This is a great topic. We just went from a 39' 5th Wheel to a 2004 29' Winnie, so storage has really been an issue. We just got back from our "maiden voyage". I LOVE THE WINNIE. I followed much of the advise on this forum as to where to pack, but one thing I have to ask.
What do you do about a floor sweeper. I put the broom in the shower but I need some type of carpet sweeper. Any ideas ?
Thanks for all the good hints. This is my first post so please forgive me if I don't do it correctly
Probably in a Class C a better question might be where do you store the really difficult stuff, i.e:
- 48 bottles of drinking water .. under a dinette seat
- two 2 1/2 gallon bulk drinking water containers .. one under a dinette seat and one in the kitchen sink
- 27 bottles of tea .. under a dinette seat
- 36 cans of Pepsi One .. under a dinette seat
- 24 containers of breakfast diet drink .. under a dinette seat
- three life preservers .. under a dinette seat
- three absorbed glass matt house batteries .. two under a coach step and another in one of the outside compartments
- one Honda generator as a quiet backup to the Onan built in generator .. in the large rear outside compartment
- safe storage of the above Honda generator's spare fuel .. in a fireproof steel can in the only outside compartment where any rare fumes from the can will not reach the interior of the coach and where water heater or furnace flames are not close by
- one full power 110V compressor for emergency quick inflation of chassis tires .. in one of the outside compartments
- four fishing poles .. in one of the long lateral under-floor compartments
- three tackle boxes .. dispersed in various outside compartments
- one full size beach umbrella .. in one of the long lateral under-floor compartments
- one full size shovel .. in one of the long lateral under-floor compartments
- one special charger for any of the three coach batteries as backup to the built-in coach converter .. in one of the outside compartments
- one long reach full size limb pruning tool to create roof clearance in heavily treed boondock camping sites .. in one of the lateral under-floor compartments
- one full size tarp for whatever .. in one of the outside compartments
- one over size umbrella for walking hand in hand with the DW in heavy rains .. in one of the lateral under-floor compartments
- at least eight 16 oz. green LPG steel tanks for the small Weber BBQ .. in one of the outside compartments
- one full size folding aluminum table for camping sites with no supplied table .. standing on edge in the long compartment at the end of the cabover bed
- one regular lounge chair, one king size lounge chaire, and three regular folding chairs .. four in the largest outside compartment and one on the cabover bed
- thirty feet of sewer drain hose .. in the designated compartment
- thirty feet of built-in plus fifty additional feet of extension, electrical hookup cords .. in the designated compartment
- one hundred feet of fresh water tank filling hose .. fifty feet in the designated compartment and fifty feet in one of the outside compartments
- one fully equipped tool bag to handle any conceivable repair on the road .. in one of the outside compartments
- one fully equipped junk drawer to also handle any conceivable repair on the road .. inside the coach in the drawer under the large clothes closet
The main reason for carrying much of the "difficult stuff" above is to at all times have the capability for camping without preplanning anywhere, anytime, on long extended trips with a reasonable amount of safety, reliability, backup redundancy, and without having to stop constantly to shop for certain food items. So far we've managed to get this all into a 24 foot Class C along with a whole bunch of the normal stuff without hanging any boxes off the back bumper, hitch receiver, or ladder, and without having to store anything on the roof!
We also try to keep the MH stocked with its own set of things. Our last trip out, the daughter needed some Claritin, I proudly tell her look in the medicine cabinet, she tells me "with her good eyes" they are expired! Long story short, be sure to keep things fresh, turns out most of the medicines needed to be replaced.
I am enjoying reading the replies to this post. It reminded me of a totally ridiculous conversation between me and my husband about the broom. I have a folding broom where the handle extends, but when storing is very compact. My husband wanted to use it outside on the large mat, where we have a folding table and our two chairs. I wouldn't let him use it outside, as I used it on the linoleum inside the camper and told him we needed to get a different broom for the mat outside that he could store in the outside storage compartment. He replied that the dirt on the inside of the camper must be cleaner than the dirt on the outside. I realized how silly I must have sounded, but for some reason it made sense to me since we use a different broom in the garage than in our house. Right?
This truly makes me wonder what we are going to talk about when we actually retire!! (We are such deep people!)
As for a vacuum, I have a small Oreck that came with my light-weight Oreck upright that I store under the dinette seat. We use it, if needed, during the trip, but when we are doing a thorough cleaning after the trip, we use the upright Oreck.
Chardonnay
2007 Jayco Greyhawk 31SS
"A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking." ~Earl Wilson
"I have a small Oreck that came with my light-weight Oreck...,"
Even when camping without hookups, I use a small vacuum inside run by an inverter that we connect to the coach batteries. Real handy too for vacuuming bugs off the light colored interior ceiling when we leave the door open too long at night with interior lignts on that attract them!
we stock it like a house everything we need is in there winter and summer things when we get back we wash and return them back in only thing we add is food, refrige is left on this because we don't plan we just go and nothing to forget that way you should have everything you need because nothing should be missing.
We have a stack of plastic drawers in one wardrobe closet for sock, drawers, T shirts, hankies, shorts. We keep a small vacuum cleaner under the bed. We keep a plastic basket under the bed for dirty clothes.
We don't keep much junk in the coach: a few magazines, laptop computer, cameras, and a small screw driver set.
I keep the water hose and utility hose in the rear compartment on the utility side, with a plastic milk crate for cleaners, tire pressure gauge, small tool kit, window cleaning sponge/squeegee, broom, water softener and toilet chemicals, and a couple of rags. The cable for TV is kept in the electrical cabinet with the power cord.
We keep 2 collapsible chairs, a folding end table, an outdoor carpet and decorative lights in the curbside rear compartment. If we bring a portable barbeque, it goes in a front curbside compartment with a small can of LP gas.
On day trip with grandchildren, we put kites, a few golf clubs and balls in a rear compartment.
2000 Four Winds Five Thousand 28A (Chevy 3500), Master Tow Dolly, 2000 Chevy Venture minivan TOAD
Nanqt wrote: This is a great topic. We just went from a 39' 5th Wheel to a 2004 29' Winnie, so storage has really been an issue. We just got back from our "maiden voyage". I LOVE THE WINNIE. I followed much of the advise on this forum as to where to pack, but one thing I have to ask.
What do you do about a floor sweeper. I put the broom in the shower but I need some type of carpet sweeper. Any ideas ?
Thanks for all the good hints. This is my first post so please forgive me if I don't do it correctly
I have two cats, both of them are black and I have putty colored carpet. I bought a Dust Buster "Retriever" at Wally's and it does a fantastic job. It does mean however, that I have to get on my hands and knees to get the full benefit on the carpet. Upside is, it really does get all the cat hair and beach sand! I keep it in one of the clothes closets..
Just as an addition to this topic, I try to review what I am carrying with me. If it is not emergency gear, and if I haven't been using it I vote it off the RV. Using that principle (and being more clever at packing) I am actually carrying more stuff now and have more extra space for things that are specific to a particular trip.
Next trip tomorrow will include an extra tool box specific to bikes, 4 bikes and 6 extra wheels!! Yeah, there will be bike wheels piled up inside.
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