Storage (or lack thereof) in a teardrop?

Thanks for the tips, everyone.

As Thom02099 stated, when we had our pop-up (6 years), everything of any size was put on the floor when the top came down. Lawn chairs, tool box, storage bins, mat for outside on the ground, any extras.

Of course, if we needed to get inside the camper with the top down, it was impossible unless we reached in and started pulling stuff out so we could crawl in and get whatever we need if we were not set up.

Once at the campsite, everything on the floor had to be moved out. We kept everything in tubs and they were usually put under the camper or in the back of our mini-van which we used for a tow vehicle.

After a while, this constant shifting of tubs and containers just became a way of life. Our food items were kept in plastic tubs and they usually stayed in the back of the mini-van. This made packing and unpacking much easier. Of course, back then, we didn't store food items inside the camper when not in use. Anything left over at the end of a trip came back in the house. Tubs were brought in also and when planning the next trip, we started loading them back up a few days before our next trip, which gave us time to NOT forget anything. After a while, this became a routine also.

Our pop-up did not have a refrigerator also. It came with an ice-box, which I removed and turned into cabinet space. We purchased an electric cooler that could be turned upright into a refrigerator position. We kept that outside the camper or in the back of the van. Although that was around 1999 when we purchased the cooler, we still have it, still works great, and still use it occasionally. (works great for keeping extra drinks and extra milk in on longer trips now.)

Basically, with smaller camper, or a pop-up, you have store things in containers that can be moved around, and you need to plan on using the space in your tow vehicle for storage also, as well as the space under the camper.

some ideas here. do a google search "rv storage mods" to see what others have done, use what applies to you.

http://www.jeff-z.com/rv/mods/mods.html

Neither one of those is really a teardrop, they are rather small conventional travel trailers with rounded ends. These are about the size of "full-size" travel trailers in the late 1950s to early 1960s.

At this size, there will be no storage space. The trailer is for travel, it is not a mobile home. When we traveled in a trailer this size in the early 1960s, we each had one bag, something between a backpack and a modern carry-on size. They fit under the queen-size gaucho or on the floor of the dinette.

For the two models you are looking at, most of the storage will be under a bed (and you can put your bags down in the available floorspace). Both are designed to provide living/sleeping space for a small family doing weekends, rather than a permanent home for a single.

For the model lines your are considering, R-Pod 179, or Hummingbird 17RK or 17RB (depending whether big kitchen or dry bath are more important) offer a bit more, but not very much, storage space for a semi-permanent resident.

At this TT size and weight you will usually get more closet and cupboard space in a more box-shaped trailer, rather than this pseudo-teardrop shape.

I am in the RV I am in because my wife, when we were looking, considered interior storage space to be most important to our use of the RV. This is something I would have missed while shopping then, but I better understand it now.

Check out the R-Pod 179. It has more storage than the other models. You can also use slide out drawers under the bed.

Might put a cargo net in that low half moon spot. hook it at the top and you can unhook it and let all the stuff lay out flat and when done hook it back up and all your stuff is collected behind it.

Also saw where someone had taken a metal rake (without the handle) and mounted it on the wall and the tines of the rake can hold cooking utensils.

Spices were put in a weekly medicine plastic pill organizer.

put toile paper in empty metal coffee cans with plastic lids to keep it dry

I've used the plastic drawer things in other trailers, they do work well.

Most items could stay in the tow vehicle. Just thinking about where to keep basics. Looks like there is enough room for food for several days.

Back in the day, when I was a pop up trailer type camper, I'd use those stackable single plastic drawers that you can use to put clothes and odds and ends in, and put them on the floor while traveling. Perhaps you could slide them under the dinette table while in motion, or in the bathroom in the shower area. Also used milk crates for food items, those could also be placed on the floor as well, or perhaps on the dinette while it's folded down for traveling.