Laundry and Hot Water Showers

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. Even on a bigger boat it can be a challenge to keep things "fresh". The more successful you are with it will help lead to a more sustainable lifestyle longer term. Over the years, we have found getting the wash & rinse water removed to be the tough part of the laundry task when a laundry facility is not readily available ashore. If you have the opportunity to procure a wringer, you won't regret it. We found this one on E-Bay for around $30 USD. Cheers.

[DeborahLee]

Sail naked. Eliminates the dirty clothes problem.

[motion30]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Being around clutches, winches, flying rope ends with figure 8 knots etc always made me a little nervous. So i wore my Speedo alot!

in

You are braggin

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by DeborahLee

Sail naked. Eliminates the dirty clothes problem.

But then you would need long daily showers, with all that oil and grease in the engine room and all

[wsmurdoch]

In the Bahamas we anchor out for 4 months each year.

Laundry is almost always done ashore in a coin op laundry. The thing to have is a Gill 100 liter dry bag from Defender to bring the clean clothes back to the boat dry. Nothing is quite so annoying as spending time and money getting everything clean only to have it soaked with salt water spray on the dinghy trip back.

If we want, we can shower in the head with hot water, but it is a real pain to dry up the mess afterwards. The usual drill is a swim with Joy followed by a fresh water rinse with an orchard sprayer sitting in the cockpit. Our sprayer is a cheap one with the nozzle cut off and a kitchen sink rinse nozzle and hose attached in its place. The secret is to plug up every other hole in the nozzle with hot melt glue to cut down on water usage and make the spray a bit more energetic.

We have no watermaker and rely on rain when it rains, free water carried from shore in 5 gal collapsable jugs when we can find it, and $.25/gal water when all else fails. We can catch rainwater on our deck, off the sun awning, or off the mainsail.

Bill Murdoch
1988 PCS 34
Irish Eyes
www.Irish-Eyes-to-the-Bahamas.blogspot.com

[Cheechako]

Yes to the salt wash and Joy. A stern shower nozzle is one of the handier things I ever added to a couple of my boats. Rinse the salt off where it drains and evaporates fast!

[boatman61]

Gotta get round to meeting this Joy character... she seems well popular....

[Seahunter]

Originally Posted by sailor49

Concerning Small Sailing vessels(28ft-35ft) I have a simple question, How in the world do you maintain a clean fresh wardrobe (laundry) and take a fresh water hot shower as often as you need with out being the cause of local air pollution?

As in the classic "Jaws" ~ "You're gonna need a bigger boat." And we love our hot showers and washer/dryer.

P.S. Are water makers worth the astronomical expense???

Expense is in the eye of the beholder. Again, we love ours.

As stated before, one can go to sea on a pallet of "Coors Light", but I ask; why?

[sailor49]

I want to thank everyone for your input on the subject I broached. I've learned a few things and given thought to idea's that came from hearing from you. Now all I have to do is find some one who will take over my house so i can leave and spend what little money i have on a boat and join you good people in far away places. If the good Lord is willing that will take place before i get so old as to not care to start on such an adventure. Time, that element in every life which has so much control over the things that happen in it. May each of you have it in abundance. Good Day.

[onestepcsy37]

money.

"money isn't the only thing you get to spend in your life.
you also get to spend.... your life.
and the difference between the two, is,
you can always look in your bank book and see how much money you've got left."

wish i'd said that, but i didn't. it was sailing writer herb payson. but i got the message. you can figure out how much money you've got, but how do you figure how many days you've got?

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

money.

"money isn't the only thing you get to spend in your life.
you also get to spend.... your life.
and the difference between the two, is,
you can always look in your bank book and see how much money you've got left."

wish i'd said that, but i didn't. it was sailing writer herb payson. but i got the message. you can figure out how much money you've got, but how do you figure how many days you've got?

The part you're leaving out is that if you don't manage the money well enough you'll end up paying for it in days chopped off your life in stress and squalor.

As usual, the answer is balance. Spend what you can afford to spend without living beyond your means. Sometimes that means a water maker and a diamond studded trained orca on a leash named Mr. Bigglestrump. Sometimes it means a pallet of Coors light and bucket in the sun.

[SailFastTri]

Just another data point -- although we have engine-heated hot water the first night at anchor, the second night we find the solar shower is better than running the engine just to heat water. If you don't have time in the sun you can always add some stove-heated water to a bag and make a comfortable temperature. If you need privacy or it's cool out we find the sun shower can be hung above the bathroom hatch and you need only have it open enough to let the hose through. A quick wipe with a clean rag or dirty towel dries the head compartment after.

[Adelie]

+10 on the wringer idea. If you wash in fresh or salt, wringing before rinsing saves a lot of rinse water.

USA Made*|*Home*|*Our Good Wringer - Lehmans.com
Clothes Wringer @ Survival Unlimited.com - Residential and commercial hand clothes wringers
Dyna Jet Hand Wringer: for clothes and chamois - Models BL-44 and BL-38

Looks like $100-150 for a new wringer.
Cheaper than installing extra water tankage and easier on the hands.

[zeehag]

i use my stays and shrouds in lieu of wringers--saves money.

[beachlvr0168]

Originally Posted by bella

Well IF it is a small boat... wallmart sells a very nice "sunshower" black platsic heats up in the sun, holds 5 gallons.

Before that we used those 2-5 gallon insecticide spray things.. fill with water, sit in sun heat up..then pump up to make the hot water spray.

Personally I just sit on the back transom and take my bath with a two 1n galon pitchers.. one to pour the salt water as I bath and a galon to rinse my hair and pour over me.. to get the salt off..

Define comfort... I have lived on everything from a 25 footer to a 45 footers and the right range for me is about 30-32 feet.. Oday 30 1978-82 models have pretty much all the amenities.. including showers.

We have a 32ft Oday center cockpit. Love it!