It’s not all palm trees, lazing on the beach and snorkelling. There is another side to a live aboard life… chores. My chores include washing the clothes… I am also head cook, baker, photographer, cleaner, doctor, nurse and decky. Plus when Dwayne feels like it I become navigator, trades assistant and like the other day, whilst it was raining, helms person…. “only one of us needs to get wet”, he says!
Since I am blessed with a wonderful husband who delights in surprising me on birthdays and Christmas with excitingly romantic gifts such as washing machines, washing our clothes is no trouble for me. Yes ladies I know, as our friend Alan tells me, I am the ‘worlds luckiest woman’! Gifts over the last decade have included a hunting knife (for Valentines Day), vacuum cleaner, wet weather jacket that was too big (he got me a large so he kept it), binoculars (two pairs of these), a compass, fishing rod and reel (I love my reel) dehydrator and of course the washing machine.
Dwayne bought the washing machine from a camping store for me. We have also seen them since in boating and caravanning stores. Mine is a “Companion” Easywash single tub, but I have since discovered that Companion sells a twin tub washing machine that will also spin the clothes. I would choose the twin tub for sure.
The Easywash tub is 240 volts, so if I am not in a marina when I use the washing machine, I use it with the generator on, although I can run it on a 600amp inverter. We make water using our water maker simultaneously, therefore getting the most out of the generator, and at the end of the wash, we still have full tanks of fresh water.
My washer is very easy to use, albeit it only washes the clothes. I sit the tub in the cockpit when I am using it and wash all the clothes first. It has a timer that can be set for 3,6,9, or 15 minutes so I can set it to wash and go on with other chores. Once I have washed everything, I refill the tub with fresh water and rinse the clothes before wringing it all out by hand. I hang the washing on a clothesline that I rig up between the stays on the front of the boat.
Dwayne uses the rinse water to wash the boat down when I finish it. It usually takes me a couple of hours to get it done because I like to wash each load for 15 minutes, but I only do it once a week or less. For live-aboard life, my washing machine is a must-have I would not be without.
The Captain & The Cook do not have an affiliation with Ezywash. All opinions in this article are purely ours alone.
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