Newbies want to Mod toyhauler area!

[Talascam]

Hello!

We are "expecting" our new baby in about two weeks and are very anxious to get this new chapter of our RV lives started. In our previous life, we were Motorhomers, and before that, we showed horses for 20 years in a fifth wheel horse trailer with full living quarters in it. We are not fulltimers but travel weekends and holidays with our four show dogs (3 Golden Retrievers and 1 very bad Whippet ).

While we loved our 2007 Jayco Seneca 35GS, it had limitations as far as having to rent a car once we arrived at our destination if we wanted to sight-see, and, we always had to tow our trailer with our bikes and golf cart in it. After visiting some very friendly toy hauler campers and getting tours of their rigs, we realized that hauling a 5th wheel toy hauler would solve most of our problems. We shopped all the models - who knew there were so many toy hauler manufacturers!!!?? -- and found the floorplan that worked for us. (Still trying to figure out how to fit four dogs into the dually, but we will work on that one ) Hubby was a little reluctant to give up his "Super C" truck with the duramax and all the bells and whistles on it, but I was able to convince him that buying a newer dually might ease the pain a little. Luckily, the testosterone kicked in and he relished the challenge of finding just the right truck to appease his heartache. He is thrilled with his new "Beast". I just like the colour, lol.

My question to you all is this; has anyone managed to transform their garages so they look more like rooms than a golf-cart garage? I would love to see some pictures if someone will share? I know that Hubby needs some sort of shelving system to store his stuff - the basement storage will be taken up with most of the dog stuff we need to carry to keep the dirt and hair out of our living area, plus chairs, barbecue etc. Right now he uses the trailer shelving to store his tool boxes, tie-downs etc. but it is very messy looking and I would rather not have that visible in the new unit. We will be having guests staying quite often with us, which is why we went with the 3800 model. That second 1/2 bath will get plenty of use!

Thanks to you all for sharing! We are very excited to be a part of the Heartland Family and we have never participated in a forum before so appreciate your patience. Looking forward to getting some ideas and planning out the design of the garage. Thanks again!

The Camilleri Crew
Tim and LL
Simmee-Sue, Loni-Loser, Reese and Nanna (the dogs)
2008 Chevrolet 3500 HD, D/A
Arriving soon - 2012 Cyclone 3800 HD​

 

[jimtoo]

Re: Heartland Newbies

Hi Tim and Lauri,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the Family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

Since you started in the Mod room, your probably going to get all kinds of help with ideas from sewing room to art room, scrap booking... you name it, but don't forget DH , he needs a place to put his greasy wrenches, noisy saws and hammers. I think some have even converted the area into a on the road office. In you case with show dogs, it could become a kennel room.

When you do go to pick up your new toy, take lots of time and do a very slow and through PDI. Make sure you can operate everything and everything works, from top to bottom. Have water hooked up and even put water in all the tanks and drain them. I know you have had a trailer before, so just check out your new one.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

 

[jimtoo]

Re: Heartland Newbies

Let's try this again... how about it folks... I know some of you have changed your toy hauler room into other things, like an office,, sewing room.."MAN'S ROOM"..beauty shop..or what ever.

Let's have some ideas.

Jim M

 

[dbylinski]

Re: Heartland Newbies

We don't have a toy hauler but I bet it is very possible to make it more like a living room when not housing the toys! Let us know how you make out.

 

[frumbawa]

Re: Heartland Newbies

We don't have a toy hauler but I bet it is very possible to make it more like a living room when not housing the toys! Let us know how you make out.

Picking up our Cyclone 3612 this weekend and can't wait. This is what we plan to do, a second living space for our older teens and their friends that almost always come along. I plan to add a wardrobe of some sort for clothing storage, TV and WII games. An area rug to take away the garage feel and whatever else the DW/kids can think off.

No pics yet since we don't have the camper.

Frank

 

[Talascam]

We haven't even picked ours up yet but my brain is whirling with ideas. I am going to visit it tomorrow to do some measurements - they are adding another air conditioner and doing some PDI stuff. I saw on another forum someone who had put a long dresser under the window in the garage area and strapped it to the wall. There is really no spare wall to do much since the patio door and the 1/2 bath take up one wall, then the big window to the the left of the bathroom and then the bunks. The wall opposite the window has the door. I'm worried that Hubby won't have enough storage space for all those "toys", er...I mean tools, that you men like to cart around.

This past summer, we met some very friendly campers who let us walk through their toy haulers and while they weren't Cyclones, they were so beautifully arranged, you really didn't feel like you were hanging out in a garage. One even had mounted a 42 inch tv on the wall and made the bottom bunk an over-sized couch. It was so nice - it looked like someone's Home Theatre! We don't have a wall big enough to hold the arm for the tv, sadly, but I won't let that stop us from making it really comfortable for our guests.

Thanks for sharing ideas with us. As soon as we get our new baby home and start the mini-renos, I will post pics!

The Camilleri Crew
Tim and LL
Simmee-Sue, Loni-Loser, Reese and Nanna (the dogs)
2008 Chevrolet 3500 HD, D/A
Arriving soon - 2012 Cyclone 3800 HD

 

[iforget]

Welcome and congratulations on your new Cyclone. Duane and I have the 3010 Cyclone and couldn't be happier with it. We have up until this year traveled with two Golden Retrievers, (we do Golden Retriever Rescue) a Blue and Gold Macaw (very large parrot) and a (gay) blue Persian. Additionally, there is a Golf Cart and Motorcycle that fits just right in the garage. I called it our traveling zoo and loved to entertain the kids at all the Rallies.
(I said "sadly" because we lost our dear Cagney Macaw last year due to an autoimmune disease and lost our Sweet Misty Girl just two weeks ago at the almost age of 10).

Duane has made many modifications to our unit and has detailed each including pictures. You can find this information under his forum name "Porthole" and the subject you want is labeled "And so it begins".
The finished product Heartland provides in their units gives you a great starting point to convert the unit to your likings.
One item that jumped to my mind is that he changed the Window coverings in the garage to match the living area. It made a huge difference in the appearance. Installing a better quality rug would also be a nice addition. As far as fitting the dogs in the back seat of the new hot truck, Duane also has modified the rear seat of ours with another of his clever custom installations. If there are no pictures of it on the forum, I will ask him to provide you with some when he returns from a trip he is on. It made a huge difference in added space for the two dogs and the dog carrier our parrot traveled in.
I am sure others will have more to offer and hopefully some pictures of their changes which I am always interested in seeing.
I am also very interested in hearing about your dogs and your show careers. Pictures would really make me happy.
You can always PM me too.
Again, Welcome and I know you will find the perfect way to make the Cyclone fit your needs.

 

[porthole]

And so it begins......................

 

[iforget]

Hey Duane,
Thanks for adding the link to the modifications you have made.. If I sit still long enough maybe you would modify me!!

 

[Talascam]

Debbie, thanks for the great info. I found that link and Tim and I spent quite a bit of time going through the different modifications. Talk about informative!! As he is the handyman, he loves having this kind of detail available to him. When we had the 5th wheel horse trailer, Tim built the whole living quarters in it (that was in the day before they had tip-outs which would have generously expanded our living space!) The horse trailer was a 3 horse slant load and had five feet on the short wall and 11 feet on the long wall. We crammed a counter, 2 wardrobes - a girl has to have her clothes to show the horses in.. - a molded shower that housed the portabotty when we weren't using it, a mini fridge, sink and 2 burner stove. We used a toaster oven for most everything else. It was plumbed and wired and Tim did it all. We had the gooseneck for our bed and Tim built a sideways bunk in the nose for our daughter. Our feet slipped under her bunk. To say it was cozy, is an understatement! Add three dogs to the floorspace and you have our traveling zoo. Typically, we only used it for weekend showing which is how you could put up with the cramped space but you do what you have to do with what you have. We loved it!

I love the idea of the window coverings. I read it somewhere on this forum....was it you had done it? I can't remember where the extra fabric came from - purchased from Heartland? As I'm not much of a seamstress, this appeals to me! Will go back through the mods and your link to revisit it.

We didn't get a carpet with our unit. Many of the ones we toured on the rv lots had them rolled up, ready to go so that is the one thing I am measuring for. Don't think it needs to fit the entire garage but I can't remember what that space looks like. I am embarrassed to say I barely stepped back there, just to check out the 2nd 1/2 bath.

We also help out Golden Rescue - we've been breeding and showing Goldens for over 30 years. My company is a big supporter of the rescue groups for all purebreds. We have two old girls, 9 and 10 and one brain-dead wonder who is 3 and the Whippet who is 4. She is our daughter's dog but as they both still live here, she's part of the pack.

I would be happy to share pics of our girls. We are pretty proud of them.

Thanks again for the tips and links. We are pretty pumped to be part the "fiver" club again!

The Camilleri Crew
Tim and LL
Simmee-Sue, Loni-Loser, Reese and Nanna (the dogs)
2008 Chevrolet 3500 HD, D/A
Arriving soon - 2012 Cyclone 3800 HD

 

[DW_Gray]

Congratulations on your new Cyclone. Really, you can use your creative ideas to do just about anything in the garage. When attaching things to the wall, be sure to find the studs. The wall siding is not strong enough to hold heavy items. The floor is 1 inch plywood and is good solid foundation to attach things to. I use the the electric beds as storage areas. I attached some of the under-the-bed storage containers to store light weight items in. And to top that off, I still have room for the car.
Computer stations in garage
Reloading Workbench in Cyclone
Baby Cyclone Going Into His Room