How do you do the laundry?

Tomahawk

Tomahawk

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In amongst all the work getting the boat ready to cast off and sail south till the butter melts.. BTW thanks to Nostro for reminding me to install a water filter I had thought about it but then forgot to put it on the list.. I am wondering about washing..

Socks and pants are easy in the sink... But what about sheets and bed linen? Is is a case of find a local launderette.. Or has anyone got a way of washing a double duvet cover in the confines of a small yacht... .??
 
I have to say that doing the laundry is one of the biggest pains for us as not only can it be expensive but it is very time consuming.
France has Lavarettes (laundry) in most places but washing and drying can take hours and take up a lot of money.
Northern Spain seems to have a complete lack of self service laundry facilities although if you are that way inclined they have a lot of places that will do an expensive service wash.
The problem we have at the moment is in drying things as it continually rains.
Friends of ours bought a cheap plastic portable camping washing machine that uses the mains (about 50 pounds) which does smalls, shirts etc but duvets won't fit in. It is something we are considering getting. Best thing is a large bucket and a good soak and hope that the sun is going to shine.
 
if the butter melts... the sheets dry in the breeze. Soakem in a bucket, rinse, rinse etc. Launderette now and again but check prices. Best advice i have is not to use blimmin rusty pegs. One other option is to sleep on towels to absorb body sweat, and takem on deck to dry. Easier to peg out anyway...
 
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For things like sheets and large items we do use local laundries. Normally can find them although not in every port. Paid on average around 5 euros a wash (but have paid less and more). We are fortunate that we are now in Greece and most times can dry it on the boat, if not we wait until another day
 
I spent 6 months in a LandRover in the 70s tootling around the Middle East.

Our dhobying system was simple:

You get a plastic container, about 40 litres, with a tight-fitting lid. Put scruffy clothes into container, add water and dirtygent, then tie container to front bumper, and drive over the desert for an hour or so.

Rinse, and dry.


With a little experimenting, a similar container lashed to the pulpit will be shaken and stirred by wave action, so all the hard menial manual work is done naturally. Rinsing and drying is then the only hard bit. Oh yes, any salt, even a trace, will keep the clothes very very damp.
 
Marsupial said:
these things work, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Caravan-Washing-Machine-Capacity/dp/B005FK2IAU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_sg_8. you can just about do a double duvet cover in them. The spin dryer is a god send drying stuff is not an issue and it will run off a 200watt inverter if needed.
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Many thanks for that... Do you have one yourself... I guess so.. Can you tell how much it weighs as opposed to how's much it will wash.. Tomahawk is very weight sensitive... The boatyard even instructed me to keep the weight down!!!
 
I picked up a useful water-saving washing method which is used a lot by US long distance cruisers.
You need household ammonia - easier to buy in the US than here but Dyas and B&Q have it.
Get a bucket of hot water, add a cup of ammonia and give your stuff a good soak and stir around a bit.
All you have to do then is hang them out to dry. The residual ammonia evaporates and leaves no trace behind. And, most importantly, it has killed the bacteria which is what makes clothes smell.
There's no need for rinsing and you can save a huge amount of water on a long passage.
Of course, it's not detergent so don't expect the 'whiter than white' result
 
Tomahawk said:
In amongst all the work getting the boat ready to cast off and sail south till the butter melts.. BTW thanks to Nostro for reminding me to install a water filter I had thought about it but then forgot to put it on the list.. I am wondering about washing..

Socks and pants are easy in the sink... But what about sheets and bed linen? Is is a case of find a local launderette.. Or has anyone got a way of washing a double duvet cover in the confines of a small yacht... .??
Click to expand...

I seem to remember reading in one of the long distance voyage books that the writer used a large dustbin bag/liner - add water, detergent and dirty washing, seal top (think he knotted it) and then agitate......
 
Tomahawk said:
Many thanks for that... Do you have one yourself... I guess so.. Can you tell how much it weighs as opposed to how's much it will wash.. Tomahawk is very weight sensitive... The boatyard even instructed me to keep the weight down!!!
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ours is the old design (its been working for 2 years now) without an electric pump for emptying and it weights in at 1.5Kg (and it washes 1.5Kg). cost £70, the newer ones are perhaps a bit heavier as they have a pump-out, but they are twice the price.

The dhobi system mentioned above also works very well on a boat; did that for years as a bachelor sailor, SWMBO wanted something better . . . . . .

that said the spin dryer is the star of the show and you can get those separately (google caravan washing machines and spin dryers), a little lighter and less room to stow.


use lakeland wash balls, no suds and no big box of powder to stow and they last for around 100 washes - oh and yes they work as long as you follow the instructions.
 
tcm said:
if the butter melts... the sheets dry in the breeze. Soakem in a bucket, rinse, rinse etc. Launderette now and again but check prices.
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+1 I use three buckets in a line - one with warm soapy water and the others cold for rinsing.
If you're washing lots of stuff the rinse water eventually becomes a bit soapy, so I more soap and a kettle of hot water to that and it becomes the new washing bucket.
This way, roughly 5 buckets of water and 30-40 minutes of time will wash one machine load.
 
The majority of marinas between London and southern Spain had washing machines and dryers, usually about €4 each.
 
Normal laundry : Tumble hand operated machine. In the background you see the wood burning pipe – cooking pot for the occasional hot laundry. Preferably on land, near a well.
Big stuff as a sleeping bag for guests ( Have to sleep in the cockpit ) we use the dingy. Let it rock a night, clean as a whistle.
Is a lot of work, but so is jogging or body-building. Double win.

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p543/OldBawley/Maart2005_0004-Kopie.jpg

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p543/OldBawley/DSCN2054-Kopie.jpg
 
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Antigua large load service wash dry and fold $26 ec dollars or £6.50 Sam and Daves Laundry.

Something similar is available in most islands in the Windward Leeward chain someimes with a pickup and delivery service.

Life is too short to hand wash sheets and towels onboard. Mind you we are expecting a SHEDLOAD of rain in the next week several inches! so I could just lay them on deck.
 
TQA said:
Antigua large load service wash dry and fold $26 ec dollars or £6.50 Sam and Daves Laundry.

Something similar is available in most islands in the Windward Leeward chain someimes with a pickup and delivery service.

Life is too short to hand wash sheets and towels onboard. Mind you we are expecting a SHEDLOAD of rain in the next week several inches! so I could just lay them on deck.
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try Malta - add at least £10 to your £6.50 for a load, yes £16.50 and surly service, we set off thinking marina services would suffice, they did n't so we explored the availability of portable machines bought it on amazon it was delivered to greece no problem. Washing anything on board is a chore and yes life is too short but after a week or two at anchor with no laundrette in sight the smell soon overcomes.
 
The marina owner where I am promised a laundry, but it has not arrived. Hence I do my Dhobi days as to where I am.

Laundrette 1 Next door to a real ale pub Add washing, go get a pint, come back and throw it in the dryer, go get another pint.

Laundrette 2 Chinese Laundry next door to good cafe Add wash get breakfast, come back, throw clothes in dryer, go and do a bit of shopping (FB pies, tinned tuna and paint brushes from the pound shop.

Laundrette 3 Next to the barber shop and fish and chips, close enough to the insulation, timber yard and screwfix.

Laundrette 4 Cheap, if I'm a bit short, it's a couple of quid cheaper :o

I have a 1970's invention as well, but most of the time it lives in the container. It's a drum on a pivot, looking something like a butter churn. It's only really any use for smalls and you can do those either in a bucket or stood in the shower :D
In the tropics, if you put a black bucket on deck, by lunch time, the water will be almost too hot to put your hands in
 
I read somewhere that it's possible to get clothes clean by towing them behing the boat on a rope. Has anyone tried this ? I thought it might save on fresh water, but then what about the rinse ?

Boo2
 
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