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The laundry dilemna

12K views 71 replies 30 participants last post by  Ready2go 
#1 ·
Does anyone have a reasonably easy low water consumption solution to doing the laundry on-board a cruising sailboat with limited space?
 
#2 ·
Not to be smart but..........

1) hang it from the rigging in the rain....

2) Wash with Salt Water, rinse with fresh, in a bucket.....

Look at camping solutions as well.

Fred :cool:
 
#4 ·
I'd second the wonderwash.
 
#5 ·
I once put my dress white uniform in a laundry bag and dragged it behind the USS ranger at about 30 knots. It got incredibly clean. Even the rust stains cae out.
 
#9 ·
Have looked at the Wonderwash and have heard great things but never have used one. I have been concerned at storage of yet another bulky item. My answer to laundry is a bit rough and ready and comes from bouncing around Australia while car-camping in a 4x with the kids. I have a large plastic bucket (the type that sheetrock guys carry their paste in) with a top that seals tight. When not a laundry machine, it sits in a cockpit locker filled with all sorts of gear. When a laundry machine - I fill it 2/3 full of hot/warm water and liquid washsoap; seal; and let bounce around while underway for a day. Next day, wring out the soapy water, put 2/3 fresh water in and bounce around for another day UNLESS there's a nice rainstorm and I put the stuff in cockpit well and rinse it there. This works pretty well - only drawback is when I overload soap and the stuff never rinses out via the bucket rinse. Advantage is I have a laundry solution, a place to hold odds and ends and another bailing bucket!
 
#10 · (Edited)
I do laundry a few different ways.

If there is a laundromat I use that.

If it's something important, dress shirts for example, so far I am only willing to do those at a laundromat, two cycles, cold water, good detergent, etc. Follow that by a fluff in the drier and then hang them up so they don't get wrinkled. I haven't tried washing dress shirts using any of the methods below, but I might try it soon with one shirt just to see how it goes. My concern is that my hand washing methods might not get the cloth clean enough and that over repeated wash/dry cycles it might start to show.

If it's something like a suit of course that has to go to the dry cleaners.

If it's gore-tex I have just been washing it by hand with a cloth but I am thinking about changing that procedure and putting it into cold water using the methods below, but making sure not to rub the gore-tex against anything for fear of ruining it.

If it's anything else then I use one of two methods depending on how much water I have.

1) If I don't have much water then I use a wash board. I have two sizes of wash boards, the kind that have fiberglass boards. Works great, takes a little doing because you have to be patient. I will sometimes warm up some water to do this but that is mostly just so my hands don't get cold when the water is very cold. Sometimes I will use detergent, sometimes not, it depends on how much water I have to rinse them with. Usually they are fine with just a wash and letting them hang outside to dry.

2) If I have a lot of water then I use something akin to the plunger method. That's putting some clothing into a big bucket with water and then using a plunger to wash them. I have a "special" plunger that I got from the same place I got wash boards that seems to do a pretty good job but I wouldn't recommend it because it is also corroding and I am probably going to switch to just using a normal plunger. Since I have lots of water when using the plunger method I usually use detergent, and rinse well, then hang the clothing up outside to dry completely. I think the plunger method is probably best for gore-tex but I haven't tried that yet.

If it's cold enough to freeze clothing then you have to hang them where it is warm. Don't leave them in the sunlight for days in a row or eventually they will fade. And keeping them in cedar is a good idea to keep the moths and mice out of them if that is a problem where you are. Moth balls don't hurt either.

Big things like blankets, sheets, and things like that I don't wash by hand. Just have enough spares packed away so that you can change them out when they get dirty and eventually wash them all at a laundromat.

Some tips - when using a wash board it's not the scrubbing action that cleans the clothing, that is a common mistake. So don't press down really hard, you're just going to wear your clothing out doing that. What cleans the clothing is the oscillation of the water through the cloth, that's why the board has ridges on it, so that when you move the cloth across the ridges the water quickly squishes through the cloth in both directions. So when you use a wash board you are really just trying to be patient, keep moving the cloth back and forth and let the board do the work. I have not had experience washing clothing on a rock beside a river but I understand it is the same principle, you don't want to do something like scrub the cloth against the rock, you're just going to wear a hole in it. Instead, you just want to squish the clothing against the rock like you are trying to get all of the water out of it, then plunge it into the water to fill it with water and repeat, keep repeating until it is done.

It sounds like it is difficult but it really isn't. The wash board especially is really easy to use and doesn't take much time at all. You just sit there and keep moving the clothing across the board, plunge it into the water occasionally, and the clothing just gets clean somehow.

Gore-tex in my estimation is really the biggest trouble. The whole method of washing is to have water go back and forth through the material to knock the dirt out. And the whole purpose of gore-tex is not to let that happen. So there really isn't an easy way to clean gore-tex using normal methods of doing laundry.

And ... don't buy or wear white clothing. :D

Edit - Underway I would want to drag the clothing in a net.
 
#11 ·
All I know is, there are two big white machines down in the laundry room. The dirty laundry gets down there somehow when I'm not looking; in time it all magically reappears, neatly hung and folded in the closets and dresser drawers.
 
#12 ·
I always throw my dirty underwear in the floor. This is especially effective if friends or family are on their way over. Leave it there, and a little while later there will be some cursing eminate from the cabin in question, followed by clean underwear the next day or so.

Not really sure how it happens or how it works, but I have notcied the coffee pot does the same thing.

I have a magical boat... what can I say?

HAHA!

- CD
 
#50 ·
I always throw my dirty underwear in the floor. This is especially effective if friends or family are on their way over. Leave it there, and a little while later there will be some cursing eminate from the cabin in question, followed by clean underwear the next day or so.

Not really sure how it happens or how it works, but I have notcied the coffee pot does the same thing.

I have a magical boat... what can I say?

HAHA!

- CD
LIAR,WE ALL KNOW YOU BURY YOUR LAUNDRY ON THE BEACH !!
AND WE RESPECT YOU FOR THAT :D :D
 
#14 ·
It's very curious CD, even more so since you've also noticed this phenomena, and all this time I thought it was just me. This identical mystery also exists onboard . . . dirty stuff just seems to bounce off the soles, settees and bunks, becomes clean and then neatly appears in the lockers and drawers.

Must be laundry fairies.
 
#15 ·
It's very curious CD, even more so since you've also noticed this phenomena, and all this time I thought it was just me. This identical mystery also exists onboard . . . dirty stuff just seems to bounce off the soles, settees and bunks, becomes clean and then neatly appears in the lockers and drawers.

Must be laundry fairies.
Quite true. However, my wife also understands that the diesels change their own oil (magical diesels) and everytime a pump breaks or a head gets clogged, you simply need go shopping for some clothes or go out for a bite to eat (preferabbly at a fine, expensive restaurant) and everything is fixed when you return.

I have not had the heart to break the truth to her about the mainenance yet as our boat is new. Why does that make a difference? Well, because at this point in time, we have more laudry than things breaking!!

Ignorance is bliss.

- CD
 
#20 ·
Should we send this thread over to Her SailNet and see what kind of reaction we get?

LOLOL:D

I don't wanna stick around for THAT!!:cool:

TO ALL MEN:

The trick to keeping clean clothes is the following:

ALWAYS BUY CLOTHES WITH THE FOLLOWING LABEL:

 
#23 ·
Well guys..... we're scrod now!!!!!

:D


Once she let's the union know we're not as dumb as we act.........

Guess I'll go rinse off my apron...:cool:
 
#25 ·
I dunno Aj, the downside is then you might rat us out to get even...er, um, about that mysterious ineptitude with a screwdriver...it flares up every time I'm around a head in need of repair, and dies down again when it comes time to install the latest galley gadget I got at the boat show :)
 
#32 ·
Here's the way to handle the laundry

Just buy new all the time forget washing them.:D

Actually we own a coin laundry and some guy brought his sister in with a ton of laundry for us to wash. She was about 23 and for the last 9 months never did any laundry. She just bought new and after she wore it once or twice it went in the pile. No kidding. They were decent looking people too.
 
#38 ·
US Pirate-

I was going to ask if the pretty blond was your mistress...but I think you already answered that... and I'll give you a hint-if it is hanging out of your arse...you ain't wearing it...
 
#40 ·
Wind_magic-

LOL... yup... that would be correct...
 
#41 ·
Most people I suppose have a 20/30 liter waterproof plastic holdall on board. Fill with some water - add the cloths - washing powder, then seal and drop it in the anchor locker. Bounce it around for a while, or longer, and the clothes come out pretty clean.;)
 
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