Washer/drier yes or no what brand

[Scott Berg]

We've had a vented 2100 series Splendide for a dozen years
Used all the time, works fine on a Victron inverter. Great support from Westland Sales in the US.


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[Dave22q]

I guess it takes all kinds but the idea of wasting space and power on a washer or drier is strange to me. Between wash and wear clothing, soap in a bucket, and sun drying I think most boaters are fully equipped. Of course many marinas offer on site laundromats for a better wash job and bed linens. Laundry room on board? how about a hot tub or pool table?

[Dockhead]

The OP has a trawler -- he should install a full-sized domestic one, the best he can afford, ideally something like a Miele.

We have an Austrian Eudora/Eumenia 802 which washes and also dries (the door flips around to give you the drying element).

It has been incredibly reliable -- a real workhorse. It's a tough, heavy piece of overengineered Teutonic steel, and I love it.

Its only drawback is that it takes very, very small loads -- I think 4kg or maybe less. This is a pretty big disadvantage especially when you have a lot of linens to wash, which happens regularly on a boat which sleeps 7.

I will disagree with others and say the dryer is incredibly important. That might be a function of the climate I sail in, but for me the dryer is, if anything, even more important than the washer.

Would never want to have a boat without a washer/dryer again. Single best piece of domestic equipment; incredibly useful, saving vast amounts of time and trouble.

[DMCantor]

We have used our Splendide for 7 years and love it. When running off the inverter and battery power, it takes about 20 amp-hours to wash a load. Add another 20 amp-hours to run the watermaker to replenish the tanks. The drying function isn't really that useful: requires shorepower or generator, and takes forever to dry a very small load. That said, we have used it when faced with several rainy days in a row.

[Bulawayo]

We use a standard front loading washing machine - the spin eleement works so efficiently that we have never needed a drier. Previously, before the water maker was installed we used twin tubs which were very efficient with water. Wash your clothes, then spin them and only then rinse them as most saopy dirty water has then been spun out and it reduces the amount of rinse water required. I still think the twin tubs are the best - total control, but the automatics are just so easy. We have never had a diesel gen set and have always just used the invertor. Buy and use a standard wash machine, not the alleged marinised mchines.

[Pieter]

Having installed a Spectra Watermaker (12Volts) and 5 solar panels, we felt and are free from water and electricity constraints. So, installed a Camy washing machine (4 kg load), it fitted neatly under our sink in the galley (Fountain Pajot Cat 40ft). Drying clothes is no issue... We found it to be a great investment.
Best rgds
Pieter
SV Lumina
Lumina Charters – Brazilian Coastal Catamaran Sailing

[neptunesjester]

My crew would mutiny without the washer and dryer. I use the household style ones and they standup fine in the salt air marine environment. Last set ran for 10 years before needing replacement.

I find the dryer to be indispensable for quickly drying towels and such in high humidity environments. I purchased a natural gas dryer and performed a propane conversion on it using the oem supplied kit.

A 20lb propane tank will last for about 2 months of weekly laundry for two people. The dryer easily runs off an inverter at anchor.

The washer is a frontload high efficiency unit. It takes ~10 gallons of water for a load. A weeks worth of laundry will take about 40 gallons for 4 loads and is replenished with an hour run of the watermaker.



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[Bulawayo]

Hi Piet, Can you provide the model number of your Camy, please?
Cheers.

Originally Posted by neptunesjester

My crew would mutiny without the washer and dryer. I use the household style ones and they standup fine in the salt air marine environment. Last set ran for 10 years before needing replacement.

I find the dryer to be indispensable for quickly drying towels and such in high humidity environments. I purchased a natural gas dryer and performed a propane conversion on it using the oem supplied kit.

A 20lb propane tank will last for about 2 months of weekly laundry for two people. The dryer easily runs off an inverter at anchor.

The washer is a frontload high efficiency unit. It takes ~10 gallons of water for a load. A weeks worth of laundry will take about 40 gallons for 4 loads and is replenished with an hour run of the watermaker.



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[wrwakefield]

Our boat came with a vented Splendide that has now been in routine use [for 2] for 15 years. In that time, the drier heating element was replaced.

The previous owners had to dismantle the new unit, cut the chassis in half and re-assemble/reinforce the chassis in place in order to get it on our monohull sailboat. [Thank you Jack and Susan!]

When looking for our current boat, the Admiral wasn't convinced a washer dryer was anything more than a luxury. Having had one on a previous boat BA [Before Admiral] I had my own opinion. Now we will never have a boat without one.

I think this decision is influenced a lot by lifestyle choices and where you intend to cruise. We will soon be on the boat full time [we are in the process of selling a house...] and plan to continue our decades of exploring Alaska for the time being. Freeze drying laundry in winter is undesirable [but works...] and facilities are often weeks, if not months apart given our cruising itineraries and penchant for isolated areas.

We also prefer to stay remote and independent for as long as possible, and a washer dryer helps promote that lifestyle.

We often hang laundry inside the boat to finish drying after the very fast spin cycle. Our very efficient, small, compressor-less dehumidifier also has a clothes dry setting that works great. 30 mins and a full load is dry, with no new moisture introduced into the boat. [It only consumes 630 watts @ 110VAC on that setting, so easily runs on our inverter as well...]

Our Splendide runs just fine on our sine wave inverter [we don't run the dry cycle on the inverter to save the batteries. Also it didn't work with the modified sine wave (i.e., square wave) inverter the boat came with...]

Our 12 GPH water maker easily keeps up with our our needs running once a week. We often plan washing that requires drying when running the 10kw generator just to add some load to the genny...

The washing cycles are very efficient. The vented dryer works, but is far less efficient I think partially due to the small drums volume and relatively large loads we run. [In my previous experience, ventless drying is even less efficient- when you can get it to work at all...]

If you have the room and can justify the convenience, the decision is as easy as it is when you are living in a house... Of course, if one usually had access to laundry facilities and/or services...

Best wishes deciding what is ideal for you.

Cheers!

Bill

[kelbylinn]

We installed a new splendide about 3 years ago and all has been fine up until about a month ago. Seems we lost the control panel (mother board?). Getting service at the boat was damn near impossible and finally found an RV place who would come down and do the work. Parts that were ordered were wrong, and now waiting a replacement board to come in by the weekend and be installed. Still... the vented model dries pretty well, and since we use our 15KW generator a lot on our trawler power has not been a problem. It is darn convenient when one anchors out a lot. When we go to a marina, we don't like to have to hang around the laundry room there and would rather be exploring, walking our dogs, or trying out the local beers...

[Tom and Maje]

We have a Panda washer/dryer and love it. You still have to hang stuff out for about a half an hour, but it is light, will wash a set of queen sheets, doesn't take much water or soap, is inexpensive, and you can get it from Amazon. We've had ours for 2 years.

Maje

[Riverside]

We installed the Splendide vented 2100 xd in January, and I can't imagine life without it. We have been in the Bahamas the last 5 weeks and it is getting a workout.

We had a closet in our boat for a stackable, and the splendide fit perfectly on a shelf I built and we have storage underneath.

[darylat8750]

Wouldn't be without one. We are too old and cranky to haul to a launder mat .. Current one is like this Kmart.com and is more than 12 years old. If we ever replace we will go with front loader wash and gas dryer. Inverter will pull the washer fine but need genset for dryer.

[lordgeoff]

I bought 4 big washing machines in Lidl supermarket for €5 each.
Some people call them buckets.
We soak and rinse and hang out to dry anywhere we happen to be. .....

[Glacier Crews]

We have a vented to outside splendide washer/dryer installed in our 42 North Pacific Trawler last summer. Fits neatly in the closet in the guest berth.

It's a gem and it saves me a lot of time hauling things around in port, saves money, and we have not missed that closet at all.

Would not use the washer dryer for scatter rugs, but then I wouldn't use my own washer/dryer when I lived in The Bush ALASKA to clean scatter rugs either.

Works on shore power, works on generator, know a guy who runs his off of alternator when he's underway.

All depends on how you want to spend your time, how many people live aboard, and how often you are in a port.

If we are running on the generator, or on shore power it is way cheaper, in Alaska, than going ashore and paying $5.00 a load to wash and $3.00 a load (minimum) to dry; and the space you use to store your dirties is used to create the cleans without the smell hanging around.

Fresh water use is "very sippy"'as they say in Canada.