With limited room inside a pop-up camper, it’s important to maximize the space you have. Storage is a premium and it’s a good idea to utilize it well wherever you can. While your camper is popped down to tow, there’s little space for interior storage. You only have room on the floor and inside cabinets with a few cubic feet.
It helps to tow your pop up with a vehicle that has plenty of additional cargo space such as a van, large SUV, or truck. This way, you won’t have to fit everything in the pop-up when you’re packing. However, there are a few nifty ways to increase space in a pop-up camper. These storage ideas are sure to improve your use of space!
How to Increase Space in a Pop Up Camper
Of all the ways to increase and maximize your space in your pop up camper, there are many different methods. You can use various storage organizers, plastic bins, hanging shelves, and reduce what you bring. Here are all the ways to save space in detail:
1. Use Storage Containers
These small storage containers work like magic in a small space in your camper. You can stack these and easily organize things underneath your cabinets. Not to mention they keep things dry and tucked away. You could also label them to make it easier to identify what’s inside.
In your car, it’s also a good idea to use large storage bins to store bedding or other larger items you set up once you get to your campsite.
This way, everything can stack inside your vehicle as well. The less loose items you have thrown in your camper floor or car, the easier it will be to load and unload your pop up.
2. Add Rods to Hang Things
One of the pop-up camper mods you can make is a small rod or rope to hang towels or other outdoor gear.
This saves you space inside to increase space by hanging your towels outside and underneath the beds.
3. Use Plastic Drawers
Plastic drawers are one of the best things to use to save space in a pop-up camper. You can place them on your countertops to maximize your use of space. Some uses for them include and are not limited to:
- Store/organize clothes
- Kitchen and cookware
- Cleaning supplies
- Paper products
- Toys/games
4. Go Collapsible
Of all things you do, it’s best to buy items that are collapsible. This includes anything you hang or plan to store things inside of. For example, with bins, you can collapse them into each other when not in use. If you have a dog or dogs you’ll want to get a collapsible water bowl and dog gate.
5. Use Hammocks and Baskets
This one is an RV staple. You’ll find this all over Instagram with a number of other campers. This small fruit hammock is quite inexpensive and helps to hold a variety of produce. Anytime you want to save space and get things out of the cabinets, it’s a great spot to put it.
6. Add Hooks
Adhesive hooks are a great addition to any space. By your sink, you can place these on the ceiling to hang a hand towel or other gear. Anything that can be hung could be placed on these types of hooks.
7. Stack Vertically
One of my personal favorites is this vertical shelf. We would place our microwave on top of this and store other kitchen gear underneath it. You could also place on a laptop on top of it to watch movies.
8. Organize Tools
Instead of throwing everything around it’s best to have a single place to organize all of your tools. When camping you’ll want to have a screwdriver and some other useful tools on hand in case you need to make a quick repair.
9. Add a Storage Bag Wall
Any type of hanging storage wall will help you organize and save space. This over the door organizer is a great space to throw shoes, flashlights, phones, wipes, chargers, or anything else you need. Depending on the size of your pop up door, you may need to trim the bottom so it doesn’t drag on your floor.
10. Foldable Trash Cans/Bags
It’s not just an understatement to mention how USEFUL this trash can is when camping. Managing your trash is something important to consider when camping that many people tend to overlook. A perfect pop up trash can companion to your pop up camper. This trash can folds away easy when packing.
11. Place Cabinet Hangers
The pop-up garbage can is great for a large trash bag outside your camper, yet when inside, this cabinet wire garbage holder is perfect! All you need is a small bag to maintain your garbage storage.
12. Have a Dedicated Dish Drying Rack
To clean your cooking supplies, you’ll need a mini-dish draining rack. This can make maintaining dishes a lot easier by having a dedicated place for them to go once they’ve been washed in the sink.
13. Hang Vertical Organizers
To preserve space inside your pop-up camper, a hanging organizer is a must-have RV storage idea. You can place your shoes, clothes, phone, water bottles, or anything else you can think of inside the pouches. This smaller one is great for by the bed in replacement of a nightstand.
14. Pack Efficiently
The inside of your cabinets can get a bit “cluttered” to say the least when you’re putting together your camping gear. These travel cubes can help on the interior of the camper, and in your suitcase to separate out and organize clothing. You’ll be able to fit more when everything is condensed down.
15. Pack Lighter
An alternative to packing tighter and more efficiently is to pack less. If you can reduce the number of things you bring, that will free up more space. This is tough to do when camping since every gadget and gear has its use and purpose. You can try to minimize clothing by counting out the days you need clothes for.
16. Get a Toothbrush Holder
Storing your bathroom gear can be somewhat difficult without too many drawers and places for it. With a toothbrush holder, you can have a dedicated location for your brushes to go. This helps to keep them clean and not get lost in the mix of your other camping gear.
17. Organize Your Spices
Depending on how much you plan to cook while camping, a strong selection of spices are necessary. These gripper clips can help to organize and keep your spices from moving around if you keep them inside your pop-up on the road.
18. Use Smaller Appliances
This can include your coffee maker, blender, microwave, crockpot, cooking supplies, or anything else you use to prepare food and drinks. You can get smaller versions of these traditionally large appliances and use ones smaller when camping to save room. Although you have to buy doubles of what you use at home, it’s much easier to have ones that you only use in the pop-up.
19. Maximize Space in Your Tow Vehicle or Take an Extra Car
With less space inside your trailer, you can utilize the space in the back of your tow vehicle. When towing our pop up camper with our van, we would load up the rear cargo area with the majority of our camping gear. This worked great and we could fit everything all inside one vehicle.
Depending on how many people are camping, you can also drive another car to lighten the load. On different trips, we would alternate and drive a truck to haul the bikes in the truck bed and use the van to shuttle people around.
Conclusion
All of these ideas and accessories can help you better utilize the space you have inside your pop up camper. Ultimately, pop up campers are more limited in storage than other types of RVs. However, they also take up much less space when popped down for storage and towing.
You have to get a little creative in a small space to maximize it. We hope these storage ideas help you with your next adventure!