Laundry

[Janice]

Wash in a bucket like above. Check out DynaJet.com for SS wringers. I love ours.

[zeehag]

the plunge ri use is a small one i find at 99cent stores in usa and in mega downhere--is for sinks and basins.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Jane.Joy

YES, that kind of plunger. Most cruisers I know have a plunger DEDICATED to non-toilet use.

Remember, it is the combination of agitation, soaking, and cleaning agent(s) that gets the clothes clean. Don't forget the "sit and have a beer" part of the laundry cycle.

Try the long handled potato masher instead of a plunger. Much more durable and you can really beat the hell out of your laundry without splashing everywhere.

[Roy M]

Rebel Heart defined the chemistry of washing clothes: The real crud on our clothes is from us, our body oils that have begun to oxidize and become "aromatic", which then pick up dirt at an accelerated rate and get really grungy. Whether you make soap with ashes, boiling water and fat, like the pioneers, or add the strong base of ammonia, it converts the yucky body crud into a crude soap that disengages yuck from the fibers of our clothes. It's a process called saponification. All the washing machine or the plunger does is agitate to get the solution into all the little corners of the textile, loosens its grip on dirt, and helps it rinse away. My personal favorite is strapping the five gallon bucket of clothes and suds to the pulpit and go sail to weather for a while. A wringer, though, beats squeezing the soggy stuff all to heck. Then you just need enough fresh water to rinse the crud and soap out. Salt water rinses just leave clothes with enough salt residue to capture the moisture out of the air and make clothes mildew. But nothing beats an automatic washing machine and dryer. It sort of like the observation that seasickness can be cured by lying for an hour in the shade of an apple tree.

[Ballenxj]

Originally Posted by Jane.Joy

YES, that kind of plunger. Most cruisers I know have a plunger DEDICATED to non-toilet use.

Remember, it is the combination of agitation, soaking, and cleaning agent(s) that gets the clothes clean. Don't forget the "sit and have a beer" part of the laundry cycle.

THANKS! I never would have thought of that.
-Bruce

[terminalcitygrl]

Originally Posted by micah719

Btw, anyone making their own soap? What's the trick at making seawater soap?

Hi concentration of coconut oil - like 80%+ and no super fat.

[ohdrinkboy]

Can't believe no on has said......stop wearing clothes!

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by FSMike

Laundry offshore? Run a line through the various pant legs, shirt sleeves, etc. and loop the line from one stern cleat to the other. Drag behind boat for an hour or so, then fresh water rinse. You'll be amazed at how clean things get. The price is right too.

The question is how much fresh water does it take to rinse out all the salt?

I prefer shoreside (marina) facilities. You don't have to stay at the marina to use their laundry in many cases, may have to pay a small fee to use the dinghy dock.
Generally I stop at a marina every 3-4 weeks, fill up water tanks, do laundry, provisioning, etc, and leave the next day.
Tom

[John A]

Every small town I stoped at in Mexico, Cental America, the Caribbean and the Bahamas had an enterprising local woman who would wash, dry, and fold my clothes. Sometimes they did pick-up and delivery to the anchorage.

[zeehag]

there are 4 or more of the "flap n fold" laundresses here and zero laundromats. the ladies do a good job of laundry and charge reasonable fees for service.
there used to be laundry pick up and delivery to the marina, but i have seen none of that since i arrived in this locale.
dinghy dock is 20 pesos, daily, and includes non potable water.

[micah719]

Originally Posted by terminalcitygrl

Hi concentration of coconut oil - like 80%+ and no super fat.

You little beauty! I love coconut....thanks for the tip!

Now, how to stop me licking my clothes....

[svpattyd]

The plunger will also work to unclog ur sink or keep u attached to the hull while u scrape the prop. Tools must do more than one thing to earn a place aboard.

[Ballenxj]

Originally Posted by svpattyd

Tools must do more than one thing to earn a place aboard.

Sounds like good advice.
-Bruce

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by teejayevans

The question is how much fresh water does it take to rinse out all the salt?

I prefer shoreside (marina) facilities. You don't have to stay at the marina to use their laundry in many cases, may have to pay a small fee to use the dinghy dock.
Generally I stop at a marina every 3-4 weeks, fill up water tanks, do laundry, provisioning, etc, and leave the next day.
Tom

We don't carry a lot of clothes. I have maybe four shirts, three or four pairs of underwear, a couple pairs of shorts, and a couple pairs of swim trunks. In warm conditions, things get dirty quick.

I'll about doing laundry the "right" way via machines, but it's really handy to knock out some clothes underway or in a remote anchorage. I'm not going to effectively wash our blankets in a 5 gallon bucket, so no matter what we're hitting up the real laundry when we can. But no reason to not be able to clean frequently used items underway.

[bobconnie]

We have mentioned this before on other washing threads, make bag out of some leftover nylon netting, put your clothing in this bag, hook top of bag to a line attached to your stern rail, toss in some salt water soap, toss overboard, drag for an hour or until ya think about it and pull in. wring rinse and dry !! whites are whiter and things are real clean!! we only wear shorts and a tee shirt at sea unless it cold LOL and we wash every week or so at sea !! we will use shore side laundry services if available ! But the sea bag has worked for us for 20 + years ! ya used to able to get these bags at surplus stores left over from the Navys laundry services!! Just our 2 cents