Large family and storage of clothes in Jayco camper.

We have a similar style van, family of 5 and like you use a bag per person.
keep them on the beds through the day and toss them under the table when required. never really found it a problem.

Hi Jazz

Although we did not travel with children, we had a small wind-up camper (like a Jayco Dove), and we each had a 'weekend bag' for clothes. Like you, the bags went onto the beds when the camper was set up, and onto the floor with the table and chairs and solar panel when we packed up. I do think your suggestion of drawers and a pop up tent is making more work for yourselves than chasing the bags around the camper. Do you have an annex? Ours had an annex, but we didn't use it or even take it (more luggage), as we moved most days. If you are setting up an annex, you could leave the bags there while the children are sleeping.

Motherhen

Hi,

No annex :(

The bag system works okay for short stays but when we stay 4 or more days it just becomes messy.
Also, we have a 4mth old baby so she will have the porta cot set up where the table normally is. So we have no room at night to put the bags under the table. So they end up on top of things and in the walk way for nightly toilet stops.
I was thinking one of those pop up type toilet/shower tents would be quick to set up and down to just store the clothes in? Hmmm

What you need is a 2-3 person tent that you can setup, let some of the kids move into it with their gear and leave you with sufficient room in the van so that you aren't continually having to move things. Worked for me.

Hi,
Don't know what sort of vehicle you have. When our 4 kids were your kids ages we had a tarago. We put one of those zippered camp cupboards in the back and each one of the kids had their own shelf. It was narrow enough to sit there snugly between the back seat and the wayback door. We then just put our soft zipper bags on top of the cupboard and it all stayed in the back of the car for the trip. This might work for you too.
Good luck,
Sally

We have a camper trailer and use the clear plastic storage containers you can get from Bunnings to put our clothes in. There are five of us and we get away with two containers. They stack up really well for packing into the trailer for travel - and when we stop they stack up on top of each other in a corner. The other advanrtages are that they fit heaps of clothes, you can see into them and they are waterproof - so stack them outside or under the van if you need more room inside during the rain.

We use those cheap plastic tubs that you get from the cheap shops...the 50 litre ones I think. When on the move they pack nicely around the floor of the camper, but when the camper is set up, they stack nicely in a corner...up to 4 high.

We also use them for food storage etc. And when not in use, they make handy ice boxs at home when having lots of peeps over for a BBQ or as kids toy boxes.

I've even used them in a back of a ute when travelling up dusty roads. You just stick some sticky foam strips on the under side of the lids and use a couple of occy straps over the lids to secure them down.

Have you considered the hanging shelves that IKEA and their ilk sell? Those with a coat hanger arrangement or a couple of hook holes across the top

Put a couple of cup hooks onto the wood of the either the leading edge or trailing edge of the roof on the side of the bed which is not being used for access and hang the shelves there.

You might have to put a couple of small holes through the canvas and I don’t know how much they would support, but the could work for lighter stuff

Lift them off when you pack up and store them on the floor.

take less stuff?

we (2A 2C) survived 3 mths in our wind-up with no clothes bags out to get in the way. We do move our doona's from the beds onto the seats for travelling and a collapsable clothes basket travels under the table if it's got anything in it.

Hi there
We are exactly the same - 9,7,4 and almost 2. We have a swan so set the travel cot up on the club lounge ... It means we lose the whole lounge though! My husband dreams of the day we dont have to take the porta cot.

I also take one of those mini cases per child if it's more than a couple of days. I find it easier if they have one bag each so they can find their own stuff and they are also quite easy to stack. In the day bags live on the beds (move them to the end when the 4 yr old sleeps) During the night a couple go on top of the tall cupboard and I can put the other under the bed/table. Our bags have to go on the end of the club lounge which is a pain for getting in/out of bed but I havent found a better solution. I put a fold down hamper thing in the tall cupboard for dirty clothes until we leave and each morning the pj's get put in that child's pillow case so no mucking around with bags at bed time.

I think the tent is a good idea but to be honest with four kids I find the less we take ... and have to set up and pack up ... the better! It is a pain but I think at the end of the day it's just one of the harder aspect of camping with 4 young kids.... lucky the end result is so worth it!

We have Jayco Swan and we have had family of 5 in it. Actually had 6 once.

We bought those plastic drawer units and allocate a drawer or 2 per child. You can store these on the buffet cupboard inside the doorway in a Swan or even extend the benchtop over the lounge next to the fridge (use a piece of ply or melamine etc) and sit them on that. That way you leave the long side and one short sid eof the club lounge free. I also made 5 shelves in the robe for clothes as you get more in. Make the bottom one removable and you can use the area below as a hideaway to secure stuff there.

We use our annexe whenever we stop for longer perods and that helps. In the annexe i have also set up a short rail between the annexe support roof rails and hang those cheap cloth type hanging shelves on them. I can hang up to 4 of them in one corner of my annexe.

If you look at the Jayco Penguin you will notice they have a manufactured cabinet that is suported by brackets from the roof over the front bed. If you are careful about where you fit one taking note of roof structure frame positions as well as the position of everything when the roof is down, you could do the same and use for light clothes. If you make it removeable to store the cabinet on the floor or lounge area you could put more up around the outside of the camper over the bench area and also the table/seat area. If you look inside the cupboard in the Penguin you will see Jayco only use a very small lightweight bracket to hold it up.

The other thing you could do is build dividers in the areas under the club lounge to separate into smaller areas. You can then give things their own space. The last trip we went on I remove a lot of the stuff we really dont use and used the under seat area next to the fridge for my wifes clothes. She got heaps in there. I was also going to fit a drawer unit into each end of the seat boxes at the table and give one to each of my youngest kids.

You really have to prioritise what you take and leave some stuff behind. If the vehicle allows it you could either fit a fibreglass pod onto the roof and put soft sided style bags (not suit cases) in there with the bulky clothes or ones you dont use as much OR a drawer unit in the back of vehicle for clothes. I am guessing with 4 kids you wont have room for a drawer unit. Maybe a sealed toolbox setup on a rear bumper or A frame for some clothes?

Have a look at second hand campers in ebay for setups others have used. Also go on different van and camper forums and look at photos of modifications people have done. Youget some ideas that way. Failing that it looks like an older style caravan with more storage. You lose something no matter what style van or camper you have. I really think the best answer is plastic drawer units and an annexe for longer stops would suit you if the cost is suitable. Cheers....

When we take our grandchildren away with us we simply erect a dome tent that sleeps 4. The three girls share this and keep their own clothes bags in the tent with them.
We have a double bed and a single bed (blow Up) for them to sleep on and they love their privacy as well.
Maybe a dome tent for the clothes and use it as a change room also when stopped for more than just overnight would suite you.

Hi I know how you feel - we have 5 children aged 7 to 18 months and the clothes just drive me nuts.

I invested in 2 sets of camping bunks (about $99 a set I think) and 2 plastic 3 drawer storage boxes (from Target about $25 each on special) and each child has a drawer of their own. We live in the tropics so they don't need much heavy clothing when we camp so the drawers hold plenty.

Due to the size of our family and lack of space inside our camper (coleman, an oldie but a goodie) the kids usually sleep in the annexe. It's fully enclosed and we take the door off the camper so it's like they're right there inside with us.

We set up different combinations depending on whether the grandparents and friends are with us...... 2 sets of camping bunks and a portacot all fit nicely and at the end of the bunks or next to the portacot the plastic drawers sit. There is still alot of room inside the annexe and it's a good chill out zone for the kids when they just want to hang out or rest. We bought a 5m length of shade cloth and that becomes the floor.

It doesn't take much longer to set up and it's all stored inside the camper when travelling.

You could always use the drawers and just store under the bed ends during the day if you're 'home' and inside the camper itself if you're out for the day if you weren't going to go to an the expensive of annexe.

Just an idea!