One of the things we love about sailing is that it has a low carbon footprint, and we feel like we are doing something climate positive when we are on the boat. We also love that Lulu was built in 1991, that she is a well-maintained boat that we can live on comfortably. And we could in theory live on Lulu without any problem as she is. However, there is also the aspect of comfort – if we are going to spend a long time on Lulu, what is really important? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The past couple of years, we have spent a lot of time watching YouTube cruisers and talking to our neighbors in harbors; in addition to taking classes and comparing notes with fellow would-be long distance sailors. It is possible to sail around the world in very simple boats, and there are lots of examples of very simple sailing vessels with successful trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why a washing machine? Is it just blatant consumerism? For me, it is a comfort that will bring great happiness. We are planning on installing a watermaker next spring, and will upgrade our solar panels. Therefore, we can run the machine on water and power that we generate ourselves. One of my frustrations in being out for longer periods has been the difficulty of getting laundry done, and after watching Ryan and Sophie install their Mini, I was sold. (They really should get commission, I have read so many forums where the people are buying a Mini because of that video). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, each boat will be different depending upon the needs of the owners. There are a lot of people who can happily go for 3, 4 or more weeks on the same sheets. But for me, the ability to wash my sheets and hang them up to air dry in the wind and sun will bring me a bit of joy that will make the sailing all the sweeter. We were able to put the machine in a place which wasn’t usable for us – too close to the mast to be a comfortable seat; without sacrificing any functionality in the surrounding storage. It only cost us four bolt holes; the plumbing ran through existing holes in the floor. We thought about putting the machine in our forepeak where we sleep, but it made the space claustrophobic. A lot of boats couldn’t put the machine in a bulkhead wall like we did because the walls are too thin \/ not sturdy enough to hold the machine and the vibrations of the spin cycle; but this is Lulu. She is one fantastic boat!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Installing a Daewoo Mini washing machine in our sailboat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluewaterprep","category-our-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t