Hybrid's and storage

[Grizzly_Wayne]

So, currently don't have a camper (first time owner, long time camper as a kid). Looking at hybrids and found a few I like. Trying to stay simple, nothing too big. My brother has a TT with a slide out, so I have been bouncing things off him. I found a StarCraft Travelstar 186RB, I like the layout, but he brought up a good point: storage. I only see one o.h. cabinet in the kitchen, and two small storage shelves. How many of you wish you had more storage in your camper? We (dw and dd) are coming from tent camping, couple of totes and the back of my truck. But, with more room comes more stuff.
What are your thoughts? Can you ever have enough storage?

 

[JustRelax]

This was my main drawback for hybrids. I have the coachmen 21tqx. There is an additional cabinet and countertop in it behind the dinette and it actually has a pass through storage up front. I looked at quite a few and in my opinion the storage and layout in this unit was by far the best. The pass through storage is immensely important and left out of almost all other hybrid models.

 

[giadiep]

We have a StarCraft Travelstar 187 TB (3 bunk hybrid). The 3rd bunk eliminates some storage capacity. That being said, we came from tent camping to a popup to this hybrid. We are able to carry just about everything we want to bring with us camping. Enough space that we can comfortably live in with 5 people (kids are 7,10 & 12). With a hybrid, the sleeping accommodations are much better than a hardside TT. However, if you only have one child and won't be bringing along any other family members or her friends, you may not need the better sleeping space. Then, you can get a traditional hardside with better storage capacity. It is all about what you prioritize.

The only thing I carry in the bed of my truck now are bicycles. I can actually carry them inside the hybrid if I wanted to, but it's just as easy to use the truck bed. However, if you are towing with a full size SUV, you should know that you can carry bicycles inside the hybrid if you wanted.

 

[shelmily]

My hybrid is a bit bigger than the one you are looking at, so it may not be a good comparison. I have a Rockwood Roo 23SS, and I have plenty of storage. Coming from a 10 foot box popup, this is a huge step up in terms of storage. Obviously the smaller you go though, the more limited you are going to be on space. One thing you shouldn't overlook, there is a ton of wasted space in any camper. The factory puts in false panels, and just plain block off open areas. If you are the slightest bit handy, you can gain quite a bit of storage space.

 

[jennylou]

We are in a pup now, but looking at hybrids. DH actually brought up the storage. While there is a bigger refrigerator and there is the usual kitchen storage, there isn't much in terms of storage for the clothing that comes along with my family of five. I told DH that we could always put our clothes in the shower, as we mainly want the hybrid so we don't have to pop all the time if we want something out of the pup. We use the pup as our tent on wheels, we cook outside and only go in the pup if it's raining and to sleep.

 

[bikendan]

My hybrid is a bit bigger than the one you are looking at, so it may not be a good comparison. I have a Rockwood Roo 23SS, and I have plenty of storage. Coming from a 10 foot box popup, this is a huge step up in terms of storage. Obviously the smaller you go though, the more limited you are going to be on space. One thing you shouldn't overlook, there is a ton of wasted space in any camper. The factory puts in false panels, and just plain block off open areas. If you are the slightest bit handy, you can gain quite a bit of storage space.

We also owned a 23SS, that we just sold.
It has more interior storage than any other hybrid I've ever seen.
We never were able to fill all the storage areas.
So there some hybrids with good storage but not in the smaller ones.
You need to go 21' or longer if you want good storage.

 

[Grizzly_Wayne]

Great responses guys! Thanks! I really feel like when we do switch over to a hybrid from a tent, we really won't be inside much. When we tent camp, we are always on the go. Only time we may be inside is during inclement weather, or bedtime. No more leaky air mattresses for this Eagle scout, lol

 

[darrenandmelissa]

I told DH that we could always put our clothes in the shower,

We use our shower for shoe storage. Just a word of caution if you have never owned a camper with holding tanks, the shower(tub) is usually the lowest drain on the grey tank and thus if you start to over flow the grey tank the tub is the first place the water will come through. With how un accurate the sensors are we have had this happen a few times. I know when we are getting close so I make sure there's is nothing in there before the water starts to flow.

 

[yetavon]

Just a word of caution if you have never owned a camper with holding tanks.

This Darrin will tell you the same warning....LOL...
Also check out the Shamrock/Roo 21DK tons of storage in a 22ft box

 

[Heather Conn]

We just recently upgraded from an old Rockwood PUP to a 2018 Coachman Apex Nano 15X hybrid. It sleeps up to 8. No slides. The box is 18ft 9in. It has a queen fold out on each side. We needed it light, to be able to be towed by our Town and Country easily. We looked at a few different makes/models, but found the Apex Nano had the most storage! The 17x has a slide and a nice U shape dinette, but the 15x had the largest fridge, which was a factor for us. It also had beautiful leather seats, and to us seemed a bit more upscale compared to some other models. We have 8 kiddo's.....4 that still live at home with us that will camp with us regularly. I am finding plenty of storage with no issues at all. The 15x is nice, because all along the front of the RV and the side is storage which is accessible not only from the outside, but also the inside, in case it's raining, or late at night and we dont feel like going outside. Plenty of storage in the bathroom as well. I did add a pocket shoe rack on the front of the bathroom door as well as a heavy duty material "baby organizer" on the inside of the bathroom door for extra storage space. We are a large family and so far we are loving this and fitting into it nicely! I posting up a few pics, I hope it helps with your decision! Very exciting!

 

[uno676]

We have a StarCraft Travelstar 187 TB (3 bunk hybrid). The 3rd bunk eliminates some storage capacity. That being said, we came from tent camping to a popup to this hybrid. We are able to carry just about everything we want to bring with us camping. Enough space that we can comfortably live in with 5 people (kids are 7,10 & 12). With a hybrid, the sleeping accommodations are much better than a hardside TT. However, if you only have one child and won't be bringing along any other family members or her friends, you may not need the better sleeping space. Then, you can get a traditional hardside with better storage capacity. It is all about what you prioritize.

The only thing I carry in the bed of my truck now are bicycles. I can actually carry them inside the hybrid if I wanted to, but it's just as easy to use the truck bed. However, if you are towing with a full size SUV, you should know that you can carry bicycles inside the hybrid if you wanted.

We just purchased this camper we pick it up Friday. Any suggestions or things to watch for far as storage or anything else? We love the lay out of this camper very excited to get it home.

 

[giadiep]

We just purchased this camper we pick it up Friday. Any suggestions or things to watch for far as storage or anything else? We love the lay out of this camper very excited to get it home.

Our's is a little older - 2012. So it may have a different layout. I'm not sure. We have enjoyed it and have not had any issues with it other than some water coming in around the bunk seals during an extremely heavy rain storm. I think we need to replace the rubber seals soon as they are getting a little too compressed and drying out. I installed LED awning lights myself with a dimmer, which worked out very nicely. I am jealous of your power awning though.

 

[uno676]

I'm like the power awning my busy has a manual one and we are always fighting it to put it up when
The wind comes in. I saw a thread where somebody made slide in boxes for the frontstorage bin looked cool.

 

[giadiep]

I'm like the power awning my busy has a manual one and we are always fighting it to put it up when
The wind comes in. I saw a thread where somebody made slide in boxes for the frontstorage bin looked cool.

The slide in boxes look cool, but I think they take up valuable space. I have not had any issues loading or reaching anything in my front compartment, so I wont be doing that mod soon. However, I did mount fishing rod holders, clips, etc to hold rods, awning pole, stabilizer tool and wdh pipe to organize these better and keep them easily accessible.

 

[uno676]

Picked up new camper today now starts the storage war

 

[Grizzly_Wayne]

Looks great uno676!

 

[RockyRoo]

As several have said the bigger the HTT the more storage. We had a Roo 233S for 4.5 years and storage was never a problem. The only catch was that due to the 3rd bunk we still used suitcases as the 3rd bunk took up the wardrobe space. Other than that, we never had storage issues, we also had storage space that wasn't always completely used. Sometimes you have to be creative, but it works. If you have a half ton truck don't be afraid to go to the bigger HTT's if you have somewhere to store it. You will very much appreciate the space when it rains and you all want to duck inside. Also, don't be afraid of the slideouts, as long as they are maintained they will be trouble free for years. Good luck with your search.

 

[cma7777]

We have a Jayco 23b. It has the most storage space of any hybrid I have seen. We run out of storage space simple because we take to much junk camping. The size of this hybrid is perfect for us. I just need reevaluate what we take.

 

[VTRailroadguy]

We have a 2014 KZ Spree Escape E20RBT. We looked at the three bunk versions of several manufacturers and in the end we chose the one with a 21' box and no oven. We thought about it and the storage lost by having an oven wasn't worth it. In it's place, we have another cabinet with 5 decent sized slide out bins and some storage space underneath them. Everything we bring camping (except bicycles and my little generator) resides permanently in the camper.

 

[nhlakes]

Our 2001 Trail-Lite Bantam B21B hybrid (long time ago, bought new in 2001) had plenty of storage - even for an 8 week cross-country trip with my wife and 2 kids. We did keep some extra clothes in plastic bins/shelves the back of the Suburban.