Storage

Heading out on a multi-year journey, storage was always a huge consideration when I was selecting a rig. I need to be prepared for all sorts of weather conditions, make repairs/modifications, and have all the gear to fully enjoy my trip. I really love the camper vans and their innovation of utilizing a small space, but they just have no room for cargo. When I first saw the Winnebago Ekko the thing that immediately caught my eye was the huge gear garage in the rear.

I’ve made good use of my gear garage filling it with tons of gear, but at the same time it is organized so I can quickly get to what I need. The driver side door to the gear garage has all my water, electrical, and sewer equipment. It is just feet away from the wet bay and electrical connections. The big door in the rear of the RV is where I keep seasonal, camping, and repair supplies. The passenger side door is where I keep my tools, Starlink, and grill.

The Winnebago Ekko has an optional exterior kitchen available on the passenger side of the RV just behind the door. If you opt not to get the kitchen like I did, then you gain a storage bay. I added a shelf to give me two levels of storage in this large bay. Inside this side bay I keep things like my leveling blocks, tool bag, camp chair, and air compressor.

The kitchen of the Winnebago Ekko has a pair of overhead cabinets that are quite spacious, but they didn’t make great use of the vertical space. So the one thing I determined during my shake-down trip in New Jersey was that I definitely wanted to added shelving to those cabinets. I added some adjustable shelving to the two kitchen cabinets by installing some brackets I found online. Under the stove in the kitchen is a large cabinet that originally housed the factory installed water filter. After I replaced that filter with a better water purification system, I built some custom shelving to better utilize the space. I created a vertical storage for the cutting boards, sink cover, and dish rack. Then I added a shelf so that I could store cleaning supplies and pots/pans better.

In the rear of the Ekko are two twin beds that are elevated because they are over the gear garage and have storage tanks under them. Under each bed, there is a drawer and closet for hanging clothes. I really only needed one of the hanging closets so I added two adjustable shelves to the passenger side closet to utilize the space for storage. I also built two open cubbies with stretch nets to provide storage on the walls at the foot of each bed. Finally, I added a produce hammock to the cabinet over the table to help get produce off the counter

So that is just a peek at how I’ve utilized my small space. I hope you found it useful and it inspires you to make some storage modifications.