How The Rinse Was Born
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How The Rinse Was Born: Solving a Camping Hygiene Problem
I didn’t set out to start a business.
I set out to spend a weekend outdoors with my son.
One Friday afternoon I discovered a local retreat offering camping. They were hosting a small festival that evening. On impulse, I booked two tickets and picked up a two-man tent on the way there.
No planning. No overthinking.
Just us, a tent, and whatever happened next.
It turned out to be one of the best weekends we’d ever had.
The people.
The atmosphere.
Being outdoors.
Actually touching grass.
We went back the following weekend. And the one after that. Eventually it became our rhythm. My 16-year-old daughter (once unconvinced about camping) is now fully converted.
Camp life has a way of simplifying things.
The Problem With Camping Hygiene
One Saturday morning, I was cooking bacon sandwiches on a small stove.
The sun was coming up. The kettle was whistling. The campsite was quiet.
I dropped the raw bacon into the pan and instinctively looked for somewhere to wash my hands.
There wasn’t anything close by.
The mains tap was a walk away.
We had collected water earlier, carrying a heavy container back to camp. Tipping it to rinse my hands meant soaking everything around me and wasting the water we’d worked to carry.
I didn’t need a full outdoor sink.
I didn’t need electricity.
I didn’t need a bulky solution.
I needed a simple, controlled way to dispense a small amount of water.
Just enough for proper hand washing at camp.
Remembering a Simple Mechanical Water Dispenser
Years earlier, during a work visit to Finland, I had seen a simple non-electric water dispenser called the Handy Andy.
It used a touch valve to release a controlled handful of water.
No batteries.
No pumps.
No gimmicks.
I loved its simplicity.
When I later asked about buying one, I discovered it had been discontinued. They found one remaining unit and kindly let me have it.
That became the reference point.
Designing a Better Portable Camping Hand Wash
The idea wasn’t to copy it.
It was to refine it.
To build something from aluminium instead of plastic.
To make it durable.
To make it feel intentional.
To create a camping hygiene solution that didn’t feel disposable or gimmicky.
Something compact.
Something reliable.
Something built for off-grid life.
That moment cooking breakfast — frustrated by a simple lack of water control — is what led to The Rinse.
Built for Life Outdoors
The Rinse exists because of a real campsite problem.
It’s a compact, portable hand washing system designed for campers, van life, overlanding and off-grid living.
No power.
No waste.
No over-engineering.
Just a controlled handful of water when you need it most.
Built for life outdoors.