I hate the wardrobe!

[keemjay]

there, i've said it..
we had a similar "wardrobe' in our old bay and it drove us nuts..can never get to the bottom of a pile of stuff without everything getting in a muddle..the Cali has hanging space but if you hang clothes you cant see into the dark abyss below..whether its a 'pile of stuff' or 'hanging stuff' its not an easy use of the space..worst.design.ever. drawers would be more useful..
i hear you can get shelves..are they brandrup ones? can you still access the lower abyss?

so tell me how do you use your 'wardrobe''? do you in fact use it for clothes? or soemthing else? Am thinking bags of clothes in the boot will be easier..might put food in the wardrobe instead..or one of the children...
maybe I could put the clothes under the bench seat?
anyhows, all advice welcome..can you tell a 'first big trip' is looming..i've got 5 days to figure out packing up for 4...
thanks!
Kim

 

[Stewart MCG]

Hi, we have encountered the same issues, so I have made two perpex shelves ( this does make the hanger redundant though but we found it worth the sacrifice ) and have glue the supports in place as I did not want to make an alteration that was permanent.

 

[sidepod]

Mine is shelved half way up, top half accessable from above the fridge, the lower accessable from the rear of the van and stuffed with waterproofs/jumpers/fleeces etc, oh...and wine!

S

 

[Dave_T]

We bought some of these a while back and first used them in anger last week:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/eBags-Large-Pac ... gs+packing

it really helped keeping stuff organised.

 

[Californiaman]

We use a few old Fireproof race suit bags. They are 'cube shaped' and stack neatly. Liz's are red and mine are black. Hence just a few things to move.

 

[Californiaman]

Just like the ones in the link above!

 

[frigorifix]

I'm using those from Quechua : http://www.decathlon.fr/housse-a-fenetr ... 08930.html (sorry haven't found the link for the UK version) . They come in 4 sizes and are pretty cheap and efficient.

EDIT : found it.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/window-cover ... 08930.html
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ventilated-3 ... 08931.html
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/window-cover ... 08933.html

 

[burko73]

were finding the same issues....

had to stick up a push on led light in there to see anything. just a mass of stuff piled up which then fouls the slider inside as it pushes up against it or gets dragged out when you pull the window blind across...

i thought some shelves might be good with some packing cubes like the eagle creek ones.

anyone done nay shelves?

 

[SimplyDubs]

Have to say... we use coat hangers

Works a treat, we've had clothes for 3 people for 3 weeks in there and never had an issue. We're a little careful of the order we put things in but that's the case with pretty much any packing in a campervan.

Only things we keep on the floor of the wardrobe is a collapsible bucket (no idea why... never used it) and small drawstring bags each for underwear and a single bag for laundry.

Not a fan of shelves for clothes... think I was taken into Benetton too much when I was a kid

Rgds
Mark

 

[GeoffB]

We use it as a wardrobe too, with things on coat hangers. Recently we moved the back seat a couple of inches forward for some reason or other, and found that made the wardrobe a lot more accessible, and in particular the safe in the bottom. The back seat is staying that way.

 

[MKRW]

Sleeping bags, pillows, and a nice bottle of whiskey ticked away out of sight.

 

[Pistolknight]

When it's cold we use it for winter coats and pillows. At the moment just pillows and laundry bags. I do agree though, it's a large space that can't be utilised fully.

 

[brother10]

Hi,

I find the wardrobe great. Shirts, trousers and light jackets all on hangers, space in the bottom for dressed up shoes and the scrabble. Pants, socks, hankies and a couple of sweaters in the drop-down draw - job done. But then there is only one of me so no arguments as to how much gets put in and where it resides. And, I love the fact that that the hangers don`t do the slidey dance on each bend in the road.

Fois gras in the fridge with the champagne - proper camping - nearly glamping.

Bob

 

[Isa Neal]

How do 2 people manage with a 3 week European tour of which 4 days are semi formal and the rest can be tourist garb?

 

[Anotherfromthenorth]

I hadn't realised there was hanging space, only had the van 2 weeks, just had to go outside to check! We put stuff in good old supermarket carrier bags for our first adventure and found that,despite the rustling to find anything, it worked quite well! Will try hanging things this weekend...what luxury after camping in a tent....
Kate

 

[DavidofHook]

How do 2 people manage with a 3 week European tour of which 4 days are semi formal and the rest can be tourist garb?

Try Rohan stuff.
Yu don't need much of it, it can be folded and put in the rear wardrobe cupboard and they do jackets and more formal trousers that can be hung in that perishing wardrobe. The wife? aagh now that's another matter....!
But seriously, we both use Rohan stuff, very good (I,m not on commission)

 

[Kitty A]

Isa,
We use our van for exhibition work as well as holidays and need 2/3 formal outfits each. We found hanging them them in the wardrobe made the bottoms all crumpled so now use Eagle Creek suit carriers which kind of fold in an 'L' shape and keep everything neat. The wardrobe is also where I stash my huge handbag out of sight when we leave the van.

 

[CameoVan]

I'm with Davidofhook - Rohan all the way!
Packs & folds to nothing, dries in minutes, been buying for years now during which time their range has expanded to include something for pretty much most situations.
And I'm not on commission either!

 

[burko73]

I don't think im old enough for beige yet though.... I don't even have a sand beige metallic Cali.....! I'm prob getting there though!

 

[KEV356]

That's the answer...having used Rohan since 1977 I agree best clothing without a doubt!!!

Wrinkle free,fast drying, lighweight ,colour fast ,hard wearing and suitable for all occassions..I still have a pair of bags from 1977 and they still look great.

I even use their cycle gear...and it all packs to nothing. I often buy on ebay,wear for a couple of years then sell at a small profit and buy more gear .

No connection with company...just satisfied customer


Regards

 

[Virgil574]

Another one using the Wardrobe as those nice designers meant it. Just got back from 10 days away to Paris and this is packing regimen, roughly:

Wardrobe: Hanging up - MrsVirgil's blouses, trousers, dresses and shorts. Our ten-year-old's shorts, trousers and a couple of shirts. My shorts and trousers. Stuffed in the bottom of the wardrobe: Raincoats (light ones, not padded).

Shelving at the rear left (behind wardrobe): Top shelf - 3 sports towels, 2 mesh dive-bags that we use for used laundry, few odds and ends. Middle Shelf - Sons T-shirts, undies and socks (the latter in a small bag to stop them going everywhere). Bottom Shelf - MrsVirgil's T-shirts, unmentionables (damnit, I just mentioned them!), socks, nicknacks and Kindle (so she can get at it when in bed).

Upper Storage (above rear window): My T-shirts, mentionables, socks and a few other bits like phone chargers, iPad etc. (and room to spare to be honest - I like that space, but because it is one of the less-easily opened bits of storage I get to myself )

Under the bed at the back: 4 foldable crates, one with food (essentials, and a couple of basics for emergencies), one with shoes, one with games (board and outdoor), two with hook-up cable, electrical stuff and various nicknacks. Also, 1 large umbrella, 1 beach mat and the son's fold up scooter.

We move the back seat forward a touch, stick a pop-up Quechua Base Seconds tent behind the back of the seat, add the son's camping chair and the leveling ramp/chocks... Job done.

On the back of the drivers seat we have one of the Brandrup multi-pocket things - worth it's weight in gold! From emergency bog-roll to the MacBook (if we feel the need) and all points betwixt, it'll all go in there!

Only issue this packing caused was that when we went to get on the Eurotunnel, we were stopped for a random gas check, the guys gathered around the Cali and asked where the gas bottle was. I then had to spend several embarrassing seconds routing around with MrsVirgil's unmentionables (argh! done it again! :doh ) to get to the gas bottle... don't get me wrong I usually enjoy routing around with the aforementioned (no, not the gas bottle, silly!), but I prefer to wait 'til she's in them.

TBH we love the wardrobe, OK the access doors could be slightly bigger and easier to manage and we steered well clear of having the safe at the bottom. Having put the safe in our old splitty under the rock-n-roll bed base and have the bed base hit me on the back of the head enumerate times - we were wary of putting it somewhere safe-to-be but also safe-to-get-at... not telling where ours is though!

But all in all, Me Likey!

 

[Cavilln]

Yes it is a bit of a tricky shape.

We found the best thing was to treat it like a stuff sack. So we shove all the sleeping bags and pillows in there and shut it for the day. then when everyone is ready for bed (roof up, bed down, etc) the bags are all to hand. clothes then go in stuff sacs in the rear area and in the awning at night.

I still haven't worked out what to use the under-seat slidey drawer for yet. Last trip it became the home for most of the food and that seemed good as it was all to hand.

 

[2CV67]

Has anybody tried these shelves?
http://www.aljo-shop.de/index.php?page=product&info=6

or any of the other 2 smaller kits on the same site:
http://www.aljo-shop.de/index.php?page= ... d1bc5d6580

Thanks for any useful comments!

 

[David&Sue]

I was just about to ask the same question. Agree with most of the posts on this subject - complete waste of space. I considered making my own shelves but knowing my diy skills are worse than appalling, didn't want to risk it.

Anyone bought these yet? Looking at the pictures I wonder if everything will just fall to the bottom anyway as the front right corner seems to be cut away?

It would be good to be able to use that space.

 

[Billy]

Don't for get the club has its own shelf conversion kit available now, these are also made in Germany and are only £134.99 inc delivery, first batch have sold out but more are due towards the end of this week.


http://vwcaliforniaclub.com/wardrobe_shelf.php