CLEAN SHEETS TO THE WIND

I've found when cruising one does not need to wash a lot of clothes too often. I pretty much live in a couple of pair of Columbia Shorts and some Columbia fishing shirts during the summer.
These can be easily hand washed and dry fast when hung over the life lines. Though every once in a while the availability of a washing machine is a welcome sight for this cruising sailor. Even better is a marina that offers a free use of a washing machine. Like the 79th Street Boat Basin in New York. While I can pretty much get by with doing hand laundry for the shorts and shirts I usually wear. There are some items that are easier to wash in a washing machine. I'm talking about the fitted bed sheets and towels I carry on board along with other clothes like jeans and other long pants. These items require a lot of water and I find are best done in a machine. To me one of the simple pleasures of being on board a boat is climbing into your bunk at night with freshly washed sheets. It's one of those Ahhh moments. So when a washing machine is available I try and take advantage of it.

When I lived on board in New York back in the late nineties I had to walk several blocks to a Laundromat because the marina I was at had no laundry facilities. Not exactly convenient and in addition to the laundry I had to carry the detergent along. Unless I wanted to pay an extra dollar at the Laundromat to buy a box from the vending machine. I also had to find a place on board to store the bulky detergent container. 

 The choices were powder which came in a card board box. Which on a boat has some advantages and disadvantages. For one thing you could use baggies to make single load portions like I did instead of carrying the whole box to the laundry. But, you still had the bulky cardboard box to store on board and the worry that it could get wet and spill it's contents inside a boat locker. You could also use a liquid detergent which is mostly water. It still comes in a bulky container  but, requires you to carry the whole container to the laundry room and means you had a plastic container you would eventually need to dispose of.  I recently discovered and alternative that makes a whole lot of sense for a cruising sailor. It's a laundry product called METHOD.

It's a high concentrated laundry detergent which comes in a pump spray bottle. A 20 oz bottle does 50 loads.  Plus it  takes up a whole lot of less space on board and weighs a lot less than the normal powder or liquid detergents.  You can get refills of METHOD in space saving packaging so you don't keep carrying around extra plastic containers on board and then looking for a place to dispose of them. I bought a bottle over the summer and found it to clean just as well as the detergents I get from the supermarket. Just four pumps provides enough concentrated cleaning for a whole machine load of laundry. It can also be used for spot cleaning and I've also used it for hand washing in a bucket on board with very good results. It takes up less room on board and won't spill like powder laundry detergent can and you are not storing big container of liquid detergent either. To me it just makes a whole lot of sense to carry it on board to do laundry.

IN THE TANK: Part 2, Steaming Ahead!

After an initial wipe down of the tar and sand that accumulated on the bottom of the fuel tank some more Simple Green and some steam did a real nice job in cleaning the tank. I've mentioned that the Scunci Steamer comes in useful in many areas on board. But, to be useful in helping to clean places like the fuel tank you need to have the extension hose as shown below for the Scunzi:

The Scunci Steamer  with the extension allows you to get into most areas of the tank with the steam that helps really get the tank clean. Spraying the tank with full strength Simple Green followed by steam and a quick wipe down with a shop towel makes cleaning the tank very easy. Below is a before photo of one corner of the tank:

Here is the same area after the Simple Green, steam and a wipe. You can clearly see the difference between the area that was wiped after the steam was applied.

The tank comes out pretty clean after this procedure but, the final thing I will do is put some water in the tank along with some DAWN dish washing detergent and go sailing. Letting the DAWN and water mixture slosh around for a bit. It seems scientist have discovered that DAWN dish washing detergent seems to be most effective in removing oil from birds caught up in oil spills. If it works on the birds why not try it on the last remnants of diesel remaining in the on board fuel tank on BIANKA.

BLOG UPDATE:  The Scunci Steamer started to leak steam from the handle after about a year of use. So I purchased another brand as a replacement. Which seems to be holding up better. You can see the post about the new steamer by clicking here

TO VIEW IN THE TANK PART 1 CLICK HERE!

TOOLS OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR: SCUNCI STEAM CLEANER

One of the real nice things about having a Honda 2000 generator on board is it provides the ability to propel my electric propulsion system and charge it's battery bank. But, it also allows one to use a bunch of other tools and devices on board that require 120 volts AC. One of my favorites that comes in real handy on board is a SCUNCI STEAMER .

This handy 1200 watt unit is easily powered by the Honda's 1600 watt output or if you are at the dock powered by electric grid power. I like that it is small enough to carry and store on board. But, it really helps clean things around the boat and sanitizes at the same time. The steamer also blasts dirt out of crevices that are hard to get to and really helps clean and sanitize the galley area. Currently I am finding it very handy in cleaning out the old diesel fuel tank on board. With the flexible hose attachment I am able use it's steam cleaning abilities inside the tank:

 After the steam clears you can see how this method helps to remove a lot of the residual coating on the side of the tank.

It's not only helping inside the tank but, also outside. That black stuff on top of the tank was a sticky tar like putty left over from a refrigeration installation.

A little blast of steam and some Simple Green and it's nicely cleaned up with out a lot of scrubbing.

The same goes for this grime located by the fuel pickup port.

A little shot of steam makes for an easy cleanup of the diesel grime. If you still have a diesel engine I'm sure it would help in cleaning it and a lot of the oil drips that come with having the engine on board. It's not exactly a must have tool but, I find it really helps in keeping the boat cleaned and sanitized and does it without the need of a lot of chemicals. Green and clean is not a bad combination on my boat and that's why I carry it on board..