# Wire Basket In Wardrobe



## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Here's my most extensive modification to date. I've also posted it in the Gallery under Outback Modifications.
















The 26RS bunkhouse comes with two wardrobe closets for hanging clothes ... long clothes, like dresses. Know any kids that need to hang up ALL their clothes, including their underwear?

So, we've converted one closet to have three pull-out wire baskets. The challenge was finding baskets that fit the width of the opening of the face frame. We found baskets that fit at Storables; though more expensive, they fit exactly (see Gilligan comment, below).

The next challenge was building out the sides of the closet so the basket's rail was more-or-less flush with the edge of the face frame. I found some pre-cut pieces of Poplar in the trim section of Home Depot and glued up rails that were close ... then used a hand planer to trim a few 32nds off the face of the board until is was exactly the thickness I needed.

Why did I use these pre-cut pieces ... easier and I was able to make the rail fit around the face frame in a lind of half-lap joint (look carefully in the left-hand picture where the rail meets the face frame).

Then came the 4-5 trips to the nearby Ace Hardware to find the correct fasteners.

Bunk Side (left in picture): When I removed the closet pole, I carefully measured the length of the screw that went into the wood. I purchased wood screws that didn't exceed this length, but still got a good bite into the wood.

Wall Side (right in picture): In the 26RS this is a flimsy framed wall with a few wires going through it. I was screwing into just a piece of panelling. After trying several fasteners I settled on the Toggle Bolt. The Poplar rail snugged up nicely and you can probably site on the basket if you wanted.

I matched the interior paint on the Outback, painted up the rails and screwed in the basket's rails. Done.

Why did we only convert one closet? Gilligan was busy ... he built the second face frame wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The wire baskets simply wouldn't fit.

Why are the baskets mounted so far back in the closet? We wanted to reserve the space in the front for some door-mounted organizers or coat hooks... "Maximum space utilization"

Ed


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## mskyoutback (Jul 27, 2004)

Love it!!!!!


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## Scrib (Jun 28, 2005)

Great job! I did shelves in the right closet, but we haven't figured out what we want to do with that cavernous left closet, yet. A couple of those baskets at the top might be a good option for us.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

They looks just as good online as they did in person. Nice work Ed, but now my wife is bugging me to add these to our Outback....more mods...more mods...


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

Look great Ed
Very nice job, Maybe I'll do the one on the other side like that 
Keep up the great mods

Don


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## j1mfrog (Jun 6, 2004)

The wardrobe doors in my '04 26RS don't go all the way to the floor. This creates some limited use space at the bottom. I think I'll mod my wardrobe to match yours. Doors all the way to the floor and wire baskets. Thanks for the idea. It will be much simpler than the drawer install I was measuring for in the bottom of the wardrobe.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

j1mfrog said:


> The wardrobe doors in my '04 26RS don't go all the way to the floor. [snapback]111240[/snapback]​


Our doors are unmodified, so the Early'06 26RS must be a bit different from the '04. Of course you _could _







change out your door ... I've heard these doors are commercially available.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

I should mention that the baskets come in three depths (heights). We used the deepest (tallest).


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Looks great
















Another mod added to my list.

Thor


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

LarryTheOutback said:


> j1mfrog said:
> 
> 
> > The wardrobe doors in my '04 26RS don't go all the way to the floor.Â [snapback]111240[/snapback]​
> ...


My 2006 26RS's wardrobe doors do not go all the way down to the floor either. I thought that was a really stupid thing to do and don't understand why they did it that way. Probably the same person's idea who thought the tip-out kitchen drawer was a good idea.


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## jjdmel (Jan 5, 2004)

LarrytheOutback,
I saw this mod in the other recent mod post and those drawers are just what we need. But I went to Storables.com and didn't see anything like them for sale. Where exactly did you get them and do you happen to know exactly what size they are? Thanks.
Julie


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

jjdmel said:


> But I went to Storables.com and didn't see anything like them for sale.


I believe you actually have to go to a Storables store to buy them. As to measurements, you'll have to find baskets specific to your model, year and Gilligan sub-model number (Translation: measurements of the closets vary by trailer, even within a model year and model number).

If you still need the measurements, let me know and I'll try to get out to the storage lot this weekend to measure.

Ed


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## jjdmel (Jan 5, 2004)

Oh. I'd never heard of Storables and after looking at their store locations, I know why. All are on the west coast. Guess I'll have to keep looking elsewhere. Thanks anyway. 
Julie


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## wicandthing (Jul 11, 2005)

I did something similar in our wardrobe. I built drawers and installed them. I agree about Gilligan's craftmanship on the wardrobe.... it stinks. I had to get fancy with the planer and put an angle on the slide supports so that they would be equi-distant from each other the entire depth of the wardrobe....

Its amazing how much more usable space you get by installing drawers/baskets.

Anyway, the mods look great and Great Job!

Wic


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