What do you use for a door mat?

[BillTheHiker]

Outfitting my new Fleet and it seems that a door mat of some sort would be helpful before entering the camper, especially if the ground is muddy. I have one of those Rubbermaid 2-step stools and one idea is to wrap some sort of mat or short nap carpet around each step. That way there is no need to have a mat on the ground. I have also considered getting a hitch step and securing a mat or piece of carpet to the top of it.

Inside, I will have two types of floor covering. At the entry, a small piece of rubber-backed outdoor carpet that is easy to sweep, and the rest of the floor will have a short nap carpet with some sort of insulation.

 

[iowahiker]

We have the same interior floor mat system as you describe and then keep a hand brush sitting on either the bumper or the small rear mat in the camper. All shoes get brushed off before going in the camper. All shoes get removed and left on the small rear mat. Muddy hiking boots are put in plastic bags after brushing them off. We only shake the dirt off the small rear mat every one to two weeks. The larger front mat only needs a shake outside once a month (and we LIVE in our camper for up to 70 days at a time). Hiking boots are stored in the cab and driving/walking shoes are in the camper. The cab has another hand brush and boots are brushed off before going in the cab.

 

[buckland]

I put in carpeting in the camper...easy to sweep out...feels better underfoot on a cool day... We have a sand mat also good if it is raining and dirt stays down... we have a little boot wipe mat at the door too. The sand mat is nice to have to put chairs on and have a space under a rear tarp. Where we reckun from mud is an issue so we go a bit over the top.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NAZ1FI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[longhorn1]

We bought one of those nylon mats from Camping World, we have 10'x14' and a smaller one that we place on the ground behind the camper. We have tried small mats and foot scrappers. Inside we have a couple Bed Bath & Beyond soft bath rugs. They are easy to clean and warm on cold nights. jd

 

[paulclancy]

We picked up our Fleet a month ago and have spent about 10 nights in it so far. In New England, it's
been raining for most of the last month.
We just kick as much stuff off our shoes as we can before entering.
I've just been throwing bath towels on the floor and can easily shake them out when needed.

 

[Taku]

I modified a hitch step with expanded steel and square tubing. It works to scrape off the mud and sand/dirt and then have a piece of the astroturf you can buy at hardware stores. Works pretty good except for completely mudded out shoes.

 

[Backroad Joe]

My camper has the folding, accordion aluminum steps. On the ground is an old car floor mat (likely improve that at some point) At the top of the steps, on the tailgate (yup, tailgate. I love my back porch) is a simple rubber mat. the old fashioned kind with the rubber nubs that remove most anything. Inside a couple of cheap throw rugs that can be shaken out as needed.

 

[JaSAn]

I attached an astroturf (plastic grass) entry mat to my hitch steps. Catch an amazing amount of dirt. Inside I have another astroturf mat that I can put at the bottom of the stairs. I also have a throw rug with a rubber bottom that covers the inside floor. The rubber bottom prevents any dirt from filtering through. Just remove and shake out to clean.

jim

 

[camper rich]

I attached an astroturf (plastic grass) entry mat to my hitch steps. Catch an amazing amount of dirt. Inside I have another astroturf mat that I can put at the bottom of the stairs. I also have a throw rug with a rubber bottom that covers the inside floor. The rubber bottom prevents any dirt from filtering through. Just remove and shake out to clean.

jim

rear steps.jpg

We also us Astroturf mats. We do a lot of camping in the desert and they catch a huge amount of sand and crud. We have a heavy rubber matte with Astroturf on top outside on the ground to wipe our feet on outside, and then another astroturf matte just inside the door. For the remainder of the floor I cut pieces of Home Depot carpet runner to fit.

 

[Mark G]

Ditto again for two Astroturf mats. One on the ground and one on the Stack-on Step 'n Stor step stool. Stored behind the portapotty when traveling.

 

[NivekD]

Local trailer supply had carpet samples for sale at $2 a piece. I bought five and still using the first one. When it's had it, into the garbage and replaced with a new one. Also have a whisk broom near the door to sweep off the dirt.

 

[DavidGraves]

Carpet Samples !!!!

We have paid as high as 75 cents for stain guard, properly sized and edge bound AND color matched carpet samples....one for the ground and the smaller ones which exactly match our step.

A highlight of many of our trips is a visit to the local thrift store to consider a different color.....

DavidGraves

 

[elmo_4_vt]

We use a colorful all rubber mat, two of them specifically. Work great and don't keep any water/mud

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/18-inch-x-30-inch-recycled-flip-flop-door-mat/1043679386?skuId=43679386&mcid=PS_googlepla_brand_brand_&adpos=1o1&creative=45758750869&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&product_id=43679386&gclid=CjsKDwjw0cXIBRCxjqnE3K3sHhIkAL1LezQtBfwLLepATwDa1ZkC3SdVcqq9JlfwmZUtbwS1Bi_TGgIahvD_BwE

 

[Bombsight]

I have enough respect for my Hawk to take my shoes off before entering.
It is, after all, my home away from home.

So...

I'm just going to put this right here:

The earth is my Genkan.

 

[PackRat]

We put some short-nap industrial carpet in our old Alaskan which we could replace easily enough and you don't even need to edge it if you cut it neatly enough. We used to have the Rubbermaid two-step on top of an old 4' x 6' piece of astroturf but I fabricated a one-step and two-step system as seen above to use these days. I chose the ribbed rubber runner material you can find that is about 2' wide for the steps and glued it to the plywood step material.

I purposefully avoided astroturf on the steps because I felt that might be too slippery when wet and dangerous when exiting the camper. I plan on screwing down a regular doormat to the tailgate of my F-250 once I find me an 8' CO Alaskan for it!

I found you can rig a tarp over the rear door/tailgate for sun and some drizzle but not a gale so slipping on anything there will probably mean a trip to the ER. You can hose off the astroturf on the ground after the trip or anytime a hose bib is available and line dry it pretty quickly between rainstorms.