Smart solutions in your motorhome - that's what you want, right? After more than ten years of living in a motorhome, we've come up with various solutions that we think make motorhome life easier. Here are our tips! If you have a motorhome or caravan - please share your tips too!
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Smart solutions in the motorhome
When you live or holiday in a motorhome (or caravan, for that matter), you are staying in a limited space. At the same time, you need to make everything work with electricity, water, storage and so on. After all these years on the road, we've come up with some clever motorhome solutions that work for us. We share 11 tips with you. Feel free to add more tips in the comments section!
1. Water hose and fittings for filling water
We have a water hose to fill the tank of your motorhome with water, for example at campsites, car parks and petrol stations. We use always our own water hose, even if there is one you can borrow. The reason is that it is difficult to be 100 per cent sure that there are no bacteria on the borrowed hose.
Our water hose is 5 metres long, which we think is just right. We have it suspended in the motorhome's garage along with a amount different couplings, so that we always have a coupling that fits. Sometimes there's already a coupling that you have to remove before you can put your own, so we also have a polygrip.
2. electric cable without winding/reel
Of course, you need a power cable in your motorhome, and often you buy the power cable in a coil (cable reel). Peter went crazy about the reel. He found that it was tangled, snagged and that grass and leaves were pulled into the reel. Eventually he cut it up and now we have the power cable hanging loose on a hanger in the garage, along with the water hose. Much easier, we think!
3. Shelves in the garage
When we recently rebuilt the motorhome garage, we hung shelves along the walls. We bought an electrical system from Bauhaus that said "bathroom" on it. Here we store small tools, cables and the like. Practical with a little order! To prevent them from rattling against the wall, we put a sealing strip behind them.
4. Wall-mounted storage
On both doors to the motorhome garage we have put up a kind of wall-mounted storage that we bought at Clas Ohlson. We store various items here, such as work gloves, straps for the awning, "snakes"/straps to secure the bikes, etc.
To set up the storage, we used 13 mm long screws with a large flat head, 8 screws per storage to distribute the weight.
5. Bolted safe
In the motorhome garage we also have a safe. The safe is bolted to the motorhome and we have destroyed the threads. So it's not possible to unscrew the safe if you get that idea. We sometimes use the safe to store valuables such as passports, ferry tickets, insurance papers, extra bank cards or a camera.
6. larger rubbish bag
If you have a motorhome with a "rubbish bin" behind the kitchen, you can, if you wish, do what we have done. We have a bucket here, which we sawed off the bottom. We then clamp a large black rubbish bag around the bucket. This gives us a big rubbish bag that doesn't get full straight away, and we then empty it from the outside. However, you have to think about waste sorting, so maybe not everything should be thrown into the big black bag ...
7. cleaning of the fresh water tank
The fresh water tank needs to be cleaned from time to time, otherwise it can harbour bacteria. Of course, it's especially important to do enough cleaning if you want to be able to drink the water. To be on the safe side, we never drink the water in our tank, but only use it for washing, cooking, washing dishes and the like. Even if we don't drink the water, we still want to clean the tank from time to time.
There are special cleaners for this purpose in camping shops. When we travelled around Europe for a whole year in 2015, it was difficult to find camping shops from time to time. We learnt from other campers that you can also use tablets to clean dentures. These can be found in pharmacies and possibly at Lidl.
We pour in a bunch of tablets and let it "rattle around" for an hour or so while we drive. Then we drain the water, rinse the whole tank (by pulling the water hose through the window and flushing) and then fill it with fresh water.
8. extra pantry by the kitchen
In many motorhomes, there is a high cupboard near the kitchen, which is usually intended for hanging outerwear or other clothes. This can be a good thing, but we think that the space is better utilised by having shelves here. Often you have (we think) too few cabinets in the kitchen.
We've put in several shelves and here we store things like paper towels, toilet paper, plastic cups and cutlery (good for some occasions, although of course we have regular cups and cutlery too), beer, wine, hard bread and the like. What about clothes? Yes, we fold them into lockers or put them in the alcove.
9. baskets for storage
In the kitchen cabinets and drawers we have many different baskets and smaller boxes. This makes it easy to organise the cabinets and keep things in place, even when driving. In many cases, we have chosen fabric-covered baskets to reduce rattling and other noises when driving.
10. Wall-mounted holder for household rolls
In the kitchen we have a wall-mounted paper towel holder. This is convenient because the paper towels can always be in place, even when we are driving. Next to the paper towel, we have a hook for the dish brush.
11. moulding for knives
In the kitchen we have also set up a list for knives. No, of course we don't keep the knives here when we're driving, they have to go in a box. However, when we are stationary, we find it practical to hang the knives on the list.
More smart solutions in your motorhome?
Do you have more tips for smart solutions in your motorhome or caravan? Let us know!
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Matts Torebring says:
Whatever your ambition, that's how it should look. I have made most of your suggestions. Many people choose a motorhome just from the inside. The first thing I look at is: "How do I load the car"? I can't roll the bikes into the garage, it's not easy to load outdoor furniture, I can't get into the car either. So what I would put as the most important points, is a bike rack in the garage, I know you have solved it, but in a different way. Of course there should be good floor plans, both inside and outside, that's when you feel comfortable.
14 June 2020 - 7:48
Helena says:
It can be easy to be attracted to a stylish interior. But we agree, good storage is one of the most important things!
14 June 2020 - 9:42
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
The strip for knives is probably nice but in a collision it can be dangerous. I have 15 metres of hose that unfolds from the pressure and the electric cord in a plastic box.
14 June 2020 - 9:33
Helena says:
Hi Nils-Åke, if you read one more time you will see that we do not have the knives there when we drive 😉 And thanks for more good tips! 🙂
14 June 2020 - 9:43
Richard Kohlström says:
An easy and convenient way to clean and definitely clean out the water tank is to first let most of the water out through the drain. Depending on how it sits, there may still be a few litres left. Pour in a little vinegar and press down a defrosting cloth (available at Classe).
When it has soaked up the remaining water, stop the arm and wipe the entire inside of the water tank before carefully unravelling the cloth and throwing it away.It can be burned, but there are no toxic chemicals in it.
To effectively deal with small spills, but more than the dishcloth can handle. Take an unused nappy and wipe with it. Small splashes in awkward places, insert a tampon. Or tie them up, as they can soak up even blue blood without leaking.
14 June 2020 - 11:39
Mickey says:
This one hangs in the camper van. All together https://www.buyersclub.se/produkt/177341?utm_source=shopello_se&utm_medium=cpo&utm_campaign=google+shopping+ads&utm_term=bygg+%26+tr%C3%A4dg%C3%A5rd-2&utm_content=CjwKCAjwlZf3BRABEiwA8Q0qq_2_jB7PV7OU3n8RTc_ZonYyO8DAMAvu7qqPpi5D7SMwmfMMU6vucxoCP64QAvD_BwE%3B337%3B0
14 June 2020 - 10:08
BP says:
Compact living, I say. You have really managed to utilise the spaces to the maximum. Then I thought that Corega is something you put dentures in, but that product seems to be multifunctional;-)
14 June 2020 - 19:57
Emma, sun like sun? says:
Love smart solutions!
If you don't drink the water in your tank, do you buy big water bottles (as many do here in Spain)? I mean, wine and beer are fine, but ...
15 June 2020 - 12:44
Helena says:
We buy some large water bottles. Then we often fill these bottles at the campsites, from drinking water taps (but then the drinking water doesn't go through our tank).
15 June 2020 - 12:51
Sture Ögren says:
I can't find the wall hanging pockets from Clas Ohlson, have they been discontinued now?
09 November 2020 - 11:19
Helena says:
I think these are the ones we bought: https://www.clasohlson.com/se/Hängande-förvaring-för-dörr,-4-fack/p/44-3786
09 November 2020 - 14:24
Lars Nyström says:
Very clever solutions. I have a separate 20 litre canister with a submersible pump with a hose attached to the sink so a tap with a switch so I have clean fresh water at the sink.
I came up with it myself, but I've seen that the newer Luxury France has such a thing.
01 January 2021 - 21:19
Catrin Coronius says:
Hi! So many smart and good solutions! I wonder where you have bought the small fabric-covered boxes somewhere? I think I recognise them but can't remember where they came from....
07 July 2021 - 20:24
Helena says:
Hi Katrin! I think we bought them at Ikea, but that was several years ago. They (and others) may have similar ones now too!
07 July 2021 - 21:14