If you are a regular camper then you’ll be familiar with the difficulties of cleaning clothes and, if you’re new to it you can be forgiven for being somewhat mystified as to how to go about it.
Unless you are on a campsite that has laundry facilities you’ll need to work out how to get your clothes clean and, if the weather is bad or you have active, mucky children, this isn’t always easy.
Portable washing machines can be an ideal choice for an active camper. Whether in a tent or RV you can easily hook up your washer to power and throw in the dirty clothes. With a wide range of sizes and capacities there is a portable washing machine that will cover your camping needs. The Garatic Portable Twin Tub is one of the best in our view, but we’ll cover a few more to help you choose.
Table of Contents
The best portable washing machines for camping
Garatic Portable Compact Twin Tub
Giantex Portable Mini Twin Tub
- 【Easy to Operate】: This is our portable mini compact twin tub washing machine which is easy for you to operate. Saving so much time that you don’t have to go to the laundromat or wash things by hand in the tub.
- 【20LBS Large Capacity】: Washing tub: place clothing in the wash tub section, rated washing capacity: 12 lbs. Run the rinse cycle for the desired minutes, Rated spinner dryer capacity: 8lbs (half of the washing capacity, you may spin twice).
- 【Semi-Automatic Design Relieves You from Hand Washing】: Using this washing machine, you can set washer timer to15 min and spin timer to 5 minutes per load. You could choose the suitable time when washing based on clothes types. Different from common standard washing machines, you have much more freedom and options to make preprogrammed settings.
- 【300W Wash Power &110W Spin Power】: Ideal for small loads. Delicate and light weight makes the washer easily moveable as you need. The wash motor is also powerful. 300w washing power & 110w spinner power will help you save much effort on washing.
- 【Compact Twin Tub Washing Design 】: Convenient for home use. The filter net on the side of the washing barrel can quickly filter when washing, and you could easily pull it off when cleaning the tub. The cover plate needs to be put above the clothes inside when you use the spin tub to avoid high speed shaking and spinning. Easy assembly is required with all accessories packed in the package.
Think Gizmos TG23 Twin Tub
The Laundry Non Electric Mini Washing Machine
- Compact, Non-Electric – The Laundry Alternative’s WonderWash Portable Washing Machine is a mini washer that is perfect for apartments, singles, boats, RVs, and used small frequent loads like hand washables and diapers. Our portable washer is a hand-crank unit that can wash a 5-lb. load. Clean clothes in just a couple of minutes, using less water than even hand washing and no electricity.
- High-Quality Material – The Wonderwash manual washing machine is made of high-quality ABS material, environmentally friendly, durable, and wear-resistant. Our manual washing machine is also portable and compact. Perfect for your limited space such as a dorm, apartment, condo, motor home, RV, camping, and more.
- Portable and Stylish Retro Design – for convenient space-saving placements. Our manual washer is ideal for small delicates such as, woolens, silks, knitted dresses, cashmere garments, and diapers.
- Our Wonderwash model features a new patent-pending E-Z lid lever easier to use than the older lid screw design, and the handle insert won’t fall out in 1-2 years like other models. With a size of 12 x 16 x 12 inches and a weight of 5 pounds, this top-load electric manual washing machine is the perfect solution for a non-electric, hand-powered washer and dryer.
- Available in Wonderwash Retro Colors – Mint Green, Yellow, Blue, and Pink. Our portable nonelectric washing machine is backed by a 3 – year warranty.
Lavario Portable Non Electric Washing Machine
- PATENTED! Best portable clothes washer in the world. See our 2-minute video. Lavario is the only non-electric clothes washer that can wash jeans & sweatshirts.
- ECO-FRIENDLY: Hand-powered, non-electric, easy up & down motion, incredible cleaning power.
- SAVES MONEY! Pays for itself in 4-5 trips you won’t take to the Laundromat. No electricity required. Uses only a fraction of the water and detergent used by electric machines.
- CONVENIENT: Portable, lightweight and easy to use anywhere. Cleans clothes in less than 20 minutes. Great for RV’s, camping, apartments, dorms, delicates, exercise clothing, and more. Also ideal when you only have a few items to wash.
- MADE IN THE USA! Lavario was meticulously engineered for durability & performance, and is proudly made in the USA.
What is a portable washing machine?
A portable washing machine works just the same way as a normal, full sized washer that you probably have at home, the only difference is the size.
Portable machines are designed to be, well, portable, making them ideal for camping holidays, use in RVs or even to be moved around inside your home when needed.
These types of washing machines are available as either electric or manual machines with the latter being operated by a handle, removing the need for any form of electric power, making them ideal for tent camping.
How do portable washing machines work?
In very much the same way as a full sized washer. Some portable machines are designed to be connected to a water outlet while others can be filled with a bucket and then drained after use.
With the machine filled with water and a suitable power supply, a portable washing machine will operate just as effectively as a regular washer.
What is the best type of portable washing machine?
The best type will really depend upon your needs and where you intend to use the washer.
Portable washers tend to hold less washing than a normal machine and you will want to check the load size before you commit to buy.
Whether or not you have access to mains power will also be a key factor when you make a decision on the best washer for you.
Manual portable washing machines are available, most are very good and cost less than their electrically powered rivals.
This best selling manually powered washer, that is on Amazon, is definitely worth consideration.
No products found.
How to power a portable washing machine without a mains supply
Many of the portable washing machines that are available require access to a mains power supply.
Unless you are happy with a manual washer then you will need to have access to a suitable supply of electricity to use the washing machine, and, in some cases this may not be possible.
However, if you are travelling in a vehicle, such as car, van, RV, truck, then you can generate mains power from your vehicle that will be sufficient to power a portable washing machine.
With a suitable rated 12 volt inverter, the DC current that your vehicle generates can be easily and cheaply converted to power your washer.
You simply hook the inverter up to your vehicle’s battery, plug in your washer and away you go.
Portable generators are often the best solution and with many that are totally silent there are lots of options to choose from.
12 Volt Inverters that will power a portable washing machine
Final words
Hopefully this article has given you some ideas to help you to choose the best portable washing machine for your camping needs.
When you are camping there is no need to forego the basic luxuries and amenities that you enjoy at home and being able to deal with laundry easily can help you to enjoy your camping.
If you have access to a vehicle then you have a power source that can be used to power a range of devices.
You can also consider using solar power for some items and you can see what we think of solar when camping in this article.
