Is it worth the washer and dryer?

[kerseysteve2]

I have a coachmen catalina that I use for working on the road about 5 days a week. we are thinking about upgrading to a big 5th wheel and fulltimimg for a few years while i'm on the road chasing my retirement. My question, is it worth losing the space to have a washer and dryer in the camper?

[DianneOK]

Put me on the "in my rig" category.... After 9 years fulltiming with an onboard w/d, we now have to use laundromat because our tc doesn't have one.

If I was fulltiming again, I definitely would have one.

[Bill_Satellite]

MTPockets1 wrote:
now to me that's just weird and sounds paranoid. (Do you stay away from WalMart too?)

Love Wal-Marts and hate laundromats. That's neither weird nor paranoid (but thanks for thinking about me!) We travel where we travel and stay where we stay based upon many factors but it's rarely based upon whether the local laundromat is going to be in a safe part of town.
Here is Vegas you will not find a single laundromat on the strip but there are plenty of them around this town and I really don't think I want to visit any of them.

[MTPockets1]

W/D topics need to be placed in the category with politics and religion. You're either for it or against it. Neither side will let go of their position.

[hitchup]

MTPockets1 wrote:
I've seen several of these threads and it seems most who reply are very committed to their W/D. Looking closely at the reasons in support of them, are the same reasons we have never wanted them. We full time now in our third RV and travel more than we stay in one spot. We find a laundromat once every two weeks, spend 2 hours, and never even think about it until next time, two weeks later. The thought of having to throw in a few pieces many times a week is nauseating. It's like being a farmer having to constantly tend the animals. That one laundry day is something we actually look forward to, get it over and done, lunch out, maybe a museum or historic site, a mountain road, etc. No need to stay close to home to remove or mess with a bunch of constant little loads... Yech! Well, enjoy your washing while we enjoy doing no washing.

2- weeks? Yikes, I couldn't let our smelly clothes sit for more than a day, much less a week.

I don't enjoy doing laundry and that's why we have an onboard W/D. The load goes in first thing in the morning and as soon as it's done, I'll toss in the dryer. If we traveled more frequently, I would use the washer as storage until we got to next stop. Turn it on as soon as we've hooked up water. The new front-loading Splendide's use very water, so our gray tank doesn't fill up very fast.

When our destination is one or two nights on the road, I wait until we're stationary and then catch up on the laundry.

And I've had the opposite experience with Laundramats being clean and entertaining. They are occasionally in iffy areas and we don't feel comfortable just sitting staring at old magazines or CNN on a TV screen. I'd rather have a load in the washer or dryer and be out shopping...

[MTPockets1]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
The description of how you feel is exactly how I feel. Doing what you do? Yech!
Don't like laundromats, don't like the folks that hang out there and don't want to feel like I need to search out the "safe one" in each town I visit. If the campground has one "and it's clean" then we will use that if we need to launder a large piece or if we have been dry camping. If the only option is a laundromat in town somewhere I would rather buy more clothes!

now to me that's just weird and sounds paranoid. (Do you stay away from WalMart too?) We've used laundromats for years and never felt what you are afraid of. Maybe if in a large city on a bad side of town, but never where we go. People are friendly and places are clean (except once in BC Canada when we got there just after a group of tree planters were leaving) (we left too and came back the next day after the mud was cleaned out. But they were all nice!)

[Bill_Satellite]

The description of how you feel is exactly how I feel. Doing what you do? Yech!
Don't like laundromats, don't like the folks that hang out there and don't want to feel like I need to search out the "safe one" in each town I visit. If the campground has one "and it's clean" then we will use that if we need to launder a large piece or if we have been dry camping. If the only option is a laundromat in town somewhere I would rather buy more clothes!

[MTPockets1]

I've seen several of these threads and it seems most who reply are very committed to their W/D. Looking closely at the reasons in support of them, are the same reasons we have never wanted them. We full time now in our third RV and travel more than we stay in one spot. We find a laundromat once every two weeks, spend 2 hours, and never even think about it until next time, two weeks later. The thought of having to throw in a few pieces many times a week is nauseating. It's like being a farmer having to constantly tend the animals. That one laundry day is something we actually look forward to, get it over and done, lunch out, maybe a museum or historic site, a mountain road, etc. No need to stay close to home to remove or mess with a bunch of constant little loads... Yech! Well, enjoy your washing while we enjoy doing no washing.

[rogernvicky]

whatever the DW wife wants. Mine wanted it and has them. makes life a lot easier.

[Rice]

Free Range Human wrote:
I notice that everyone replying has a large stackable unit/units. You don't HAVE TO sacrifice a lot of space for the ability to wash your own clothes, however.

I have a Wonderwash, which I love, and is very fast, and a Nina Soft spin dryer. Couldn't be easier. I wash every day, spin dry, hang up in the shower for an hour, done.

Doesn't have to be complicated or space-consuming. FWIW, it is SO worth it to not have to go to a laundromat!

I agree about not going to a laundromat. I've thought that people who think they might not want a washer/dryer should take three loads of laundry to every laundromat in town, twice. Once on a weekend, and once on a weekday. That includes the skankiest ones around. Then decide.

Most campground laundries are okay (usually merely okay). But there will be plenty of times you don't have access to one and have to go to a public one, and they can be a whole lot of not fun.

I have a Spendide vented combination washer/dryer. I also have a Wonderwash, which I don't think works very well and uses a surprising amount of water, and its biggest problem is that it doesn't have a spin cycle. I see you cured that with the Nina spinner (excellent move), but I don't think my combo unit takes up much more space than the Wonderwash and the Nina together, and it's a real washer/dryer.

I use the Wonderwash for bike clothes when we're boondocking, and can see that it doesn't get things as clean as the Splendide, or actually as hand-washing in the sink. This is especially apparent with socks, which get dirt on them and I can see if it comes out.

The Splendide spins at 1000 RPM, while the Nina is 1800 RPM. But 1000 RPM is already a whole lot faster than even commercial front-loaders in a laundromat, and top loader machines in laundromats shouldn't even consider themselves as having a spin cycle. Stuff comes out of my machine almost dry.

The Splendide is a real washer, an excellent spinner, and it's also a real dryer.

I've figured out how to do a load of laundry (e.g. a set of queen sheets, or a couple of pairs of jeans along with 6 or 8 or 10 shirts), on 8 gallons of water and, unlike the Wonderwash, the water doesn't have to be hot.

I would give the Wonderwash away, except we have a modified sine wave inverter and I'm scared to run my Splendide on it; it's an older model and they don't make the control board for it any more. So when we're boondocking, I still use it if we're running through bike clothes.

Occasionally I'll go back and read the advertising on it and convince myself it's really better than washing in the sink, even though I don't really think it's true. But it makes me feel better about having it.

[LateArrivalforL]

past-MIdirector wrote:
YES!!!! YES!!!! and YES!!!! The Splendide gets used almost every other day.

Absolutely can not imagine not having our washer and dryer. We too were concerned about losing our three drawers to the w/d combo, but that concern quickly dissipated. Having a w/d is a must in our situation. With us and our two small kids, we would be spending a lot of time in a laundromat. With the w/d, we simply throw our dirty clothes in and wash when we have a full load.

Without a w/d, we would have a dirty clothes pile, or area designated for dirty clothes and we would have to haul the clothes to the laundromat. Then you have to go back to the laundromat to get them.

[GoPackGo]

Bill - Just FYI - Splendide made my stackables.

[Bill_Satellite]

kerseysteve2 wrote:
JUst wanted to say thanks to every one for all the comments! I have since found out it doesn't really matter what I want since the wife has decided we will have them no matter what. But after reading the comments we have decided stackables is probably the way to go

Good choice! Get what the wife wants! If space is an issue, the Splendide is an excellent choice. If you have the room the stackables are even better. I like my Splendide (I meant to say "my wife likes our Splendide") but if we had the room we would own a stacked unit.

[klm]

Another YES vote

[2gypsies1]

GoPackGo wrote:

I know what's been in my washer, and it wasn't the bedspread that the dog barfed all over.

so....if your dog barfed on your bedspread you wouldn't use your washer? Barf is barf!

Clothes are WASHED and then RINSED. There would be no barf left behind.