Thursday, May 16, 2013

That Ain't Stock #4 - A Few More Misc Mods

So, our second camping season is drawing to a close.  We'll have one last trip up to Gladewater on Memorial Day weekend and we'll put this one in the books.  Now that we've gotten settled into the camper a bit, and a few mods (one, two, three) have already been completed, I thought I'd share just a few more of those little things that make our home-away-from-home just that much better.

Enjoy!




Before...
 
Remember how I complained about the door not having a handle at normal height?  And originally I fixed it with a bathroom handle and some Velcro?  Well, that didn't last too long.  The velcro wasn't strong enough to hold the handle on when you pulled the door shut - so, I replaced it with a Command Hook turned sideways. Where I was in love with Velcro on the last set of mods, on this one, it's all about the Command Hooks.
 
...After!
 
 Leash holder for the pup's stuff - also put on with a Command Hook.  (What I love about these hooks is that you can leave the base still attached, store the hook, and then fold the camper down without any trouble.)  I put his leash attached to the door, so that when he gives us, um, Diesel Bombs, we can just open the door, grab a doggie-bag off the leash, and clean up after him pretty easily.




 
Jackets and hats laying around, by far, are one of the most annoying things in the camper, to me. (I love you RDB!)  Wandering thru the isles of a local CVS, I found these cheap clips with hooks.  This is another one that will probably get re-worked - maybe better clips, cheap = they break often.


We always pick up a camp map (or trail maps) when we check-in, and they always seem to float around the camper till I end up throwing them out.  I devised a way to start hanging these from the curtain using and s-hook and a binder clip.  I've got two clip-sets up there, so I can hang the maps like artwork in the camper (can't tell you how many times this has come in handy with visitors - where are we? Where's the bathhouse? Where's the lake?)  The map comes down at the end of the trip, but the clips are so unobtrusive, they stay attched.




There's a few things in this one - but the newest is the hand washing station.  The last trip out with kiddos resulted in a very quick depletion of our babywipe supply, so I started hunting for another idea (thanks Pinterest!)  The blue aqua-tainer is filler with clean water, and has a roll of papertowels (holder from Target) bungee-corded to it for easy removal and storage.  There's a pump-bottle of hand soap on the table (clear with a blue top, hard to see in this photo) and then our 'dish pan' under the spigot to catch the gray water from handwashing.  To the right is our collapsiable trash can, and to the left, back on the table, is our potable water for drinking, doggie bowl, and coffee in the morning.  It makes for a pretty nice set up. 


In the background, you might notice the red and black five gallon bucket.  That's my Pickle Bucket.  You know - when you need to visit the girl's room in the middle of the night and the bath house is a half a mile away, and you don't have facilities in your camper... well, you're in a pickle.  You need a bucket.


The 5-gallon bucket comes from FireHouse Subs (just $2 in-stores, and it supports a great cause).  Obviously, any 5-gl bucket would do, but there's just some humor in calling it my Pickle Bucket (and I'm not sure I could offend an orange Home Depot bucket this way.)  The seat/lid is a Lugable Loo.   I use 13-gallon kitchen trashbags for liners - much cheaper than the 'branded' ones - and then carry a supply of cat litter for absorption/odor control.  And TP.  Always, always, always check the TP supply before you leave.  Otherwise, that campsite map you just hung up on clips earlier....   I swear, guys, ya'll have it easy.  Us girls have to think about things like this!!


Well, that's about it.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great camping season!!


3 comments:

  1. I didn't think about putting the leash on the door. I first trip was Memorial weekend and we had two leashes for our two dogs lying on the counter constantly. Thanks for the great idea and hey to our Texas neighbors!!

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  2. I'm all for anything that keeps the countertops clear! Glad this can help!

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  3. I have been spending hours checking out blogs about camping trying to figure out what to do with jackets/sweatshirts. They are on/off/on as the weather changes thru out the day and always laying around. It drives me crazy. Your hook and clip idea is great!! I wonder if we could fasten a clothespin to a 'S' hook. Great ideas.

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