Tag: Bumpy Roads

I-10 – The Ultimate Test in RV Storage Securing

Testing our RV storage skills. Top 5 methods of securing items in a RV.

As we made our way across I-10 in Louisiana yesterday, our RV packing skills got the ultimate test. Our ears cringed with every tha-thunk, tha-thunk, tha-thunk that we rolled over going down the highway. 20160827 I-10

If you ever traveled I-10 between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, you know what we are talking about. The constant bumping of the uneven road is worse than the washboard effect you get on dirt roads after a long period of no grading.

In any case, our inspection on the interior components of our RV revealed that we have some more securing strategies to come up with. So, in honor of that… our top 5 methods of securing…

  1. Make sure all items are tied down. This mainly refers to any heavy electronics. Luckily we had ratchet strapped our TV in place so we had no issues.
  2. Make sure shelving has a ledge to keep things from sliding off. We had installed some shelving outside of the normal factory shelves. Part of our movement preparation is to bring all items off the shelf and place on the bed or couch area for securing.
  3. Make sure counter-tops are clear. All items are subject to sliding on the laminate counter-tops. We usually secure things by placing in the sink or a cabinet.
  4. Bungy cords work well. We have a bookshelf full of items for our homeschooling activities. We initially placed the books on the shelf and hoped they would fair well… wrong… We ended up installing a screw at each end of the shelf to hook a bungy cord to. This method worked a lot better.
  5. Don’t over stack cabinet areas.  Initially we stacked items, like can goods, in the cabinets as high as they could go, keeping like items stacked together. We ended up with several single items near the front of the cabinet. Initially, it made the appearance that we had plenty of storage space, which is an awesome feeling… Later, however, it makes you feel like a you are in a war zone as you dodge missiles that fly from the cabinet when you open the door. Our method (for now) Make sure cabinets maintain a low profile AND DUCK AND WEAVE when opening any cabinet after travel.

For now.. we are still learning. But we will always remember that home is where is you park it.