Washing Clothes Without a Machine (salt water vs. ammonia) article on janice142

Taking clothes ashore to a laundry is a pain in the transom.

I told you about washing clothes in the Laundry Hauling Made Easier article.

When compared with carrying everything necessary for a load of laundry
to shore, washing aboard the boat is a far superior choice in my opinion.

To get out the salt requires A LOT of fresh water.
Rinsing takes far more water than you can imagine.

The Salt Water laundry method used by sailors:

S/V Gypsy ↑ belonging to my friend Jessie.

A large motor sailor like Jessie's Gypsy would have plenty of water tankage. He would not have to use water conservation unless he was planning on being at anchor for many months without a way to refill the tanks.

Smaller boats in the 30' and under range often do not have the luxury of plentiful water.

Sailors of yesterday used to put their clothing in a net bag. Tied securely to the mother-ship, they would toss the bag overboard. While sailing between islands the ocean water would clean the clothes.

We will not discuss any potential problems
should the clothes pick up jellyfish tentacles.

Jellyfish are the least of your problems. The major issue is that clothes saturated in salt water will not dry properly. It takes a lot of water to rinse out that salt.

Girls will not find salty panties a pleasant experience.

Another option uses ammonia. This method
requires the least amount of water. It is odiferous.

The Ammonia Method:

Start with about a gallon of fresh water. I use my sink. You could use a bucket. For me, leaning over a bucket does not work. I am most comfortable at the galley sink.

To the water add *1/4 to 1/2 cup of ammonia. I opt for the plain stuff, not the lemon scented ammonia. Nothing hides the smell of ammonia so I chose not to add yet another chemical into the Petri dish. Stir the water with your hand to mix.

*Regarding quantities of ammonia to use: For relatively clean clothes a quarter cup is sufficient. If your stuff is particularly dirty or grimy, use more. 1/2 cup is plenty.

Starting with your cleanest items,
drop a few at a time into the water. Swish.

After swishing, remove each item from the water one at a time. Wring them out, letting the water go back into the sink. Pile the damp freshly washed items to the side.

I start with the cleanest items as they won't get my water dirty so quickly. For me, that means panties, nighties and such.

Continue dropping items into the water. Swish them around a bit. I only move stuff in the sink around for a minute or two. If an item is particularly grimy I might let it soak for a bit longer. I have used bar soap on spaghetti and tea stains, with little effect.

Should I have a lot of items dirty I may start a fresh sink full of water for another group clothes. In that case I'd swish the already cleaned clothes in the fresh water, then wring them out again. This is not necessary. It does minimally abate the ammonia smell though.

Before washing more clothes I would of course add ammonia to the new water.

After swishing I remove the items. Wringing out the damp items is not easy. I get as much liquid out as possible, then put my items on hangers. Shirts and such are hung where the breeze or a fan can facilitate drying.

DO NOT RINSE. Air drying is all
that is required when using ammonia.

Washing clothes while at anchor sure is better than hauling clothes to shore.

Photo taken by Cheryl of three power boats at anchor.

NEVER combine ammonia and bleach!!!
Together they create fumes that CAN KILL YOU.
(Thanks to Bill for pointing out this important fact in the Comments.)