Back from first trip- Storage Ideas Help..we were so messy

You'll like this old thread on PUX.

 

I know how you feel, I like the look of the roof installed features, but I don't want to attach anything permanently to my roof either. That gives you "standing storage" options. Some people use those plastic drawers, I think they look pretty nice & if you can slide them in loaded with your clothes or other items while camper is closed for your last minute packing, they would be a good option for you. I personally have always used suitcases for travel, weekend trips my hubby & I can share 1 carry-on size & each have a shower bag, they can sit on closed carry-on, leaving much space on our counter for other things or another suitcase, duffles or whatever if others are with us. There are also free-standing shelf units, that can be assembled & disassembled fairly easy, I use a small one for my "pantry" sort of.
As stated already, there are lots of threads on this topic, you can search "storage options" or "vertical storage options" you'll see lots of photos. but I'l include one of our bags.

Sorry it's not real clear, but the bags sit to one side, leaving room for my purse & our friend's duffles (that stayed with us that weekend).
Here is a pic of my "pantry" in use.

 

I'll just repeat my standard advice: Minimize what you bring (most people pack way too much stuff), roll it tight in duffel bags, use a plastic bag for dirty clothes and put it back in the duffel. Food and cooking equipment stays in the TV and is used outside.

 

I know a lot of people don't like the wardrobes but we love ours- I like the shelves in it as well as the hanging rod. We put our clothes in the drawers as well as the wardrobe and all dirty clothes go in a big Rubbermaid tote outside under the bunk end ( we made a bunk end skirt to hide all that stuff) and shoes go right outside under the step.

We have bunk end organizers for odds and ends and a collapsible portable shelving unit where all keys, dog leash, sunglasses, etc go by the door. We hang some of those shower organizer things on removable hooks on the wall for washcloths, towels, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.

Here's a few pics of what I'm talking about- please excuse all the Mickey stuff, this was when we Mickey-fied the camper for our surprise Christmas camping trip at Disney World

Bunk end organizer- great for odds and ends, glasses, Nintendo DS, games,battery light, etc etc


You can't really see but just the edge of it here but the wardrobe has a shelf on the side and a paper towel holder right above it.


The collapsible shelf unit and one of the small shower organizer hangers (obviously not filled yet!)


Here's a better shot of the wardrobe but before the paper towel holder was installed

 

We store all our food stuffs, paper goods and dinnerware on shelves. The towels are on a hanging shelf above. It is mostly DW and myself and on long trips (four days or longer) we have one of those garment hangers that we hand all of our clothes. The dirty clothes go in a collapsable hamper. When we have the DGKs we store the clothes in duffel bags. DW is kinda nuts about neatness.

 

Nascar Fan..so going to steal your ideas!

 

Nah, you're cool. Yinz were just having the first timers, does everything have a place, episode. Totally normal.

Things'll work out. You may even bring less stuff next time out.

 

c'mon, you're camping, be messy, where mismatched cloths, eat chocolate cake for breakfast, relax, nobody knows (well, maybe several hundred hundred of us do now )

 

I completely know how you feel. The first time we used a pop up we borrowed it from my brother in-law and it was pretty much trashed the whole time. Then we got our own and now it is a little better. This last trip we took was a little messy, but we are making a list of things we need and slowly getting better. We also way over packed due to the fact we knew we were going to have very cold weather.

You will get better in time. Just remember to make your bed and tidy up!!

Try and have a schedule as well. It is easy to be sloppy when you do not have a plan.


And as some have mentioned on other threads, driveway camp so you can become accustomed to your pup.
FL Bill

 

It will take a few trips to get somewhat organized. You will learn what you need to bring as opposed to what you want to bring!

As for kitchen stuff, we have one of those totes that fit under the bed. It's just the right size to fit under the seat cushion storage areas. We also have a separate small tote just for the kitchen utensils. We also purchased a few 5 gallon buckets to store stuff in under the seat cushions as well. As for clothing, we keep things either in our suitcase or duffel bags. We also bring along a large net bag for dirty clothing. One of the storage areas under the dinette seat is used just for storing our sleeping bags and rugs for the inside of the pup.

On weekend trips we bring pretty much what we want. But for cross country trips we will only pack what we need!! That allows us to put a limit on weight!

 

Usually two grown ups and a kid camping, often we camp with others and are responsible for one or two big meals.

Food: I use a grocery store hand basket for dry food, one cooler, and usually there's some sort of bag of food. They just sit on the counter.

Clothes go under the benches.

All the dishes go in the cabinet. We have a handle bin for the silverware, cooking utensils, and napkins -- great for taking in and out. Tons more room there if I wanted to be more organized and shove all the food in there. I don't generally, because we're mostly outside....

Cleaning stuff and big pots in the cabinets around the sinks.

Games, heater, fan, and room for more stuff in the cabinet by the benches.

We must not camp with much, but it's super easy for that stuff to get strewn out all over the place.

Tear down -- bedding, clothes, food, and flame (backpacking stove, fuel, candles, bug spray), all go in TV and come back out for next trip. We'll likely leave the beds made between trips until they need changing. That's a PITA.

 

We're still working on a good system for the Cobalt, we had only had it on 3 trips.
We carry clothes in duffels, which sit on the end of the dining benches, or on the extra bunk. Dirty clothes go directly into a laundry bag, when possible. On the trip last week (you can see the report and some pics in the cold weather section) things got more messy than usual. DH was on a backpack, I was walking the Rim trails in snowstorms and the aftermath. That meant I had wet boots (no place to leave them outside, they usually stay in the TV but I used them anytime I needed to go outside), wet parka (I bought coat hangers and used the bunk support pole in the extra bunk), wet gloves, head wear, etc. I stung our elastic clothes line, usually used around the end of the picnic table to hang dish towels, mid-line in the pup. Worked OK for me, DH would have be tangled in it, but it was over my head and I kept the hats, etc. over the table.
Because we took the toaster oven, which was great for this trip but will almost never do so on other trips, I lost what counter space I had. Left me determined to figure out some solutions. DH is going to make a collapsible shelf, so we have double-decker space on the counter (once we remove the sink to make a real counter instead of the piece of plywood sitting over the sink).
We use the under-bench storage mostly for travel space, since it is difficult to access it in camp. I need to buy some new plastic storage boxes to fit under the galley, we measured one area before we shut the pup and 2 of the long DVD-size "Really Useful Boxes" will fit, with space for smaller ones on the top of those.
The drawer option will not work in our small pup (we've moved up from "tiny"). I have to re-work some things that travel under the table, as there is less space in this pup (because of the table legs). We may experiment with leaving the table home, but one reason to have a pup is for shelter on icky evenings, so the table is handy for eating, reading, playing Scrabble.

I guess what I'm saying, long-winded though it may be, is that you will need to figure out what works for your combination of pup, people, trips, and personal messiness tolerance. It has been a large learning curve for us, in reality our ground tents stay neater, so we are trying to figure out how to translate that to the pup.

 

Here are better photos of our set up with just the 2 of us & our doggie

You can see in photo above on the long counter our suitcase (carry-on) with shower bags on top, leaves more counter space. (we're still experimenting with heater placement). Willow & her tote on the extra bunk, other bags that carried our food, water container & some extras are on the bunk also, but had them under bench seat last trip. (we had guests staying). Our dirty clothes bag is also on the extra bunk, when trip is over I pack anything (if any) that's clean in our shower bags & dirty clothes go into the carry-on, so same luggage configuration.

This is the other side, we added 2 gal water container, use for making coffee & to fill Willow's water bowl. Over the sink is the "pantry", but we kept stuff in the sink also, because we didn't use it on the trip, there is some space under sink for that stuff if we're going to use the sink.

 

kitphantom said:

You might want to consider the collapsible "white wire" shelves that can be found at Walmart, K-Mart, Target, etc. They come in a variety of lengths and widths and can stack up by interlocking. Nascar Fan has some on his counter in the picture above in Reply #5. They are light weight, take very little space when folded and don't cost much.

 

The more I see posts like this one, the more I love my Jayco and the massive amount of storage I have. One of these days I will get pics of it lol.

If you don't have much storage space my advice is to just pack conservatively. Use cookware that can be nested inside each other and get an upright set of shelves to put on your counter to hold dry goods and non perishables. As far as your bags go, store them on your bed when not sleeping and under the table when sleeping. That should clear up some of the clutter.

 

I think the reason I have so much crap in my PUP already is I packed a lot of stuff initially, that I used for tent camping. I chuckle every time I think, 'now why'd I bring this?' So before her Winter storage, she's getting a good cleaning out!

The second reason is that I really have a LOT of storage space!! But I still use a 3 drawer plastic unit for clothes, and a narrower one for food. Two foldable, stacked shelves hold the things I'm into all day, like coffee!

Remember, stack and build UP!

 

Hi MALS..
I see that you commented about not attaching anything permanently to the ceiling, I felt kind of the same way until I put one of these up with just a couple of eyelet screws. I figured that if the manufacturer had no issue with installing the light fixtures, door brackets, etc on the ceiling this wouldn't hurt either.

You can pick them up pretty much everywhere I think (Walmart/Lowes/HD). I bought mine at The Container Store. Really well made, $25 bucks. Looks like you could probably use 2 or 3 of them if you have room!

 

We use two of those hanging shoe things for our clothes. Shirts in one, underwear in another, socks in another etc... they are great. Then we have hanging whitre metal shelves over the dinette area entrance about four feet long that hold ALOT of stuff as well as stackable drwer unit for dishes, food, mics., and an above sink wire shelf. We've had our pup for four years now and I'm still trying to find more space for things.

JJ