RV Storage Engineering

 Storage comes at a premium in a camper, so you have to maximize all the space that you can.

In the rear of the camper are some coat racks along a recess. Those are great, but how much are you really getting into that area. Instead, my wife suggests using a shower curtain rod and hanging a sort of tiered basket from it.

That's a great idea! Or so we thought. We put the rod up and everything was fine. We attached the basket and things looked good. We started putting clothes in the baskets and before we filled half of the spaces, the whole contraption fell. I tried to tighten the rod and it still wouldn't hold.

After some deliberation, I decided to use some old 3/4" plywood to prop up the rod. I had an 8' long strip, just wide enough to fit in the recess area. Cut that in half, I suspend the rod 48" up with the ability to hold much more weight. If I just had the wood to burn, I would probably have used 50" or so, but beggers can't be choosers.

To keep everything stable, I knew I would need to secure the plywood to the sides of that area somehow. I didn't want to put holes in the walls with nails or screws, and admittedly, I wouldn't need much strength to just keep the boards propped up. I decided to use velcro command strips along the top edge to keep it attached. That way, I can take them down and move them with ease.

After securing the boards, I placed the rod along the top and applied tension to keep it in place. The boards supported it from below, and the ends of the rod kept it from rolling around. With the fully loaded basket, everything worked as intended.

The plan now is to get another basket for double the space. If the rod doesn't hold, we'll make changes as necessary to make full use of that area.