On our just completed trip, we got a chance to test some methods of drying things like towels, shower shoes, wet clothes, etc. We like cool places and especially this time of year getting things dry in a reasonable time is tough for us. Many times the towels have hung on the mirrors and still been wet after a whole day. Plus there appear to be getting to be more "no clothesline" rules in campgrounds.
When we first got the van and did the LED light conversions and other low power stuff, I put a Caframo Scirocco fan above the passenger front armoire, so we could get some circulation. Really a nice fan, lots of air, very aimable, but it died an early death. A little reading showed it to be common after Caframo moved production out of Canada to oversees, so we replaced it with a Caframo Bora, which is smaller, less air, not as versatile. I managed to get the Scirocco to work as a single speed and we carried that as an add on, velcroed to the passenger armoire if we needed it.
I also had made a bar to go across the front, above the seats to hang towels on to dry a while ago, so when we were out this time we played with the fans and the bar for drying our towels. The Bora was a bit weak in the air power, the Scirocco moved lots of air, but was a pain to put in place. Using both would dry a big microfiber towel in about an hour. When we got home, I called Carframo, and they said the Scirocco issues had been resolved, with the new fans much more reliable. I ordered two from Defender, to replace the Bora and the damaged Scirocco.
I put one above the driver armoire where our original had been, and made a bracket to mount the other one permanently on and above the passenger armoire. Both are permanently wired into the 12v wiring.
I used an aluminum bar about 3/32 thick to make the bracket, attached it to the passenger side armoire with VBF tape and put it on the fan base also with VBF
They both also will get to the aisle to allow total air to the back or front of the van.
I also made a second drying rod, so it could hold the towels away from themselves and also be able to hold shower shoes.
With a towel and shoes in place ready to dry.
Closer on driver side
From underneath passenger side.
I think this will work out really well, as the passenger side fan can get dry fresh air from the screened side door window, and our propane furnace is at the bottom of the drivers side armoire if we want to heat the air to speed drying.
It was really nice to be able to do a simple little project, compared to the solar and painting stuff, with no time constraints, now that we are pretty much done with my stepdad's estate and not so time limited. This is more like retirement should be. It was very pleasurable time in the shop, and should make our life much easier when traveling for longer periods.
Looks good. I use an extendable towel bar above the front seats like you. I have a cheap walmart 12v fan to blow on the clothes. Works great, so yours should work even better.
Here is a clothes hangar I designed for the trailer hitch receiver. It has worked great and may be "stealthy" enough to avoid detection by most campground police.
So let me get this straight. In Canada you can have fans with no grills on them and people will not put fingers,tongues etc... into them then sue the manufacturer? Mighty strange place you live that 's for sure.
So let me get this straight. In Canada you can have fans with no grills on them and people will not put fingers,tongues etc... into them then sue the manufacturer? Mighty strange place you live that 's for sure.
Caframo is actually a Canadian company and they sell to the US where we are, and we have lots of rules here. The fans are considered "finger safe", in their description. They have a wider, rounded, springy edge on the blade, and while you know you hit them, the don't seem to do any harm.
Location: Sarnialabad, The Newly Elected People's Republic of Canuckistan
Posts: 3,246
Re: Clothes dryer in a Roadtrek?
Interesting project.
My wife and I have tried several towel combos, but seem to prefer a microfiber towel and a cotton bath towel, when we get cleaned up.
To dry them, I extend a spring loaded, chrome plated, shower curtain rod, purchased at Walmart, between the steel insides of the galley about a foot above the counter top, and we hang both towels on it, and they seem to dry in an hour or two, in most kinds of weather and humidity. It does seem that they take longer in more humid air. Our towels also seem to to dry faster in cooler climes, probably because the air seems drier, and sucks the moisture out of them. The microfiber towel always dries faster than the cotton bath towel. We do tour more than most folks I think, and the only air flow inside the van is from the dash vents. We sometimes have the fantastic fan vent open a crack to allow some added air flow through.
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Those little fans are not cheap. $80.00 a pop on Amazon.
And that is for the Bora. The Scirocco is more like $99 on Amazon. We got ours at Defender for about $91. Spendy, but in our opinion, so much more flexible than others that they are worth it. Plus they use fractions of the power of other fans.
I dunno, it seems a bit much to me to have a bunch of fans just to dry things in a precious little space B. Those microfiber tech camping towels work great and dry rather fast. That's what we use. They are rather expensive for towels but not as expensive as those fans.
__________________ Davydd
2021 Advanced RV 144 custom Sprinter
2015 Advanced RV Extended body Sprinter
2011 Great West Van Legend Sprinter
2005 Pleasure-way Plateau TS Sprinter
I dunno, it seems a bit much to me to have a bunch of fans just to dry things in a precious little space B. Those microfiber tech camping towels work great and dry rather fast. That's what we use. They are rather expensive for towels but not as expensive as those fans.
The fans take essentially no space, hanging without the fans would be the same amount used. We use microfiber towels, and having been in places where it is 70 degrees, 98% humidity, and misting, I can tell you no towel will dry in an hour or two, without some air moving over it. Even more so for our shower shoes, which are really a pain to dry, unless they have the hot air hand dryers in the bathrooms.
The fans are also very useful for getting the van cooled off in the evening, as the front windows don't have screens unless you put on the add on ones, so the front stays hot a long time, even with the Fantastic fan running and all the screened windows open. The fans cool it off in minutes instead of hours. A bit spendy, yes, worth it? also yes, as when we are traveling, it should be as easy and convenient as possible.
We have the rear door screen and the sliding door screen as well as 5 window screens and the Fantastik fan vent. We have no problem keeping our B cool. That's why we rarely run the air conditioner even in the Southwest since we only go there in the spring and fall when the temperatures cool down overnight and the inside will stabilize easily with the outside temperature during the day. Even the day last month that hit 100F in Kansas and stayed in the 80s overnight we didn't run the air conditioner. We just left the doors open with the screens.
__________________ Davydd
2021 Advanced RV 144 custom Sprinter
2015 Advanced RV Extended body Sprinter
2011 Great West Van Legend Sprinter
2005 Pleasure-way Plateau TS Sprinter
Update after a 7 week trip in a lot of cool/humid and hot/humid weather.
We found this to be the most used and appreciated of the mods we have done for convenience. Used for towel or clothes drying at least every other day, moving cool air to the rear and Fantastic fan, and cooling the windshield area a bunch.
Timed the drying time for microfiber towels and it was 25 minutes with the fans, 4+ hours without. Nice not to have towels hanging all over for long periods.
Location: Sarnialabad, The Newly Elected People's Republic of Canuckistan
Posts: 3,246
Re: Clothes dryer in a Roadtrek?
When we use our towels we hang them amidships on a sprung telescopic towel bar (go figure?) and have achieved similar results while in motion with our dash vents open. I'm impressed with your results with your fans while parked.
Btw, did you see they closed some of the road ways in Great Smoky Mountains due to snow?
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It's not a sprint(er) (unless you make it one), it's (hopefully) a marathon.
RV - 2018 Navion 24V + 2016 Wrangler JKU
Clothes dryer in a Roadtrek?
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