Practical Suction Cup Solutions

[technomadia]

After living full time in our Oliver for a few months now, I've come up with solutions to some of our everyday practical problems. This evening, I completed the last one - finding a suction cup paper towel holder!

 

 

Suction cup Paper Towel Holder

 

So.. I'll start there. It's by Chefmate, and can be found at Target for just $9.99. It has a suction cup grip base, that is ordinarily meant for securing to countertops. However, with the fiberglass interior, it sticks just about anywhere! You just twist the top to engage the suction cup, and untwist to disengage to move it around. There's even a magnetic paddle that keeps the papertowels under control, so this allows you to mount the towels even upside down! It fits in a variety of places in the Oliver:

 

 

Of course, if you have the default entertainment system, some of these positions won't be available for you.. but you get the idea!

 

Suction Cup Area Divider

 

There are often nights that Chris stays up later than I do, and I'm a bit light sensitive when I'm trying to sleep. So, one restless evening I had a thought - I had left over fabric from our cushion's being made, and I had just bought some small suction cups for hanging exterior Christmas lights with AND I had a box full of binder clips left over from running an Obama Campaign Office just a couple weeks ago out of the trailer ... and voila.. I had an instant curtain to help block the light and give us a bit of room separation - and no permanent installation on the trailer:

 

 

Now that I know it works, in time I'll probably add rivets to the fabric and have it finished off. But for now, it's a very workable solution.

 

Suction Cup Coat Hangers

 

Now that colder weather is here, we were getting a cluttered feeling having our jackets out all of the time, usually tossed on the seats or bed (our closet is pretty full with clothing, so it's not an ideal storage spot for us). So, I got some extra large suction cup hooks out - and instant coat & hat hangers:

 

 

One goes over the closet door, so obviously the coat has to be moved when getting clothing out. But so far, it's working great - keeping our coats out of the way but easily accessible as we leave. The jumbo suction cups seems to strong enough to handle our coats.

 

Velcro Door Curtain

 

Since it's in the picture above, I thought I'd use this opportunity to introduce my solution to the door window not having privacy. This was probably one of the most glaring oversights on the trailer, in my opinion. All of the other windows are so awesome at privacy - but the one that is *right* in front of the bathroom and closet door doesn't have a privacy option?!?

 

So this was actually one of my very first modifications - I took extra fabric from our cushions (getting extra fabric if you do custom cushions turns out to be a very smart idea - I also made seat covers out of extra fabric for when we're in dirty environments, such as the dusty desert.) and some double stick velcro to create a quick curtain:

 

 

The double sided sticky actually didn't stick for many nights to our fabric, so I have since sewn that in. When the curtain is not in use, it velcros right up in the corner, nice and out of the way. And of course, this solution could also be done with ... you guessed it.. Suction Cups!

 

 

Much suction cup happiness here!

 

What other uses for suction cups have you encountered?

 

- Cherie

[mountainborn]

Thanks Cherie ! We really like the paper towell rack and think it might also be used in other applications. We will look in Target at the first opportunity.

Now, how about those big old suction cups you are using for coats and hats ? Where did you find them ?

[technomadia]

I don't recall where I got the big hooks.. I've been picking up a variety of suction cup hooks to just have on hand. I think may have gotten one at Camping World, and another at a local RV shop in a town we were passing through.

 

- Cherie

[SeaDawg]

Cherie, great creative solutions with your beautiful extra fabric! Love the room divider idea.

Sherry