How do cruisers wash their clothes?

[mastreb]

I know this is going to sound kind of stupid, but how do those of you who cruise or who have lived aboard wash your clothes? I'd like to do a few weeks going around the channel islands here in CA next fall, but there are no services. Clothes washing is the last thing I've not figured out (aside from not being able to carry enough fresh water).

[yukonbob]

A lot of harbours here have laundry facilities available, and we use them when available. One good option is to take a clean 5 gallon bucket with lid, buy a new plunger (drill a bunch of holes in the plunger to allow water/soap to move through it, rather than just pushing water back and forth. Drill a hole to allow the plunger handle to come through the buckets lid. put clothes water and soap in, snap plunger lid on and churn like butter til you're content. Empty dry and store.

[Mac26Mpaul]

If you really like your gear, you can buy one of these:
https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_item ... lutePage=1

Personally, we don't get too carried away with washing on a cruise. We just use a big bucket with a bit of washing liquid and swish it around for a few minutes. then let it soak for 5 minutes (more if any really dirty cloths of course) and then swish it around a bit more. Then rinse with fresh water and hang out on the lifelines.

If your cruising grounds are salt water, you can use that on the wash and soak cycles if need be, and then just rinse with fresh.

[seahouse]

Good question mastreb. No personal experience, I'm not a cruiser*, but I do read .

Some old sailors use the action of the sea to provide agitation for washing clothes. Place the clothes and soap in a bucket, seal the lid and wait for as long as it takes – more in calmer conditions, less in rough seas. Often the motion of the boat is enough, but I always thought I would speed things up by tying a rope to the bucket and hanging it in the wake where it would get jostled around. Big loads would need a big bucket.

There is a plastic roll-it-over-the-ground bucket affair on the market made for the purpose of mixing small batches of concrete. I always thought that the same device, which has internal “agitator” baffles moulded into it, would work well for washing clothes too, especially if you already happen to have one.(I don't).

Some old sailors will also suggest a certain brand of soap that is more effective than others in salt water, but that is based on decades old chemistry, and therefore no longer applies. There is an abundance of brands of detergents on the consumer market (nothing against Joy) that have identical salt-water performance enhancing ingredients, and similar performance characteristics, as tested.

And a somewhat related issue - credible sources point out the logic of using sea water to wash the boat down, then using fresh water for the final rinse. This advice applies in the context of life at sea for lengthy periods, where keeping stainless steel hardware from corroding is a priority, and an abundance of fresh water is not available.

-B.
*but thanks, it's nice that you brought thoughts of cruising up for those of us in the middle of a snowstorm right now.

[DaveB]

Use JOY in a 5 gal. bucket. It Lathers great in Salt Water.
Ring well and put in a 2 gal. fresh water for rinse.
You can also collect rain water from your canvas for laundry.
Worked 3 years for me.
Dave

I know this is going to sound kind of stupid, but how do those of you who cruise or who have lived aboard wash your clothes? I'd like to do a few weeks going around the channel islands here in CA next fall, but there are no services. Clothes washing is the last thing I've not figured out (aside from not being able to carry enough fresh water).

[Sea Wind]

Caribbean style: you only wash when it rains, the problem is usually not the washing but the drying if it rains all day and then you have to deal with condensation. Try to us synthetic clothes, cotton takes forever to dry. For clothes and dishes Joy, for people we use camping soap like this one:
http://www.rei.com/product/692852/camps ... ottle-4-oz

Our drinking water is separate from the washing water. We use a flexible water tank connected to an electric faucet for washing, and 1 or 2 five gallon water containers under the dinette plus several 1 liter bottles in the bilge. We go through the big ones first to refill personal water bottles.

If you are really going to be away from any services for that long, don’t underestimate the amount of trash that you will generate. We try to only bring cans of soda and beer not bottles. BTW, how are you keeping the beer cold?

[Jeff L]

Mesh laundry bag tied to rope, overboard it goes, drag it in your wake...
Just make sure to keep an eye out for fish large enough to sample the
laundry. Fish small enough to get into bag would be a meal bonus...

[seahouse]

Um.

The beer's kept cold in a mesh bag overboard and washing the laundry?! Multitasking! I love it!

(Well, with the water temperatures we have here, at least) .

[seahouse]

Hey Dave!

Just to be clear so as not to appear to be stepping on your toes, the misconception is not that Joy works, but that it works exclusively. It might have been Practical Sailor, or one of the other sailing mags that tested years ago and found that just about any name-brand dish soap works well in salt water.

They were at a loss to explain the origin of the Joy story, just about every sailor (even me!) has heard it repeated, and it's been around almost as long as Joy has been on the market. (Which is quite a while)!

So I'm not contradicting anyone above, especially not you who has spent more years on the seas actually “living it” than most of us here.

Regards! -B.

[dlandersson]

"Oh Joy"

Hey Dave!

Just to be clear so as not to appear to be stepping on your toes, the misconception is not that Joy works, but that it works exclusively. It might have been Practical Sailor, or one of the other sailing mags that tested years ago and found that just about any name-brand dish soap works well in salt water.

They were at a loss to explain the origin of the Joy story, just about every sailor (even me!) has heard it repeated, and it's been around almost as long as Joy has been on the market. (Which is quite a while)!

So I'm not contradicting anyone above, especially not you who has spent more years on the seas actually “living it” than most of us here.

Regards! -B.

[March]

by Jeff L » Sat Dec 14, 2013 11:01 pm


Mesh laundry bag tied to rope, overboard it goes, drag it in your wake...

Overboard it goes, and overboat it should stay until you return to harbor. Clothes washed in briny water take forever to dry up, leaving traces of salt behind. A real pleasure when it comes to chafing, especially between one's legs.

[K9Kampers]

Cruisers wear clothes??!!

[Freedom77]

We wash our clothes in Tide because it to D... cold to wash them out Tide. Do what a lot of folks do on Lake Mead. Don't wear any clothes. Fair winds and full sails...Old Salt.

[fouz]

We wash our clothes in Tide because it to D... cold to wash them out Tide.

*Slow clap*

[mastreb]

BTW, how are you keeping the beer cold?

Five gallon bucket with a plunger--solved! And useful in so many other ways...

The trick to beer is to drink beer designed by sailors for sailors on long voyages: India Pale Ales. They were brewed specifically to be drunk warm during long voyages (to India) at sea. They're super hoppy and bitter so they taste best around 68 degrees and are fine at any room temperature.

Because most of them are craft brewed they're a bit hard to find in a bottle, but one of my all time favorites, Ballast Point Sculpin is available in cans.

As for trash, yes: We tend to go "camp style" and use paper/plastic settings to avoid carrying too much. We'll have to switch to dishes for cruising for sure. We also eat canned and those new mylar bag foods almost exclusively because we don't (and won't) be using a fridge, so that generates a lot of trash as well.

I've bought a kayak and am going to teach myself to fish next so we can eat more from the sea. Tried kelp--it was okay, but I don't think I'll be making it a big part of my diet.

Matt