make a clothes line that needs no clothespins

I got this from reddit

Take a long stretch of para-cord and double it over itself. Attach the bent end to something immobile, then put the two loose ends into an electric drill/screwdriver (where the bit would go). Then wind the cord until it is very tight. Tie the two ends together. Coil.

You may now attach the two ends to any two objects so that it is stretched taught. The twist on the para-cord will be tight enough that you can simply pull them apart, and stick a corner of a sheet or a bit of sleeve into the cord, and it will hold it without needing clothes pins. This will work smashingly for camping as well.

Who will be the first to post a pic?

When I was living on a sailboat, we did a variation on this.  We just used a standard 3-ply poly rope.  Twist it against the lay, and a small opening would appear.  Tuck a corner into the opening and let go...it would close itself, and hold the clothes.  Don't expect good results on a very windy day.  We looked like a Chinese Junk on laundry day.

We did this at Girl Scout camp, circa1968...

I dry my clothes in a shed/greenhouse built for drying my firewood. It has good air circulation and some solar gain, but no wind. I just drape the clothes over the line. For clothesline, I use bits of orange nylon strapping that I scavenge from the lumber yards.

Has anyone tried the first (reddit) method? I am curious if this works more efficiently than clothes pins. While it would be handy to not need the clothes pins, it seems it might take 2 hands to untwist/form loop, then I don't have a hand left to insert the cloth. Maybe I just need to try it for myself ...


thanks all

Since this was first suggested back in 2011, I can't find anyone who has done this searching Google.

From what I am understanding, for me, it will just not work because it is so windy that I would not be able to get the drill working before the clothes blew away.

I would really like to see if someone has tried this experiment and what the results were.

I have not tried the above, but I agree with Anne in that if the cord is twisted loosely enough to easily pull the strands apart with fingers, it will likely not grip strongly enough.

I prefer hanging clothes on hangers to dry, especially if they are going on hangers eventually anyway. Just do it once and be done with it. In the past I have hung the hangers on the purloins of a metal roofed shed. The ridges are spaced apart and are narrow enough to prevent the clothes from flopping around in the wind like they would do on a narrow clothesline. It also provides shade which prevents bleaching from the sun at the expense of a slightly longer drying time. But being protected from the rain, I could leave them there without having to worry about getting rained on.

If a "line" is necessary, I also had the idea of a board with slots or holes in it to hold the hangers at a proper spacing and prevent them from flopping around in the wind. Or even a round dowel slightly larger than the diameter of the bend of the hanger's hook with rings turned into it on a lathe into which the hook would fit to hold them in place.