How to Make a Portable Washer Kit

Portable washer kits are great for camping, emergencies and disaster preparedness in case you have to live for weeks or months without electricity. You can make a portable washer kit for laundry, dishes, or bathing. When you make your own kit, you can decide whether you want to make a child-size, adult-size or family/group-size kit. Campfire Boys & Girls, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts may offer beads or patches for making a portable washer kit and properly using it. Serious campers and military personal without running water appreciate portable laundry washer kits as gifts.

Things You'll Need

  • 24-inch x 24-inch mesh material or fabric with holes throughout
  • Scissors
  • Pins
  • Needle
  • Thread
  • Sewing machine (optional and much faster)
  • Laundry line cord or plastic line
  • Sturdy craft or woodworking scissors
  • Woodsman knife
  • Wire cutters
  • Lighter
  • Matches
  • Soap
  • Nylon hose
  • Clothesline
  • Wash cloth
  • Small-to-medium towel
  • Clothespins
  • Mess kit
  • Dish soap
  • Dish rag
  • Dish towel
  • Sponge
  • Buckets
  • Portable dish rack
  • Laundry soap
  • Manual hand-washing device
  • Shower bag or solar water heater
  • Scrubbing board or washboard
  • Rocks
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Instructions

    • 1
      Mesh or a strong material with many holes for water flow works best.

      Make a dunk bag or mesh bag for your portable washer kit. You can design the portable washing bag for child-, adult-, or family/group-size by altering the dimension as needed. Begin to make a quick and easy standard bag by cutting a piece of mesh or strong material with holes throughout in a 24-inch by 24-inch square.

    • 2
      Use pins with contrasting colors when working with the mesh.

      Fold the edge down 1 inch across one side. Pin and sew straight across to make a tie or cord pocket for the portable washer kit. Pins with bright, colorful heads are easier to use and see when pinning and sewing mesh fabrics.

    • 3
      Use durable plastic cord, clothesline cord, or thick hemp cord for the drawstring.

      Cut a 36-inch piece of cord for the tie or drawstring, using plastic craft line or clothesline. Cut with a sharp, sturdy scissors -- too weak, thin or flimsy and they will break -- outdoorsman knife or wire cutters.

    • 4
      Hold the end of the rope over a match to burn and "finish" the end.

      Melt and burn the end of the multicord plastic line or plastic-coated clothesline with a lighter or match flame to prevent the ends from fraying. Insert cord into the portable washer kit pocket.

    • 5
      Total sewing time for a mesh portable washer kit bag is less than five minutes on a sewing machine.

      Fold the material inside-out into a 12-inch by 23-inch portable washer kit bag with the pocket across the top. Sew down the side starting right after the pocket seam, across the 12-inch bottom and up the other side, stopping at the pocket seam on the other side. Turn the bag inside-out.

    • 6
      Using a portable washer kit with a manual hand washing device or scrubboard yields clean and fresh-smelling clothes.

      Pick the portable washer kit you are making (shower kit, mess and utensil kit, or laundry kit) and fill with the remaining supplies and materials:

      Portable Shower Washer Kit: Fill the bag with a soap in nylon hose tied off on the end, a wash cloth, a small- to medium-size towel and several lengths of clothesline.

      Portable Mess and Utensil Washer Kit: Fill the bag with a traditional mess kit (or plastic bowl, plate, fork, spoon, knife, and cup), dish washing soap samples, dish rag, dish towel, sponge, food scraper and line and clothespins for the dish rag and towel. Also, if the dishes will be washed in a camp dish-washing line, put the filled portable washer kit nested in two or three buckets. Use two buckets for a wash and rinse line or three buckets for a wash, rinse, and boiling water sanitation line. Consider adding a portable foldable plastic or wood dish washing rack.

      Portable Laundry Washer Kit: Fill the bag with clothesline, clothespins and laundry soap. Use liquid laundry soap that can be into a plastic bottle, powder packets or soap in a nylon tied on one end. Consider using a biodegradable soap formulated to break down and be used for irrigation. It can can be found in the green or natural section of most grocery stores. Add a manual hand washing device and one or two buckets for an easy and efficient portable washer kit system. The manual hand washing devices are $15 to $20 dollars and spin the water through the fabric, effectively resulting in cleaner clothes. Serious campers and military workers use them and rave about them.