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Have you ever toyed with the idea of fitting a washing machine in your
boat? Well if you have the room, and access to water, i.e. a water-maker or huge tankerage, and you aren't too worried about plonking two hundredweight of extra machinery on board, oh,
and can produce
A.C. electricity, then I reckon it's a good investment and will pay for itself again and
again.
Upon our arrival in Horta on the island of Faial, in the Azores, from the
Carribean, it was at last decided to purchase a washing machine and plumb the beast into the
forepeak, using a defunct outlet from the long-gone crews quarters
heads. I had, for years, fought the idea of installing a washing machine and was happy to use launderettes when they were
available, or local laundries. Sometimes there were two to six weeks between finding these facilities and, whilst emptying the laundry basket, one inevitably had to throw out odds and ends that had fallen foul of some fungus or
mould.
However, in the sunny Caribe', we sent four large bags of clothes suitably
identified as 'Whites', 'Colours', 'Oily Clothes and Overalls' and
'Delicates'. When the laundry was returned, the resulting mangle of dirty grey and ruined
clothes indicated that all had been thrown into the same tub and washed
together. Upon enquiry as to what the hell had happened, the young lady
responsible (if that is the word) said "De cloves was all washed up mon and dat's de
troof". No redress there.
Then, using the Launderette in one of Trinidad's (Chaguaramas Bay's) many marinas, Linnet pointed out that after only 25 wash days the amount expended would pay for a machine and, bearing in mind that the washing taken back to the boat was washed, wet, smelled good but
still appeared grubby swayed me.
Well, having decided to get one, which one? We seemed to
oscillate between buying the best, as in 'you get what you pay for' and
'it's so cheap let it run until it breaks, it will still be cheaper than
Laundries and Launderettes'.
Finally we strode up the hill to Horta's impressive supermarket, Modelo,
and purchased a Worten front loader for 41,000 Escudos (approximately 124 pounds
sterling at that time) delivered to the boat.
Using the staysail halyard, I gently lowered the very large and heavy piece of household kit through the
fore-hatch. I had already prepared a space for the machine by ripping out an old locker at eye level (hence the front
loader) and made all secure with a deep heavy fiddle at the bottom and two
pieces of teak at the top. The plumbing is on a "y" valve junction so, at sea, we will use water from the fresh water tanks, and alongside from the
shore. Simple and, in a couple of hours, the thing was running.
I must say I have to eat humble pie, the machine is a
Godsend!
The boat smells better, we smell better and both we and the boat look better too!
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