What's the best way to organize contents?

[airdawg]

Hi all! We're brand new to travel trailers, Airstream, and the forums, so I'm hoping this is the right place to post this question.

We just purchased a 4-month-used 2008 Safari SE 27FB and can't wait to really start using it. During our transport back in-state, we noticed a lot of black marks from movement of items on the shelves, so we've bought a bunch of shelf liner (both the thick, cushiony type and the thin, non-adhesive type) to line pretty much everything. We've spent many hours cleaning it up and I'm hoping for some suggestions on how to best stock the pantry, cupboards, and fridge.

I'm wondering if everyone applies some sort of shelf liner everywhere, and how items are stored best inside the cabinets. I was thinking of using bins for everything (either lidded or not) so that they can be moved around/in/out easily, rather than keeping items loose on the shelves, even if on shelf liner.

I also already broke both of the crisper bins for the fridge when they dropped (holy moly are replacements pricey!), so I'm considering lining those as well with some cushiony liner to help support them. Does everyone use some sort of bins in the fridge to store all of their fridge contents?

If anyone's able and willing to give up some secrets or photos, it would be much appreciated!

Many thanks!

[wayner61]

I am really anxious to see some of the replies here. We have the same trailer and to be honest, I haven't really been happy with our use of the available storage. Most of the things are stored where we initially put stuff when we moved things into this trailer out of our old SOB late one night when we got it a year ago.

We haven't put down shelf liner, although we certainly feel we should. There are actually two rolls of the rubbery non slip stuff in the small locker over the fridge waiting to be installed. Right were I put them last June

Sorry I don't have any photos or real tips or tricks to share, but I would be happy to run through what we tend to store and where we store it if you want.

We use a few bins here and there, but I have found that even though they help with the organizational effort, they do reduce the available space you have to work with. I wouldn't want them in every compartment, but you should certainly take a look and see what fits your situation the best. The main area that I have found bins really help is the bathroom. We use a few baskets for smaller items in the bottom cabinet beside the toilet as well a a couple of baskets in the cabinet behind the mirror.

I was always a litttle nervous about the front compartment leaking. Since the carpet in there runs all through the bedroom, I was always worried that even a minor leak would cause problems. Soon after I got the trailer last summer, I found a floor liner that used to fit the back of an SUV we had sold. With a little trimming with a razor knife, it fit that compartment perfectly. While it is still possible for water to get under there, it will protect against a minor leak It also makes me feel a little better when I throw the fresh water hose or extension cords and other stuff in there that might be dirty or wet.

At any rate -- Have fun with your Airstream. I know you will like it.

Wayne

[funkill]

I recall some folks posting some really detailed lists here recently... Arrrrr, I don't recall the title but lemme try to find it ... hold on.... I'm searching... just a minute... Ah-ha, here it is!!! Gosh, you can find just about anything on this forum!

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f396...ons-51071.html

Good luck. I found these little clear, stacking bins at Target and used heavy duty, self-adhesive Velcro to secure them in place in my bathroom tambour storage for stuff like cotton balls, q-tips, nail care, etc.

Stacking Bins - Clear : Target

Laura

[COArgosy78]

Hello

I had a lot of fun setting up the inside of our Minuet. The overhead bins in our trailer hold quite a bit. All our bedding goes in there (I used some of those bags that you can deflate w/vacuum and they fit pair of sheets & pillow quite nicely). In my hang up closet, I've got a cloth shoe holder (like small cubbies) that many small items (shoes,hats,gloves,bag of clothepins) fit into. I saved some plastice, lidded containers that had dog treats in them and used them for dish towels, face towels and any cloth type stuff that mice might chew up (those are in our bath closet. I also bought a 3 drawer plastic storage chest (I customized it w/a nice glass top under which I created a cross-stiched mat w/our trailer's name) which holds books, kleenex, maps, small tools - and so on. I will try to post a couple pics for you to see.

the 2nd pic is a collapsible laundry hamper we have in shower (I also have a trash container that folds up)
the 3rd pic is the shoe holder - stuffed.
I'll try to post a full shot of the 3 drawer unit.

[COArgosy78]

Here is a pic of the 3 drawer (I think we got it at Lowes or HD).

1st pic is complete w/new top
2nd pic is it's location between side gaucho & dinette.

The glass top is great to stabilize it since the plastic is somewhat liteweight & it works well if someone sets wet cup or hot coffee cup on it.

woops, got those pics mixed.

[RLS]

If you are talking about the thick, cushion type that has holes in it, I have found that it is a waste of time. We used that stuff everywhere thinking how great it looked and kept things from sliding around. Only trouble, is every time you try to take something off of it or slid something over it, you have a mess as it lifts up and sticks to what you are trying to use. We are now looking for some liner that will stay in place, maybe cork?

Bob

[76sovereign]

Great question!

[TBRich]

Originally Posted by RLS

If you are talking about the thick, cushion type that has holes in it, I have found that it is a waste of time. We used that stuff everywhere thinking how great it looked and kept things from sliding around. Only trouble, is every time you try to take something off of it or slid something over it, you have a mess as it lifts up and sticks to what you are trying to use. We are now looking for some liner that will stay in place, maybe cork?

Bob

Not only that, but if you live in warmer climates, that stuff can react to plastic in the heat and ruin things you put on/in it. I happened to us with a clock face and several other plastic items. We don't use it anymore We have made sleeves for our glassware out of vinyl and we have made bags with tie closures out of heavy soft for all our small appliances (toaster, coffee pot, teapot, etc) rather than trying to use towels, etc to keep them from rattling and rubbing...works great. We use bins as well.

[airdawg]

Thanks so much, everyone--these are great tips!

Wayne, I agree with you about the carpet in the front compartment. That was a worry for us, too. I'd been planning on buying a couple boot trays, but I like your idea of a cargo liner more.

Thanks for the links, Laura. I hadn't tried searching for storage solutions for some reason; I guess I was too focussed on a search for "stocking" it since our AS is still completely bare right now. I like those little bins from Target.

We've already bought some Corelle dishes (fearful of glass breakage) so they can go in the microwave, and I'm looking for a nice set of melamine glasses for the same reason. Somebody had suggested cutting up little squares from hole-y rubber shelf liner to use those as protection between dishes, and I imagine even felt squares could work. It just seems like too much would rattle around and fall down in the cupboards without some sort of thick/rubbery shelf liner.

Thanks for the pictures, Leigh...that's helpful and I love seeing what other come up with. I hope to post some, too, when we finally get everything in its place. I'm sure we'll be learning what's good and what isn't for quite a few upcoming trips! Pardon my ignorance, but can you tell me what a "gaucho" is? I did a search on it and came up with everything from a cattle herder to a North American cowboy. I think it may be a couch...? I've seen lots of people in the forums refer to it!

Bob and TB, I agree with the open-weave type of cushiony liner. (I use a sheet of that on a wood table under our cat's feeder at home and hate it because the food falls within the holes.) I actually found a nice, thick liner at Walmart, but it does have a no-skid feel to it so it may still pose problems. I like the idea of using cork instead.

Does everyone use bins inside the fridge to contain its contents? I've seen newer fridges that have little rack supports to push contents back and keep them snug. Mine either doesn't have that feature or was kept by the original owner. I'm wondering if things stay upright during transport. (I probably wouldn't be so worried if I hadn't already broken two bins!)

I feel like I have such basic questions...maybe I should be looking for an RV for Dummies book!

Thanks so much for your input. There is such a wealth of information available in these forums, and I'm looking forward to learning and sharing all I can!

[Lily&Me]

We have tried but discarded bins in the refrigerator, biggest issue is that as they empty they still take the same amount of space. We do like plastic ziploc bags for many things, they come in sizes from snack to XXL, and use those Ziploc veggie-cooker bags for leftovers. We store our Corelle in a cabinet in a lid organizer---uses some of the empty vertical space and keeps things from bouncing around.

[airdawg]

Oh! I hadn't considered the fridge bins' space requirements. Very good point. And I bet a vertical lid organizer really would fit in there nicely. Thanks!

[Gene]

There are various types of pads, often made of thin foam, to go between breakables like ceramic and glass. They are available at RV stores.

You can also get things—don't have a name—but they are spring loaded tubes with rubber ends that go in small indentations in the fridge side walls and keep stuff from falling out when you open the door. They wind/unwind to the length of the space.

I still had Corning Ware dishes I bought in 1962 and they are light and hard to break. They probably can be found at garage sales.

Don't do too efficient a job packing because it's easy to bring too much—too much weight, too much struggle to get things out, too much memory required to find things, too much stuff you'll never use. Pack heavy things low. The temptation is to pack dishes and other heavy stuff up high because that's what we do at home, but it's better for towing stability to keep the heavy stuff low.

Every imaginable contgainer can be found at the Container Store. Don't know if there's one in SLC, but Bed, Bath and Beyond has a lot of containers and gadgets, but their stores are so crowded I avoid them. Target has a fairly good selection of containers too.

If your Safari was only used for 4 months, there must be a story about how the previous owner had to sell it.

Welcome to the Forum.

Gene

[funkill]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Pack heavy things low. The temptation is to pack dishes and other heavy stuff up high because that's what we do at home, but it's better for towing stability to keep the heavy stuff low.

ohhhhh - good point! Thanks for reminding us, I mean me

[Minnie's Mate]

Welcome to the forums airdawg.

My wife had the same idea about the lid rack for the plates, see below. Also, the Corning Ware is not unbreakable. After a particularly rough trip on a stretch of I-75 that was under repair, we found out when we opened the flipper door and a Corning bowl fell out and hit the dinette. It shattered. Our drinking glasses are all polycarbonate and won't break (or at least they'd better not!). My wife does stack the bowls, though and they stay behind the lip of the flipper door cabinet.

My wife keeps the condiments in a small plastic bin (like a mini milk crate) that she can carry from the Airstream 'fridge to a small 'fridge we keep in the garage so they are kept cool between trips. We have the compression/extension poles that we use in the 'fridge to keep the items on the 'fridge shelves in place. You can get them at Camping World or get short curtain rods (like you'd use for Café' curtains) and use them. Don't use them in the cabinet for plates, they will slide over or under.

My wife got a set of stacking pots-n-pans that are made for boats. ( I think this is the set, IIRC http://shop.sailboatowners.com/detai...=400&group=298 are made of pretty heavy duty stainless steel and have removable handles. We keep them under the sink. She also uses plastic collapsible colander and bowls that she got at Bed-Bath-and-Beyond. We keep soft drinks in cartons in the top step of the bunk beds (we have one of the few bunk house models) and crates of bottled water under the sofa. I have a folding latter that Camping World sells that folds to the size of a 4X4 ( 3-1/2" square) and is exactly 72" long and fits very tightly under the sofa. I also keep our Pole-ez flag poles under the sofa also. The broom and stick vac go under the sofa, too. In the pantry, well, I stay out of there and leave that up to the Missus' territory. I do good to find chips and pop-tarts for the kids in the morning. I used to keep the liquor under the bed, but after we replaced the mattress with a real inner spring mattress, it was too much of a hassle to raise the bed so we moved it to one of the flipper doors above the sink.

With a little creativity and planning you will find a home for everything that you need and a place that fits your life-style.

[airbassador]

i've used those cheap blow up beach balls as air bags in the fridge. worked fairly well to take up extra space. put the heavy stuff on the bottom, light stuff on top of the ball.


edit; now that i think of it, an empty wine bladder would be better. you get to empty it first, then you could fill with drinking water if need be.

[COArgosy78]

Hi Airdawg - a gaucho IS a pullout couch bed. Ours is on the streetside of the trailer. Good luck & happy hunting on furnishing your ner baby!

[Gene]

That Corning Ware dinner set from the 1960's will break, but if you don't drop them several feet, they make good plates. The bowls are different, are heavy and much more breakable. The dinner ware from those years had the blue cornflower design on them. Can't remember the exact name for the dinnerware since I got it 47 years ago. We bring 2 or 3 plates of various sizes for dinner and breakfast use since paper feels too primitive. A large package of paper plates is pretty heavy too.

There are various sets of stainless pans and pots that nest and have detachable handles from different manufacturers. We got ours from Camping World when they had a sale last year and they are great. Much better to cook in than aluminum, but not so heavy as cast iron.

You will be buying a lot of stuff in the first year. It makes sense to join Camping World for one year. Usually a membership costs $20, but they have a lot of $12 promotions now. Business must be pretty desperate. You get 10% off but prices are still high. You'll find RV products are expensive. You will probably get more than $120 worth or $200 worth of stuff in the first year. You can get big discounts at CW on Woodall's camping directory since they are owned by the same company. A number of Forum members have warned to not let CW mechanics touch an Airstream. CW is a necessary evil since they have a lot of stores and sometimes you need stuff and that's the easy place to go.

We bought a small vacuum (4 lbs. and a big motor) from Griot's. You can't always get it done with a broom and since you are camping, dirt is always a problem. Many campgrounds have little or no grass, so dust, mud, gravel, and grass clippings all find their way inside. Griot's sells a lot of stuff for detailing expensive cars. You can Google it. We use their paint sealant to wax the Safari. They say it lasts a year and so far, so good after 10 months. In between paint sealant applications, use spray on wax after a wash. This stuff is easy to apply and that matters with something as big as a trailer. You'll need a plastic cleaner and polish for the rock guard windows in front—do it just as it says because they scratch easily. The metal rock guards below the windows are stainless and most any polish or wax does not work on them. You can use a stainless steel cleaner and polish on them, but just about anything tends to streak on them.

A fan in the fridge is a good idea to distribute cold better. We bought a battery operated one at CW and later found it had no switch. Taking it apart to save the batteries quickly resulted in the thing falling apart. We wired it together for a while, but that became such a pain, it got thrown out. Get one with a switch.

We really liked the 27', but for a variety of reasons chose the 25'. Some days I wish I had the 27', but we're happy with the 25'.

Gene

[TBRich]

We have found that "SnapWare" food containers work well in the Airstream...in a variety of sizes...they fit in the frig well and they stack for efficient use of space in both the frig and the cabinets. SNAPWARE® : Innovative Home Storage

[Sharleen]

We found containers in the fridge just took too much space. We use food fence bars, available from RV dealers/suppliers. Inexpensive and keep things from falling out onto the floor.
We used the rubber non slip matting you can buy on a roll (has holes) and cut them into approx. 5 inch squares to use under & between dishes to keep them from moving around while travelling. You can pick a roll up at the dollar store and it goes a fairly long way. At the dollar store we also picked up a variety of sizes in the rectangular baskets (for makeup, etc., in the bathroom mirror cupboard) and larger square & rectangular plastic baskets & containers for storage of various items. Everything works great so far.
Good luck and have fun!

[gail]

We went to Home depot they have a great selection of plastic container. We use the to store everything. Perfect. Get sizes that can be stacked in the space where you want them. The come with different colored lids so you can color coordinate the inside of your storage areas.