We just got back from our longest road trip ever. We spent 16 days on the road, and 13 of those nights were spent in the pop up. This was a huge accomplishment for us. It is difficult for us to get our kids to unplug for more than a few days, so being away from technology {for the most part} was nice. We did set up camp in a few places where WIFI was available, and we did allow the kids to bring their devices on the road. While we were in camp and sightseeing, though, we were technology free.
We really got the chance to know our little pop up intimately, and we got an idea of what we like and don’t like about it. Some of the issues I could anticipate ahead of time, and so we attempted to fix them before we hit the road. Our dinette storage doors are a good example. Another good example is our stepper door. Before we left, I knew that dirt was going to be a problem for me. Our stepper door did nothing to keep the dirt at bay. We’ve got an outdoor rug that we lay outside the camper, and it does a pretty good job at stopping most of big stuff, but dirty shoe prints still show up on the camper floor.
While window shopping in our local RV store, we saw several step carpet options, but none of them were really designed to work with the Coleman stepper door. They were also ridiculously expensive. Mr. TypeTwoFun was certain he could come up with a better solution, so we headed to Home Depot.
We ended up purchasing an outdoor rug for $9.95. We were able to cut the rug in half and save the other half for another use. Mr. TypeTwoFun then set half on the stepper door and cut it to fit.
Once the piece was cut to size, he simply used Liquid Nails to adhere the carpet to the step. We had enough clearance under the trim pieces to slide the carpet underneath.
Then we used clamps to hold the carpet in place while the adhesive dried. That’s it! Super simple, but it makes a huge difference!
I love that the step now catches nearly all of our dirt and dust. We had some pretty dusty {and muddy} campsites throughout our trip, and the carpeted step really cut down on the amount of sweeping I had to do in the camper. I also love how easily the carpeting cleans up. I can usually just sweep it clean, but for those really bad campsites, I can simply hose it down when we’re done. It was a cheap, simply solution that has saved me a lot of time and energy. Gotta love those kinds of projects! 🙂
Happy Camping!
Like your site and the creativity on display.
Nice work!
Here are pics of our ’66 Apache Buffalo.
http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/66Camper/library/1966%20Apache%20Buffalo%20Photos
Mike
NH
Wow, Mike! Nice vintage pop up! Did you find it in such great condition, or have you done some work on it?
Thanks for sharing this tip!
Thanks for this tip! We have been wondering what to do with the peeling vinyl on the step of our 1999 Coleman Sea Pine and really like your solution. So this afternoon, we followed your lead and carpeted our step and what a difference it makes!
Glad it helped, Mel! I still love ours!
First off, I love your site, so much great information.
It looks like your trailer has the full size fold down door. Do you know of anywhere to buy one of those and/or if they can be retrofitted to tent trailers that didn’t necessarily come with that style from the factory?
You can try ColemanPopUpParts.com, however, I’m not sure how hard it is (or if it is even possible) to convert to a stepper door. That would be a great question for PopUpPortal.com. 🙂
Was your old step metal? I would like to add carpet, but we have vinyl on our step and I’m not sure liquid nails would stick to vinyl, so wondering if maybe I should just remove the vinyl?
Hey there,
Did you remover the side rails of the step, or just glue up to them? Tough to tell from the photo.
Thanks, love the site!
We actually just slid the carpet underneath the side rails (metal trim). Worked great! 🙂
We would like to the same fix. WHen you hose off your step wont the board under tthe rug and vinyl get wet and decay?
Our step is metal, Therese. We also live in a really dry climate, so we haven’t had any issues with the carpet getting mildewy. 🙂
Hi… I’m doing the same… I have the same step… However I’m going to velcro mine so we can take it off incase it gets to wet.