<<< DIY Campervan Mini Projects
This is one of those seemingly trivial projects, but one that solves a continually annoying problem – securing a liquid soap dispenser on the kitchen bench, adjacent to the sink and tap.
We had initially ‘solved’ this problem with Velcro – but over time the Velcro became grubby, looked untidy, and was probably less than hygienic.
And then the pump in the old soap bottle died. So we started from scratch!
Bottle options
First job was to find a suitable pump dispenser. We needed something small enough to keep out of the way of the opening glass covers on the LPG cooktop. Plastic was also a requirement, to avoid cracking or breaking in the camp environment.
KMART had 100ml ‘pump travel bottles’ that ticked all our boxes for $3 (for a two bottle pack), but others are available elsewhere in a variety of different sizes.
The two bottle pack is a handy option – a spare for when the pump mechanism inevitably fails.
Off to the workshop
There are plenty of options that could be used to locate the dispenser on the benchtop. Tool and material availability often determine the most suitable option for this sort of project.
We had some offcuts of laminated marine ply left over from another project. This material is light and strong – ideal for this project when considering that the ‘neck’ of the holder will be quite thin.
The bottle is 40mm diameter. Bunnings stock hole saws in a wide range of sizes, including a 40mm saw that did the job for our bottle. The hole actually cuts at around 40.5mm – a little sanding makes it a snug fit.
Once the hole is cut, the outside profile can be shaped to suit. Repeat the process to produce a second container ring.
Seal the cut edges with a waterproof finish then fix to the kitchen bench. We used silicon to attach the lower ring to the bench, with a carefully placed screw to hold the upper ring to the bench back panel in conjunction with silicon.
Our soap is now always on tap and easy to locate, and there is no risk of the pump bottle falling from the bench in transit.