One of the few things about the full-time RV lifestyle that poses a challenge to almost everyone is laundry. Not only the dilemma of whether or not to give up coveted closet space to install the compact, relatively inefficient washer/dryer, but the larger question, “what does one do with all the dirty laundry before it is washed?”. Even a weekend warrior has this issue. Sitting by the campfire, fishing or swimming in a lake will produce some pretty rank clothes!
Let’s face it, worn laundry stinks. No matter how inoffensive it seems when you first take it off and throw it in the basket, cumulatively, dirty laundry stinks. Only one of the five 5th wheels we have owned over the years came with a laundry drop built in. However, Champ has built one in all our campers and has perfected his design over the course of the other four, including the one we currently call home.
One of the perks of a 5th wheel is the large storage area under the ‘upstairs’. It is almost always located directly under the bathroom / hallway area and at least the front part of the bedroom. Therefore, the solution is simple in most cases. Those of you in travel trailers and motorhomes will have to get more creative or trade for a 5th wheel!
He puts his talent for using vertical space to work in a wonderful way when he builds these. Usually the floor under the sink is the ideal place. In our beloved Puma that we owned for many years he cut a hole in the floor in front of the stool and made a lift up hinged, trap door out of the flooring he cut out. A strap for a handle and the bathroom rug over the top and no one, but us, was the wiser.
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Under the sink chute[/caption]In our current Montana under the sink was the sweet spot. He used the section he cut out of the floor to make a partition around the whole. It not only keeps things from falling through but it creates a ‘chute’.
In the compartment area below the hole, he built a raised platform to set the basket on. This way you don’t lose valuable storage space for things like chairs, tools or whatever you store in your front compartment. The pedestal is made from a steel plate with a flange bolted to the floor and PVC pipe as the vertical lift.
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Raised basket in front compartment[/caption]The platform itself is made from OSB and some 1” x 2” trim to keep the basket from sliding off. The whole thing is painted gray. In the picture shown the lift has a bend. That was designed for our previous RV that had an obstruction to work around. If it is a straight shot from the floor to the whole you can simply make the lift a straight vertical line.
Another hack I came up with is the issue of line drying. Some parks won’t allow you to dry laundry outside under any circumstances. Even the weekend warriors face this issue with wet swim towels and suits. Or, if you’re lucky, the kids come up from the lake or creek muddy from head to toe and you literally hose them off in their muddy clothes before you let them inside. Those clothes need somewhere to go. Enter the shower rod. I bought a simple $10 tension shower rod. If fits nicely on the top lip of the walk-in shower enclosure and will also work with a small tub style. If you have a corner shower it won’t work very well. Clothes can hang entirely inside the tub or shower to dry without dripping on the floor.
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Shower rod between the slides[/caption]If you have two slides on the same side, like many do these days, and the campground isn’t snobby about drying things outside, the rod fits nicely between the two slides and acts as an easily removable outdoor drying rod. Some small sections of 1" foam pipe insulation fit perfectly around the rod and keep space between the hangers so they don't blow together in a clump if it's windy. The fancy clotheslines that mount to the back of the camper are expensive and can only be used outside in the place where you permanently mount it. This is cheap, easy and flexible. Favorite adjectives of all RV’ers. After living in ours for a couple of months and dealing with doing laundry in public machines that tend to fry the clothes dry we opted to install a combination washer/dryer with a vent-less dryer. For the most part it works well. The big challenge is not overloading it. Even what we consider a small batch is a bit much sometimes and the dryer doesn’t dry the clothes completely. Partial line drying speeds up the process of getting multiple loads done in a single day or couple of days.
There you have it. Our dirty laundry solution, perfected over the course of 15 years and 5 campers. If you want more detail on how to do this send me a question!
Until next time…
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