Stowage!!

[Suewho]

After giving the van it's sort of after winter fettle, I realise we still have too much stuff in there. Can some kind folk on here try and tell me the best way to "pack" a Duo. It's mainly the cupboards at the front(on wall) what do other folk put in here? I've cut down over hob to just 2 cups etc, tea n coffee so it's always handy, but does anyone have better use for the "wardrobe" other than clothes?
Like most women I like to try and take everything, except the sink, but there must be a lot more organised folk out there who do it better. Would love to no some of your ideas and tips pleaseeee

[diggdeep]

packing

hi food for two or 3 dys we have 3 plactic box on for me 2 for denis the go over cab sleeping bag go onder 2 front side seats box of pands ouder sink warrob coats we have all ways more rom for more thing u do not use a lot put ur front seat right forwawd put stuff under back all the best tom denise (molly)

[Ian.C.S]

we all travel with stuff we never use,I am toying with the idea of having a small motorhome camping boot sale at the big spring rally,that way we will all end up lugging someone elses rubbish home:so happy:

[Suewho]

Thanks Tom n Ian, never put food in boxes will try that. And I think I could have a car boot too, I know what you mean!

[karenw]

I have the HyLo so don't have the wall cupboards.

I'm still experimenting but, so far, it's clothes rolled up in the 'wardrobe', a bag of food in the cupboard beneath the sink, I've removed the cutlery drawer and replaced this with a shallow litter tray(!!) which holds more. The nearside rear cupboard houses my mini radiator and electrical stuff, the nearside front has jump leads, compressor and mini oven, offside front stores the water container, bed slats, spare kitchen roll and will have a toolkit, spare oil etc and the offside rear will be stuffed with my sleeping bag. The overcab area has a small table, silver screens and a woolly blanket.

So far, it's not too cluttered, but I seem to be piling more in each week...

[diggdeep]

spring meet

wy not a bring buy sale for club funds ?

[T1]

twin1

I have the HyLo so don't have the wall cupboards.

I'm still experimenting but, so far, it's clothes rolled up in the 'wardrobe', a bag of food in the cupboard beneath the sink, I've removed the cutlery drawer and replaced this with a shallow litter tray(!!) which holds more. The nearside rear cupboard houses my mini radiator and electrical stuff, the nearside front has jump leads, compressor and mini oven, offside front stores the water container, bed slats, spare kitchen roll and will have a toolkit, spare oil etc and the offside rear will be stuffed with my sleeping bag. The overcab area has a small table, silver screens and a woolly blanket.

So far, it's not too cluttered, but I seem to be piling more in each week...

Same here,we used to roll clothes up in a stuff bag each drop them ino the bottom of wardrobe and hang them from the wardrobe hooks with long strings..They kept really well.Used hookes then for hanging toilet bags and bits and bobs.
I bought a really small square washup bowl for bottom cupboard and stacked all my crocks and cutlery in it with pans at the back.loads of room.
best thing we did was swap the fridge door to open the oposite way.Much easier to get in the fridge and only takes 10 mins.

PS. My husband said,is that the Royal We? best not ask me how we did it!

[Suewho]

Swooping fridge door round sounds good. Will have to ask him indoors!
We do roll clothes, but the wardrobe is such a large space thought someone might have a better use for it. Would love more room, but hubby says NO! It's our 3rd romahome n he says when this one goes there is no more! So will have to stick with it, but I do love it

[Twolitre]

Fairly obviously, for many on here, I have a Romini, not a Romahome. But just the same there are storage problems. In fact I change things around so often when packing, trying to find a better system. That as soon as I get on site I mess it all up trying to find THAT. "THAT" being almost everything I have moved!

At least I have decided to alter one thing. I usually store small clothing (shirts, socks and un-mentionable items) tidily in the roof locker above the front window. Inevitably a change of clothes rumples everything up.

Rolling clothes up I had never thought of. It must be just like extracting a scroll from a pigeon hole, leaving the others undisturbed.
Jim.

[peterfowden]

Only thing I can add about storage idea's particulary Duo / C15 Hytop/Hylo is especially spring/autumn/ winter come to think of it most summers , when you need bulky fleeces/jumper etc. Those vacum storage bags hold lots, keeps them fresh and will drop down bottom of wardrobe out of way but easy to get at should it turn cold.
Keep heavy items as low as possible, empty waste tank before driving off and don't have a fresh water tank full unless your planning to go well off beaten track for days at a time. We also use those 3 in one coffee /2 in one sachets, so most of the time don't need milk sugar or heavy coffee jars. Easy to make a quick cuppa from a previouly filled thermos flask.
All helps with economy, but you guessed it we still travel with enough stuff to go on expedition for months.

[joe]

We still have a bit of spare stowage left in our HILO. One thing we have done is removed the cutlery tray like Karenw but modified it to take our frying pan,four plates,two bowls,two mugs.and two glasses. the shelf under has three nesting pans(£4 from Wilkinsons with the handles removed)Tea,coffeeand other containers,below the shelf are two big plastic containers with another container in frontand a modified cutlery container to one side.Our wardrobe came in useful last year when in Scotland for three weeks last year as we had to take posh clothes for a wedding we managed to arrive with uncreased suit and dress.
Joe

[Suewho]

Thanks Joe for the photos, brilliant idea to take cutlery tray out I would never have thought of that. That
Is definitely going to happen very soon, yours looks so well organised, thankyou.

[karenw]

This looks very tidy and well organised.

I always felt the cutlery tray was a waste of space so it now holds my washkit, toothbrush etc.

I don't carry much cooking equipment - just a frying pan (stored under the grill), spatula, fire blanket(!), kettle for boiling water and a single plate which is always covered with kitchen roll when in use. I don't bother with drinking glasses etc and as I don't have hot drinks, I don't need mugs either.

Rolling clothes is much better than folding - they don't develop creases then although most of my gear is outdoorsy stuff which tends not to get too crumpled.

[Dolly]

Whoever had our Romahome before us, put a floor in the wardrobe, and we put in some shelves for use as storage for our food and plates. Pans, kettle, water and a cutlery drawer are under the sink. We took the fridge out because it was inefficient, useless and an absolute nightmare to light. Now we have an electric coolbox and enough space to put a new deep drawer and some storage for trays or other flattish things. I like the idea of rolling clothes, I'll try that next time we are out. We use the under seat storage for clothes (one each), chairs, camping table, dog things and other junk in the third one, and the last one has the gas and battery. We put the bedding up in the luton.

[jayjay]

I have quite a large wardrobe in my diddy caravan, and apart from clothes hanging up in there, I have one of these, for all those little items that you need (from memory, I have gorilla tape, dog poop bags, baby wipes, tissues, mini sewing kit, carrier bags, and more I can't remember!)

At the bottom of the wardrobe go the bucket/loo/foldable washing up bag and oil filled radiator.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russel-Over-...9&sr=8-3-spell

It takes up little room and makes everying handy. It stopped a lot of that, 'where did I put the...' when out camping. You could easily use one for putting small items of clothing in as well to save space on a shelf. I also have a roll-up bag for toiletries on a hook that also lives in there.

Need to add, the one I have has a clothes hanger type hook in the top, not an over the door hook arrangement like the one above.