Storage bins sliding around

Trailpixie

how do you secure things like action packer plastic bins inside the camper. I would think they would slide or roll around on the floor while underway, especially if you are on a windy or bumpy dirt road? I am reluctant to keep kitchen stuff stored inside the cabinets because I spend a lot of time on bumpy dirt roads. I guess I could keep that stuff in my tow vehicle. 

Nomad

I keep my pots/pans in the cabinet under the sink, they do fine.

jkjenn

PXLated said:

I keep my pots/pans in the cabinet under the sink, they do fine.

Yes, can eta are full enough t9 keep things in place. I don't keep bins in the T@b on the floor because I wa t it to be easy to access the kitchen and bed. No rearranging things for an overnight stop.

TABaker

I use the non-skid shelf liner for things in cabinets.  I tow with things on the countertop, too, such as toaster oven and coffee pot.  They stay put sitting on that liner.

Verna

@jkjenn....ahhhhh spell check gotcha again!  I can't figure out your first statement. Thanks

Nomad

Yep, rubber shelf liners. I can't leave anything on the counter though, the roads I travel puts it all on the floor.

ElectricBallroom

I have a Dutch oven and a saucepan in a canvas grocery bag in the cabinet. That's kept it in place and it doesn't bang around. 

Verna

Museum Gel keeps my ceramic IU Basketball Gnome, IU ceramic salt & pepper shakers and a couple of other plastic things on my counter through all of those 8,000+ Bumpy interstate and other roads and miles I have towed this year. 

Nomad

So, how do you shake the salt/pepper shakers if they're glued to your counter - enquiring minds want to know.

Homebodyatheart

Trailpixie I saw a post with pic somewhere that showed a microwave on the inside kitchen counter over the stove area. The owner had put up two square suspension rod like things, one right behind, one right in front that kept it from sliding around. Something like that in front of your totes on the floor might work, going side to side under the seat area, but if you stopped hard and fast probably wouldn't hold. Worth a try anyway. Good luck!

Verna

PXLated said:

So, how do you shake the salt/pepper shakers if they're glued to your counter - enquiring minds want to know.

You can remove them and then put them back. It 's not permanent. Actually, I use a plastic salt shaker and a pepper grinder, but it is truly easy to pull up and put it back. 

jkjenn

Verna said:

@jkjenn....ahhhhh spell check gotcha again!  I can't figure out your first statement. Thanks

I think I need reading glasses for my phone.

jkjenn said:

PXLated said:

I keep my pots/pans in the cabinet under the sink, they do fine.

Yes, can eta are full enough t9 keep things in place. I don't keep bins in the T@b on the floor because I wa t it to be easy to access the kitchen and bed. No rearranging things for an overnight stop.

Interpretation: Yes, cabinets are full enough to keep things in place. I don't keep bins on the T@b floor because I want it to be easy access to the kitchen and bed. No rearranging things for an overnight stop.

Thanks, @Verna.

Trailpixie

I just can't imagine that my stuff would be okay if I was cruising down a rutted forest service road...washboard gravel and potholes are the rule on those roads. I was thinking I would put some action packer things on the floor and take them out and shelter them from rain by putting them underneath the T@B.  

I'm and old backpacker, and I like everything tied down really well.  I remember dumping a canoe once in really rough waters (class III wave train). The canoe floated upside down for a quarter mile downstream.  My DSLR camera gear was unharmed because it was in waterproof bags and lashed down carefully.  

Seriously, you guys drive down bumpy forest service roads with stuff on the counter?

pthomas745

Museum gel, or what we in Socal call Quake Hold, works pretty well.  Especially for light things.  I'm like  you, though.....I wish there were some connection points for bungees to keep things from slipping around. 

Tabaz

I never leave anything unsecured when traveling off-road.  This includes stuff in the cabinets and under the seat.  I put a towel on the shower floor and lay the shower head on it.  Also check the shower door latch to make sure its horizontal.  The only thing I leave out in the cabin is bedding.

Verna

I'll have to take a picture of my little corner next to the sink. Yes, the stuff really stays in place.

And, some of the Interstates are just as bad as the forest service roads!  I am building wooden drawers for my under sink cabinets because I can't seem to keep the stuff in there on those Interstates.

Last week I also found a silicone 4 qt Dutch oven (not cast iron) pan that I can use for chili or chicken and noodles. I can leave the 6 qt one at home and save 4" in height when stacking the two pots and one skillet.  That should save some of the pan weight from bouncing against the cabinet door and spilling the contents on the floor. 

The fronts of the side benches are 1/2" plywood. If you guys really want tie downs, check and double check what is behind where you are drilling , but you could easily attach nice cleats or tie downs to the front of the cabinets. Don't forget about resale--get some nice ones. 

I'm like Jenn. I've had enough of those rough days that I just want to fall into bed and not move all my gear to get to the bed. Everything either goes under the bed, behind the bed or in the storage on the driver's bench, or in the kitchen cabinets. 

Trailpixie

I was thinking about something like these that could be mounted in the floor or bottom edges of the cabinets. You could use them to use to bungee or strap things down so they don't slide. 

https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Cargo-Control/Brophy/RR01-C.html

Unhooking and stowing wing the boxes wouldn't be that big a deal. 

Verna

Do not attach them to the floor. There is no wood in the floor. Please attach then to the bench front or the rear front area. 

Tabaz

Last year on an off road trip, it took me one hour to go one mile - that's how rutted the road was. These Tabs have zero suspension. No shocks or leaf springs.

Verna

Okay, that forest service road was worse...except for I-40 between Little Rock and West Memphis!

Tabaz

Verna - so nice to spend time with you at Coyote Howls last month. Patty, Anne, Carol and Cindy all mentioned how much we all miss you. Have a wonderful summer - stay cool and safe until we meet again.

Verna

Thank you, Frank. I'm staying cool now wouldn't you know it's snowing in Indiana and now AZ is warm!

Trailpixie

Verna said:

...There is no wood in the floor. 
...

Wow! That is amazing. What is the floor made of? 

I was was thinking of doing something at the base of the cabinets where there wouldn't be too much bending force applied to the cabinets.  In that location one could get behind it and reinforce it with a metal plate or something like that...maybe a piece of 1" plywood or oak stock.  

combining some light-duty hooks and the non-slip rubber mats mentioned above might work together to keep things from rolling around. 

I also liked inked the idea of somehow blocking off the area under the table to be a temporary storage space where things wouldn't slide around.  Maybe making a slide-in separator that would limit the movement of things put under the table.

Verna

Azdel (a composite man-made material), over an 1" of white foam insulation and Azdel on the other side. Do a search of Azdel and you should see a photo from last summer. 

Trailpixie

@verna that's pretty cool. I am impressed to see so much commitment to reducing weight.  It looks like a thin lauan plywood on top and bottom. You could use an expanding anchor, but you are right that it would be a bad idea to depend on it for any significant amount of pulling strength. You can obviously screw into it, but weight is out of the question.

I wonder if anyone has any diagrams to see where the cross-members are. I wonder if they are wood or metal.

marknjudy

If I put anything like that close to the floor, I'd guarantee a broken pinkie toe before the trip was over. This is just a thought: what I did on my truck to provide organized storage space that I could access from the front panel of my tonneau cover is to put two plastic boxes that look like milk crates side by side and then hold them firmly against the front wall of the pickup bed with an expandable curtain rod. Seems to do the trick in preventing them from sliding out of place and isn't permanent so if I wanted to take them out or adjust to a different size, it's a snap. I don't know if they make any strong enough to hold back what you're planning to store under there, but it would keep you from having to worry about resale later.

Verna

@Trailpixie, you have so many questions and the answers are already on the forum. The search feature (upper right corner of this page) is a great tool. Type in a word or two and start reading. All of your answers are there!  I was amazed when I read the entire LG and the T@B forum at how much know,edge I had gained. 

Trailpixie

@marknjudy an expandable curtain rod sounds like a cool idea.

marknjudy

It may work. It does for me. And I must credit my son for it.

Mouseketab

The stuff in the cabinets in mine stays in place pretty well. Most of my extra "stuff" is in the back of the truck. I have a shoe bin and my step in the floor of the camper. Pull out the step, pull out the shoe bin and set it next to the step, and get in and go to bed if I'm stopping for a quick overnighter. Pretty much arranged to where I can do nothing except plug in electric on a pullthrough site and overnighter, or back in disconnect and pull out a comfy compound from the back of my truck.

Marceline

I was in IKEA yesterday and found these bins that fit very well in the CSS pass-through cabinets.