Storage/dinette seats and other aggravations

[sandykayak]

I'm sure that most will agree that the perfect PU doesn't exist.

When I did the Jayco v Coleman thing I went for the Jayco Qwest 8U cos I liked the U-dinette option, liked the roll-up curtains (rather than those hanging drapes that visually drive me crazy), and, most importantly, i liked to be able to open the door and put stuff inside or access the fridge when it was popped down.  

I also liked the more floor space when popped down in the Jayco but have since decided I might be willing to sacrifice that because it's a royal PITA to have to be connecting and disconnecting the gas stove.

HOWEVER, my biggest fury is that to raise the dinette covers you have to lift up the back seat cushion as well as the seat cushion and they are fairly large.  The result is that it's a pain to retrieve stuff once you are all set up.

Coleman's cushions are stuck to the dinette seat.  My U-dinette option provides the equivalent of two couches to stretch out and watch tv or read, which I like, but trying to get the cushions to fit when I take down is a challenge.

I started out by putting stuff under the dinettes and in the tiny kitchen cabinets (remember this is an 8' box and storage is really limited) but I'd spend a lot of time digging in and around.  I keep pillows and other bedding in the dinette storage areas.

So I went with storage boxes (for the pots and other kitchen stuff) and now feel that set up has become aggravating (I am single and frequently camp alone) because I have so many things to pull out before I can start cranking.

I have the plastic green box with aftermarket handles.  In there I have the plates and a bunch of other stuff.  This stores under the center rear dinette seat.  I pull it out and then set the small microwave on top of that.  Also have 3 chairs (I frequently take a couple friend with me) under there.

And I absolutely hate the Jayco awning system.  I copied someone's concrete flower pots to hold the awning posts, so that's two more things to take out.

One friend, a single guy, used to keep all his stuff in boxes in his garage and then load them onto his truck when he went camping.  My garage is full and I'd be afraid to forget one.

Of course, I make it worse because I'm a pack-ratting gearhead!!  I'd like to hear from other small box owners and see if I can reduce the aggravations.

[garym053]

As you stated, there is no PERFECT PU, and if there were I doubt that everyone would find it to be perfect. That said, I am sorry that you purchased something that you are frustrated with, although I don't share the same frustrations with my Jayco Qwest 10. The BIGGEST factor in my choosing a Jayco Qwest over a Coleman was the $4,000 +/-that stayed in my pocket!
My Jayco doesn't have the U shaped dinette, but I am glad the cushions are not fastened down, as I take and flip them so the good fabric sides are together when folding up to help insure they stay clean.
I also don't have a problem with the awning, but that might be because I'm 6'3" and fairly muscular despite being overweight!!! I do know that others have similar problems with the awnings. Although I'm not sure how the Flower Pot things would make things any easier?
Some Coleman's have had roof problems, other brands have had other problems. Mine has suffered some converter problems.
I think the important thing, for me, at least, is that I have something that gets me out of the house and into the great outdoors!
Good luck and happy camping!

[HersheyGirl]

I didn't like that Jayco awning either....so I got a Carefree of Colorado Campout awning and loved it.  It was so easy to use and I could do and undo it all by myself.  It went with the Jayco when I sold it.  
I too tried to pack everything I could possibly use camping in my camper.  I too got very frustrated with the packing/unpacking/loading/unloading.....so, when I got my new to me camper, I thinned out so much stuff!  I did not pack the things that I did not use in the previous camping season.  I did not pack the things that might be useful. I did not pack all of the little nicknacks....and I now have a camper with alot of unused storage space, and I, once again, am a very happy camper.  I am trying to be a minimalist when it comes to camping. I left out more stuff than I put in the camper. So far, so good.  Don't get rid of the Jayco, it is a great camper.  Do some unpacking and see if that helps.  Good luck.

[Kelly]

I didn't like that Jayco awning either....so I got a Carefree of Colorado Campout awning and loved it.  It was so easy to use and I could do and undo it all by myself.  It went with the Jayco when I sold it.

I bet the new owner appreciates that!!  


I'm not a small box owner or a packrat ... but I do camp with 4 little ones and even our necessary stuff takes up a lot of space!

One of the things I did with my old Pal was to remove the back cushions from the u-shaped dinette and leave them at home.  They were also a pain to store and took away much needed storage.  Anyone who's camped with me will tell you I keep it very simple!  The less I have to take the better.

I also ditched the stove that came with the PU.  It was bulky and I hated connecting and disconnecting it too.  I bought a big 3-burner Coleman stove ... 4 kids and all!  Much easier to set up and much easier to cook with.

I stored everything in 10-gallon Rubbermaid Totes that fit under the dinette seats.  Then I just stacked them outside under the awning.  Easy to get to stuff and easy to pack up.  

I agree with HersheyGirl ~ go through your stuff and get rid of anything you didn't use last camping season.  Or maybe in the last 6 months (you have a better camping season than us northerners!!)

Good luck![/color]

[mike4947]

I also agree theat Jayco makes the worst awning in the business. When getting quotes I said a deal killer would be if they didn't supply a Carefree Campout. I fought with the Jayco awnings on two PU's. Never again.
What a lot of folks including me have done is provide other access to the under dinette seat storage area. Either by putting doors at the ends or actually cutting a hatch into the outside of the trailer where the storage area is.

[Old Goat]

We had the same storage access problem with the dinette seats in our 01 Niagara..Although it had access doors on the inside ends of the dinette seats, it was still impossible to reach stuff beyond arms length with out removing the cushions...I solved the problem by rebuilding the dinette seat frames and building a large drawer in the inside ends. They are 24" long and built to fit with minimal clearance on the top,sides and bottom so very little space is wasted....They will hold a lot more things in the space they take up because they are so easy to keep organized....DW just loves them....We store paper towels, blankets and stuff that won't be needed often in the space behind the drawers. I also installed a petition  across the seat base in back of the drawers to prevent stuff stored there from moving and interfering with the drawers operation.........

[Buzz]

Yes, my ideal pup would have to have a 30' box, a second floor and tow like a 6' box.
It seems every option is a traid off. Potty, shower, furnace and frig take up so much space that the only place to sit down is the dinette. Not to comfortable when you spend rainy days inside. On those days we bring folding chairs inside but that leaves little room to move around. But its what I got so I'm gonna live with it.
I like to get organized, find a place for most everything, keep bags and cloths off the beds and keep alot of stuff under the awning or the pup itself.
We had thought about spending next winter in a southern state in the pup but after our last and longest trip (12 days) we decided that would not work.

[GeorgiaBoy]

Ahhh ... another of life's great complexities.  Like the popular "the more money i make the more money I spend" philosophy - here we face "the bigger the camper the more stuff i need to bring" syndrome coupled with the just as frustrating "the fancier the camper the more frustrating things are when they aren't like I want them".

It comes with age.  I can recall packing a tent, a few clothes, some bread, a cooler of beer and my girlfriend into The Hornet - a 1989 Honda CRX SI, little yellow 2-door hatchback - and be happy as a lark on a 4-day camping excursion.

I got older, got a "real" job, and could afford a Jeep.  With the jeep comes more room (well, more that the CRX).  Now I could bring blankets, pillows, stuff to put on the bread, a little Coleman stove and a bigger cooler of beer. With all the new stiff i could now bring, the little 2-man tent became too crowded so I had to buy a bigger tent.  I also had to deal with a little stress from getting the Coleman stove to work properly.

Jump to a few years ago - the wife and I planning our first camping trip since the birth of our 2-year-old son.  "I got a big tent," i thought to myself. "We got room for everything we want to bring."  Folding bed frame, inflatable mattresses, lights, fans, toys, stuffed animals, his wagon, his tricycle, folding chairs, boombox ... big cooler - half beer half fruit drinks.  Pulling out of the driveway with the truck packed, stacked and strapped like the Beverly Hillbillies. I also had to deal with the stress of packing it all up, setting up all the fancy beds, trying to inflate all those damn mattresses...

How did it go?  Well, we haven't been camping since and just bought a new PU so we can get back out to the wilderness.  Of course, the camper offers more room than the tent!!!  We need more stuff!!!  The wife comes home with a microwave, toaster, blender, coffee maker...YIKES!!!  Our first trip with the new PU is this weekend and i'm already thinking we'll need a bigger camper.  Amd I'm already dealing with broken door handles and lack of needed storage room.

My sis and her hubby tow some mammoth h/s camper with built-in everything and she complains she doesn't have enough room.  And her hubby deals with broken door handles, cushions ripping at the seams, hose connections coming loose...

It's a vicious circle - you cannot escape it - you'll always want to bring just one more thing.

As far as a "perfect" camper - well you can never please everybody.  But with campers being around for as long as they have, I am surprised no manufacturer has come out with the creme-de-la-creme of campers.  We have plenty of Toyota Celica's to choose from ... where's the Lexus model?!  Instead, we're forced to "deal with it", ironically creating more stress in an arena that's supposed to relieve stress!

[Johnowolf]

Creme' de la Creme'? A few weeks ago we were over at Camping World (I had to pick up one or two or a dozen things to complete some mods I'm working on) and there was an RV Show going on at our local Camping World. While I was in browsing for parts, DW and DD started "browsing" the RVs. You name it, they had it! BIG MH buses, Small conversion vans, 5ers, TTs, Hybrids, I think the only thing I didn't see there were our beloved PUs.

Well, our DD is a dedicated "darksider". She's convinced that we should have all the luxuries and doodads that you find on the big MHs or TTs. DW and I are dedicated PUers ... we'd still be mostly tenters if our dog hadn't learned to unzip the bloody thing, and now we're kinda used to being off the ground with some minimal luxuries. We could probably be talked into a Hybrid at a HUGE stretch, but we still generally prefer the PU. More useable space, since those things are designed to keep space at a premium. But ... DD still thinks we're nuts and wants all those wonderful luxuries LOL
 
Wouldn't you know it, though, DD actually found one that was too much even for her! Walked into one of the 5ers ... Living/Sitting room in the back, with couch and chairs and fold down TV, plus a fireplace (either electric or propane, I didn't look that close). Bathroom with shower. Kitchen unit and dining area. OAK stairs up to the loft area, where the master bedroom was, with ANOTHER bathroom, another fold-down TV and ... yes ... another fireplace! I tell ya, the thing was fancier than most houses, and was priced accordingly. DD decided she could draw the line somewhat below that level (once we informed her that if we had a unit like that WE'D get the master bedroom and she could have the foldout couch ). I thik that would qualify as "Creme de la Creme", but THAT AIN'T CAMPIN'!!!!! I'll take my PU with its minor frustrations and crank anyday!
 
Now we've lived with both the Coleman and the Jayco. Our first was a basic "tent on wheels with a roof" Coleman Jamestown '83. No galley, single bedwing, dinette to make the other bed. Perfect for three of us plus the dogs. I liked a LOT of things about the Coleman construction and quality. A couple of quirks I didn't much like, but nothing I couldn't live without. The cushions that are the lid for the storage were OK ... but sometimes I'd have to fight 'em to get them in just the right spot to drop into place. The strap that held the table legs up in the fold-down position broke. Not a big deal to replace, but a pain to try to store things underneath when closing up and having to hold up the legs while sliding things in. Like I said, really minor stuff.
 
On the Jayco Qwest 10V, I like the fact that the cushions are separate, because they have a cloth and vinyl side. If we come in damp (or the dogs are damp) flip the cushions over to Vinyl and put the cloth underneath. Fitting the lid to the storage is no problem ... drop the plywood in place (note to self: still want to do the lid-hinge mod!). The one thing I don't like is that the cushions slide around on the seat, especially the way DD wiggles when she's sitting! (note to self: get some of the non-skid rug liner or cabinet liner and attach it to lid of seat storage to keep cushions from slipping. May also work to protect cushions from hinge when that mod is done). I do like the extra cabinets available on the 10V that the 8' models don't have. We do have the small totes, but most of those stay in until AFTER we crank.
 
Organization, organization, organization! We've got it figured out which totes come out and go UNDER the PU, which stay inside (note to self: got to finish the new shelving mod so we can keep our "inside" totes stored neatly over the cabinets and not lose living space). Our first two trips with the Nu2Us PU, we've reserved extra time for packing up to figure out optimum packing and storage plans. Something I learned from watching touring rock bands and off-broadway shows when working in a theater ... having an organized packing plan and ordered procedure saves BUNDLES in time and storage efficiency! Get a single plan and stick with it! We've trimmed down some of our extras as we've figured out what we ALWAYS need, what we SOMETIMES need, what we RARELY need, and what things we rarely use but when we need them we NEED them. I think one more trip and we'll have the packing organization licked! (note to self: get broom handle clips attached to hold cranks near door, also set up "linen storage" that will keep linens behind the axle and keep heavy stuff from sliding back there!)
 
The one REALLY fun thing about the PU, no matter WHAT manufacturer/model you have is all the opportunities for WONDERFUL mods! Just think ... if you HAD that "creme de la creme" would you really WANT to mess up the luxury with the latest handy-dandy camping doodads and mods?

[ForestCreature]

Storage space?  What's that  :confused:
 
 It's what we gave up to have a fast easy set up. There is very little storage in the Aliner. Having to empty the camper first to sleep is not on my things to do list. That's where the big van comes in, darn near all the gear is in the back of the van. I don't know how others with A frames do it with smaller TVs.
 
 The only things we keep in the camper are the clothes, cooking supplies, extra paper towels, plates etc. There is a large storage area uner the bed/couch with outside access, that is where we keep the seldom used but have to bring along items.  I know soon as we leave one of those things behind we'll need it! We keep an extra sleeping bag there that's been used more by other than by us!

[sandykayak]

Unfortunately, the guy friend who did some great mods for me moved to california...  so the side door for the dinette near the door is not an option...anyway, that's where the fire extinguisher is!

I will share the mods he did:  the piano hinges on the lid are great...another friend cut some thick dowels with one end at an angle, put velcro on the tip and a round velcro sticker on the lid so I can keep the lid propped open while I dig around.

The dinette table takes up too much room and is really heavy...it's somewhere in the garage.

Ken made a wooden platform (so I can store the cushions while on the road)  that I remove and put in TV if I have company or on other bunk when traveling solo.

The best thing was that he also made the straight piece (from the back seat of the U-dinette) removable as well.  This gives a lot more floor space tho I don't really move it that often.

Since I opted to not have a furnace (in Florida..I use ceramic heaters), I ordered another large door and he made the furnace hole bigger.

Sorting out is definitely in order.  But if I leave some of the stuff (like the microwave) you KNOW I'm going to need it.