Do you need a caravan washing machine?

Under some marital pressure, I nearly fitted a washing machine to a custom off-road caravan that I had built for our remote area travels.

The only unit that would fit in the compact van I designed was a wall-mounted Daewoo Mini front loader and I breathed a sigh of relief when the manufacturer told me they wouldn’t mount one to the rear wall because they were unsure what the extra weight would do long term to the wall structure.

I really couldn’t see the problem until my wife put me in charge of the washing.

This meant ensuring that on a weekly basis we headed for a caravan park with a laundry; stripped the bed sheets and showered early to ensure I could commandeer one of the machines in the laundry before the army of other early risers arrived, ensuring I had enough of the right coins to operate them.

Then I had to hang around and fight an army of mostly middle-aged women for a dryer at the end of the spin cycle, often finding (infuriatingly) that my washing/drying cycle was out of sync with theirs. This meant hanging around before finally unloading their stuff in frustration.

Then, I had to ensure I was there when the washing or drying finished to ensure others didn’t do the same thing to me.

End of a wasted washing day!  

But it can be worse. We have a friend who would never dream of putting her washing into a ‘foreign’ machine, for fear her stuff could be contaminated! Then, there’s the issue of pilfering, or ‘snowdropping’, as it was once known, which means being selective about what you claim from a communal washing line.

Then we took a van away with a washing machine and found freedom!

Popular caravan appliance

Fortunately, the word has got around, prices have come down and a large proportion of larger touring caravans today are fitted with washing machines as standard.

Look, I know if you spend most of your time in  a warm climate off-grid, you should have less clothes to wash. But you still sleep, or whatever else, between sheets, use bath and tea towels and even if you rinse your ‘smalls’ daily in the shower like we do, you still burn through tee-shirts even if you wear them for a few days at a time and only wash the arm pits.

So inevitably, it will be washing day.

The beauty of your own on-board washing machine is that you get to choose which day. So you can put the towels in, go to the beach for lunch, then hang them out on your portable clothesline when you return – if your caravan park rules allow. Sometimes they don’t, which means jockeying for space on a communal clothes line.

Water use isn’t usually an issue at a regular caravan park, so your machine drains into your site’s sullage hole, alongside your van’s regular grey water hose, which has to dispense waste water from your sink, shower and hand basin.

Washing machines account for almost a quarter of household wastewater, using between 40 and 224 litres per wash (depending on your machine), with Australia’s leading brands including Camec, Sphere Dometic and Daewoo, with capacities from 2kg-4kg and prices starting from a few hundred dollars to more than $1200.

With water restrictions in many areas, using greywater on the local trees/garden could save many litres of water a day, but you still need to know what’s in your grey water, as some things in cleaning agents, etc can destroy, rather than nurture, plans and trees.

(And I didn’t tell you this, but grey water spread judiciously can keep the dust down on unsealed roads on travelling days!)

If you have enough battery and solar power, combined with a large inverter, you can also wash off the mains power grid, but you're going to fill your grey water tank pretty quickly, so more than a weekly wash if you're bush camping will probably be too many. Check the water usage of the one in your van before you buy one, or use it off-grid.

Portable washer a good solution

Now, the good stuff. After buying a portable washing machine for your caravan or motorhome you will never look back. Gone are the days when you had to do a mountain of washing when you get home. You'll also have more flexibility on where you stay and you’ll be able to pack lighter.

If you are planning to add a portable washing machine to an existing caravan, the first thing you’ll have to decide is where to put it. We’ve seen them located under beds (Bushtracker) and inside exterior lockers (ZoneRV) and in A-frame or rear bumper-mounted tool boxes.

But if you don't have the space to install a washing machine permanently in your RV, many are light enough for you to store in your shower when you're travelling, under your table or even in the back of your car to be placed outside (under cover) once you arrive at your destination. Remember, a top-loading machine will need free space above it, while a front loader can be installed in a smaller space.

Wherever you locate it,  the washing machine must be hooked up to a water source (generally the faucet of a caravan or the sink) and needs to expel its dirty water via your waste piping.

Hand-powered portable washers such as the Sphere EcoSpin are a cost-effective solution for those who enjoy free camping. This washer can hold up to 2kg of laundry at a time and uses less water and detergent than traditional washing machines. It requires no electricity and is lightweight and compact, allowing you to quickly and easily wash wherever your travels take you.

Even cheaper is a plastic bucket with a lid that seals: put the washing, detergent and water in it and let it agitate while you're driving. Wringing by hand can be a pain though and it probably won't wash your sheets.