Tested: Daewoo mini washing machine

Until now, I've never been a big fan of washing machines in caravans. Coming from years of bush camping and off-road caravanning, they seemed like an embarrassing extravagance, were usually tricky to operate, prone to flooding and wasteful of power and water.

But now that I’ve become reliant on my Daewoo ‘mini’ in the New Age Oz Classic that we’re holiday-testing in Port Douglas, I can come clean: I love my ‘mini’!

Measuring 55cm wide x 60cm high and 29.2cm deep and weighing a modest 16.5kg, the mini is claimed to be the world’s first wall-mounted, front-load washing machine.

It’s currently available exclusively in Australia on selected New Age caravans models as an around $1200 option (or standard on the Oz Classic with S Pack) but it’s certain to become the new standard on all RV vehicles in a short time.

Using only cold water only, it holds a 2kg wash and can complete a normal wash cycle in just 29 minutes with a claimed 14 per cent reduction of water and power consumption over regular front-load washers.

That’s all very impressive, but how does it work? ‘Very well’ is my answer after an intensive field test of jocks, socks, delicate underwear, tee shirts, sheets and towels at our Pandanus Tourist Park site in beautiful Port Douglas.

For a start, it’s completely intuitive and self-explanatory in its use and operation.

Simply push ‘Power’, then ‘Course’, which gives you the choice of six different, easy to read settings  – no ridiculous pictures to follow!

I usually leave it in ‘Intensive Wash’ and off it goes, happily churning away for up to 60 minutes, depending on the cycle chosen.  But as it has a prominent countdown timer, you can allow that time to do other things etc.

OK, it’s not perfect. ‘Ours’ has a small persistent leak from somewhere underneath when we’re connected to mains-pressure water, but a left-over Chinese take-away tub catches the drips, which we empty periodically. It never leaks when travelling.

With a modest 2kg payload, it also doesn’t hold a lot – a max of two towels or a queen bed-size sheet fills it – but that’s enough to keep the washing for two people under control on a long trip.

And it’s also a ‘friendly’ washing machine, which is a term I never thought I’d use to describe a white-good: it gives a nice little ring when it’s finished!

Of course washing clothes regularly is only useful if you have some way of drying them and as many caravan parks don’t allow you to string clothes lines from your van or trees for safety reasons, this can be a problem.

Our very effective solution is Camec’s $50 umbrella-action folding clothesline. It’s light and compact and when disassembled its three pieces fit into an easily storable bag.

It also offers huge hanging space, with six separate lines on each of its four sides, but its real attraction is that it’s portable, so you can place it in the sun or breeze to dry everything quickly.

(Incidentally, I’m still a bit embarrassed to show off how often I wash, so we hide it around the back of the Oz Classic!)