Are microfibre towels a must on boats?

Kwik Decision

Kwik Decision

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A comment in another thread, recommending these for use on board, has reminded me....

SWMBO loves her microfibre towel, commenting that it drys in no time after use. I hate them, as all they seem to do is move water about your body, rather than dry you. I think that the only reason they dry so fast is that they adsorb so little water in the first place.

However, I also dislike having wet towels hanging up to dry in a small boat. Therefore am I the only one who insists on taking a face cloth and a hand towel to the shower, when on the boat? I use the face cloth to get more or less dry, wringing it out as I go, and then finish with the hand towel. My hand towel drys every bit as quckly as SWMBO's microfibre job, and the face cloth gets a rinse out, and goes in a plastic bag (used every day, it is fine for a week) or gets dried pegged on the guard wire if we are lucky with the weather.

What are the learned forumrites' thoughts?
 
I think microfiber towels are like plastic glasses and sleeping bags - all special ways of making yourself uncomfortable on a boat. I've always tried to have as many of the home comforts as possible on board as the "roughing it" style is always there on a 24 footer so no need to add to your problems.

I prefer to have at least three proper towels each on board - not huge ones, and like the supplies of warm dry socks, kept in plastic bags ready for first use. That usually gives enough time for one or two of them to dry and air outside before the third is damp. If the weather is continuously horrible then we tend to be more marina based anyway so half an hour in a tumble drier sorts everybody's towels out for next time.
 
andrewbroadbent said:
A comment in another thread, recommending these for use on board, has reminded me....

SWMBO loves her microfibre towel, commenting that it drys in no time after use. I hate them, as all they seem to do is move water about your body, rather than dry you. I think that the only reason they dry so fast is that they adsorb so little water in the first place.

However, I also dislike having wet towels hanging up to dry in a small boat. Therefore am I the only one who insists on taking a face cloth and a hand towel to the shower, when on the boat? I use the face cloth to get more or less dry, wringing it out as I go, and then finish with the hand towel. My hand towel drys every bit as quckly as SWMBO's microfibre job, and the face cloth gets a rinse out, and goes in a plastic bag (used every day, it is fine for a week) or gets dried pegged on the guard wire if we are lucky with the weather.

What are the learned forumrites' thoughts?
Click to expand...

we use them, it would be nice to get a larger size though & one make dries better than the other we have
 
I have a supply of bar-top beer mats, the towelling ones.
Bigger than a face cloth and handy for pre-towel drying, plus drying dishes and anything else needed in the galley.
When they are done I rip them in half and use them as engine/bilge rags.
They are also a better read than a flannel.
 
Twas I that commented on the other thread. I think they're brilliant, out of choice we use microfibre almost exclusively at home now too.
Best I've found (sizewise at a realistic price) are the Karrimor ones.
 
+1 about the plastic glasses ... plates too - always have real ones ... we do, however use sleeping bags with 3" memory foam mattresses on top of the bunk cushions.
 
Galago said:
+1 about the plastic glasses ... plates too - always have real ones ... we do, however use sleeping bags with 3" memory foam mattresses on top of the bunk cushions.
Click to expand...

Ooh - memory foam, that makes me jealous and I really should think about that. Now just add a fitted sheet and a proper duvet and you'd be sorted :-)
 
RupertW said:
Ooh - memory foam, that makes me jealous and I really should think about that. Now just add a fitted sheet and a proper duvet and you'd be sorted :-)
Click to expand...

Horses for course, I suppose. I replaced the v berth cushions with memory foam & hated it. SWMBO & I both move around quite a bit in the night & found that the MF tried to force us back into the position we'd just moved out of. It's now got a permanent memory of where we tend to lie and keeps out of our way :( Replacement is scheduled as soon as I've recovered financially from the last round of home improvements.

OTOH, sheets & duvet - definitely.

Back to the original point. I have a microfibre towel that fits in a bag about 12 X 8 X 15cm. and weighs next to nothing. It's nowhere near as good as a "proper" bath towel, but it takes up 1/10 of the space and is enough to dry me after a shower. Proper towels on my boat, but the microfibre one when on someone else's, simply because it gives me room for an extra fleece in my bag.
 
Flannel By Gas Light

The damp flannel. Probably the simplest way to keep clean and dry. Fancy showers, greasy sumps, damp towels, bags of sprays, shiny faces, smelly pits, all disappear when the damp flannel is pressed into use. For obvious reasons its best to own two, dedicated for cleaning certain areas, and clean them daily after ablutions.

The Damp Flannel is your friend, the Microfibre towel is not.
 
I had a microfibre towel which stuck to ones body when drying.However I found a microfibre towel which has a raised fluffy surface like a real towel and it is so good I have two.The mega size is very big and I bought it at an outdoor/camping shop at Freeport Braintree.It is made by Travel Essentials.
 
Mine is excellent, bought at Aldi as a dog-drying towel in a lovely shade of mud. I used it this afternoon, walked to the little beach next to the marina, had a swim, washed the salt off with a 1.5 litre bottle of water, dried off. By the time I was back at the boat the towel was almost dry.

The temperature was 37C at the time. Maybe that helped.
 
There are two different types. The smooth ones are next to useless but the ones with a looped surface are very good. We use normal towels on the boat but I always carry a microfibre one in the rucksack.
 
chockswahay said:
No you're not, Good Man! I've always done this! and at home too (get made fun of by Mrs Chox tho')

Microfibre cloths? I use 'em to polish cars :)

Chox
Click to expand...

And they are cr*p at that too. Microfibre is THE most unpleasant fabric ever invented - especially for rough hands.
 
We use a jumbo sized microfibre travel towel, seems to do a good job, only annoyance is that it tends to want to roll up a bit against your skin.

Mind you a 'shower' on our boat consists of crouching under the boom tent using one of those solar shower thingies. So the total quantity of water is only about 5 litres. Plus the gale of wind screaming through the flapping boom tent tends to speed up both the showering and drying processes.

I recommend this technique; I now never have problems with SWMBO spending ages in the shower.
 
Robwhelton said:
We use a jumbo sized microfibre travel towel, seems to do a good job, only annoyance is that it tends to want to roll up a bit against your skin.

Mind you a 'shower' on our boat consists of crouching under the boom tent using one of those solar shower thingies. So the total quantity of water is only about 5 litres. Plus the gale of wind screaming through the flapping boom tent tends to speed up both the showering and drying processes.

I recommend this technique; I now never have problems with SWMBO spending ages in the shower.
Click to expand...

Dab not rub seems to work best
 
Use a microfibre and it works very well both at drying me and then at being dried itself. We put it in the boats airing cupboard - sounds good but is in fact a space above the engine that gets hot.

Dont like the flannel idea - they stink within a few days of remaining damp.
 
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