Out of Sight, Out of Smell

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November 29, 2011

Submitted by Robert Swadell of Henderson, Nev. 

Have you ever noticed how the laundry bag gets bigger and bigger – and invariably spends most its time in the shower? Our solution was to install a trap door in the floor of our coach, leading to a hamper in an outside storage compartment. Not only does this remove dirty clothes from the living quarters, but it also eliminates any accompanying odors.

Obviously, this will not work in every motorhome, but we have had no trouble finding a location that works in our latest Class C coach.

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10 comments

  1. Larry Wayment

    This was quite entertaining. I had a picture in my mind of an RV going down the road shooting dirty laundry out of the laundry chute into the windshield of the tailgaters. Guess I was wrong. Sounds to me like a good idea though. I’m going to look for a location in our RV for a box. I can weld plastic so I could make one quite easily. The trick is getting it in an easily accessable place.

  2. Judy

    We considered the hole-to-basement thing, but decided that the basement some times gets road dirt, and that the space in the basement was needed for other things. Our solution, to cut a hole into the side panel of one of the bench seats of the dinette and to add a hinged door. No smell. Looks great. Easy in. Easy out. On laundry day I empty the contents to laundry bags that fit into a wheeled cart for transportation to the laundry.

  3. B. Davis

    Sounds like you folks are killing an awful lot of innocent clothes. That thing’s a laundry chute, not a shoot…

  4. C. Tenney

    We purchased our Sunnybrook 5th wheel camper in 2004 and it came with a laundry shoot under the bathroom sink…. the laundry basket is in the basement… easy to get at. It is one of the many things that sold us on the Sunnybrook. We just love the Sunnybrook!!

  5. G Finley

    Our 2005 Jayco Eagle 5th wheel has a laundry shoot under the sink in the bathroom section of the 5th wheel. This is the greatest feature on our 5er. When looking at shows, the laundry shoot is the one thing that we look for. I haven’t found another company that has the laundry shoot yet. Not even the high end motor homes have shoots. The sales person is always bewildered when I ask them where the laundry shoot is and I say that is a priority in my life. I really have had to explain what a laundry shoot is to some of the sales person !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Would I buy the type of camper or motor home that he/she represents – I don’t think so. I do not see how it could be such a hard feature to put in an RV if they really wanted to. Mine is just a cut out under the sink and I put the laundry basket in the under storage unit. Simple and the dirty cloths are out of site. Have the better half look for a foot square somewhere out of the way and cut away – just make sure there no wiring or anything important under the foot square.
    (I wasn’t aware that the Cougar or Montana had the shoots.)

  6. T Nicholas

    The photo makes no sense. It looks like a piece of wood, presumably the trap door, has been installed between the bottom of the chair seat and the base of the chair. So the chair would no longer be connected to its base. Is it floating in mid-air?

  7. hafcanadian

    Hmmm… and the accompanying photo is of what?

  8. Jim McKane

    OR simply purchase an RV with a laundry shoot already installed…….. like a Cougar or Montana.

  9. Mary

    We solved our dirty laundry problem buy buying Landry baskets that fit under our bed. That way we can sort by colors versus lights so that we know when it is time to wash a load. No cutting needed.