Storage Solutions

One of the reasons we purchased our 2006 Fleetwood Niagara was because of all the extra storage it had compared to our much smaller 1992 Starcraft Meteorite. We were just tired of packing stuff for each trip and hauling it out to our tow vehicle on every trip. A large camper would allow to store just about everything we needed for camping in the camper itself. But the storage in the Niagara wasn’t optimal for our use. Here are a few things we did.

Under Sink Storage

000

There was a lot of wasted space under the sink. I decided to build a shelf under the sink that would almost double the storage and provide easy access to commonly needed items.

 

0001Above: This is the rear area under the sink. The sink drain was in the way too.

 

002Above: This is the forward area underneath the sink before the upgrades. The black box is the wheel well for the tire. We added the light shown on the left, plus an identical light for the shelf storage area directly under the sink.

 

003Above: First order of business way to cut out the drain so the shelf could be built.

 

0004Above: Building a box around the wheel well that would form the shelf.

 

005Above: Shelf completed and the slope and height of the drain modified. While under the sink I wrapped some insulation around the water lines to keep them from vibrating against the cabinet.

 

006Above: Everything back into the storage area plus a few extra items. Note that the board in front of the newly installed shelf is actually higher that the shelf, which keeps things from siding forward when we are on the road traveling.

 

007Above: This is simple. Add some cutlery trays to store items on the top shelf just below the sink.

 

008Above: Neat dish drainer from Camco. It does double duty when traveling to store items in it.

 

009Above: Dish drainer in transport mode.

 

0011Above: We transport the dish drainer in one of the sinks. The knife set goes into the other sink. We wrap the knife set in a dish towel so it doesn’t scratch the sink. Also the bottom of the sink has a drain pad to protect the sink’s finish. Camco makes small pads to fit a standard RV sink, like ours.

 

0012Above: Every day use.

Under Dinette Storage

100Above: There is a lot of storage under the seats, and each has a door to access stuff that is one the end. Items we rarely need or we unpack when setting up the camper are stored at the back under the dinette seats. Storing everyday items behind the doors was inconvenient because it was difficult to see what was stored and we had bend over or kneel to get stuff out. I solved this by purchasing some pull-out drawers from Lowe’s. These drawers are one of my wife’s favorite upgrades. See the pictures below.

 101 102

Another Storage Solution

200Above: Another simple storage solution is this Sterlite drawer unit. Note the microwave in the cabinet. Since we never camp with electrical hook-ups, we store stuff like bread, English muffins and chips in the microwave.

 

201Above: When traveling we store the Sterlite drawers on the floor. It is near the camper’s door, we can grab items out of it when the camper roof is down.