50 Handy Tricks

Step 19 Flannel Camp Towel

Here's Dr. Nina Aldrich-Wolfe with everything hung out to dry after a day sailing in my leaky boat.
We're at Pa Muul, in the Yucatan. Behind her left shoulder is her flannel camp towel.
It's small, light, soaks up an amazing amount of water, wrings out easily, and dries quickly, compared to other towels, because it's much thinner.
It's made from cotton flannel from a shirt. Look for one that's soft and fleecy and made from 100% cotton. This towel is bigger and more useful than the newfangled diaper-chemistry camp sponge towels. For instance you can wear it as various articles of clothing.

Of course, if you want an article of clothing that doesn't soak up tons of water, get wool, nylon, polyester, something that makes a terrible towel.

Comments

[DorthyBlueBird]

It depends on how the wool is treated. Some wools are treated in such a way that the water just sits on the top, but others (like say, natural wool socks ) absorb an astonishing amount of water, yet the wool surface stays dry. This can also create a cooling effect, which is why anybody bothers to wear wool at all, say... in the middle east or other dry desert climes.

[DorthyBlueBird]

Oops! I forgot to mention that most desert climates also get VERY cold at night... also why it's a good idea to bring something warm even if you are going somewhere warm and dry. Not sure it's as big of a problem with dry and wet.

[dressmaking]

Actually wool can soak up to 13% of its weight in water, which is more than cotton, at around 8%. That's why tropical weight wool fabric is supposed to be so great to wear in the, um, tropics. What really makes the flannel towel effective is the nature of the fabric. All the little fuzzies that make up the nap are like a smaller version of the loops in a terry-cloth towel. Sorry to be such a textile science nerd, it's an awesome tip that I will definitely use on my next back-packing trip!