Clothesline construction tips?

[TheDude]

Hi all -

My wife and I will be embarking on our first CO expedition this year and we're super-psyched!

One item where we're looking for more info is techniques for constructing a clothesline. We're interested in including a clothesline in our nightly encampment to dry the days grimy laundry. But, we'd like to find a technique for erecting out clothesline that strikes a balance between being effective without imposing on our neighbors or using up too much space\weight in our gear bag.

Any CO veterans out there who have tips for successful techniques and\or materials that have worked in the past?

Thanks in advance for the help...

[Tender Chunks]

Folks,
This is my 10th consecutive CO coming up. I've always taken plastic clothes pins, and a 20' long piece of nylon cord. I usually just clip stuff on to my bike, or drape it over. If you wash stuff and the blistering eastern oregon sun is still beating down, you can dry stuff laid out on top of your tent in no time. It isn't unusual for CO to camp at school grounds and parks, and there are often chainlink fences, which end up festooned with various spandex, bloomers, and what not.

Occasionally a local high school will take bags of laundry in and do overnight (as a fund raiser), and you get it back in the morning, all wash/dry/folded and smelling sweet. Works for me!

If it is raining, (rarely does), a half dozen safety pins and ye olde nylon cord and clothes pins and you can have a festive decoration inside your tent.

[Tender Chunks]

Errr, one more word to the wise about clotheslines? If you run a line out to a stake behind or next to your tent, think about what happens after dark when some poor sot is wandering back from the beer garden in the dark, and trips over ye olde clothes line. Good to keep stuff on it, or take it down, or otherwise look to see if it might be in obvious place for people to cut through. (If you're doing tent and porter, it is easier to do something that predictably won't be in the way.) Best option is to bring one of those 6' diameter helium filled balloons, and festoon the tether line with your unmentionables.

[johnncarol]

The only time I have seen the 6 foot ballon used, the wind came up at night and in the morning the tent and the occupant were gone. some said that they were found near the mouth of the Rogue River. The easiest clothes line I have seen is a piece of cord strung form tent pole to tent pole (assuming you have exterior poles) and using wooden spring clothes pins. The clothes don't fly open in the breeze but they don't land on the ground either and they do dry. I have also seen lines attaced to two bikes leraning against each other and tied to a tent pole. We ride a tandem and keep it at the tent so we simply tie a cord from the front handle bars to the back ans string our clothes. We will be riding in pretty dry country so clothes should dry fast.

[mytrot]

If not riding a tandem bring about 30-40ft of line. Often there are trees etc that work. Bring a couple extra tent stakes. If trees are not available you can run the from the stake to the front of one bike, to the front of the second bike, to the second stake, then repeat back to the first stake across the back of the bike. This way you get two lines between the bikes and it holds up the bikes!

Get some camping clothes pins to top it off!

ELT

[martinkates]

Clothing tips are very useful for everyone. You posted a good article about it and hope everyone likes this. Thanks for sharing.