Laundry ~The Admiral

Oh laundry. That time honored task dreaded by wives and single folks all over the world. The chore that no matter how much you do, you will never reach the bottom of the dirty clothes pile. I never thought I would look back fondly of all the time spent doing laundry while living on dirt but yes, I miss those days a little. The “I’ll just throw in a load while I’m cleaning up or catching the news on TV”. The laundry room with my presort color sorter. Oh those were the days. So now that we live on our boat, how exactly does one do laundry? Some of those fortunate few who are lucky enough to have a washer/dryer on their boat……can I come over for a few hours tomorrow? For the rest of us “budget” cruisers, there are basically two ways. You do laundry on land or do your laundry on your boat. That seems so simple, right? WRONG!

Doing laundry on land

Step one: Gather all dirty laundry. Okay, this one isn’t too bad since there’s not much space for the laundry to hide.

Step two: Load dirty laundry (usually consists of 2 mesh bags and one duffel bag or two jumbo sized trash bags and bag wrapped duffle bag if raining), soap, wagon, crew and entertainment for the crew into the dinghy.

Step three: Get back on board to get the forgotten MP3 player that someone (kid “ah-hum”) just HAS to have and the dirty sheets that someone (me “oops”) forgot to stuff in the dirty laundry bag.

Step four: Dinghy to shore, hopefully it's not too choppy, and hopefully there is a nice dinghy dock but usually not so lucky, unload all items and walk up to 2 miles to closest Laundromat. Wave at the cars that honk and yell at you since they must be honking because they have clearly seen your “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper sticker on the back of your wagon and not because your heavy wagon is hard to steer and keeps careening into the driving lane.

Step five: Find someplace to get quarters or cash for quarters.

Step six: Sort, wash, wait………..dry, wash, wait…….dry. Repeat. It is awesome if during this stage, you can find a pool, arcade, or air conditioned hidey hole to hang out while waiting but not too far.....I just learned the hard way that if left alone for 20 mintues, your favorite quilt given to you by your mother becomes a must have for someone unknown to you.

Step seven: fold, fold, fold and stuff into mesh bags (wrap in plastic bags if raining or choppy water). We’ve learned it’s easiest to sort items by cabin at this stage. Front cabin (kiddos) middle (galley) and aft (ours) and stuff each into separate bags. Makes the putting away process so much easier for all involved.

Step eight: Trek back to the dinghy and load up to head back to the boat.


Step nine: Head back to the Laundromat to retrieve forgotten MP3 player……..yep, that’s right.

Step ten: Back at boat, unload all bags, put away and make beds with nice clean sheets.

Step eleven: Take nap on nice clean sheets you’ve earned it! ahhhhhh, yeah, that made it all worth while.


 Doing laundry onboard boat

This one I actually prefer simply because it’s very similar to doing in at home on dirt. Just a little more labor intensive.

Step one: Gather laundry. It is much better, if doing this way, not to wait more than a week. With 4 people and 2 dogs (they have their bandanas after all), more than 7 days of laundry is WAY too much to do by hand.

Step two: Take up to cockpit to sort.

Step three: Fill up Rubbermaid tub with clean water. Do not use salt water because no matter what people tell you, your clothes will NEVER dry all the way. Rainwater does work well for this and if it's a good rainstorm, your dinghy filled with rainwater, makes a great wash tub!

Step four: Put in clothes, soap and an agitator. “Mimzie, what do you use for an agitator?” Ooh, good question! You could use a clean toilet plunger, your hands or a stick. I use my kids. Specifically their clean feet. We “make wine” as Jurassic Jake calls it and the kids take turns stepping and mixing the laundry in the soapy water. See, they do come in handy still since we can no longer use them to fetch the remote control.

Step five: Go play. We go explore a new beach, walk the dogs, snorkel, fish, read or whatever else strikes our fancy for about an hour.










Step six: One final round with the “agitators” and the laundry is ready for the rinse cycle. Fill a second tub with clean water and take each item, ring it out and put it in the clean rinse tub. If you have more clothes and the first tub isn’t too dirty, you can use the same water for that. If it’s too dirty, dump it and wait to use the first rinse water as the second wash water.



Clothes flying while we're fishing

Step seven: After a good 5 minutes of “agitators” in the clean rinse water, ring out items and hang to dry. Use every available line and cover your boat with hanging clothes. The more the better, especially if in a crowded anchorage. Other boats, love the festive colors you have flying and will likely be inspired to do some laundry of their own! If not, and you get the “Oh, it’s those kind of cruisers"look from other cruisers, smile and wave enthusiastically. They obviously have a washer/dryer onboard and you will want to make friends with them quickly!

We’ve learned that synthetics dry MUCH faster than cotton. Heavy cotton shirts and shorts are just not practical for many reasons and the most important tip - pick dry, windy days for laundry but not TOO windy! (That reminds me, I still have to replace the Captain's skivvies!)

Step eight: While waiting for laundry to dry……..go play again. No need to worry about someone needing the dryer your laundry’s sitting in or things getting wrinkled and no need to worry about your new quilt (bought to replace your recently stolen one) getting stolen since everyone knows, you risk your life boarding someone else's boat - and a new quilt is just not worth that.

Maybe I'll go find some more shells

Step nine: Fold, sort and put away.

So now that my laundry’s done for the week, whatever shall I do now?
 
~The Admiral