On board clothes washing machine

[gunkylump]

Our boat is on the east coast, and we'll be headed for a two year cruise in the Caribbean starting next year.

The Commodore wishes to have a clothes washing machine on board, yes, we have a watermaker and good solar power.

My question is: What type of washing machine is "best" and should we have installed here on the east coast of the U.S. or somewhere in the Caribbean?

Thanks!

gunk

[Mark1977]

I have seen one of these before, very compact and seems to work well.
Portable Washing Machine | eBay

[colemj]

You are going to attempt to put a washing machine in a 29' boat? Personally, I think that is a big mistake. In the Caribe, your clothing cleaning needs will be minimal (you are not going continue to wear thick cotton stuff are you?). You will give up a large amount of valuable storage space for a machine that will not be used all that often. We have a 40' catamaran and find storage space to be valuable and short.

Mark

[Cap Erict3]

High tech

[Julian55]

Originally Posted by colemj

You are going to attempt to put a washing machine in a 29' boat? Personally, I think that is a big mistake. In the Caribe, your clothing cleaning needs will be minimal (you are not going continue to wear thick cotton stuff are you?). You will give up a large amount of valuable storage space for a machine that will not be used all that often. We have a 40' catamaran and find storage space to be valuable and short.

Mark

Rumour has it that Gunkylump has an addition to his fleet. A very nice Stevens 47 perhaps?

[bevcory]

Personally the two things I hate doing cruising - washing clothse and missing ice. I have bought a little ice maker ($100 from Walmart) and looking for a washing machine. Okay I have a watermaker, good solar panels, a wind generator. Ice is wonderful. After many years cruising I am over hand washing and lugging laundry. Heading to St. Maarten when weather is good - there is a good french unit which another Maxim owner has fitted. Yes I have a 38 foot cat so do have the room. Just remember everything is cheaper ordering in the USA

[sy_gilana]

We have a twin tub, bought in Panama for $99.00 its fantastic plastic and elastic...
We save water by washing in liquid ammonia solution, needs no rinsing.

[bevcory]

WOW - I am in Curacao so maybe I should head to Panama instead!

[roetter]

We installed an LG from Best Buy on a cat. Works great.

+1 on the $99 ice maker. Ours is from Home Depot. Beats the $1800 factory option any time and saves on space.

[dlymn]

For the last 3 years we have been handwashing and hanging the wash on the lifelines. We always had to wait for a laundromat in port to wash the sheets and that's not easy in the Med. This year we bought a Little Duckling single tub washing machine. It's small but could probably wash 2 double bed sheets at the same time. The spin dry is not so good . Cost $150 delivered to my door. Get onto Aliexpress and search for the washing machine style you want. You can also find them in outdoor and camping stores. Ours is a top loader. It's hard to find mini front loaders; there's one in Europe (Candy Products UK - AQUA 100F Aquamatic) but is more expensive than a 9kg front loader. Front loaders use much less water, and require much less space because you don't have to allow for the lid to open.

We fill with a bucket and gravity empty back into the bucket because these washers aren't set up for pressured water supply and disposal.

Clothing comes out great.

Whatever you decide, make sure that it is VERY securely tied to the boat; the last thing you want to deal with in a knock-down is a flying washing machine.

[Kashmir cat]

We have a Splendide 2000 washer dryer on our catamaran. It was installed by the original owner and was never used. It remains unused. There it sits in a hanging locker gathering boat dust.
Most of your daily wear (shorts, t-shirts, swimming suits, underwear) can be easily washed by hand and hung out to quickly dry in the warm trade winds of the Caribbean. When the rest of your laundry gradually builds up (bed linens,slacks, towels,etc.), you can easily find a laundry service in any of the islands. We averaged about 2 months between island laundry runs while cruising in our previous boat that was not washer/dryer equipped.
Maybe someday we will use our washer/dryer, but so far we really haven't felt the need.

[bobconnie]

Been washing our stuff overboard in a nylon net bag with salt water soap! put stuff in bag, add soap attach line and toss overboard, drag for a few hours, pull in and rinse with small amount of fresh water, hang on lifelines and dry! No cost except for the surplus navy net laundry bag, and some salt water soap! Been washing our stuff this way for over 35 yrs and it works !! Just an old timers thought!

[Deck Scrubber]

We just brought this one in Aus, it's great, and saves a lot of water, we have it stored on a spare bunk, and it's light enough to lift up and down, when I wash I just sit it in the shower and the water just drains away.

[Mark1977]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Been washing our stuff overboard in a nylon net bag with salt water soap! put stuff in bag, add soap attach line and toss overboard, drag for a few hours, pull in and rinse with small amount of fresh water, hang on lifelines and dry! No cost except for the surplus navy net laundry bag, and some salt water soap! Been washing our stuff this way for over 35 yrs and it works !! Just an old timers thought!

We still wash our clothes like that while we are offshore fishing.

[Matt Johnson]

Just about every place has a laundry drop off, and they are typically cheap! We don't even have to fold anything ourselves. Just buy a few more pairs of underwear, and you're good to go.