5 Best Outdoor Gear Storage Solutions For RV Living Nomads Swear By
Tame the gear clutter with these nomad-tested tips.
That pile of gear by the door. You know the one. It’s the tangle of muddy hiking boots, the deflated paddleboard, and the camp chairs that never quite fit back in their bags. In a sticks-and-bricks house, it’s an annoyance. In an RV, it’s a full-blown obstacle course that shrinks your living space with every trip.
Effective storage isn’t just about tidiness; it’s about reclaiming your home. The goal is to move everything you don’t need inside to a dedicated, secure, and accessible place outside. This frees up precious square footage, reduces setup and teardown stress, and ultimately makes your mobile life more sustainable and enjoyable.
The right solution depends entirely on what you carry and how you travel. It’s rarely a single product but a combination of systems working in harmony. Let’s break down the solutions that seasoned nomads rely on to keep their gear organized and their living spaces clear.
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Stop Tripping Over Gear: Reclaim Your RV Space
The first sign of a storage problem is when your gear starts living in the shower. Or on the dinette seats. Or piled on the passenger-side floor, creating a hazardous mess that has to be shuffled around every time you move. This isn’t just clutter; it’s a direct tax on your comfort and sanity.
Solving this is about fundamentally rethinking your RV’s footprint. The interior is for living, sleeping, and cooking. The exterior and dedicated bays are for everything else. By creating a hard line between living space and gear space, you instantly make your rig feel twice as big and infinitely more functional.
The best systems are external, weatherproof, and designed for a specific purpose. They get bulky, dirty, or awkward items out of your way while keeping them secure and ready for your next adventure. This isn’t about buying more bins for inside; it’s about building a smart, external ecosystem for your outdoor life.
Thule Motion XT: Your Ultimate Rooftop Gear Loft
Reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency with the Thule Motion 3 XXL's aerodynamic design. Its PowerClick quick-mount system ensures fast, secure installation with an integrated torque indicator.
A rooftop cargo box is the attic of your RV. It’s the perfect home for bulky but relatively lightweight items that would otherwise consume a ridiculous amount of interior space. Think skis, snowboards, fishing rods, folding camp chairs, and bulky outerwear.
Models like the Thule Motion XT have become a standard for a reason. Their aerodynamic shape minimizes the hit on your fuel economy, a real concern for any RVer. More importantly, features like dual-side opening mean you can access your gear from either side of the rig, which is a lifesaver in tight campsites. The integrated locking system also provides peace of mind that your expensive gear is secure.
The main tradeoff is height. You have to be hyper-aware of your new total clearance, especially around low bridges, gas station awnings, and even tree branches. They also have a weight limit—typically around 165 lbs—so they are not the place for heavy tools, generators, or full water cans. Use them for volume, not for mass.
Yakima EXO SwingBase: The Modular Hitch Hauler
Transform your 2-inch hitch into a versatile cargo platform with the Yakima EXO SwingBase. Easily swing your loaded gear away for rear vehicle access, and enjoy secure, tool-free installation with integrated locks.
Your rig’s hitch receiver is one of its most powerful and underutilized assets. A hitch-mounted system is the workhorse for your heaviest and most awkward gear. It’s the ideal platform for bicycles, a heavy generator, or a fully-loaded cooler you don’t want dripping inside.
The Yakima EXO system takes this concept to the next level with its modularity. The core is the SwingBase, which allows the entire rack to pivot away from the back of your RV. This is a non-negotiable feature for anyone with a van, a travel trailer with a rear door, or a motorhome where the hitch blocks access to storage bays. You can then stack components: a bike rack on the bottom with a gear locker on top, or two separate enclosed boxes.
This system adds significant length to your vehicle, which impacts your departure angle and makes backing into tight spots more challenging. You must also be diligent about staying within your hitch’s tongue weight rating, which includes the weight of the rack itself plus all your gear. Overloading it can create dangerous handling issues.
MORryde Sliding Tray: Effortless Bay Access
Easily access your truck bed cargo with the MORryde sliding tray. This fully assembled, carpeted tray boasts an 800 lb capacity and installs in minutes without measuring or cutting.
Pass-through storage bays are a fantastic feature on many Class A, Class C, and fifth-wheel RVs. The problem is they often become a "black hole" of gear. The stuff you need always seems to migrate to the unreachable center, forcing you to crawl halfway inside to retrieve it.
A heavy-duty sliding tray, like those from MORryde, completely transforms this space. These trays are essentially a sliding drawer that brings the entire contents of your storage bay out into the open. Suddenly, every item is within easy reach. No more digging, no more unpacking half the bay to find one thing.
This isn’t an upgrade that adds more cubic feet of storage; it’s an upgrade that makes your existing space 100% usable and efficient. Installation is a bolt-in process, but it adds weight and consumes a few inches of vertical height. It’s best used for organizing heavy, frequently accessed items like toolboxes, grills, and bins of setup equipment.
ROAM Rugged Cases: Secure Your Overland Essentials
ROAM's 83L Rugged Mounts offer secure, versatile storage for your adventure gear. Built tough for off-road use, they provide reliable organization for any expedition.
Sometimes the best storage container isn’t a permanent fixture on your rig, but a versatile, portable box. Heavy-duty, weatherproof cases are the building blocks of a flexible and organized gear system. They protect your equipment from dust, water, and impact, whether they’re strapped to a roof rack, sitting on a hitch carrier, or tucked inside a bay.
Cases from brands like ROAM are popular because they are built for abuse. They feature robust latches, gas struts to hold the lid open, and interlocking designs that make them easy to stack securely. This allows you to create dedicated, mission-specific kits that you can grab and go.
- Recovery Kit: Straps, shackles, and traction boards.
- Kitchen Kit: Camp stove, fuel, and utensils.
- Tool Kit: All your essential repair items in one place.
This modular approach keeps you organized and ensures your critical gear is always protected and ready. Instead of a chaotic pile of loose items, you have a neat stack of secure, weatherproof containers. The only downside is the initial cost, but they are an investment in gear protection and organization that pays off for years.
Lippert Underchassis Box: Tap Into Unused Space
Maximize RV storage with the Lippert Under Chassis Unit. This durable, bolt-on bin features a spring-loaded latch for easy access and holds up to 100 lbs of gear.
Look under your RV. That empty space between the frame rails is some of the most valuable, untapped real estate on your entire rig. It offers a low center of gravity and doesn’t add to your overall length or height. This is where an underchassis storage box comes in.
These bolt-on steel or aluminum boxes create new, secure compartments perfect for storing heavy or dirty items you don’t need to access every day. This is the ideal spot for leveling blocks, chocks, spare parts, or your collection of sewer hoses and fittings. Getting these items out of your main storage bays frees them up for cleaner, more frequently used gear.
Installation is a permanent modification that requires drilling into your RV’s frame, so it’s a more involved project. You must also be careful to place them where they won’t interfere with slide-outs, jacks, or low-hanging tanks and plumbing. But for gaining a significant amount of "free" storage, they are hard to beat.
Pro Tip: Install L-Track for Interior Flexibility
Even with the best external solutions, you’ll still have gear inside your storage bays or a toy hauler garage. The biggest mistake is leaving it unsecured. A hard stop or a sharp turn can send hundreds of pounds of gear shifting, causing damage to both the gear and your rig.
The professional solution is L-Track, also known as airline track. It’s a system of aluminum rails with multiple attachment points that you can install on the floors and walls of your storage areas. Using a variety of specialized fittings, you can create infinitely adjustable tie-down points for bungee cords, ratchet straps, or bike mounts.
Think of L-Track as the ultimate organizational framework. It allows you to securely anchor everything from heavy tool chests to mountain bikes, preventing them from moving an inch in transit. It also gives you the flexibility to completely reconfigure your storage layout from one trip to the next, adapting to whatever adventure comes next.
Choosing the Right Storage Mix For Your Travels
There is no single "best" storage solution. The ideal setup is a customized mix of systems that reflects your unique gear, rig, and travel style. A weekend warrior with a travel trailer has vastly different needs than a full-time overlander in a Class C.
Start by auditing your gear. Make three lists:
- Bulky & Light: Camp chairs, sleeping bags, outdoor rugs. (Prime candidates for a rooftop box).
- Heavy & Awkward: Bicycles, generator, full cooler. (Perfect for a hitch carrier).
- Frequently Accessed: Leveling blocks, water hose, power cord. (Best organized in a bay with a sliding tray).
The goal is to create a logical, efficient system that minimizes friction in your daily routine. Good storage isn’t just about being tidy. It’s about spending less time managing your stuff and more time enjoying the freedom that RV life is supposed to be about. Invest in the right mix, and you’ll reclaim not just your space, but your time as well.
At the end of the day, every piece of gear you carry should earn its place. But once it does, it needs a proper home that isn’t your living room floor. By strategically using your roof, hitch, and undercarriage, you can dramatically expand your rig’s capacity without sacrificing comfort.
Don’t let clutter dictate your experience. Take a hard look at what you’re tripping over and find a smart, dedicated home for it outside your main living quarters. The result is a calmer, more spacious, and more functional mobile basecamp for all your adventures.
