ID of the westy hose. That was still
too much water, so I did it again, OD to ID so that I now had 2 step-
downs. I shoe-gooed these joints to prevent leaks and used hose
clamps.
I found an old jam-jar lid and drilled 3 holes around the rim (as per the
original faucet), and one large hole near the center, the same
diameter as the final hose. I used the original faucet gasket under the
jam-jar lid and the original 3 screws. I used automotive GOO as
gasket material all-round everything. I had about 18 inches of hose
sticking up through the jam-jar hole that could now be used as a
flexible faucet. (I'd suggest a nice black plastic piece rather than the
jam-jar lid, it'll look nicer.)
Next I wired up the foot pedal. We experimented with a movable
pedal that sat flat on the floor. My wife was happy with this, but I
didn't like the pedal being in a (slightly) different place all the time and
having one more thing to do as we set-up and broke camp each day,
so I decided to affix the "horn-button" to the front of the kitchen
cabinet at toe level. So I ran some wire from the original electrical
leads and ran them down and to the front of the kitchen cabinet about
4 inches back from the driver's side battery compartment and at floor
level - just under the opening door under the sink drawer.
I drilled 2 holes for screws and one bigger hole for the wires, and the
wired it up and affixed the foot-switch/peddle (was "horn switch").
This "Horn Button" is a "push and hold" type of switch, not a toggle
switch.
DESIGN FLAWS:
No shore-station hook-up is possible; no big deal for a us.
A big drawback is that when the water switches to off, the water sucks
back through the hose as gravity returns the water to the tank (I need
to find a 'oneway' valve for this small hose). We have to be careful so
as NOT to suck up dirty dish water as the water is repeatedly switched
on and off. Also, during the day, we often just quickly rinse things
and leave them - and the water - in the sink. So when we close the
kitchen lid, the longer hose slops around in the dirty water.
Fixes: We are just careful NOT to let water get sucked up by the hose
and, as for the "hose in the sink" problem, I put several hooks up on
the top edge of the stove/sink/kitchen cover to hold the hose up out of
the water when not in use or when we are driving.
As I said, the photos will not be there forever, so if you're interested,
you'd better take a look. http://photos.yahoo.com/mwstebbins
We like this set up better than the original fixed faucet and I like it
better than an expensive solution. Total cost was under CDN$10.
I welcome any and all suggestions. Malcolm
