Scrubba Review – The Ultimate Van Life Wash Bag!

22 January, 2018 by Sebastian Santabarbara

Sick and tired of carrying around backpacks full of extra clothes and emergency underwear? It sounds like you need the Scrubba Wash Bag in your life.

This ingenious little bit of kit from Scrubba products gives you all the power of a washing machine in a small, fold-up bag that you can stick in your pocket before you hit the road. We’ve carried out a thorough Scrubba Review to give you guys the lowdown on this awesome product!

The Scrubba Review

Weighing less than 145g, the Scrubba wash bag is the lightest and most compact “washing machine” for travel, enabling you to wash clothes wherever and whenever you want, for free. It’s one of our must-have van life essentials if you’re travelling in a van! The volume of the bag is 13 litres, but when filled with clothes the optimal washing volume is 4 litres.

Made of durable, microbial- and hydrolysis-resistant polyether TPU coated nylon, the Scrubba Wash Bag even has a transparent window to see washing and filling levels. The flexible internal washboard works in conjunction with a gripping surface on the outside of the bag to allow a machine quality wash in just minutes.

It’s twice as effective as hand washing, and much more hygienic than a hotel sink!

How Does The Scrubba Wash Bag Work?

Gone are the days where you have to know the Spanish for ‘Where is the laundrette’.

Scrubba have made it simple to wash your clothes anywhere, any time. We followed the simple instructions in this Scrubba Review and found it to be totally foolproof!

Fill the bag with the desired amount of water, detergent and fabric softener.
Roll the bag up and clip together
Release any air that is left inside using the handy little nozzle
Scrub your clothes on the washboard section of the Scrubba Wash Bag
Empty the dirty water, swill with clean, and then hang your freshly laundered products on a tree to dry.

Testing

Admittedly, we did do this Scrubba Review on a cold and Windy day in November, so were never going to get the greatest results from it. However, I was really impressed with the simplicity of the product and of course with the end result. Filling up the product is incredibly straight forward – the instructions are also printed on the back of the bag if you’re unsure – and everything feels secure and well made when holding in your hands.

The washboard element of the Scrubba Wash Bag is where the magic really happens. It’s just abrasive enough to work the detergent into the fibres of your clothes without damaging any of your precious garments.

I found that it’s best to do one item at a time when washing; sometimes the clothes get a little bit bundled together, and its hard to pull them apart when they are in the bag. Still, my clothes came out nice and clean and smelling funky fresh!

Scrubba also do a drying kit, which includes an absorbent towel, inflatable hangers and a peg free washing line. My clothes did come out incredibly wet in the absence of a spin cycle (guess you could take one on a waltzer with you!), and the travel towel would have been good to use after wringing them dry to help dry them out before finishing off in the van.

Final Thoughts…

All in all, an essential bit of kit that should definitely be on your Christmas list. As a full time Van Lifer, I’m so glad to have one of these onboard for when we’re living off grid for long periods of time.

We’re giving the Scrubba Wash Bag an overall rating of 8/10. I would definitely recommend spending a little bit extra to get the drying kit to speed up the process. I also think that the whole thing would work better if you live in a warmer climate, and not Yorkshire in the middle of Winter.