RV Hack: Convert Space Under Bed to Easily Accessible Storage
Have some space to spare under the master bed in your RV? Maximize it as easily accessible storage with this handy RV hack!
We have a really awesome (and hopefully super handy) RV hack for you today. We are coming up on the 3rd anniversary of the day we purchased our camper. (Which I find incredibly hard to believe… UNTIL I started to think about all of the trips we have taken with it!) We purchased our camper at an RV Expo and I still remember some of the features that originally sold us on our model. We loved the open floorplan. I personally loved the 2nd entrance door in the bathroom – PERFECT for nights around the campfire when you don’t want to wake up the kids just to get to the bathroom.
One thing that we loved immediately was all of the storage space in our camper. Plenty of cabinets and then the crowning jewel – a large open space under the front bedroom bed. Such a big space! Before we left on our road trip to Yellowstone, we decided to use the under-bed storage space as our pantry for dry goods and bottled water.
There was just one problem: this space was terribly cumbersome to reach. You almost needed two people to retrieve items from the storage area. One person needed to hold the mattress up while the other person grabbed the goods from the space.
Check out this handy RV hack to install a simple prop rod under your mattress. This hack makes the storage space under the bed much more accessible! (p.s. Make sure you take a look at how easy it was to upgrade our RV mattress. As you can see from the pictures in this post, our mattress is thicker than the standard-issue RV mattress. It is a memory foam mattress and nights on the road are as comfy as our bed at home!)
RV Under Bed Storage Hack Supplies
Set of closet rod supports
(1) ¾” Maple Dowel
How to Hack this Storage Space
1. Head to your local big box store and buy a set of closet rod supports and a ¾” Maple Dowel. Make sure you choose a good hardwood dowel for support. Don’t get a cheap rod or it could collapse under the weight of your mattress.
2. Have someone hold the storage lid open. Measure the length of the storage area to get a measurement for the dowel length (so it will fit for storage).
3. Cut the dowel to length.
4. Have someone hold the storage lid open while you install the rod support on the deck side. Leave enough space for the dowel to store next to it. If it is a notched rod support, be sure to install the high end toward the front of the storage bin.
5. Insert the dowel in the rod holder and lower the lid down to the other side of the dowel. Mark the location for the 2nd rod holder.
6. Install the 2nd rod holder, be sure the screws don’t go through the plywood or they could potentially damage the mattress or could injure someone. IF notched type, install the larger side facing up for additional support.
7. Check to be sure dowel holds steady before relying on it for full support. You can chamfer the end of the dowel to match the angles of the deck and lid for a more secure fit if desired.
Pin this easy RV HACK to Pinterest!
We did the exact same thing to our RV bed storage the week we got it. After three years of struggling to get the posts in position we opted for the gas hinges… I love it! I can raise the bed by myself with one hand! The posts are certainly cheaper, but …..
I’ll bet the gas hinges work fantastically for this! Thanks for sharing!
What are gas hinges? Please send a picture.
Ours came with the prop.
That’s awesome!
Love the idea of the prop for under bed storage. My husband is going to fix ours so it will stay up while we utilize the storage under the bed. Thank you for this idea.
I’m so happy to hear that it was helpful! We LOVE our under-the-bed storage space – it holds so much stuff and now it’s easy to access!
Oh wow! I am going to try this idea on our next camping trip! We have the gas hinges (came with the camper), but the way they were screwed on to the plywood has continually popped loose. We even had it repaired twice before our camper went out of warranty (extended). To no avail! They still came loose. So this looks like a wonderful idea. I had all but given up on trying to store anything under the bed any longer. Thanks for this idea!!
I’m happy to hear that it’s helpful! Please let me know if this ends up being a solution for you!
Love this idea! I have been struggling with a way to hold up mattress and plywood while accessing water pump. Going to try this hack.
Our recently purchased 5th wheell had strut lifts already installed. This would have been extremely helpful had they been installed correctly! Becaus e our bed is on a slide and the anchor ends of the struts were not installed on either.fixed end of the bed frame/box (they spanned the sliding portion) they tore out when the room slide closed. I just wanted to caution anyone thinking of installing struts to think carefully about the installation and how the strut will behave when the slide is closed because the bed frame reduces in size but the length of the strut doesn’t.
Only half of the space is available for storage under our bed so I took the piece of paneling off one side of the bed frame and put a couple support pieces in verticly so now we don’t have to try to lift the bed. I put some larger baskets for storage in that space. I am hoping the lip on the bottom will keep the baskets from sliding out when we are driving. My plan is for shoes and clothes storage for that area.
Can you send me a pic of what you did? I am looking to convert my underbed storage to an open system.
We have king bed with bedroom slide. I couldn’t lift and keep the bed up to access underneath without my hubs helps. Reading this was a God send! Now I can lock it open and do what I need by myself 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thank you for sharing
I’m thrilled to hear that this helped you!! Enjoy the easy-to-access storage!
Works but still a struggle and I’m a hoss.
we were going to use spring levers like on a tanning bed or the back gate to an SUV. looking to see what tension we needed. This may work better?