doing the washing

You could be in luck here Angie.
One of these blokes will probably wash your undies for you.

Thanks Turist !!! Just got my giggle for the day !! He He He !!!
Staying right away from that one though .....

Dont BT's come with a " Ten Undies Washed Free " Voucher by a staff member of your choice. <smile>

Anthony

Anthony, dont encourage him!!! *thwack* get back to work!! Turist - no one touches angie's undies unless she says so. and even then, she is fussy about who does. Now stop getting Anthony into trouble!! angie

thanks to all those who posted "serious" replies. your continued assistance is appreciated. some of you may have seen this posting on the caravanners board and i wonder if anyone has some experience of these machines: Hi Have had a few request, for more info on washing machine, the Brand is Lemair, Model XQBM20-C Water level 20L high, 15L medium, 7L - Low Overall dimensions (mm) length 425 width 416 height 698 weight (kg) 17.5 I bought is from Caravan Accessories at Kogarah (sydney) their phone no is 02-95883400. I have tried it out at home, fits 2 single bed sheets plus pillow slips, takes two good sized bath towels, no trouble, must realise it is small, so will have to do a few extra loads , but compared to the waiting around and the cost of park machines, I think it is excelllent, 19 months ago we travelled around Australia for 5 months, and the total cost of using coin machines was around the $300 plus mark, even doing our smalls by hand. so at around $349.00 it will pay for it self in no time, as hopefully next year we will retire, and can do a longer trip. we are heading down south for 3 weeks, so will be able to let you know how we set it up etc. If you happen to see a Green Challenger, towing a Jayco fullsize Heritage van with Gone Fish n on the back wheel cover stop and say Hi. Regards Ian & Jenny(pen) if anyone is interested in more information i suggest they contact the company direct. angie

Angie, you must like washing to post the washing subject a few minutes before you getting excited about the van. Washing is down the bottom of our list. People must have a very large van to bother taking a washing machine with them. All that space could be put to a lot better use. We have bucket under the seat that you can swirl the clothes around in if necessary, but it is a lot easier to spend a night in a caravan park and use their machines.

If your van is your home a washing machine is a must. It is for us. We have an Hitachi twin tub with an 18ftr and wouldn't be without it. Some lady in the other forum said they saved $350 in 12 months not to say the benefits of higher cleanliness and not sitting around waiting etc. Twin tubs are the best when water is scarce as the water can be reused. It runs no sweat from the 1kW inverter. Not all van parks have washing machines especially local council ones in small centres. Nomad

brian, dont know if its a case of liking doing washing, but a girl has to look her best if possible, as she never knows when she might run into someone important e.g. another BOGGER. Besides, didn't you ever get told to always wear clean undies in case you get knocked over!! Angie

At least Angie hasn't picked up some of those nasty pommy traits, she still washes her undies.
Turist

I really have a case of the BATTS and I haven't officially ordered my BT until I see Steve next Monday! Slowly reviewing all of the posts starting at the beginning and I came across Nomad's post about the Hitachi twin tub. Completely agree about having one when it is your full-time home. Nomad, please tell me more about the Hitachi. As I posted a while ago, we are having a custom built canopy for the F-250 and it will have a tray for the washing machine. was going to be the Lemain, but perhaps not! Looking forward to specs etc. tingtl, jay

Gday Jay You may want to watch the weight on your F truck as I have only put in a home made set of sliding draws and then loaded in the work tools and last month i went to the tip with a heavy box trailer and was weighed at 6300kg which i thought was a lot so i reweighed when empty and with no trailer on and came in at 4200kg, still quite heavy but I still have not put in the extra fuel tank, recovery gear, generator, boat and all the rest of the going away gear. May not have any weight left to put in the kids and wife. maybe we need to watch how much we put on these large vehicles. Do any other effie owners who have loaded up for large trips found there vehicle weights. keep putting on the gear Rod

Rod, Thanks for the warning and a vaulable warning it is! I am waiting to hear the final results of Bob Lemon's F-250 conversion - I know he removed the rear seats of the Crew cab to get under the 4200 max weight. The weight does add up quickly and we are planning a full buildout of the canopy including a built-in "rolling kitchen" (stove and sink), water bladders, fuel tank, and lots of other storage. No question we will go to the maximum permissible weight. Cheers, tgintl/jay

G'day Guys, A friend of mine has the F-350 for this very reason. Although the F-350 Ford Aust version is only available in Super Cab ...... if your needs can be met with a Super Cab it has a 5080 GVM !!! It is only a cab chassis which could be a bonus as an ally tray and canopy would look great and probably be lighter than the large standard steel tray. Kerb weight is 3099kg so you can put a genuine 2 tonne on board and still tow 3500kg ... still has single wheels ... This will be my vehicle as soon as the kids stop going with us !!!!!! Fair enough it is only XL not XLT but still has the 7.3 and auto box. A manual is avail but for towing I'd go auto to keep turbo on boost. I think list is around 79k ? Regards Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

Hi Everyone, I seem to remember a discussion on Carvaner's forum to the effect that a plastic rubbish bin with lid makes a good washing machine when driving. Anyone else remember that one. Macka

Yes, I have heard of the idea of getting a large nappy bucket with a tight lid and strapping it onto the drawbar. As you are driving, the clothes agitate nicely. Great idea - but - what if you are stationery for long periods? I think the whole washing thing is very dependant on how you travel. If you like van parks and like good ones such as Big 4's, and cash is not a big worry, then the van park machine would be the go. However, if you like to get offroad and stay put in the bush for a while, or use the cheapest van parks you can find, then I think you need to look at getting a machine. Van parks with lots of permanents can have drawbacks as someone else has mentioned (workboots in the machines!) yuk. But then again, you need to look at water consumption, power consumption, storage and so on. I don't have one - yet. Still considering and weighing up all of the above. Jan

We have been on the road for three years and rarely use c/parks, we tend to be fossicking or fishing. The reality is that treated water, particularly, is scarce and often ground or river water is all that is available. If the water is cloudy we use a swimming pool clarifier to help percipitate the rubbish. We use a 20 litre ($10) bucket and plunger ($8). We cut a few holes in the plunger to aid agitation. We have washed in salt water, works fine, with a single fresh rinse. When the only water avialble is what we carry, we recycle our shower water. We add Sard Wonder soaker to the water, leave overnight, and the next day plunge wash and rinse. It is not hard or even all that time consuming. We also believe the wash is cleaner than most laundromats that we have used. Sandra