Ideal storage solutions?

[sawdust_128]

In a couple of my bays I have these storage chests (pics below). They are well built, they have ability to meet some very specific needs. However, I am not sure that they are really suited to long term, full-timing.

Here are some of the things I like about them:

Built well.
Finish matches the rest of the coach although the match is not perfect.
Extra freezer, refrig space.
Lots of generic drawer space.
Slide out tables.
Outdoor entertainment is a plus, I think.
Provide a lot of organized storage vs. an open bay.

Here are some things that I don't like or I could do without and make better use of the space:

Wine cooler & wine rack - it just doesn't seem to stick around that long (personal choices).
Laminate finish in utility area is just not that sturdy (my opinion).
Wooden drawer boxes.
Wooden drawer boxes with no dividers, inserts or organizers.
Locking seems to depend on the lock on the drawer slides (although this appears to be on the added-on unit that was not built/installed by Featherlite.
Not overly effective use of the space.
Limited fexibilty i.e., fixed positioning of the tables.

I have one bay that has a joey bed. I have another bay that is empty.

In the process of working to go full time, I am sorting and reducing what I will take. I also would like my stuff to be secured, organized and retrievable. I am going to design, build and install cabinetry to fit these bays. So, i am asking for ideas from the group as to what you have that you really like/gotta have/want to have/wish you had/need to have in bay storgage solutions.

I have the capabilities to develop blueprint styled drawings, material lists and cutout sheets for the cases and I intend to put them into an Article on the POG site.

So, if you have ideas, suggestions, crtitcisms, or just want to throw locusts on me have at it.

Thanks in advance.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

What would you prefer the drawer boxes to be if not wooden?

Ed that is a great project you are concidering and let me know when you are done. I could recycle some of that stuff into mine

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ed, you would be amazed at how much your thoughts and needs will change.

I used to carry a spare tire and a bunch of other things I considered essential.

Over time both Di and I realized we were dragging stuff around that we never used or used so rarely it wasn't worth the space it occupied.

Before you start making wholesale changes you might want to leave everything as is until you have spent at least a year living in the bus. We not only have changed how we decide what to carry, we have changed how we use the bus. We originally piled on the miles. We had a bus so we drove the bus. Now we go somewhere to sit for a while. That changes what we bring.

I think until the bus is no longer "new" to you, it is difficult to imagine what you need to store or carry. When you have decided that I guarantee you will know exactly what you want and you will not be asking the inmates here about what to do.

[sawdust_128]

Jon:

I am not asking "What stuff should I take along?" I am asking "Of the stuff you take, how do you store it and what do you like/dislike about the way you have to store it?" What makes/would make the coach work better for you, make you more comfortable?

We have already made changes inside the coach. There were things that were done, added to make the previous (2nd) owner more comfortable. Most of those met his specific needs. Most of them are now gone and we have made or are working on our own mods especially to the storage areas.

Included are plans for a different safe,add another fireproof file, rollouts added into the master closet, organizers for the galley drawers, additional latches for some interior cabinets, additional locking latches for all the glass doors, liftouts and slide-overs in some of the stateroom drawers, some false bottoms and backs. We are not happy with the options we currently have for computer work area, but don't know what we would like to do for that yet. We will have to manage the aspect of multi-season clothing. We have not come up with a good scheme for that based on what storage we have available. Love to hear ideas on that.

Hope that clarifies what I am asking for. It may help to understand that this design process could take some time. For quite a while I expect it to be a work in progress. I won't actually build or replace anything until I am absolutely sure of the concept, materials, construction method, hardware selections and finishes.

[sawdust_128]

What would you prefer the drawer boxes to be if not wooden?

Ed that is a great project you are concidering and let me know when you are done. I could recycle some of that stuff into mine

Joe: I will probably look at the Metabox drawer system by Blum. I beleive they are powder coated metal side rails, you add the back and bottom of up to 3/4 material. Lots of organizer options for this system from Blum as well.

I've used the Blum Tandem system with butt, lap and french dovetail drawers in residential projects. Most of those have a 1/4 inch bottom, pinned and dadoed into place, and secured with hot-melt.

Ed that is a great project you are concidering and let me know when you are done. I could recycle some of that stuff into mine

I knew that this would be a worthwhile effort. I have no advise and you have a new storage solution. What a deal. You da man! That's how come you can work on buses in house slippers.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ed,

The upstairs is Di's domain. She decides what food, snacks, clothes, cleaning supplies, CDs, cassettes, DVDs, books, etc. I am just the driver.

The belly of the beast is mine. But I am likely different than others who think of things like golf clubs and disco balls. I amass huge selections of spares. If it broke once, and I think the potential for it to break again, I got a spare.

I have a spare generator watchdog, Webasto brain, inverter circuit boards and fan, bulbs, fuses, circuit breakers, relays, switches, generator fuel pump, lens covers for lights (incandescent lights of course), brake air hoses, norgren valves, engine sensors, etc.

I also have the tools to do the repairs. I have battery testers, multi-testers, CB signal strength testers, ultrasonic leak detector, shop manual, parts manual, electric drill, a drill bit set, screw drivers and a multitude of essential tools, tire valve stems, Schrader valves, tire plugs, jacks, X-12, and a DDEC reader.

I also have a few chairs, a step to make entry into the coach easier, a couple of entry mats, windshield and side window covers, and miscellaneous cleaning supplies and rags. I have a brush for washing the coach, several extension poles and my awning poles and hooks.

I carry a spare 50 amp cable and a multitude of various electrical plugs to suit 20, 30 or 50 amp service. I have a cable TV cable, about 50 feet of macerator hose, about 50 feet of fresh water hose and about 25 feet of sewer hose. I have a surge protector for when I hook up my cable. Last but not least I have two full size bicycles.

The part on the belly that I like and that we use a lot when we travel alone is a good size electric grille. It gets more use than most would realize. We tend to like to cook out a lot and it makes it easy.

But this is meaningless because what you carry may not even come close to what you consider necessary. FWIW I have a lot of room left and have carried a lot more stuff in our bays, but we are cutting back on what we drag around.

[truk4u]

What a crock, PSL last year was the first time your grill got used!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Listen there squirt (can you guess where that comes from) I take pride in the grille and I actually clean it. It just looks new.

I know you don't trust anything I say so surprise Di sometime and ask her if we ever use the grille.

We have never cooked on the stove in the house. But that's another story. When I ask Di what she is making for dinner the answer is reservations.

[Jeff Bayley]

Sawdust (Ed)-

I wish I had the know how of Jon to repair everything myself. The more I pay what I've coined the "head scratching" fee's at service places (Prevost or others) I see why some POG members like Jon would'nt dream of letting anyone else work on their bus except themselves. "If you want it done right..........."

I know the thrust of your question was on storage and not so much what to bring but I couldn't agree more by what Jon says about tools and spare parts. I don't have near the collection of spare parts Jon does but I'm about to start collecting them and Jon gives a good starter kit ideas for me. But at least take a very generous size tool box that is well stocked. My latest bus came with a decent size craftsman on a slide out (the slider is pointless) and it's overflowing with tools. A volt meter is a must have as well as an extra set of every single engine belt for starters besides the tools. Costco sells a great 3 fold tool kit by Cresent with wrenches, sockets, allen wreches, etc for $50. I carry two of them in the bus and I made up an electrical kit full of bulbs fuses, wire strippers, etc. Now, most of this is worthless without all the knowledge needed to know how to fix it. Probabley quicker to learn to land the Space Shuttle than to get to point of knowledge where Jon is. So........you need a buddy that's got a lot of experience that you can call when you coast to a stop at 11pm and trouble shoot your problem with you and tell you that the reason the bus isn't getting enough electricity and the lights are dimming and the transmission is shifting funny is becuase your Vanner is out and in order to keep on limping to the service depot, you need to run a hot wire from your 12 volt alternator to the terminal of the Vanner and whala, your on the road again .......instead of getting towed 250 miles from CT to Prevost NJ (true story). I used the Prevost Service hot line tonight at 5pm on a Sunday and they got me on the horn with a regional service manager that spent 30 minutes pointing me in the right direction (see recent thread I posted on Emergency Check Engine Light).

I know this is going in a different direction than your question but when I saw Jon's post on the tools and spare parts AND since at the time of this writing I'm sitting and pleasantley stuck at an RV park until I an do further trouble shooting in the AM to likely find a bad oil sensor, I thought I'd 2nd Jon's motion to carve out space for a generous size tool box. If you have tools at home and don't want to buy whole other set, just move your tools into the tool box in the bus bay and as long as your not parked too far from the house, go there when you need a tool and put it back every time and make that the new tool barn. I got chest high Craftsman tool box on Craigs List the other day FULL of Craftsman tools, I mean every drawer was full, for $200. Box AND tools. Put that set away in my work shed to keep from running back and forth to the bus.

I had a shirt when I was heavy into RC Models that said "If you don't want to crash em', don't build em'" I think the Prevost motto should be "If you don't want to fix em' don't own one".

I got about 5 CD's from a tech at Monoco (Royal) full of wiring diagrams, owners manuals, had the DDECK codes in it I needed tonight, electical cataloue and I have't even browsed through them all. I'll make you a copy of them when you come to Florida in a few months or if I make it to another POG Ralley anyone that wants to can copy them. I might be able to email a lot of the stuff beause most all of it is in PDF format with different chapters. If anyone is still reading my long boring post, email me and request and I'll try emailing it to you. The reward you get for reading and not nodding off. Ha. Maybe someone out there can post it somehow so anyone can FTP it or download it. These CD's have a wealth of info on them that I'm very thankful to have stumbled across and you pick you year and your coach (has H3 and XL's) and you get the correct info for YOUR year. These are Prevost CD's, not the converters.

[adamdegraff]

Of the stuff we have with us (much of which we are finding that we aren't using) we have stored in rubbermaid bins. We found a nice size that, when stacked, fits just right in our bays. One thing I like about these is that if I ever need extra room for something big and I decided that I wished they weren't there, I can take them out and leave them on the side of the road. They are also VERY elegant looking. I mean, heck, you'd think they had cost me thousands of dollars... but nope, just a few bucks each. I know. I know. You want to know where you can find such a fine item.

Look forward to your final drawings and hearing more about this customization process.

And, after reading John's list of goodies, I'm thinking we'll just have to plan our next tour around his planned route for the year. Certainly better than having to wait a few days for parts from Prevost! Bravo John for being so prepared. You are my hero! Must feel really good when something breaks to have what you need right then and there! Awesome.

Best,

Adam