Originally Posted by
Mobile 155
The washing machine? No one is going to carry one with them so you would have to leave it somewhere? I mean back packing is all a matter of ounces. Light weight food, light weight tents, light weight cooking fuel, light weight lighting.
No, I meant it could be donated and left for anyone to use. Apparently the Appalachian Trail has shelters every 8-15 miles, some of them with a water supply like a creek or a well, and an outhouse. I don't think it would detract from the wilderness experience if an occasional one - say every 3-4 days - had a manual washing machine like the one in the video, which you could fill with a bucket from the well, so you could churn your undies and T-shirts in a bit of nature friendly soapy water, rinse and wring out, all by hand crank. There's probably some concentrated powder soap you could use that weighs very little. At home I use about a tablespoon of low residue powdered soap for a full load so a cup would probably last a month if I'm only washing essentials.