The Channel to Spain - AGAIN - Sorry

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cliffb

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As a result of the excellent posts from you great forumites it virtually certain that me an' 'er will be starting on the southbound journey next season. So we might just catch up with some of you some time.
HOWEVER....
Having made this momentous decision, it does give rise to further queries, which I'm hoping some of you can throw some light on.
Firstly... Laundry.
I've done a search on this and have concluded from that, that, in our present circumstances, the mandrualic 'butter churn' type would be sufficient (given good enough drying weather). My query is though.... is this more than sufficient? I know the unit is fairly small, but it still takes up space. If it's not used much, it's a waste. I'd therefore be very interested to hear from those of you that have such a machine whether you found it worth it. Or have you in practice found that most marinas (sur la continent) have laundry facilities. Or was it that there aren't that many and hence you bought the 'butter churn'
Secondly....
B*gger... can't remember what the second thing was!!
It'll come to me I expect. (having a senior moment here) I'll edit or post again if/when I remember. In the meantime I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards and thanks
Cliff

Ahhhh. Now I remember.
Overwintering..
Did you haul out or leave her in and cross your fingers? If you hauled out, did you find it a problem to find places to do this? Northern and Atlantic France in particular, (for now!) /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Most marinas have laundry facilities, but most liveaboards do the majority of their washing in a bucket on the pontoon. (I include French boats with 5 kids in this).

If you are heading South then you will only be wearing shorts and a t-shirt most of the time anyway, so there isn't a lot of washing to do.

Every now and then it's good to take a huge load of stuff to a laundry . . . in Spain and Portugal you canj usually get a service wash for the same as you would pay for a DIY launderette here.

- Nick
 
Agree with Nick - we, well I, did most of our washing by hand. To be honest in hot weather it is very nice to have an excuse to deal with loads of cool water (I usually do the washing in a swimsuit). Generally I get a husband or son to help me with the wringing out which is the tough bit.

One point is that in warmer countries in summer most pontoon-supplied water is quite warm anyway (maybe 30deg?), which helps. In winter I should think a laundrette is more useful, especially for drying clothes, depending on where you are and how cold/wet it is.

Re haul-out, a lot of liveaboards keep the boat in the water in winter and haul out (and go back to the UK) in July & August when everyone else is sailing and there's loads of room on the hard. Would this work for you? Kalessin was ashore in June/July in Mallorca and no probs arranging this at all.
 
Check out the local laundry in the marina office. lots of Spanish towns in Galicia have a good old fashioned laundry shop, euros 10 for a mega load and ironed!!. Further south in portugal most marinas offer a good washing machine service
 
Absolute cobblers. You can get yer laundry done anywhere and real liveaboards take advantage of all shore based facilities. Bucket on the pontoon???? These geezers are taking the p@@s Lived aboard for 10 years and hardly ever see anyone being so crass.
Regarding going sailing, the Bay of Biscay is a mere pond that gets you started. Wait for a bit of decent weather and go Do not imagine its a big scary monster cos its not. I base that on personal experience. Done it 9 times.
Happy voyaging.
 
Ignore johnegraham. Setting off on your first liveaboard it makes sense to think about everything. I never hand wash, and there's always either a marina facility or one nearby in town.
We only lift for as many days as it takes to do the annual antifoul/anode change (unless we need a repair).
We did the trip two years ago (motor boat) - ask away!
 
Hi Cliff,

We used the 'Wonderwash', which I think is the 'butter churn' type you refer to, for getting on for ten years almost full time cruising. IOHO they are excellent. As others have said, you are actually using very few, lightweight clothes once you're down where it's warm, so will find one of these perfectly adequate.

We used our regularly, sitting in the sun in the cockpit, enjoying the warmth and scenery, or chatting to those walking/dingying by. We even washed heavier stuff (sheets and the like) occasionally, and towels were no problem. If we had a sufficient build-up of bigger stuff, we used to take it to a lavanderia and do it there.

A couple of things we learnt that greatly improved these little washers - first, use the local washing powder as these are designed for much cooler water than is usual in the UK, second - the recommended period of turning is about three minutes. We used to at least double this to get our excellent results.

Final thought: DON'T do as SWMBO did and put some clothes to soak overnight in very hot water. She tightened the lid down which, as the water cooled, created a vacuum sufficient to crumble the bottom of the drum such that it couldn't be used again!! We had to buy a new one!

Whether it's a waste of space is, of course, a matter of personal opinion, but we used to store our dirty clothes in it (it's airtight) so the volume wasn't wasted.

All in all well worth its place aboard IOHO.
 
We use Wonderwash for all our laundry. It is excellent and we believe that clothes come out of it cleaner than they do from the washing machine at home. We have had ours for 4 years, at that time they were not easily obtainable but now many chandlers stock them.

Launderettes are to be found in many marinas, although we avoid them whenever possible. However, if you need to wash clothes etc. separately, e.g. red ones, white ones, blue ones, the costs can be quite considerable. Drying is rarely a problem in the Med but could be elsewhere, adding more to costs.

We use liquid detergent, our French one called Le Chat has just expired and been replaced by a similar one bought in Italy. We sometimes use a few ml more than the instructions say but normally turn for the recommended period.
 
Good question, it is a huge issue for a liveaboard and the cost of laundrettes here in Spain is ridiculous - you'd pay £10 ++++ per week. If you have space the best solution is a small automatic as they use the least water (and are easiest to use) but we did not want to sacrifice the space so we use one of the 240V camping machines, top-loader, sold by ?Force 4 or one of the mail order people. We have had ours since July 2004 and have been doing all our washing with it ever since - we do have a couple of large black 'builders'' buckets as well for helping with rinsing.

You have to get this sorted out at the outset especially if you are thinking of having an in-built machine which, I suspect, would have been our better choice.

Don't forget the need for fresh water as well. Watermaker?
 
To everyone who responded to my query (except Johnegraham), I thank you wholeheartedly. I was in two minds whether to get the Wonderwash jobby and you have made up my mind for me. So thanks again for your advice and encouragement.
To Johnegraham I say; I note you are a new user. So welcome to the forum. I'm sorry if you find my queries banal, but by asking them one gains knowledge, and that is the whole point of the forum. If you wish to be taken seriously here I would suggest that you accept that there are some that are not as experienced as you, and there really is no need to be quite so acerbic in your replys. So whilst your opinion may be valid, I trust you won't be offended if I choose to ignore it!
 
Lemain,
Yeah... I hear what you're saying. And yes, we found that even in the UK the marina laundry costs start to rack up over the months. Hence looking at alternatives. Unfortunately we don't have space for a built in affair. Not without sacrificing other things or facilities.
I was pondering on the 'camping' type mains jobs, but on balance, given the (hopefully) smaller amount of laundry to be done in the warmer climes, and other posters views, we'll give the 'butter churn' type a try out for the first season. They're only about £40.00, so not a major investment, and worth the downside risk. Thanks for replying though. Your input is always welcome.
 
You're welcome. We haven't tried the butter churn sort so I can't give a comparative opinion save that we do all our washing on board other than duvets. Double sheets, heavy towels, etc. The electric camping one we have will take a dry weight of 1kg and that is fine - you wouldn't want any less, though.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Bucket on the pontoon???? These geezers are taking the p@@s Lived aboard for 10 years and hardly ever see anyone being so crass.

[/ QUOTE ] Where did you live aboard then, Brighton?
 
Would agree that the 'wonderwash' is a very useful piece of kit, however, having used one for 9years it does have it's limitations. We fitted an, 3.5kg load, automatic made by Candy 3 years ago & wished we'd done so at the start! Forget the 'lovely to sit and do the washing in the sun'. Think about the winter if you are aboard the whole year. You are also wearing more clothes! It's a pain especially for the bedding, towels etc. There is always room (for the Candy or equivilant) it's just the decision!
The cost of laundry does mount up. Here in P.Napoleon it's 6 euro a load. In winter you'd be looking at 2 loads a week +/- then if you want drying as well??? The advantage of the automatic is it spins so drying is easier. I've found that the hands, as one gets older, cannot wring out & a mangle is not suitable for boats! The modern fabrics do not like this sort of treatment and are longer lasting when a machine is used. Whichever you choose have a great life and enjoy every moment. Good Luck.
 
Was this a Candy Eurostar, or something like that? Have you, or has anyone, got a contact for a distributor in Spain? Would you buy the same model again?
 
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