WonderWash

How do you wash your clothes onboard?  Some use a 5-gallon bucket and a plunger to do the work.  Lotte on s/v Lunde shows us a more elegant solution to the problem:

A few years ago we got a bit of a gem costing nothing, but it is only today that I have consecrated it.  Most of all, to test whether I should make an extra effort to find storage for it, but also because the towel stack was empty and the sun shone.

WonderWash is a hand-powered washing machine - a wash ball with crank if you wish - you can wash up to approx. 2 kg clothes at a time.  Without using much water.  Or soap.   And no electricity.

It is super simple.  By pouring in hot water, and attaching the screw cap, a small excess pressure will be built up as the air that is in the container is heated by the water and thereby expands.  This pressure helps washing solution to penetrate into the fibers and there is only a need to rotate the crank handle for a few minutes before the clothes are ready to be rinsed.

It sounds promising and environmentally friendly - and I must say that after today's test I wish I could find room for the little laundry helper.  I put in a little too much soap so I had to use some extra water to rinse with, but apart from that I can easily see the point.  Not just for a boat, it would also suit perfectly if you do not wash so many clothes at a time and/or do much hand washing.

But despite the successful test, our WonderWash will have to return to its place in the shed because I simply cannot cram it into anywhere onboard.

If you want to see WonderWash in operation:

[Editor's note: Apologies for my poor editing of Google Translate's translation from the original Danish.]