If your Teardrop trailer road trip is much beyond a week or so, you’re probably going to need to do some laundry at some point. Perhaps it will be part of one of those road trip rest days I suggested you count on needing to allow time for.

If you’re at an organized campground, there may be laundry facilities. But if that’s not where you happen to be, or if that’s not your preference for doing a bit of laundry, there are various methods to get the task done even if you’re camped out in the middle of nowhere.

Wash

Most straightforward is just to use a storage tote, or camp sink, or bucket, fill it with water and a bit of all-purpose liquid soap (Camp Suds, Dr Bronners, etc) and swish everything around in there while squeezing clothing items with your hands to move the soapy water through them.

More sophisticated are wash/scrub bags designed for camping. These are basically dry bags (like what you use for gear when paddling) with nubs or ribs inside. A modern take on the old-fashioned washboard, but same basic effect, moving the soapy water through the clothing fabric. I imagine that plain dry bag (with nubs or anything on the inner surface) would probably do a reasonable job unless something was quite dirty.

Rinse

Once the washing part is done, you will need to do some rinsing with fresh water to remove as much as possible of the soap. Same idea as the washing, move the clothing around while squeezing it with your hands. This is where using natural soap is helpful, it’s probably less of an issue to your clothing (and less of an irritant to you!) if there’s still a bit of soap left in it.

Dry

Once rinsing is done, then fold it, press it, wring it, sit on it, or do whatever you can do to remove as much dampness as possible before hanging it on the line. You’re going to ideally need a sunny and/or breezy day for things to dry so check the weather forecast, and do laundry in the morning so it has the most time to dry before dusk.

Hints & Hacks

• To wring or not to wring: depends on the fabric! Some things may deform and stretch with wringing so go gently at it or use the method below instead.
• To speed up hang-drying time, try tightly rolling up your just-washed laundry up in a towel (like a quick-dry camp towel) to remove some of the moisture.
• If you have still-damp laundry and it is a travel day, find a way to string it up inside your car and have the windows open. Or if it’s hot and humid, close the windows and use the A/C which has a condenser to remove air moisture.

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So, that’s how I do things with my Teardrop Trailer but by no means the full story or the best way. What about you? Add your own methods, ideas and experiences using the comment box below for the benefit of all readers.