Washing/drying clothes on the move

We do the very obvious. String a line between a couple of trees and hang them out. Couple of hours normally and all dry.

Washing is by hand. A couple of ideas for that:
A big bucket withe a secure lid- put the stuff in that with water and washing powder. Leave it it the car for the trip (or strap to drawer bar of trailer). Generally enough aggitation from travel to wash. Just rinse and it's done.

Get a toilet plunger (not used) and drill some holes in the rubber. Use that in the washing bucket with an up and down motion to aggitate.

Both work and save a bit of effort.

Norm C

Wife and I swear by the microfibre towels when travelling. Work really well and dry in no time. Just lay them out in the back or in the sun while you are packing. We got ours at Kathmandu for about $15 each on sale. A few sizes available, go for the large though. The take up much less space compared to normal towels as well.

Wazza.

Hi Esplande

I have only ever used the bucket method unless staying for a while in one place and then it's either hand washing or a washing machine. By then end of the day I would rinse out, hang out and usually by morning clothes were dry. I was quite lucky when we travelled for most times, we never got much rain.

They are all top answers from NormC, Wazza and AU-2. Especially the mirco-fibre towels which people tend to use mostly these days. Personally I prefer towels so I use them. A good spot for towels (naturally dying on a rope or branch whilst packing up) is to put them over the headrest while in transit and lay the kids towels across the back area, if you have a canopy?

Cya
:)

All the little stuff, bra's, Nickers, his and hers, you wind the window down an inch, hang them on the glass and wind it up again ......then drive for 1 hour, No good if it's raining

Annoying that I can't fault any previous responses. (I'm just in the mood for a chat, eh). Personally, I use 2 washers. One for scrubbing off most of the dirt, then moisture. The second is the Sanitising/drying pass. Wring 'em out, and lay 'em on the dash(buy darrk colours), or head rests. We have Microfibre also, but unused in 7 years.(No problem with microfibre: more a case of a living fossil). Oh, and by the way, I lied about 2 washers. So who needs sanitising?? hahaha.
May Gramps run free, and damn you Bonz!!

Get dirty Esplanade: by day 3 it becomes natural, true.
Jeff.

ps. If going west, we've found that ochre stays fresher for longer. Green, khaki or blue may go a day or so. White invariably stinks within minutes of donning.

As always, a rule-breaker. You pull up at some god-forsaken dust bowl, set up, then erect the clothes line. If it's Really late, simply hang butcher paper cut-outs. If it's a bit early, then carefully 'plastic-wrap' a few white T shirts. Then, when all is done, (and you gullibly think no more cinnamom will come your way), slip a flowing white shirt over your sanitised body. Drives some folk insane eh dio.
Sorry to be a mongrel Andrew. got carried away.
Just forget full-size towels and outer clothes. Keep the kids in fresh undies(?), and relax. jh.

We use the buckets when travelling, but go to a laundromat about once a week to give everything a really good wash. I tend to string a rope across a couple of trees, or from the bull bar to a tree, when we stop. I found a folding clothes airer useful for following the sun, and can quickly bring it inside overnight and out again when the condensation goes in the morning. In the caravan, we hang the towels under the 4 seasons vent; even when travelling and all closed up, they seem to dry. In the Patrol, a couple of ocky straps across the cargo barrier was a good place to hang the washing while travelling.

We have put part of cheap clothes airer fixed over the shower. Clothes dry whilst travelling. No good with outside shower.

Neil

Thanks for all the advice.
I guess our real problem will be that of the 21 days away we will be only staying put for more than one night in 3 locations. The rest will be traveling. Usually we stay put and set up a clothesline and let it dry. The smaller towels are a good idea and even a chamois works well.
Don't mind smelling, as long as we look the part!! Hehe
Andrew

With the Karavan there are two bed rails, one each side and some specially made shock cord clothes lines stretch from side to side. There is room for 3-4 under cover. Inside the box on the back of Moses there is plenty of room to stretch things out too.

Mostly we take sufficient clothing to last between stops at CV park laundries, clothing bags have clean and dirty sections. If caught out its a hand wash in the dish washing tub and a string line.
As others have said micro fiber towels are great - tad exy but small size and drying time are big pluses especially when their are 5 people to have a shower. For showering there don't feel as nice as a cotton towel and take a little more work as the seem to grip a bit.
We also have those cheap collapsable buckets. At every camp we hang one from the rear recovery point with about 1/3 water. From the hanging point is tied the foot part of a stocking containing some soap - hanging above the water. Its very convenient for washing hands and helps the kids keep good hygiene while in the bush - no one wants a crook tummy. A hand towel sized micro fibre towel is just the ticket when left hanging near the hand wash bucket.
Some of this was a bit OT but I thought I'd share anyway.
Paul.

Probably not suitable for your purposes, but maybe a good idea for others.

We don't have kids at home anymore and have an f250 supercab (small back seat). I have put a lqrge diameter curtain rod across the back seat, attached to ther rear grab handles. We hang our washing, towels, etc there whilst on the move. Amazing how quick they dry. Most times, by mid morning we can put them away or swap for the next lot.

Trevor

thin cheap towels. You dont need thick ones and they dry quick as. Len Beadel in one of his books spoke of when he discovered synthetic clothes. He would wash them each day in a bucket and they would dry by morning. Our friends make their clothes last several days but that is not my choice. Yuck.

Owen

Gday,
All depends on what you doing but when I used to work bush I had a plastic drum I threw everything in (including water and wasing powder), put it on a ute, backhoe, truck whatever for the morning , changed the water at lunch and hung it out in the evening.
Easy Ive heard a plastic funnel with holes in it and a stick jammed in the spot works as a good agitator too
Cheers

We shove the small stuff through the cargo barrier holes which act like a clothesline as we travel. It doesn't look too pretty but works ok! Chris.