Dutchman rear storage area mod: new cabinets, easier access to lower storage bin and doubled storage

snoqualmiesmom

Colorado DJ just posted his mod for the rear storage area in his NuCamp unit.  (  https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/15223/rear-shelf-mod#latest  ).  We found through a FB discussion that we had done almost an identical mod for our 2010 Dutchman.  

Dutchman owners are all familiar with the "black hole" of the rear lower storage trough that is accessed by flipping up the long lid that is hinged on the front and struggling to reach anything in there.  My husband removed the lid.  He then made a frame, using the lid as the lower section, that fits into the space above the storage trough, made three cabinet doors to match the upper doors, so they hinge upwards, and mounted the frame to the bottom of the upper shelf and the inside of the lower trough.  The frame is flush with the original front wall of the lower trough.  The resulting lower storage has easily been doubled.  In addition you will see in the photos that he has added shelf mounts and an extra small shelf at the top of the new storage space that is perfect for storing small items.  We are on the road for 3-4 weeks on most of our longer trips, (we have 43,000 miles on our Tab) we know exactly how many storage cubes will fit into the trough (six of the Eagle Creek bags shown) and that is how we pack our clothes, shirts, pants, pjs, sweaters, etc.  Our access doors are shorter in height than Colorado DJ's because we have a double hinge on our seat back that allows us to open the back in reverse as well as the original direction, and in order to open the seat back storage from the front it must be in the first ratchet stop position, so the shorter doors allow the new cabinets to be accessed with the seat back in either position.  

I would be lost without all of this storage, the cabinet doors keep everything in place while traveling, and the overall appearance is neat and tidy, and looks "original". 

Note, we have the extra shelves in all of our upper cabinets as well,  and the locking hinge has been moved to the left in the other two to allow storage of our laptops and iPads on the lower of the two shelves, without scraping them on the door lock.  The doors still stay closed while traveling, sorry, no photos of this.

fstop32

Nicely done @snoqualmiesmom!  You've done some nice woodworking in that mod, being a woodworker myself I can appreciate your efforts.
After ripping everything out of the back end of my 2015 T@b to replace my heating lines last year I was trying to update that area to gain more storage space.  My wife tripped across ColoradoDJ's back cabinet work on a FB T@b forum and I hooked up with him and got a lot of ideas on what and how he pulled off his update.  My 2015 had zero storage in that lower area, like that black hole you mentioned.

snoqualmiesmom

Yes. Colorado DJ and I have discussed the similarity and differences if our kids. Dutchman’s are simpler units so we have more hidden storage to access!