Storage compartment organization

I spent a lot of time over the years modifying my storage plan as we moved from a popup with a front storage compartment, to a travel trailer and now to a toy hauler. Storage is almost always at a premium in a camper so tips to maximize it along with make it easy to find what you want is what I was striving for. Nothing lights my fuse more than knowing I have something but not being able to find it. Just imagine how many times my daughter heard "A place for everything, everything in it's place"! LOL!

When we moved from a popup to a TT, I measured the dimensions of the passthrough doors on each side along with the interior dimensions of the compartment. I went to my local Walmart and found a combination of the plastic storage containers that would fit through the passthrough door and then be stackable inside. These containers would stack three high and two side by side, using almost the entire dimensions top to bottom and side to side. I believe I was within 2" on each. So using 6, I took up half of the front passthrough storage area, 3 high, 2 columns wide. I put all these on the drivers side.

We recently got a Toyhauler which has a Genny Prep Storage cage on the drivers side and about 2/3's the trailers width passthrough only to the passenger side. So a little reconfiguring had to be done along with buying a few different size containers to fit the new dimensions.

I now have 1 each labeled Sewage, Water, Electrical, Tools/lube, Kitchen, Misc.

Contents below

SEWAGE (Thin)-2 Rhino hoses, a few adapters, clear adapter. Anything that has dirty water flow through it goes in the container after it's rinsed out. No chance of contamination that way.

WATER (Tall)-Clean Water supplies (Regular water hoses, elbows, water filters and regulators).

ELECTRICAL (Tall)- Power cord, the surge protector and a 30 amp extension cord along with the electric dog bones.

TOOLS/LUBE (Thin)-WD-40, Silicone, Dry lube, hitch grease, a few wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, socket set, drill bits, Gorilla Tape, Aluminum tape, Electrical tape.

KITCHEN (Tall)-2 lanterns, tongs, spatula, fork, propane quick connect hoses, 6 small propane tanks, grilling gloves, mantels, a propane tree that connects to a 20lb propane tank and allows multiple feeds to appliances.

MISC (Thin)-tent stakes, small 5-lb sledge hammer, claw hammer, rope, rubber bungees, misc stuff.

The Sewer, Water, Electrical and Tools all stack in my generator prep storage on the hookup side of the camper since we did not get the Onan genny. Works out well since that's the side of the camper I need everything in those tubs generally. Fit nicely with room for the crank arms for the manual slide out/spare tire and a few small odds and ends.

The Kitchen tub comes out during setup to go under a folding 6' table I setup to use for the campstove and Weber Q220 grill.

The Misc tub stays in the storage area unless I need to fix something.

This method has worked out well for me after some adjusting and deciding what I needed to have and what I just needed to have available IF. When we go somewhere to camp thats power only, I just grab the kitchen tube and the power cord and everything else stays where it is. I also like the way the plastic tubs slide on the floor of the storage area making them easy to get out.

We have done the same thing with the storage under our bed by putting the sheets, pillow, blanket and comforter for the happijack bed in a single tub for when we have guests that will be using it. Out of the way but ready at a moments notice. We have plenty of room for other things there also but area leaving it half empty for the time being.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's organizational tips so I can borrow a few and step up my game to the next level! Hope this spurs ideas or solutions to others as its all about making camping easier and more enjoyable.

Seeking Advice

CincyGus
Explorer II
Nov 30, 2018
Lwiddis wrote:
Well, IMO no sewage stuff should be kept in the same compartment with any fresh water stuff in a tub or not.

Been using this method to store my sewage gear for 6 years ago when I bought the TT and had a black tank (Popup didn't have one). Never had any cross contamination causing illness or breakout of any zombie causing disease. I will add that I do rinse out the hoses and the sewage container with soapy water and then fresh when I wash the camper a couple times a year. Then I let them air dry in the sun before putting them back in the tub at the end of the day. To each their own. This works for me.

Lwiddis wrote:
There’s also a “drying” issue (rinsed or not) at least for me. Wet stuff in a closed container?

I'm guessing you hook your fresh water hose up to an air compressor every time you tear down camp, blowing it dry before putting it in a storage compartment?

Too much work for me. Containing a few drops of water left in a hose (fresh or sewage) after I have drained them (and then rinsed for the sewage hose) in a tub is much better than putting that in a storage area uncontained, IMO. At worst, I have found maybe a quarter dixie cup worth of water in a tub after a trip home or upon the next time I opened the tub to setup. Usually none. But I'm glad it was in the tub and not in my storage bay. It's very easy to wipe out with a couple paper towels vs. having it soak into my storage area floor.
MitchF150
Explorer III
Nov 29, 2018
Here are some things I have done over the years for storage on the inside of the trailer..

This pantry was just a really deep cavern, so I made it a pull out shelf.

I ditched the folding table and facing bench dinette to this. Gives me a lot of storage under the seats, but all in a longer area.

Here is the end result. We don't miss the table at all. We have a couple of TV trays if we need to eat inside. We usually eat outside, since we are only weekend campers in the summer.. ;)

I've done some more shelving updates to the other closets and upper cabinets to utilize the space better. (sorry, no pics of those.) We too use those spring loaded bars to hold stuff in the cabinets and such.

Owned this same TT for over 16 years now and still modifying it and always end up saying "why didn't we do this sooner?" :)

Mitch
CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Nov 29, 2018
I am just a weekend camper with a 20 foot Travel Trailer. I don't use totes of any kind I just make sure; as you say; "Everything has it's place and Everything in it's place" .

I added shelves into the wardrobe area of my TT. I find them very handy to store my folded clothes. As a weekend camper I have nothing I need to hang up in the wardrobe anyway. I need shelves more then I need hanging space.

I store my TT at home in a shed so in the winter turn the heat on and I go through everything and move out stuff that I have not used in a couple of years. It helps to keep the clutter down. Not much to move out this year. I have been doing this long enough to know what I need.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Nov 28, 2018
CincyGus wrote:
Looking forward to hearing everyone's organizational tips so I can borrow a few and step up my game to the next level! Hope this spurs ideas or solutions to others as its all about making camping easier and more enjoyable.

JMO but storage bins are NOT the solution. I've tried, time and again to make bins work - but they don't. :( Got tired of having to pull out Bin A to get to Bin B so I could then access Bin C which is where I thought I put something, only to realize it was probably in Bin F. :M Ditched that idea long ago and set up the front pass through storage compartment on any travel trailer we've owned so the curb side held campsite items that we want to access regularly, the street side held all my trailer set up gear, and in the middle between these 2 areas is my spare tire. The spare tire wheel well is a great place to store hoses & cables, no wasted space at all. One shallow tray on the street side was used only to prevent my X-Chocks, wheel chocks, drill, etc from rolling around. My one and only bin is clear plastic and holds my spare Lynx Levelers which are always first out, last in. No "hunting" for anything - K.I.S.S. :B
ZINGERLITE
Explorer
Nov 28, 2018
i find that i have my stuff organized and together when i leave the house. When i break down at the end of the trip everything just gets tossed/crammed into the storage compartments and its just a mess.
CFerguson
Explorer II
Nov 28, 2018
As to fridge contents shifting during travel, one thing we do is to put empty boxes in the front of stuff. That way it not only keeps things from moving around, if anything does fall out when you open the door, its just an empty box.
camperdave
Explorer
Nov 28, 2018
drsteve wrote:
camperdave wrote:
I went from a full size van pulling a travel trailer with very little outside storage space (so everything was in the van) to a 30' Class C with no toad.

How does anyone get by without a toad? DW and I love sightseeing, we could never manage without a vehicle that could leave the CG on a moment's notice.

Different strokes for different folks. We tend to either be in one campsite for a few days and never leave, or we're travelling so what's the point of a toad when the motorhome's already with us?
Etstorm
Explorer
Nov 28, 2018
DutchmenSport wrote:
New 5er, had it less than 3 months now. I'm still unorganized. I'm still moving items from place A to place B and then somehow back to place A and then to place C. What I initially thought was a well placed item, ends up falling off the shelf and bonking me on the head when I open doors. We haven't figured it all out yet. Actually, we don't have that much stuff that has to stack on top of other things, even in the pass through. Now the temps are way below freezing and it's just too cold to mess with it now.

Last trip over Thanksgiving week, discovered a new storage hazard.... the refrigerator. We had it packed full of drinks and stuff. After traveling, every time we opened the door the first time... I mean ... literally ... everything came crashing out! I'm still scratching my head on how to stop that. The refrigerator is just so big, things move around. I'm now looking for spring bars that will fit my full size residential refrigerator.

Outside storage is no problem. It's all the stuff inside! I will say, stuff under the bed is well organized.

You are definitely better organized than we are.

My refrigerator has straps and snaps on the tops of the doors. I sure you could find something similar

Hold the doors closed although there is some shifting on the interior
drsteve
Explorer
Nov 28, 2018
camperdave wrote:
I went from a full size van pulling a travel trailer with very little outside storage space (so everything was in the van) to a 30' Class C with no toad.

How does anyone get by without a toad? DW and I love sightseeing, we could never manage without a vehicle that could leave the CG on a moment's notice.
camperdave
Explorer
Nov 28, 2018
I went from a full size van pulling a travel trailer with very little outside storage space (so everything was in the van) to a 30' Class C with no toad. It has one large outside pass-through storage area, a large area under the queen bed inside, but otherwise is pretty limited for storage.

I really miss the vast openess of the van! I could pack without thinking much, just put in whatever I want. Now I need to think about weight distribution and figure out how to organize the large outside rear storage area. It's going to be a work in progress over the winter, and probably into next summer.

I'm thinking maybe a large sliding shelf for the middle part I cannot easily reach, then plastic bins on each side by the access hatches.

I definitely need to build a bunch of shelves in the wardrobe area, I have no need for hanging clothes space (which it has on both sides of the bed).