washer / dryer

Would like opinions on the option of having a washer / dryer on board. Is it a luxury or necessity?

I think its a necessity just to cut down on doing the big loads. It so nice just to do bathing suits and towels and When we are cruising thats what we wear the most. We very rarely use the dryer when cruising we like hanging are clothing on the rails . The problem having a washer is the water usage we have never run out . But we have alot of friends run out and had to pick up the hook and head to the beach.

For short cruises a couple of days, if you hit the dock on a regular bases or a live a board its a Luxury.* We have a washer and drier but have used if very seldom in the 14+ years owning the boat and 12+ years of being a live a board.* The washer uses a lot of water and the drier uses a lot of AC electricity.* Both are limited resources on a boat, even with 400 gallons of water and 2 gen sets.*Once a week I do the laundry while doing the grocery shopping, filling the water tanks*and other errands.* If the washer and/or drier quite, I*would not replace them.**







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How do uoi like your pain, big gulps or slow torture?

The tiny boat or RV units are a joke , the house sized items big and heavy.

Living aboard , most marinas have a laundry room , so a weekly visit is a snap.

Cruising , simply have loads! of clothes (dirty clothes stuffed in a bag take little room) and wait for the laundromats with high grade equippment.

One can wash and dry 6 loads in the same time as 1 with Wascomats , and the 3 rinses get the soap stink out.

Folding does take time,

FF

I've had Splendide types on my last two boats. As a liveaboard, I consider them necessities. Sure beats hauling stuff back and forth in freezing (or warm) rain. I had a over/under type which I prefer, but when it went out the space wouldn't allow me to replace it. That's why I went to the Splendide again. For those, vented or unvented doesn't matter... they dry the same. Just have to get used to doing smaller loads more often.

Hello Keith i agree with you i could not live without it. We have the same unit as you and if you do small loads its great.

kevkat wrote:

Would like opinions on the option of having a washer / dryer on board. Is it a luxury or necessity?

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We don't have them, so my recommendation is not based on personal experience using them.* But if you have the space, water,*power, and plumbing I would highly recommend them.* Actually, my wife would highly recommend them.* While FF is certainly correct that one can do larger loads in shoreside washers and dryers, the issue for*us*has been the time it takes.*

On longer cruises we mix our destinations between remote(ish) anchorages and harbors.* We pick the harbors we want to visit based on how interesting they are and the kinds of things you can do there.* So the last thing we---- sorry, my wife--- wants to do is spend a couple of hours lugging a couple of loads of clothes to the laundrette, washing them, drying them, and lugging them back to the boat.* There is almost no time of day*to do this that it does not put a big dent in her plans to enjoy the town.* We have the same problem on our narrowboat holidays in the UK, where we have to haul our clothes into the nearest town and find a laundrette.* Byt the time it's all said and done a couple of hours or even more have been pissed away.

While having a small combo on board will dictate small loads, the fact you can wash things as you use them means your loads will be smaller anyway.

We can't fit a washer and dryer, or a combo unit, in our boat so it's a non-issue for us.* But if you can accomodate them, and can find a reliable unit or units, I would say go for it, particularly if your cruising plans involve spending stretches of time away from a port facility.

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-- Edited by Marin on Thursday 7th of January 2010 11:16:34 PM

In my experience the washer is nice to have, but the dryer in a combo is almost worthless. We had a splendide in our last boat, which is a good quality unit - well built and dependable. The problem is in the design, since the dryer is limited to 110 volts, so it's like drying your clothes with a hair dryer. We could never get a load of towels dry.

On the other hand, the washer was nice. In most of the marinas that have a laundry room, the machines are in poor shape. Not a knock on marina operators, the machines are in almost constant use and badly treated by us boaters.

So our view is a "nice to have", but not necessary, item.

RED wrote:"In my experience the washer is nice to have, but the dryer in a combo is almost worthless."

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I could not agree more. I had a Splendide on my 54' sport fisher and it was worthless!
I couldn't wash many clothes and like RED said, they took forever to dry.( I think that's true but I never stayed on the boat long enough to see if the clothes EVER dried.)

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So, Splendide is less than aqcceptable. But as previously noted, *if you have the space and proper utilities--- there are some good options. In the PNW on long cruises a washer dryer setup provides a nice level of freedom. Our boat has a stacked Bosch setup; washer with dryer on top. Hookup is 220V and it really does the job. I saw the same units in Lowes for apartment dwellers. Our ER is a*good drying place for wet clothes that we don't want to put in the dryer like sweats, blankets etc. Clothes washing/drying, coffee making, egg cooking,battery charging etc all*coincide with running the genset before departing an early AM anchorage. In the PM it takes about 15 minutes on the genset to dry towels after a shower.

-- Edited by sunchaser on Saturday 9th of January 2010 06:43:03 PM

In addition to living aboard, we run a charter operation, as as a result, we have lots of laundry to do.* I can not imagine lugging laundry to a shore side laundromat, then sitting there for hours while it washes and drys.* Sure you can leave and run to the store or a restaurant, but you run the risk of someone messing with your laundry.* Sure our dryer takes longer than the ones on the shore, but I'd rather be able to do other things while I wait. The washer uses large amounts of water, and the drier lots of power, but we wait until we are tied to the dock to use them. We can only run two of three large power consumers at once (washer, drier,or water heater) but it's not hard to manage. * All things being equal, I would always choose the boat with the washer and the drier.* I have too many things to do to spend my time sitting in the laundromat (assuming there is even one available nearby)................Arctic Traveller

Trawler training and yacht charters at www.arcitctraveller.com

I have too many things to do to spend my time sitting in the laundromat (assuming there is even one available nearby)................Arctic Traveller

I concur. And I dont even have a washer or dryer on board. Years ago I laid down the law. No laundry stops! It means we have to carry enough fresh clothing to last the whole trip. You would be surprised how low your standards can slip when you have to wear previously worn undies again, just to avoid the dreaded laundry stop.

You have to "learn" how to use a Splendide type WD. The problem is that they will wash twice what they will dry, so if you load it up, the clothes won't dry, at least in one cycle. You just have to get used to washing more often, with smaller loads. They'll never work like a separate washer and dryer in your home, but then they don't use all that water and space. Everything's a tradeoff. I'd be using mine right now, but because of the freezing weather the water's off in the marina. It was warmer in Vancouver this week than in Houston, TX!

Hello Keith i have the same unit. How much water do you think it uses ? I love the machine but i have no paperwork on it . We have been using it for six years living aboard. Like you said you just have to know how to use it. In the summer we do big loads and just air dry the cloths on the rails or on a clothing rack in the flybridge.
In the winter we have to do small loads and send stuff out to dryclean .

I've got the docs, but off the top of my head it takes maybe 15 gallons or a bit more / load for normal washes.

"When we go into a marina it is easier to go to a laundramat and use 4 washers at ONE time and get it done as opposed to spending all day doing laundry on brd in a small washer and dryer."


This is our experience too.

Many towns have the laundromat near enough to a food store that multitasking is EZ.

2 big Maytag's or Wascomat's will do the equal of 12 Splendide loads in 20 min
AND the Wascomats will have 3 rinses so the clothes loose the soap smell.

Drying in 4 dryers at a time will reduce the time to a bit over 1/2 hour.

So an hour total every two weeks makes up for at least a dozen tiny loads and 2 dozen long drying events from the tiny on board systems.

FF

Well i guess when crusing it is not needed .**I know i could not live without my unit living aboard in the winter in the northeast. We spend one Saturday a month sending the big suff out. And that is enough for me but we are both working .* You guy's cruising only go to the dock every other week? How much water do you hold?

charles wrote:

Here is our experience. Traveling as opposed to staying on brd at the dock, for 6-7 mos at a time for the past 4 yrs we would NOT have a washer and dryer.

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Clearly, there are two different schools of thought expressed here.* It's a bit like, single or twin, chain or rode, planing or displacement.* Each one of us has preferences for how we use our boat, and I expect those preferences* evolve as we gain more experience with our particular models and cruising lifestyle.* Deciding how comfortable one is going to the shore side laundromat on some regular schedule would seem to be a major factor in this decision, in addition to things like water capacity, electrical capacity, and storage capacity.* In our case, our small home type units do a pretty good job, but certainly not as good as a laundromat. The trade off is not having to haul large loads up the dock. Here in Alaska, it rains a lot, dock carts are not always available, and the laundromats may be a mile or more away.* Now that I think about it, I really should get more exercise, perhaps I'm missing something here...........Arctic Traveller *

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AT you are right on. Washer dryer discussion is like twins vs single or driplees vs drip. Those who dont have them dont want them. those that have them love them. ALL DAY DOING WASH huh! My washer and dryer take no longer than at home per load, they are only about 75% the size though.*

I looked at a Sea Ray 41 yesterday with a washer dryer combo. If I buy the boat, the washer/dryer must go. Anyone know how to get the **** thing out. I've been told there are 2 ways, disassemble half the boat or cut it up. Anyone know how to cut it up. I don't think my chain saw will work.

Why does the washer-dryer need to go, just out of curiosity? Often larger appliances like refrigerators, stoves, etc. are taken in and out of a boat through a window. Sometimes the window has to be removed to do it. In our GB, for example, when we had the original stove/oven removed and replaced with a Force 10, they went out and came in through the opening center window in the windshield. We will soon be replacing our refrigerator, and we will use the same opening.

Why would you take it out?