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Family RVing Magazine

Tech & Travel Tips: September 2003

October 1, 2003

Tight Bottom Sheet

Suspenders on mattress for tight sheetsAn easy way to minimize wrinkles in the bottom bed sheet in the motorhome is to use worker-type stretchy suspenders, which are available at most home supply or hardware stores. The suspenders generally are at least 2 inches wide and come with heavy-duty, 1/2-inch metal clips.

To begin, place the suspenders on top of the mattress and equally adjust each side of the suspenders to approximately two-thirds of the width of the bed. Put a fitted bottom sheet on the mattress, making sure it is centered, smooth, and tucked in all the way around. Place the suspenders under the mattress clip-side up, and then attach the nonadjustable sides to the sheet first. Separate the clips approximately 12 inches apart under the area of the mattress that would support the majority of the occupants’ torso weight. Next, pull each of the adjustable sides of the suspenders taut and attach them to the sheet in the same manner. If necessary, increase the tension on the adjustable side in equal portions, making sure not to overtighten the material to accommodate contraction of the suspenders. Finish making the bed in the traditional way and enjoy a tangle-free rest.

By using suspenders to keep the sheet tight, we can shop for bed liners to fit our nonstandard RV-sized bed from residential sources that offer a wide variety of colors, styles, and quality.

Jim Petruk, F274765
Auburn, California


Floor Mats

Transparent floor protectors as RV floor matsThe floor area in the driver’s compartment of most motorhomes is large and rather oddly shaped. As a result, most readily available floor mats just won’t fit. Also, it’s difficult to find a mat that matches the carpet color in the coach. Our solution was to buy one of those transparent floor protectors that are used under desk chairs in offices. They generally come in very large sizes and are constructed of heavy-duty plastic designed to take a lot of abuse. Also, they have built-in carpet grippers to keep the mat in place.

In our case we required a mat that was at least 36 inches by 32 inches. We went to a local office supply store and found that the least expensive floor protector mat was bigger than what we needed and cost only $14. We carefully measured the area to be covered, including the necessary cutouts for the steering column pedestal and gas pedal, and managed to get it nicely trimmed on the first try.

Lou Einung, F296968
Buellton, California


hermal Barrier For Bed

Foam pad as thermal barrierAs soon as the weather turned chilly last year, I began complaining about how cold and damp the head area of our mattress was. As in most motorhomes, our bed is against an outside wall. This wouldn’t be so bad, except there is no headboard. I decided to find something to go between the end of the mattress and the wall. My first thought was to use bumper pads from a baby bed. Instead I bought a foam velour exercise pad for $10. I folded the pad in half lengthwise with the velour side out and placed it between the wall and the mattress. The effect was immediate. No more cold, damp sheets. We remove the pad every week or so to air it out and allow it to dry.

Janice Miller, F261129
Pensacola, Florida


Towel Rack

Shoe rack as towel rackOur motorhome does not have wall space to hang additional towel bars. We searched for an alternative and found that a shoe rack hung on the side of the shower worked very well. The width of the bars can be adjusted to fit by pulling the metal bars from the plastic ends and cutting them off with a hacksaw. Then simply replace the plastic ends and hang on the shower wall. This allows four facecloths/towels to be hung from the side of the shower.

We located our shoe rack at a home improvement store in the area where closet-organizing components are found.

George & Linda Lundy, F242635
Elk Mound, Wisconsin

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