Washing Machine

This must be an obvious question, but how does everyone go about washing their clothes when they liveaboard. Is it a big hassle? I've always wondered

Greetings,
Mr. 64. Commando...

Most Krogen 42s have a washing machine on board. On Bay Pelican we are at anchor so it is a question of power and water. Since we have a 110 v washing machine we are able to run it off the inverter. A load takes an hour so we frequently start 30 minutes before we are otherwise going to run the generator and then run the generator for the last 30 minutes of the wash.

Since we have been in the Eastern Caribbean we have have not regularly used the dryer portion. Clothes which are hanged in the pilot are dry very quickly.

Laundromat because on my 40 Albin, no real good place for a machine....

Plus, scheduling a marina with decent laundry facilities every 7 to 10 days is no big deal on the Atlantic ICW.

At home marina, use a great laundromat about 5 miles away.

We have a Splendide vented combo unit, and it's bee chugging along and doing our clothes for the past 5 years.

W/D on board. Run from a generator if away from the dock.

Vented Splendide washer drier on my boat. Works extremely well! An overnight stop at a marina is automatically laundry day. Will also run it off the generator. 11 gallons of water per load is the other requirement.

Ted

We too have a Splendide washer/dryer although ours is the much criticized non vented type. It is awesome! Not sure why people complain about them as ours is simply awesome!
Bruce

Standard household Simpson front loader.
Solar puts in more power than the machine uses.
Have 4 lines full width off of shade structure on top deck for drying.
Double peg to prevent things blowing away.

Five gallon Rotella bucket and some Tide.

I'm married I don't need a washing machine

Bruce B said:

We too have a Splendide washer/dryer although ours is the much criticized non vented type. It is awesome! Not sure why people complain about them as ours is simply awesome!
Bruce

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We also have the much hated non vented Splendi.

Great machine! Washes great and dries good enough.

I find non-vented combo units better than nothing, vented combo units better than non-vented combos, and separate units better than combos. But you can't always get (or fit) what you want, so we use whatever works.

Great one

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. 64. Commando...

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Lol

Britannia said:

W/D on board. Run from a generator if away from the dock.

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Same here.

We had a non-vented Splendide-type WD. We actually loved it but referred to it as a Washer/Warmer as it never fully dried clothes, but it did make them nice and warm!. Ran off the generator. It finally stopped working so we ended up putting in a portable Panda washer with a hi-speed spinner/dryer. Very labor intensive! Not automatic like real washing machines. But better than not having one, especially with a 6-yr old onboard. Went with the portable unit as a vented Splendide will not fit, since they are about 4 inches deeper, which would stick out into our aft stairwell. Someday we'll reconfigure stuff in the engine room and install a vented WD.

I think that answers your question that there are multiple ways to do it. Larger boats have regular washers and dryers, mid sized boats often have combo units. I do prefer Miele's Combo units to Splendide simply because they do more volume of laundry in the same time. However, the Splendide are very popular and for a couple of people can handle the volume. Then many boaters, even of larger boats, prefer not to deal with washing and drying on board as in the areas most of us cruise, washers and dryers are a regular feature of marinas.

Of all the live aboard challenges, I'd say laundry is one of the least problems to be faced.

BandB said:

I think that answers your question that there are multiple ways to do it. Larger boats have regular washers and dryers, mid sized boats often have combo units. I do prefer Miele's Combo units to Splendide simply because they do more volume of laundry in the same time. However, the Splendide are very popular and for a couple of people can handle the volume. Then many boaters, even of larger boats, prefer not to deal with washing and drying on board as in the areas most of us cruise, washers and dryers are a regular feature of marinas.

Of all the live aboard challenges, I'd say laundry is one of the least problems to be faced.

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Obviously, you have never hauled 10 days of laundry up a 35' slimy ladder in a place like St Andrews or even just up the hill in Northeast Harbor.
I am so happy to have the washer/dryer on our boat, mostly as our cruising is typically not dock to dock.
One of the other revelations we had with our first washer was the fact that you simply need fewer clothes. No longer must I plan for 10 days between washings with backup reserves!
Loving it!
Bruce

Bruce B said:

Obviously, you have never hauled 10 days of laundry up a 35' slimy ladder in a place like St Andrews or even just up the hill in Northeast Harbor.
I am so happy to have the washer/dryer on our boat, mostly as our cruising is typically not dock to dock.
One of the other revelations we had with our first washer was the fact that you simply need fewer clothes. No longer must I plan for 10 days between washings with backup reserves!
Loving it!
Bruce

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Well, I'm happy to have washer and dryer too, but those with different cruising styles are often happy without. Solution on a boat of any size is to have on board.

With our combo Splendide we have only one appliance. Thus we have an 12 cubic feet of storage space that would otherwise be used by the dryer. In this space we have built two cabinets. One above the washer and one below. In these we are able to store all of our cleaning supplies both for the boat and the clothes..

Bay Pelican said:

With our combo Splendide we have only one appliance. Thus we have an 12 cubic feet of storage space that would otherwise be used by the dryer. In this space we have built two cabinets. One above the washer and one below. In these we are able to store all of our cleaning supplies both for the boat and the clothes..

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We had an older Splendide non-vented on our boat deck. It had a rusty top but still worked. Just threw it in the dump. Small, small loads, dryer useless. Will use marina facilities when cruising. Love the additional space we now have.

We have the Splendide 2100XC vented. We love it. Great when you are away from civilization.

NEW Splendide 2100XC (WD2100XC) washer-dryer

We also have a Splendide vented. However for drying we have a couple clotheslines in the flybridge.

We have a vented Splendide. It has run a load just about every single day for 8+ years now. We seldom run the dryer, preferring to hang cloths in our sun room. i could not imagine being full time cruisers without it. No lugging laundry, no waiting for the wash to be doe, no fighting for machines. We have to run the generator once a day at anchor to charge the batteries, and so doing laundry at the same time requires no additional generator time.

tadhana said:

We have a vented Splendide. It has run a load just about every single day for 8+ years now. We seldom run the dryer, preferring to hang cloths in our sun room. i could not imagine being full time cruisers without it. No lugging laundry, no waiting for the wash to be doe, no fighting for machines. We have to run the generator once a day at anchor to charge the batteries, and so doing laundry at the same time requires no additional generator time.

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You pointed to a very important tip too. Run a load every day. You have less capacity than at your land home so are forced to run smaller loads and the answer is simple, run more loads and don't let it accumulate.

BandB said:

You pointed to a very important tip too. Run a load every day. You have less capacity than at your land home so are forced to run smaller loads and the answer is simple, run more loads and don't let it accumulate.

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Yup Yup Yup!

Oh, and the Miele I touted so that was faster and handled more volume than the Splendide...as far as I can tell, they appear to have dropped it from their line.

We have a standard Sears apartment stacked washer/dryer. We run it with the generator or when at the dock. Works great.

HenryD said:

We have a standard Sears apartment stacked washer/dryer. We run it with the generator or when at the dock. Works great.

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We have Miele slim stacked on the boat we're on, but some people don't even the space for that. In their case the Splendide vented is great. Also, we have more people aboard and more laundry. Two people can do great with the combo Splendide unit.

We have a Majestic combo, that according to the papers, came from Sears. Never have used it but I am curious if anyone else has experience with this brand?