Stowing & securing stuff before traveling

[Fargoman]

Thinking ahead to our September 16th LE2 delivery date, we've been wondering where and how you stow and secure items before traveling so they don't roam around the trailer damaging themselves and the inside of the trailer. A few things that we've been thinking of are (please mention anything else you have that you secure):

1. Glass microwave turntable

2. Oliver-supplied cutting board

3. Small trash container

4. Vornado portable electric heater

Also, we're going to need a toilet brush & holder for the standard Dometic toilet. The typical ones we've seen for use in a house don't seem like they would travel well.

Thanks for your suggestions - it's starting to seem real now!

[Mainiac]

1. Glass micro table rides in the middle left drawer on top of some dish towels.

2. We made our cutting board, and it rides on the sink. Hasn't moved.

3.small chrome step to lift track container rides to the right of the toilet. Never has tipped or mixed too much.        Rubber feet helped.

4. Electric heater rides in a tote. Have yet to pull it out to use in 4 years.

5. The standard toilet brush and holder rides to the back and left of the standard toilet. Only tipped over once, and that is when we had been down a 36 mile pot holed dirt road. I was impressed how well everything stayed.

6. Most of the things I over-thought to bring along at the start, now stay at home, or in the two totes n the truck.

[Mike and Carol]

Our microwave plate also rides in a kitchen drawer.  The Vornado heater ( which we use a lot when we have 30a) sits in front of the nightstand where it sits when we use it.  It has not budged even during a couple of panic stops and some pretty bumpy roads.  We have a small trash container in the bathroom next to the toilet and it rides there very well.  We stuff a cushion in front of the nightstand drawer to keep it closed.  I think the new trailers have a lockable drawer?  We’ve started having the middle kitchen drawers open while traveling so I need to work a solution for that.  Mike

[Fargoman]

Thanks, Mainiac. I'm surprised the toilet brush/holder behaved that well. I guess the Ollie rides better than I'm anticipating on typical paved roads.

Does your cutting board ride on the sink like the one Oliver provides?

[Fargoman]

Thanks, Mike. Good to know about the Vornado - we bought ours after seeing yours in a post.

[Patwv]

Our toilet brush/holder tipped over on one trip.  I used double sided tape on the holder and stuck it to the wall behind the toilet  and it hasn't budged since.

Our trash container is pretty big and it rides the the space under the dinette table.

I stick the microwave table in the cabinet above the microwave.  It angles in and rests on the paper napkins that I store there too.

[Fargoman]

Thanks, Patwv. The upper cabinet also sounds like a good place for the microwave turntable. I like your idea of securing the toilet brush holder to the bathroom wall.

[taylor.coyote]

micro wave plate rides in a bubble wrap shipping envelop in the micro wave. had done some serious 4x4 travel with no issues. 

trash container under the kitchen table

[Fargoman]

Thanks TC. Yet another good idea.

[SeaDawg]

If there's trash in the can, I tie the trash bag. Ours rides fine, in the bath, or under the small dinette.

I usually block the trash can (often empty of trash,  filled with cleaning supplies) in the bath floor, with other small, soft things that might fly if we hit a pothole. Often ,  a  soft duffel bag to wedge everything in place . I don't leave anything unsecured on the bath counter that's heavy or sharp, that could hit the door, but soap, shampoo, etc, riding in the bath sink has been fine.

Over 100,000 miles, 14 seasons, we've not lost a drawer, or a door. Do make sure you check all door latches (cabinets, closet, bath)  are closed before takeoff .

Like Taylor.coyote, when we had a microwave,  I wrapped the plate and left it in the microwave.  We rarely used it, so other storage items crammed in kept everything from moving. We have a cabinet, now. Gave up on the microwave when it died, from lack of use, after 10 years. 

I usually wedge the small dinette cushions on the curbside of our bed. The fabric on my cushions is slick, so sometimes they'd ride, sometimes not. Easier to move the four cushions, than pick them up off the floor, imo. It takes less than a minute, each way.

In the kitchen sink, I have a dish pan, actually two that nest, turn the drain rack up, and wedge a tea kettle, coffee urn, and a dish towel,  for travel. Not pretty, but it's worked. 

I store nothing heavy up high, just like in the boat.  Canned goods, tools, storage bins,, etc, are always low.  Plastics, softer and lighter food packages, etc, are high. 

I use ikea skubb flexible fabric bins, ebags luggage cubes, and a few old Tupperware containers to corral stuff up in the top cabinets. Fabric dividers help squish into the curves. My pot, fry pan , and wok skillet  are always  down low. 

You'll figure it out. How you store depends on what you carry.  My rule is heavy low, light high. Better for center of gravity,  and when you open a cabinet door, something heavy won't fall in your head. 

[Fargoman]

Thanks for the good advice, SeaDawg. I've learned a lot on this Forum from you and other long-time owners in the past year. We also ordered some fabric bins to corral stuff and keep it from scuffing the fiberglass. Looking forward to meeting other Ollie owners.

[Time2Go!]

Our microwave plate has ridden in the microwave since day one. Never an issue. We had a 5th wheel for 5 years before this and never removed the glass plate from it either.

The cutting board rides on the sink. It is cut to fit and does not move.

We don't have an inside trash container so can't answer that one. We use a small bag and throw out before leaving.  We have a collapsible one for outside that we sometimes use.

Our Vornado sits in the bottom of the closet along with our fan & dehumidifier.

The only things so far that have ever been out of place when stopping our the dinette back cushions. We try to remember to turn them against the outside wall which is a tighter fit and most of the time they are still in place.

The toilet brush and holder usually turns over in route. I might try the double sided tape.

We also use clear plastic bins in the top cabinets and pantry to keep things from sliding around.

Cindy

[Fargoman]

Hi Cindy, thanks for the information. We also ordered some clear plastic bins for the pantry based on ideas in another thread.

[Ray and Susan Huff]

As others state, the Oliver sink top cutting board stays put well; ours has yet to fall out.

We are carefult to not store heavy items in the overhead cabinets.  A few heavy items we store over the sink: French press and vacuum coffee caraf.  These we secure with a foam block and something to protect the door from being scratched or, worse yet, broken, if something inside gets moved around in transit.  The main thing is to not have any cargo loose, but packed in tight.

Heavy items we store in the bottom of the closet: space heater, extra Magma pans, LED/solar lantern, Jet Boil Base camp stove (for outdoor cooking when it's really warm).    In our pickup bed tool box we carry items used outdoors: small LP tank, Portable BBQ grill, generator, folding table, bike gear, etc.

[Jim_Oker]

Maybe I'm overly indexing to experience driving our bouncy Ford camper van over very rough unpaved roads but I don't trust gravity to keep things from jumping upwards if not constrained from doing so by something more than their weight. On our last trip I stashed the microwave platter and the sink cover/cutting board under the twin mattresses at the front (ie the end toward the door) so they wouldn't slide under there in event of an emergency stop. We have the KTT mattresses which have plenty of weight to hold them down and have the Hypervent pads underneath which provided a nice soft-ish base. Like Susan we mostly avoid having heavy stuff in the upper cabinets while in transit (don't want to be top heavy) and we pack so as to minimize ability of stuff to shift around. 

We put trash in plastic shopping bags (we've saved up a hoarder level number of these 🙂 ) which when in use hang from one of these trash bag holders (with some duct tape on the inside of the part that goes over the door to limit scratching/scuffing) which we typically have hung from the top of the closet door (we camp with our dog so want the trash well above her reach; otherwise the lowest kitchen drawer of the aft set of drawers would be a nice and fairly out of the way option). But when we move we tie up the bag and bring it in our TV to toss it at the next available trash receptacle - often a campground dumpster, and the trash bag bag holder goes into a kitchen drawer. 

We carry drinking water typically in both 2.5 gallon supermarket type water jugs (often refilled at home or with giardia level filtration plus carbon for chlorine etc when on the road) and in one liter nalgene bottles which we have in the tow vehicle when in transit - these are the most heavy and potentially mobile missiles we have so we long ago figured out where to stash these so as not to have them smashing around. 

[ShallowGal]

The first couple years, I shoved a decorative pillow in the microwave to keep the glass plate safe. Last year, I found a plastic container at Dollar General to store bread in & miraculously, it fits inside the microwave perfectly.

Toilet brush holder has held for three years with velcro.

2.5 gal water container goes on shower floor.

Misc things on counters and anything else that might shift goes into a softsided container under the dinette.

Those plastic coated wire twists are handy for lashing big things to the table leg.

It's all part of the fun. Enjoy your new Ollie!

Chris

 

[Mainiac]

On 8/25/2021 at 5:39 PM, Fargoman said:

Thanks, Mainiac. I'm surprised the toilet brush/holder behaved that well. I guess the Ollie rides better than I'm anticipating on typical paved roads.

Does your cutting board ride on the sink like the one Oliver provides?

The cutting board was bought at Home Depot. It was designed to be a wood top for a mechanics tool chest. Think it was $19, and was larger than the $49 one that they had at Bed Bath and Beyond. Trimmed and drilled to fit. Varnished so gives me extra counter space. When using sink it slides along the kitchen counter and down between the cushion of the bed. Acts like a splash shield. We actually found a set if three bamboo cutting boards sit on the draws and add extra counter space. Cutting board on the sink was not an option on the 2017 models. Could not end a picture of the sink cover, though it may exist here on the forums somewhere...

 

 

 

[Mainiac]

Above the cutting board shows a marine fitting that we mounted above and below the drawers. We use a thin bungee cord and a marine hook to keep our drawers closed during rough road travels, as shown to the left, on that set of drawers...

[SeaDawg]

Thanks. I was just going to ask you about your bungee and hook. Looks easy to deploy.

[Mainiac]

Clip off in seconds, takes no space in silverware drawer when not in use. Think the catch is what is used to hold a bimini top taught on a smaller boat, as shown just above the cutting board.

[SeaDawg]

So, something like these components?

[Overland]

 

Sherry, this is similar to Maniac’s solution - I got the clips from Hook and Cord but they don’t seem to have them now, or at least I can’t find them.  They’re a little bulkier than Maniac’s I think, so maybe not as nice.  But I think I may have a bag of them so if you need a few let me know - I’d have to check to make sure I actually have them.  The bottom recessed anchor point is from Sea Dog of course. They require drilling but I think they look nice. 

[SeaDawg]

@Overland, that looks great, too. 

I remember envying your beautiful towel bar from a photo a few years back. I wish we had room in our smaller trailer. 😒

I don't want to hang a bar on the fridge, as some have done. I'm always concerned about creating a gap in the seal by putting too much weight on the door. I try to put heavier items on the fridge shelves, and anything on the door shelves that weighs a lot I try to keep near the hinge side.

[Mainiac]

The lower hooks and eye you show are close to what I used. I put a light weight towel bar on the fridge not necessarily for towels, but so that I wouldn't keep "butt checking" and shutting it off. The suction cups kept sliding off so we attached with adhesive. Never really have any weight on it.