Storage

[craig333]

I'm new here and sure this has been brought up before. My one real gripe about my FWC is the lack of storage. What ways have you come up with to optimize storage?

 

[benburnett]

Craig,

There are pros and cons to any camper that you buy when it comes to storage. Ourselves and FWC are limited due to size. The more options that you put on the camper, the more storage that is taken up in some cases.

The only real way to solve a storage problem is to buy a bigger camper but then you have the weight issue to deal with, overhead problems etc.

I camped with a FWC for years and learned over time what I really needed to make a trip comfortable and what I didn't. After a few trips my storage problems were solved by just taking what I would be using on that trip.

A lot of customers have over the years come up with some ideas for storage such as a bumper mounted rack that holds a few cans, high lift jack and other stuff.

Pods on the roof is another solution that I have seen over the years. Disadvantage to that one is that you have to usually empty them to lift the roof up.

When I was diving on a regular basis I always had a small trailer that I towed to carry all of my gear if I was doing a class. If I was just diving by myself then the camper would hold my gear fine. Just had to unload the tanks when I arrived at a dive site.

I guess you learn to adapt over time to what you own and how you want to use it.

Sincerely,

Ben
www.allterraincampers.com

 

[simimike]

Storage is a bit of a problem. I think it is more of a question of organization.One thing I did was to buy three plastic storage bins that fit under the sofa. The two bottom ones hold my wifes and my clothes. The third one slides back and forth over the bottom two and is used as a pantry. This also leaves room to stow the pillows when traveling.

 

[OutbacKamper]

You would be surprised how much gear you can store in a FWC.
Our Hawk shell camper had 6'-6" of headroom, so we built a 5" deep basement for storage, leaving 6'-1" headroom. One side (approx 12" x 48" x 5") was used for canned food, juice boxes, etc and the other side (same dimensions) was used for extra gear (ie: shovel, broom, saw, tent pegs, spare parts, etc. We also built the couch/seat higher than in the standard camper to allow more storage. I believe the under seat cabinet was about 21" deep, we kept 2 Wedco jerry cans of water in this space (upright) with LOTS of additional space. We also built removable storage boxes to fit in the floor area of the camper that could be removed and stored under the camper at night. We also built a roof rack that mounted to the roof of the truck in front of the camper so that it was not in the way of popping the roof up and down which allowed us to carry 3 Pelican cases of gear plus a spare tire and shovel. With all these modifications you would not believe the mountain of gear we could carry (our fully loaded weight was 11,000lbs!!)
Cheers
Mark

 

[craig333]

Wow, some good ideas. You dont' happen to have any pics?
As much as I hated my old camper, it had room to store most of my camping gear that I now have to load every time i head out. I like to do spur of the moment trips and the more thats "just in" the camper the better. Its a big diesel so a couple hundred pounds of crap stored in it doesn't really affect my mileage too bad.

 

[chnlisle]

I bought mine used with an ice box that really wasnt very adequate in keeping things cold and I always needed a cooler. I removed it and lined it so as not to damage the wiring and gas line and put a door on it. It serves as a "huge" pantry thus eliminating 2 large food containers. That of course gives me the space that the food containers took up. Getting a new Dodge quad cab helped also.
Jay

 

[OutbacKamper]

Here is a view of the basement:

Before finishing the interior:

A different view of roof rack:


Cheers
Mark

 

[erod]

mark, any info on your rack? thought i saw some on a previous thread but couldn't dig it up. really cool set up! thanks

 

[OutbacKamper]

My rack was built by this guy who just happens to live about an hour drive from me:
www.loadmyboat.com

It is basically a modified version of the 5th wheel style boat rack. The standard 5th wheel racks use a single front vertical post that attaches to a front hitch. In my case I needed something stronger, so we bolted 2 posts to the bullbar vertical posts. The standard 5th wheel rack goes to a headache style rack behind the cab, but this would not work because of the camper cabover , so we used 2 yakima cross bars that clamp onto the edge of the truck cab roof. This turned out to be the weakest link in the rack design, the clamp-on yakima bars just could not stand the constant vibration of thousands of kilometers of rough roads. If I do this again I will mount Yakima tracks to the roof (with lots of fasteners and lots of sikaflex). I was reluctant to do this originally, since I did not want holes in the roof that could potentially leak. After 45,000km of use in Australia the Yakima towers are literally falling apart (towards the end they were held together with hose clamps!).
The main aluminum components of the rack are a special part that the company has custom extruded. These parts were welded together, but afterwards I also added bolt on gussets at all the main corners. Do not really on welded aluminum joints to hold up under severe vibration, they are all prone to cracking over time.
Overall I was very pleased with the alum rack, but the clamp-on yakima towers were a scource of constant frustration.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Brian]

Storage....

Craig333,
Good question and very important to me as we are in the camper for several months at a time while traveling in Mexico and last winter, Belize and Guatamala. My very first thought when I saw a FWC with all the interior appliances, etc. was where in the heck do you put anything for more than a couple of days trip?
Our solution was a camper shell and self built-in storage. We have litttle use for all the interior options and since most of our camper-camping is done in fairly good weather, only use it for sleeping and getting out of the wind/rain when the weather turns bad. We have cooked inside maybe three or four times in the last ten years or so.
Ours is basically a large backpack. We have an extended cab truck so that helps and we use a receiver mounted tote rack for some stuff. I will attach a couple of photos. The interior has changed a bit today...the red cooler is up on the right where the bucket was, with a rail around it and a portipotti is where it used to be on the floor. Of course this is just us...I have seen some other folks campers and they have come up with some extremely innovative solutions and are a lot tidier than our camper. Have fun.
Brian

 

[erod]

brian, cool photos, what is all that stuff? any pics of camp/camper set up?

 

[erod]

mark, any info on the hitch storage unit you have...really like the look of it!

 

[craig333]

I like your hitch storage. Most of the time I have the Jeep behind the camper (and of course it gets lots of stuff tossed in it) but when I don't, that'd be nice to have.

 

[erod]

i agree, i think we need some more pics !

 

[OutbacKamper]

Here is where mine came from:
http://www.lakelandgear.com/cargo-carrier-platform-fold-up-swing-away-agkh110.aspx
I modified mine to raise it about 8". This increased the departure angle (it was really bad before this mod) and made the cargo carrier floor roughly even with the top of the truck bumper which makes for a nice back porch. This is not something you want to put on the back of a Tacoma though, it is quite large and heavy. I also built a shallow storage box to go between the jerry cans that would be just low enough to allow the camper door to open. If I use this carrier with my next camper, it will not have any jerry cans or the hilift jack (too heavy to hang out that far at the back)

Cheers
Mark

 

[erod]

right on, thanks mark, appreciate the heads up about the weight...sharp unit though...cheers

 

[Brian]

Stuff...

Erod....Well, there are down sleeping bags in the green stuff sacks, ice chest, red cooler is assorted food storage, table top and post, folding dog crate, solar panel, Black cat heater, pillows...the bucket was the porti-potti as well as utility bucket, etc. etc. We each have a large bin for clothes, there is a large bin for cooking pans, plates, coffee making gear, we each have two small bins for personal gear, toiletries, etc. one small bin has eating utensils, one is for games, cards, yahtzee stuff, one is utility stuff repair kit, etc. one is coffee and filters.....remember this is for living several months on the road, cold weather and warm weather gear. Tools and guidebooks, maps, hammocks, and backup food go in the truck cab. The rack in back is for a small Jerry can of unleaded, one of white gas for stove, truck leveling blocks, hilift jack for use as a come-a-long, the boxes hold some things like an electric hotplate so as not to use up white gas (hard to find in Latin America) when we have a plug-in, extension cords...two 50 footers, extra camp stove, cable locks to lock stuff to the truck such as step stool, solar panel...remember "Central America" ... if we were using this rig exclusively in the US we could really limit what we take as it is so easy here....in so many ways....going where we go you have to think differently and cover more of your a--. That is changing of course as Mexico in particular, but with C.A. not too far behind, becomes more affluent and the middle class develops. Mexico for example has not only several Mexican owned chains of mega stores but Walmart, Sam's Club and Home Depot are making serious inroads there. Not too much you can't get anymore if you will pay for it.
Brian

 

[Brian]

Photos....

Erod...Take a quick look at our slide show in the Trips forum of the Ruta Maya....there are quite a few slides but they go quick and there are several of the rig set up in camp.
Brian

 

[erod]

cool, thanks brian, sounds like you guys have it pretty dialed! cheers

 

[flinchlock]

I used a bike rack to make a storage box.

I took my Sportworks bike rack and converted it into a storage box to use on our 2006 RAV4 that we camp out of for three weeks in northwest Montana in June. (We are in the middle of buying a truck and a ATC or FWC camper.)

First, I removed all the extra hardware from the bike rack.

I then unbolted the "L" piece that goes into the 2" receiver and flipped over the bike holder piece and put it back on the "L" piece. I had to drilled an extra hole in the "L" piece to put one of the bolts back into the unit. This flips the bike mounting piece over so that there is a flat surface to mount some plywood.

The scrap piece of 39" x 21" x 3/4" plywood has been treated with Thompson's Water Seal. I used all 5/16" hardware to mount the 37" x 22" x 20" plastic tool/storage box to the plywood.

I put four "T" nuts into the plywood to fasten the tool box. On three of the four mounting bolts, I was able to have the bolts be about an extra 1/2" long. I put a "keep" nut on those three longer bolts just to make sure nothing could loosen. (The fourth bolt has no room for the extra "keep" nut.)

I used 2" "fender" washers inside the box and wooden spacers under the box to help spread the bolt force over a larger area.

I got the plastic tool/storage box from my local Menards hardware store for $50.

The Sportworks bike rack has a threaded bolt that goes through the 2" receiver that can be tightened so the box does not bounce.

I know this box would not be of much help with the rear door campers. I just wanted to show an idea I came up with to use my bike rack.

Mike