Larger Clothes Closet

[Scamper Jim]

The closet in the Scamp appears to have a depth of 21 inches from front to back. However, the metal clothes rod is only 9.5 inches long, therefore to ever use the full closet space you have to squish the clothes together towards the back of the closet.

After sitting, thinking and measuring, it occurred to me that if 4.5 inches were added to the depth of the closet, the clothes rod could be placed sideways, and full-size clothes hangers could be used the full width of the closet.

I cut the front of the closet off back about 1.5 inches and then glassed in 4.5 inches of thick fiberglass pieces I had from the kitchen project, as well as glassing in some 1” x 2”’s to provide additional vertical support for the walls.

The results are shown in the pics below.

The first pic shows the closet with the 4.5 inches of fiberglass inserted and covered with 3 layers of glass matting and microfiber fiberglass paste. The vertical support as well as the clothes rod ends can also be seen.

The second photo shows the result with more than twice as much room for clothes (22 inches vs 9.5 inches, and no squishing. I may leave it like that or use the right side for some stacking-type storage boxers as some others here have done.

I also removed all of the large rivets holding the closet and replaced them with wood tabs glassed in. That means that now all of the large rivets holding structural furniture to the camper body (kitchen upper and lower cabinets and the closet) are now gone and the holes glassed in. The only rivets remaining on the camper are the small ones for the curtain rods, etc. Those don't weigh much or vibrate so no reason to replace them as they don't allow water to leak in.

[Kai in Seattle]

That's some good sitting and thinking and renovating!

[Casita Greg]

Well, I guess everybody has different needs, but one of the first things in my trailer that went away was the totally useless clothes hangar rod. I suppose some folks feel the need to dress for dinner, but I don't take anything to wear that I can't stuff in my bag. I don't bring anything that needs a hangar. YMMV

My closet:

[Wallo]

Love the closet setup. How did you attach the shelves? They look to be floating.

[DEBBIEC]

I bought my casita from a couple who also converted their hang up closet to a "pantry" style storage area.i keep things used all the time in bins and the bottom shelves I use for shoes, towels and dirty clothing bag.
Honestly, I am sure I could survive without any hang up clothes!

[Kai in Seattle]

We have a shelf closet where the fridge used to be, and use fabric bins to keep things sorted there. Then we use the bottom of the rod closet for the porta-potty, the laundry bin, two folding tables (one larger and taller, one small & short for group cookouts etc.) a toiletries wall pocket, and the rod above for things like jackets to grab quick, damp and wet things like towels and clothing that got wet, and to hang my purse. some trips we barely use the rod, and some trips it seems the whole thing is full of drying items. Have considered trying to add a shelf above it, but so far Paul doesn't want to. He IS adding a shelf to the Peanut gallery.


YMMV is such a good philosophy.


BEST
Kai

[Scamper Jim]

Kathleen,

My sitting and thinking was the result of having visited the RV museum in an RV dealership in Amarillo, TX a couple of years ago. One of the displays was a 1953 Fleetwood camper that had been restored. Imagine, full-timing at 84 years of age. Sets the bar pretty high for the rest of us! Pics and story of it below.

What is amazing is that its layout seems to be the precursor to the Scamp campers built 20+ years later! Note, the Scamp Deluxe has nothing on the interior woodwork of this camper.

It drove me nuts that it had a closet where clothes hung normally, and wondered why that isn't in the Scamp, or if I could modify it to make it so.

It took a mess of measuring and imagining how it could be done and settled on cutting the front and moving it forward 4.5 inches. It has worked well and allows me to take extended outings in various types of weather and having clean, wrinkle-free clothes available.

Alice,

The support for the shelf can be seen in the first photo. It is the 1x2 with the curved back end. The shelf rests on that support. You can see the slight bump out in the second photo just below the shelf. The two sides are then covered with a felt fabric from Joann's that is sort of a mini-rat fir. Gives a nice finished look and covers the wiring, etc. The other bump out on the left side lower down is the back side of the control panel for the monitor station.

Jim

[Donna D.]

Storage in small trailers is hard to come by! I too changed the closet to shelves. You can see them peaking out in this picture. I also used the vertical space on the cupboard door

[Kai in Seattle]

I love getting ideas from other people and old rigs!


Maybe no one else can see the derivation, but we can look around and know we got that idea from the Relic trailers, this idea from FGRV, (well, a LOT of ideas from FGRV)--that idea from an article online about tiny houses...and so forth.


Kai

[Scamper Jim]

And to each their own. That's why we like having choices in life and making things to suite ourselves.

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by Wallo

Love the closet setup. How did you attach the shelves? They look to be floating.

They're attached on 3 sides, (front inboard, rear inboard and rear outboard sides.) I used vertical strips of 1 X 4 oak, due to it being a stronger wood than cheap pine boards. The shelves are attached with "L" brackets underneath to support them.

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by Wallo

Love the closet setup. How did you attach the shelves? They look to be floating.

They're attached on 3 sides, (front inboard, rear inboard and rear outboard sides.) I used vertical strips of 1 X 4 oak, due to it being a stronger wood than cheap pine boards. The shelves are attached with "L" brackets underneath to support them. (The yellow thing in one pic is a broom handle.)

[jessed1]

Looks great. Where did you buy the green organizer? I want one! Best, Elizabeth Jesse

[alan H]

Originally Posted by jessed1

Looks great. Where did you buy the green organizer? I want one! Best, Elizabeth Jesse

Nice job
[emoji106]

[Scamper Jim]

Elizabeth,

I took me a bit to figure out to what green organizer you were referring. That is in Casita Greg's camper. You can click on his name above and send him a PM to find out where he bought it.

Thanks
Jim

Originally Posted by jessed1

Looks great. Where did you buy the green organizer? I want one! Best, Elizabeth Jesse