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Organizing your RV Exterior Storage

| Updated Dec 26, 2013

Roadtreks are blessed with lots of storage, but unless you keep it organized there will never be enough space.  The older Roadtreks have one or more compartments with a fiberglass door and a rubber hinge.  By the way – keep an eye on that hinge.  They will eventually fail, and it is best to have a spare on hand.  They are pop-riveted in place so you may want to have a body shop install it, but if you have the hinge already it will make life easier.  They are very expensive to order through dealers, but you can buy it for less from Moore Industrial Hardware. (click for link).

Outside Storage Compartment (Medium)The long outside storage compartment has a lot of space.  This is how we have ours organized.  We can easily find everything and get access to it without difficulty.  We will go through the items shown.

On the left side are two  Outside Storage Compartment - Left (Medium)stacked wooden ramps that a previous owner had made.  We carry this in addition to one set of the “lego” blocks for leveling, stored inside the Roadtrek.   On top of the ramps is a funnel with a hose that we use for adding bleach or antifreeze to the fresh water tank.

 

Jumper Cable Bags (Medium)A bottle of Clorex and a box of plastic gloves (for dumping tanks) sits in front of 4 brown jumper cable bags.  One bag contains jumper cables, the others have a water hose, a 30 amp extension cord and a 15 amp extension cord.  We found the zipper-closure jumper cable bags on Amazon.

 

Outside Storage Compartment - Center (Medium)In the center of the compartment is a milk crate that is a perfect fit for the compartment.  Next to it is a plastic tub (minus the lid) that corrals all the remaining smaller items.  One 30 amp black extension cord sits in this box since it is frequently used.

 

Milk Crate (Medium)In the milk crate are the white water hose, water filter, and an elbow for the dump hose.  On top sits the blue & white collapsible water bucket which we use for flushing extra water down the toilet when dumping and for adding water to the empty black tank after dumping.  The  kneeling pad is used on the ground for working the dump valves.

 

Bucket & Bin (Medium)The wiggly orange things are wire ties we use on the 30 amp extension cord.  The tub contains funnels for adding oil to the Onan, work gloves, various electric adapters (30 amp to 15 amp, 50 to 30 amp, etc), water pressure limiter (a necessity if you connect to campground water) and miscellaneous tools.

 

Outside Storage Compartment - Right (Medium)The attached power cord is coiled up under the water pipes, while the 30 amp extension cord sits in the top of the tub.  Also barely visible in this photo is the Progressive Industries Power protection system on the back wall behind the box (the box slides perfectly underneath it).  It has two remote displays.  One is visible above the hose connector and the second one is inside the RT.  But that is a subject for another post.

Your RV exterior storage compartment(s) may be different, but if you can organize them well, you will be able to set and break camp efficiently and will not have trouble finding what you need when it is cold or raining.

 

 

 

Mike Wendland

Published on 2013-12-26

Mike Wendland is a multiple Emmy-award-winning Journalist, Podcaster, YouTuber, and Blogger, who has traveled with his wife, Jennifer, all over North America in an RV, sharing adventures and reviewing RV, Camping, Outdoor, Travel and Tech Gear for the past 12 years. They are leading industry experts in RV living and have written 18 travel books.

7 Responses to “Organizing your RV Exterior Storage”

September 26, 2014at1:07 am, Betty Travis Thomas said:

What would an RVer do without plastic bins and milk carton bins!!??

July 13, 2014at9:37 am, Mary Snook said:

I bought those bags he mentioned and love them. I found one that has two zippers. We have our jumper cable on one side and the other has elastic to hold tools.

July 13, 2014at7:05 am, Susan Watt said:

This looks great. Love the ideas! Where do you store your dump hose and your tools?

July 14, 2014at12:25 pm, Lynn said:

Susan – On a pre-macerator Roadtrek the dump hose is stored in a tube, you just pull it out. It is already connected at the far end. It makes dumping very easy and there is no separate hose to store. We store the tools in a inside compartment just inside the rear door. We have a few commonly used tools in a small Eagle Creek bag that fits on the shelf above the driver’s door. We have multiple of these bags that store everything from electronics stuff to batteries to first aid items. And they all have labels.

January 26, 2014at10:41 pm, Paul Konowalchuk Pogorzelski said:

We had a Coleman pop-up with a slide out dining area and a huge, deep stowage trunk in the front. Accessible from outside & inside too. One could fit a couple Canadians in there LOL

January 26, 2014at2:47 pm, Robert Brooks said:

Popup camper has a 10″ x 14″ storage accessible from inside/outside.
Otherwise storage must be attached to rear or tongue and that is very little.

Comments are closed.

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