After more than three years of sail boat ownership I am happy to announce that the debate is over. Our family has decided to install a washer/dryer on SV Aphrodite, our St Francis 50 catamaran. For years the decision to own a washer/dryer was hindered partly by a reluctance to bring on new gadgetry, but also because we couldn’t decide where to put it.

Where can you retrofit a washer/dryer on a St Francis 50 catamaran?

We bought a Splendide 7100XC washer/dryer combo machine. I have been using this machine for about six weeks and it is fantastic. The Splendide 7100XC s proving to be a great machine for our family of six, and can accommodate loads of up to 15 pounds.

Too Wide for Our Interior Doorways

We knew when we bought the machine that it would be too wide for our interior doorways. We talked about dismantling and rebuilding the machine. In the end, we determined that we could not install the machine at the bow of our boat without performing major surgery.

It seemed that every workable idea we had involved a sacrifice.

No Room for It in the Galley

In 2015, we considered placing a washer/dryer on the galley counter but we would have lost counter and storage space.

Behind the Helm?

Then, for a long time, my husband, Rick wanted to mount a washer/dryer behind the helm seat. This design idea meant carving into a seat, building a box, dropping in the machine, and using gel coat to finish the box.

I never really liked the idea of pimping our ride with a washing machine. Also, I felt the box would make it difficult to access the winch we use for our traveler.

Sacrifice an Aft Head?

A few months ago, we met with a contractor in Georgia and committed to renovating an aft head (bathroom). The plan was to cut a hole in our galley and sacrifice an aft head (rear bathroom) in the process. As it t: urned out our contractor had other projects lined up this summer, we were in Canada, and our laundry reno didn’t happen.

No Room for the Splendide.

In the interests of leaving the marina and start sailing again, I thought I should sell the washer/dryer. But the stars aligned when we temporarily removed our saloon table to gain better access to our battery bank. (Rick is in the process of replacing our batteries with Lithium batteries.)

And Then A Miracle Happened: We Found a Perfect Space, Below the Saloon Table

When we removed the saloon table, our kids marveled at how large the space suddenly felt. Rick stared hard and saw potential.

Below the saloon floor is a shallow, chart storage cupboard. We thought that we could easily part ways with the charts cupboard to drop our washing machine into the floor.

Upon closer examination, the chart storage cupboard was exactly the right size for the machine.

For the past three years I have washed all of our clothing, towels and sheets by hand. I didn’t mind the physical effort. I liked feeling part of the subculture of people who wash laundry by hand.

The process of hand washing is pretty much the same across cultures. It is such a basic task. It is more grass roots than natural childbirth. When the weather cooperated, hanging laundry was Zen. Here are some photos I took of our laundry in the Bahamas.

But, it wasn’t a lot of fun. Moisture and the heat of the Caribbean can fester. On a few occasions the weather did not cooperate – sometimes it would rain for weeks – and I could not line dry our laundry.

While shaking our laundry over the back transom, the surrounding fish are doing cartwheels. I stressed to my kids “Never in my life have I shaken maggots from my clothes before. Never. Children, I want you to know this is not a normal part of childhood.”

Needless to say, the washer/dryer is an amazing addition to our boat. It leaves me more time to home school, and to enjoy the amazing people my kids are growing to be. The addition of the sewing machine from my last blog post and the washer/dryer have not gone unnoticed by our kids. Karen (7) and Betty (10) tell me that they “feel like they are living on a super yacht.”

Next blog post in the Laundry Afloat Series: Building a Laundry Hutch to Go Under Our Saloon Table