16' Series Clothes Washing

[NickM87]

Hi all Myself , wife and 2 year old son will be doing a 7 week trip in feb from perth as far as brisbane and back following the coast and am starting to think about the washing situation.should I buy a small washing mashine or hand washers like sold at camp stores or just cough up each time we need to wash which realistically the way my boy gets dirty every 3 days at least?

Nick

 

[crackacoldie]

We carried a sealable bucket for some washing on our big trip, found it easiest just to cough up once a week at a caravan park or laundromat

 

[davemc]

interested to know as well. Before we got our van I thought a small one empty into sink. Although as the sink takes so long to empty I can see a flood coming. So those who use a portable one where do you put it in the annex?

 

[mfexpanda]

We just use the CP ones.

 

[Dede]

Hi Nick
We use to use caravan parks but after a 12 week trip I calculated that I had put over $300 into the washing machines. Thus I bought a wonder washer, hand washer. Picked it up for $10 from an Op Shop. We mostly do summer camping, so washing tshirts, shorts etc is done every 2nd day. It can even take beach towels, but wringing them out is a chore. Thus beach towels, bath towels, sheets etc are done at the laundry once a week. I don't like using their washing machines as some people can be pretty dirty, also van parks that allow dogs, I have seen people wash their dog blankets etc in the machine. A bit of antiseptic in the wash doesn't hurt. I normally take my little machine over to the laundry as its easier access to water etc. Also I insist that my "teenagers" wash their jocks out in the shower every day and hang them up at the van. I hope this helps.
Dede

 

[@nnie]

I haven't done this myself, but friends who frequently travelled, bought a sealable bucket and filled it with water and detergent. They would put the bucket with clothes in the car/van when driving around, and when they reach their destination, clothes are clean and ready to just rinse and hang. They always had clean clothing, towels and bedding.

 

[Dede]

As @Annie says, this works and if you use woolwash you don't have to rinse!!!

 

[grinner914]

We have 2 young boys who love to get grotty and usually need a change of clothes each day. After a 2 week stint at a caravan park on the Gold Coast a few years ago, we calculated we had spent at least $150 over those 2 weeks on using the washing machines. Another time we were bush camped on the Murray river when one of the boys got sick with the spews, and for a few days in a row we had to make the 70km round trip into town to use the Laundromat.

We started looking at the Lemiar 2.5 kg machine (I think there are also some copies of this available now), and found one at the Sandown Camping show that year. My wife was still undecided, then salesman mentioned about how people use Laundromat and Caravan park machines to wash their dog / horse blankets, dirty nappies etc, my wife was quickly sold. From memory it cost around $300.

Originally we just used to set it up in the Annex or Awning. You need a 240v power point, cold water line and a drainage line. I installed a tap myself on the awning side of the van, used the outside power point on that side of the van, and also got an extra length of sullage hose and set it up so I could just "T" into the sullage hose coming from the van.

We have the discontinued 16.49.2 expanda, with the bunks, and found that the boys weren't using the bunks, preferring to share the front bed together (that's where the TV is) so before last Easter, I have taken the mattress off the bottom bunk, modified the base of the bunk and added some plumbing so the washing machine is now permanently installed in the van.

Using my 300watt invertor and my external pump / filter setup we can also use the washing machine when bush camping, as long as we are close enough to a water source.

Jason

 

[Ligedy]

Gee my boys get dirty every day - but their clothes are small so the wifey packs enough spares so we can wash 3 or more days apart.

I'm a tight arse so a hand powered washing machine does the trick for our family with 2 small boys at the moment... (But we're usually only away for 3 wks at a time and I tend to go feral so less adult clothes to wash). We do use CP or laundromat mid trip too if we get too busy or need to wash something large. Promised the wifey I'd buy a washing machine outright instead of paying CP rates if hitting the road for more than two months but until then the deal is I do the manual labour... or cough up the gold ones.

Here's what I did/do:
1. Get a good size bucket (and a sealing lid if you want to drive n soak/wash).
2. Get a decent rubber plunger - best if you can get one with a handle the same size dia or thread as your broom's handle - or buy a broom stick to suit it... Replace the plunger handle with long stick.
3. Add washing (use biodegradable detergent when outback), stand up and work it baby. Get that plunger pumping - go hard for a minute or two and your done. Repeat with fresh water n detergent if needed for deep wash cycle then do the final rinse cycle with water only...
You will smash so much air n water through those clothes it's not funny.
5. A quick wring by hand and just hang it out quite wet on a sunny day. (Handy to have a good 10-15m bit of rope to tie up between van n tree for clothes line if free camping).
Any large items I just wrap around the bull bar or awning post, twist n pull to wring out all the water by hand. (Microfiber towels are great / dry real quick and take up buggerall space).

Ps. we take one of those large colored flexible plastic buckets and use it to bath the boys inside the van or out in the open air during warmer months, do the clothes washing, etc. Also found using an 80L storage tub out the back of the ute handy for doing large size loads once a week.
My washing machine also works with river/dam water when needed and allows the power supply to drink more beer at the end of the day.

Have fun on your trip @NickM87

Ligedy

 

[NickM87]

Thanks all for your info, as much as a automatic mashine would be great there is no spot in the van , so I will try my luck at hand washing.
Nick

 

[BUSH PALACE]

start collecting your $ coins if your staying in c/parks , if free camping we bought a small twin tub running off the inverter which worked a treat when camping near water

 

[Hubble80]

We have four kids and we were paying the $4-$6 per load to wash. Wifey was doing one to two loads every two days. We ended up buying a Sphere 3kg machine to wash with. Weighs less than 20kg so easy to setup. If we had one child would not have bothered, just used park washers. The way we figured it was 50 to 60 loads and it has paid for itself. Just gotta mod the vans plumbing to make setup a bit easier.