Embarassingly silly question #3 : What do you do with mountains of wet dirty clothes?

[PJinHawaii]

Embarassingly silly question #3 : What do you do with mountains of wet dirty clothes

OK, here's the way I see it in my mind's eye... we are camped at a national park for 10 days or so in our moderately sized and equipped 5th wheel. (< 30 feet)

There are no hookups. No real services in the campground (no laundry facilities). The weather takes a turn and it rains on and off for a few days. No way we are staying inside. So we go out in the rain everyday for hikes and exploration, camp fires, etc.

Everytime we come in we are soaked. Wet rain coats, pants, shoes (which are muddy too), umbrellas. We step into the RV and... ???

What do you do with a continuously refreshing pile of wet / dirty clothes when your out for 10 days or more?

PJ

[Voyager35L]

Install a washer dryer combo. I use it all the time. Best 1000 dollars you will ever spend.

[RickO]

Ain't it great? We haven't been in quite that situation because we use RV parks and hook ups most often but staying near the beach with three dogs can give me some appreciation.

Sometimes placing a plastic tub tucked just under the RV to place shoes in will help but without access to a laundry facility I would just toss them in a plastic trash bag and store them under in one of the outside storage bays.

If you have carpet in the rig that you really liked at first.... that could change too.

Best of luck...

Rick

[dsbike]

This reminds me of a funny story that happened to my wife & I. Not to hijack your thread, but this what we did in a similar situation.
A few years ago my wife & I were back packing on the Appalachian Trail. We drove to the end of a dirt road then backpacked from there for about an hour in the late afternoon. We found a nice place to make a base camp & set up. That evening was hot & clear skys. We slept with the rain fly off the tent. The next day while my wife was doing her morning things & getting ready to do a day hike, I explored the area we were camping in. I noticed there was a clearing about 100' from the camp site. I walked out to the clearing & it was a fire access road. I walked down the road and around the bend about another 100'. Wouldn't you know it, parked at the gate to this road was our Jeep. So I go back to our camp site & I do not tell my wife that we are camped beside our Jeep.
After breakfast we go for a day hike. We are now about 2-3 hours from camp & a summer storm rolls in. We take cover in some pine trees, & we still get wet. While we are waiting for the rain to subside we remember we didn't put the rain fly on the tent. When we get back to camp there is litterally 2" of water inside the tent. Our sleeping bags, pads, & tent are soaked. My wife asks me what I think we should do. I tell her we will gather all the wet stuff up & take it back into town & find a laundromat. She says we will need to carry this wet stuff an hour out of here. It is then I break the news that we are camping within 200' of the jeep. We gather it up take it into town & all is well.
Thanks for reading my story.

[LadyFitz...]

Bag em, burn them, then go SHOPPING!

[fansill]

We keep a collapsible laundry rack in the coach. In good weather I leave it outside to dry wet beach towels and bathing suits. In the evening and inclement weather, I leave it positioned in the shower to help dry wet clothing. I can also dry more personal items of clothing without showing them off to the neighbors. I have a washer/dryer but have not used it yet...

Faith

[Superslif]

Just got back from a 14 day trip. We always pack for 8 days worth of clothes. The wifey will do a load or two to make us thru the trip. If the campground doesn't have any laundry machines, try the nearest town.

While camping at Shenandoah NP. last year (5 days), which didn't have electric service. I would hang our bath towels out on a line. After hiking, would hang our thicker hiking socks on the line to dry out also. We always take our shoes off while in the RV....

[faye]

I would not put wet clothes in a plastic bag....will go thru a heat and what a smell, get a laundry basket and put them in storage bay until weather permits hanging them out to dry. Make sure basket has holes to allow them to air.

[Bob and Inga]

PJ,

Our Bounder has a large shower and we have installed two 24" towel bars in the ceiling. They span the skylight. We can put wet cloths on hangers and then hang them in the shower on the towel bars. As long as the clothes are not dripping wet you could put a small space heater in to speed the drying process.

Bob

[diandtom]

I'd find the nearest town and a laundromat!

[edj]

Originally Posted by diandtom

I'd find the nearest town and a laundromat!

This is definitely the best option....

[Eric_H_E]

Just a thought. If it a 5r, install some loops on the under side of the nose to put cloths lines on. Hang them there till dry.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Voyager35L

Install a washer dryer combo. I use it all the time. Best 1000 dollars you will ever spend.

OP states they don't have hookups, you could run maybe one load or two then your grey tank would be pretty full and your batteries pretty empty!!

[450Donn]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

OP states they don't have hookups, you could run maybe one load or two then your grey tank would be pretty full and your batteries pretty empty!!

Not necessarily true. First a washer/dryer combo runs on 120VAC NOT 12VDC. Run my generator for three hours charging the batteries and do a load of wash at the same time. My washer takes about 6 gallons of water to do a load, so 50 divided by 6 equals a little over 8 loads of wash before the tank is full. but when in a NF campground I always have a blue tank and dump the gray water every day anyhow. So whats the big deal with another 6 gallons of water?