I use environmental friendly dishwasher soap for clothes. - Prevents the colours. - Cleaner clothes than with laundry detergent. - Doesn’t need as much rinsing. - Works perfect in lower temperatures, like lukewarm. - Less impact on the organic life in water, but I prefer to pour it out on land, for filtration.
Excellent advice Emily. In the past aboard I much preferred doing laundry on the boat for the same reasons. Had not considered ammonia though, very useful! Will now find those buckets, a wringer, and the "tree". Thank you!
We had a washer/dryer aboard the boat (one of those combo where it's the same frontloader drum) for 6 years and since we cruise colder climates with a lot of clothes being washed we thought it was an OK thing but never used the dryer function but hung up laundry to dry. When that unit broke (literally did break the drum spider in a rough passage) I hand washed in bucket and used a wringer as you do for about a year and then when back in the USA in a marina where we were using shorepower, I bought another and it lasted 5 years of marina life but then died in much the same way as the first -- rough passage nixed the spider (the part that the motor and belt use to durn the drum). We took out the washer and converted that space to a storage closet happily and I've been doing the 5 gallon bucket wash method similar to yours for the past 3 years. I wanted to be able to do the drying/wringing better so purchased an extractor from The Laundry Alternative. That thing is great. Lightweight and all it does is spin up to 17 lbs of wet clothes at a time. Between the hand wash in the 5 gallon buckets and the extractor, our clothes and bedding have never been cleaner. We'd waste a lot of water to get things clean any other way. I still have the wringer but it is in my storage unit and I'll probably sell it when we get back there someday. Finishing up -- a long long time ago I read a Consumer Reports thing on laundry detergents. My big takaway was that the important bit is "time in contact with the water" and if we did a pre-soak (or post soak!) of a couple hours it would make a huge difference to the laundry. So my method is similar to yours but I do agitate a tiny bit and then let my buckets soak for at least 2 hours before continuing.
Great info - thanks. What about washing with seawater and rinsing with fresh? I've heard that Joy dish liquid will suds with sea water but many soaps and detergents wont. You may not want to use seawater in a harbor (if it's not very clean) but I can see clear seawater on a long passage being the only viable option if you have a small boat and no watermaker.
Always seems washing with salt uses more fresh water in the long run. Nothing uses less water then Emily's idea of washing in amonia and wringing the dirt out with no rinsing. -C
Makes me thankful for the old high capacity washing machine i have on my trawler, and my large hardtops which yield over 100g per inch of rain. I make 2 trips to the laundromat in the winter when there's less rain and im using more clothes/blankets.
Holy cow , I didn't realize I've been follow you guys for 3 years . The other laundry video from 2018 is when I found your channel and started following. Gonna wait until I get home from work to check this one out .
I never would have guessed ammonia (makes me think it would smell like a cat box). I have been doing my cycling outfits in the bathroom sink for 10+ years using a tiny but of Oxyclean and detergent. But of course I have unlimited water supply. Obviously just a single outfit... so nothing like you're doing. Great information and I love the bucket idea!
Really helpful advice. I do have some large stainless bowls that work well, but may look into the buckets. They look handy. I like the ammonia idea as well. I use Gain right now, but have thought of switching. Thanks for another great video
Simple green says it can be used for laundry, Use it for all cleaning degreasing on boat, I am water challenged on boat so wear dirty cloths till laundrymat have put it on tough spots in machine
If you haven't tried it yet, I use Dr Bonner's peppermint castle soap. It works for everything, even toothpaste in a pinch. It's completely biodegradable, an very environmentally friendly since it will likely get dumped overboard. Side benefit the peppermint cas a cooling sensation that's great in hot climates. I use it for everything all the time.
First marina I lived in only washed on the shower floor. If hot enough the clothes just went back on. Northern latitudes drying is the largest issue. You have the cut in two dingy, seen the less prepared just using the rainwater wash and rinse sections.
Once you get inside the sea you will be in the greatest place to dry laundry. Literally use one line. When you put the last thing up you can remove the first thing. It dries so fast.
Commenting on adding lead or agm to lithium - for me in the cold of Maine (was -24f wind chill this am) when the bms low temp cut off engages my agm still works to run my propane furnace/fan to heat my van and lithium back up to operating temperature.
Never thought of using NH4, a totally natural chemical if, yes, a little smelly. I'm very tolerant of it as I worked with large industrial refrigeration plant (they use it pure, not as a solution in water). Stale urine used to be used as a cleaner (ammonia) but I would definitely want to rinse well after washing!
We bought one of those small hand operated barrel clothes washers. That was useless. We had a medium size tub, much better. On a Cat we are lucky, as we have a clothes line under the cockpit hardtop. We don't live on ours much though.
Why don't you use a drag bag when you are sailing or motoring. If the bag is in the prop wash or dragging behind the boat at 6 or 7 knots for an hour the salt water cleans the clothes. Rinse in clean water and you'll have clean clothes.
Can you expand on what you said about running the watermaker when you’re in a “cleaner” environment? Are there contaminants are in the anchorage that the WM membrane wouldn’t filter out?
Points to you for the French pronunciation of "chamois" as "shamwa", but it's actually pronounced as "shamee". After living offgrid for 20 years, I've found handwashing to be very effective, though it uses a LOT of fresh water to really clear the soa.. One great benefit you didn't mention: nothing else gives you such clean fingernails!
If you do rinse the clothes, do you then put them in a clean bucket of water to rinse? Do you squeeze them before you do that or do something else? Any suggestions for the soap brand?
We rinse unless we are short on water and are using amonia. Wringing between each step helps. After wash it gets more dirt out. After rinse it recovers water.
@@EmilyAndClark Do not get me wrong guys I love you! My wife and me we sweet a lot and our t shirt smells so our laundry is more for the smell. The ammonia is used for decompose the fat initially from the sheep wool. In the middle ages they use the urine that is mostly ammonia. so in our age if your laundry is not greasy use water or soapy water. If it feels greasy soap or laundry detergent will do it. Please try it and let me know. Again We love you guys keep doing those videos We like them "and you" both no offense!
