# Relocating The Sink



## MacTeam

I can't find many faults with the 295RE. It is a spectacular TT but one thing they miscalculated was the location of the bathroom sink and/or the medicine cabinet.

With the medicine cabinet directly overhead, every time you try to brush your teeth, get some hot water on your face to shave, etc it is near impossible to do w/o banging your head and splashing water all over the floor. So, in the spirit of "if it's broke then modify it" has anyone tried to install a new counter top and bring the oval sink out 2" or 3". Any caveats? Obviously I'd have to realign the drain pipes but the hot/cold feeds are flex tube so shouldn't be an issue there.

Any advice/thoughts much appreciated.

Bruce


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## Campingagain

Funny you post his as I just had this conversation with my DW last camping trip. Interesting idea you have. I will be interested in seeing a discussion on this.


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## Oregon_Camper

I just walk out to the kitchen and brush my teeth....I don't think I have EVER shaved while camping.


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## Sweathog62

Hmmm. What about a new faucet? Something with more reach.. Just a thought..

Brad


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## MacTeam

Sweathog62 said:


> Hmmm. What about a new faucet? Something with more reach.. Just a thought..
> 
> Brad


Problem is not the faucet length it's that the sink doesn't come out far enough so that when you spit out the toothpaste you can get it in the sink!


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## Manchester_Fan

Same here - we have the 298RE 10th Anniversary - the bathroom sink is an issue for sure. Would love to hear from someone what they have done either in this model or another to fix this issue.


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## thefulminator

For those of us who have never been in one of these models, some pictures would really help.


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## Just Add Dirt

Guess you all have seen the Kohler commercial where the lady goes into the contractors office and puts the new spiffy bathroon faucet on his desk and sez 'build me a house around that".....juz sayin...


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## jimc

We have the 298RE and I understand completely what you're talking about with respect to the tiny bathroom sink. As others, I'll be very interested in seeing/hearing if anyone else has solved the problem.


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## Justman

I always wondered how Keystone expected anyone to use the small sinks they put in the bathroom in the first place. I don't know how they could make them smaller... Barely enough room to wash your hands. I have shaved in ours before, but like Oregon Camper, I also go out to the kitchen sink to brush my teeth.


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## KTMRacer

We replaced our faucet in the 295RE with a good single handled faucet with a higher rise and that made the sink much more useable. Almost any stick house bath faucet will work, find one you like. I did have to drill additional holes IIRC, but they use the same thread as the trailer faucets. (BTW, did the same thing in the kitchen with a good kitchen faucet, much nicer)

Another option is to replace the sink with a rectangular RV bath sink, They is available from several online sources, I bought one, found it on ebay, just haven't installed it yet. It is much bigger, rectangular in shape rather than oval, the downside is that it gives you much less counter space, and since there is very little to start with.... At some point, they started installing the rectangular sink in the 298RE to replace the oval sink. probably available from Keystone as well.


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## MacTeam

I think I'm going to try:

a: Raising the medicine cabinet up as far as it will go (allowing room for the door to still open and clear the sliding door valence)

b: If that isn't enough, I'll cut off the bottom portion of the medicine cabinet that is not covered by the door.
Thinking about it, replacing or extending the sink might be a major pain.


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## Traveling Tek

I had same problem. My solution. I shave and brush my teeth in the shower. This gets everything done in one place at the same time. Saves water from the floor, and keeps tooth paste off my shirt. I used to have a little mirror in the shower, but i have gotten pretty good at shaving without a mirror now. I check after I get out to make sure I didn't miss anywhere. With the oxygenics shower head I can do all that and still leave enough hot water for the wife.


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## baileys crib

X2... Just got back from first trip with my 298RE 10th AE. Sink/cabinet just doesn't work for shaving or brushing teeth. Had already stopped shaving, maybe I should stop brushing my teeth also?!?!? J/k...great layout overall so I will deal with the head banging.


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## MacTeam

Well I made the mod last night. Just unscrewed the cabinet and raised it so the door just clears the sliding door valence when open. This gives me about 3 1/2" additional room under the sink and it is at least manageable to shave/brush teeth.
You can get another inch by pushing it right to the ceiling but a: the door won't fully open and b: DW said it was a bit high to look in the mirror.

Keystone take note - FIX THE SINK/MIRROR for next year!


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## Chuggs

I wonder if Keystone will invent a medicine cabinet slideout









We' have the same problem with the 282FE...sink & cabinet are identical.

I like the idea of brushing teeth in the shower...I might have to try that.

I take a break from shaving when we go camping...at least most of the time. I guess I could do that in the shower too...if I had a fog free mirror in there.

Now...where do I mount a t.p. holder??? So far...we just spear a roll on the handle of a toilet brush stand. It works...


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## cander

Same problem in a 301 BQ I open the Shower curtain, Open the Medicine cabnet look in Mirror and shave and Brush teeth.


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## SlowerLower

I just open the medicine cabinet door, stick the top of my head in the cabinet opening, and spit.


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## Jewellfamily

Could you maybe move the medicine cabinet somewhere else like above the toilet or something so you can keep the storage space, and then mount a flush mount mirror on the wall over the sink?


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## Xcursion

We just bought our 298RE and left it at the Dealers until we are ready to take it out. Just a thought. Is it possible to remount the cabinet on wall above the toilet and put a mirror where cabinet is now mounted?


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## Xcursion

Must be mental telepathy. Jewellfamily and myself just posted the same question at the same time.


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## MacTeam

Xcursion said:


> Must be mental telepathy. Jewellfamily and myself just posted the same question at the same time.


You certainly *could* do that... and I considered it but:
a ) not very convenient to get your toothbrush etc out
b ) It wouldn't be long before something fell out and down the toilet

Just doing the mod to move it up 3 or 4 inches really helped out a lot.


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## Xcursion

Our brandy new 389RE has the med cabinet as high as possible so maybe Keystone was reading this forum


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## Lmbevard

Could also get rid of the open shelf opening at the bottom of the cabinet. Also could replace it with one that is shallower. As far as moving the sink, shouldn't be much of a problem except lossing floor space and clearance. It is a pain to try to shave. I'm temporarily living full time in my Outback and have to put up with it as well as the overhead above the kitchen sink and the microwave in my face while cooking. That's the nature of the beast.


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## jimc

Agree with the frustration with the bathroom sink. We have a 10th anniv. 298Re and love it except for mopping the bathroom floor every time we use the sink. Anyone moved the cabinet to above the toilet and just put a flat mirror above the sink? The hooks above the toilet can easily be mounted on the sliding door. It's something I've been thinking about and would appreciate any thoughts etc. from the group. Thanks.


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## MacTeam

Hi Jim,

As stated earlier, indeed you *could* do that but I'd hate like hell to try fishing out a toothbrush that fell into the open toliet just as someone hits the flusher...









I thought of just building a smaller cabinet - say 12" high located above a flat mirror mounted to the wall over the sink. This would give you the room to brush teeth and still some usable medicine cabinet space.... haven't done it yet though.

The pondering continues...


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## 2girls4mom

I am in agreement on the dynamics of the bathroom sink, medicine cabinet and successful tooth brushing spitting!!! I really like the previously mentioned idea of a medicine cabinet slide! That would be hilarious!

S


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## jimc

I suppose if the cabinet was moved above the toilet dropping your tooth brush could be an issue. I just planed on moving it there for convenience and storage, but still turning around to use the sink (without head banging) to brush etc. Still haven't discussed it with my DW, so who knows if it'll ever happen.


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## Jayers

What you might think about is using a bigger sink. Yes, you could do it with one of these, a Roman sink:

http://www.amazon.com/La-Fragua-ROMAN-VESSEL-Copper/dp/B000SPXVQ2/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_3

I just pulled that off of Amazon real quick, so I'm sure it's not quite a suitable size, but find one that does and then adjust the countertop cutout, so it sits in and above the top of the counter and extends farther out from the wall. And you could bend the copper a bit to really make if fit.

And the copper sink looks cool with the current Outback trim colors.


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## retread

We have a 2012 279RB. The cabinet is too close to the sink also. The dealer has another model of the same year and it pushed as high as possible.

I tried to remove all the screws, 16 total, 4 per shelf, to raise the unit up. With all visible screws removed, it was still stuck to wall, I tried to pull on it, nothing happened. Either they glued it to wall, have screws for the other side, or ????

Any hints as to what Gilligan may have done to put this thing on the wall?


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## Horskrzy

Picking my new 298RE this Friday so I can't check to see if this is workable but how about turning it over AND moving it up?


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## Stance

I'm sorry if I'm repeating something. I didn't read every post [I'm lazy and short on time







]

Anyway, what about turning the sink 90 deg? I'm assuming your sink is oval like mine. You'd have to make a new counter top and possibly carve out the top of the cabinet for clearance. Or, you could pull the cabinet out a bit and fill in the gap which, at least in my 210RS, wouldn't be visible except from the shower. Just a thought...


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## KTMRacer

retread said:


> We have a 2012 279RB. The cabinet is too close to the sink also. The dealer has another model of the same year and it pushed as high as possible.
> 
> I tried to remove all the screws, 16 total, 4 per shelf, to raise the unit up. With all visible screws removed, it was still stuck to wall, I tried to pull on it, nothing happened. Either they glued it to wall, have screws for the other side, or ????
> 
> Any hints as to what Gilligan may have done to put this thing on the wall?


It's also screwed in from the backside. Ran into the same problem on my 295RE, and verified it's not staples holding it to the wall, it's screws from the backside of the wall panel. So, it's remained in the same place, no easy way to cut the screws w/o damaging something.


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## MacTeam

It's also screwed in from the backside. Ran into the same problem on my 295RE, and verified it's not staples holding it to the wall, it's screws from the backside of the wall panel. So, it's remained in the same place, no easy way to cut the screws w/o damaging something.

++++++++++++++++++++
To get it off the wall i had to use a hack saw blade to cut off the 3 screws coming in from the outside. What on earth were they thinking?


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## retread

MacTeam said:


> It's also screwed in from the backside. Ran into the same problem on my 295RE, and verified it's not staples holding it to the wall, it's screws from the backside of the wall panel. So, it's remained in the same place, no easy way to cut the screws w/o damaging something.
> 
> ++++++++++++++++++++
> To get it off the wall i had to use a hack saw blade to cut off the 3 screws coming in from the outside. What on earth were they thinking?


They might have the thing premounted on the panel that get installed, then screw it from the other side.

The dealer claims to have moved it for us, we have not picked it up yet.


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## Collinsfam_WY

What is this "shaving" you speak of?









-CC


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## Oregon_Camper

collinsfam_tx said:


> What is this "shaving" you speak of?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -CC


Right....never heard of that either (while camping)


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## David Ray

MacTeam said:


> It's also screwed in from the backside. Ran into the same problem on my 295RE, and verified it's not staples holding it to the wall, it's screws from the backside of the wall panel. So, it's remained in the same place, no easy way to cut the screws w/o damaging something.
> 
> ++++++++++++++++++++
> To get it off the wall i had to use a hack saw blade to cut off the 3 screws coming in from the outside. What on earth were they thinking?


Thanks for the clue on this. I have a 210 RS with a similar problem. Could not get my big head in near the sink. Removed the 12 screws in the medicine cabinet but it was still firmly attached on the left side. I basically just ripped those out of the wall, as gently as I could, by rotating the cabinet away from the wall, shoving a screwdriver in the gap,rotating it back and repeating.

I put the cabinet up as high as it would go and ran the 12 screws back in. Solved the space problem. I have one badish hole (the other bad holes are covered) and the three small hole from former bottom row of screws. It is not that bad. Will try to think of a way to cover those up. But even without it is a big improvement.


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## Joe/GA

MacTeam said:


> Well I made the mod last night. Just unscrewed the cabinet and raised it so the door just clears the sliding door valence when open. This gives me about 3 1/2" additional room under the sink and it is at least manageable to shave/brush teeth.
> You can get another inch by pushing it right to the ceiling but a: the door won't fully open and b: DW said it was a bit high to look in the mirror.
> 
> Keystone take note - FIX THE SINK/MIRROR for next year!


When we had our 30 RL, my DW fussed about the mirror being too high. I just removed the door and re-installed it so it covered the open section at the bottom and created an open section at the top, instead.


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## Bob Landry

Using the kitchen sink to brush is the easiest option, in fact, it was DW who suggested it after hearing me cuss a couple of times after banging my head. If I were inclined to do anything about it, I would relocate the cabinet to another wall, maybe over the toilet and just put a flat mirror on the wall over the sink. That's cheaper than replacing a countertop and easier than modifying the medicine cabinet. I would even consider going with the wall mirror and installing shelves under the cabinet to store what few items are in the cabinet. A toothbrush holder and a hook for the hair dryer on the wall and it's good. There are several suitable workarounds, it just depends on how handy you are and how much time(and money) you want to devote to a minor issue.


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