Coat hangers

[ROLIN JOSEPH]

Have any of you seasoned RV folks ever found a solution to keeping coat hangers and clothing from bouncing off of the rods?
In our Cougar 21RBS, we have a very spacious and deep closet that holds tons of hanging clothing but it is on the rearmost area of the trailer.
This is the 'springboard' end of the trailer and we find it very hard to keep hangers from falling off during travel.
Any ideas are welcome. Thanks.

[TLB]

Roads must be rough your way

Anybody have some great ideas?

[JRTJH]

If you're using wire hangers, just squeeze the curled part closer together, if you're using plastic hangers, get a spring tension curtain rod and install it above the hangers so they can't bounce off the existing rod.

[ROLIN JOSEPH]

John...you are a genius!
Thanks.

[Festus2]

Joe & Bev -
They actually make specially designed coat hangers for RV's! They are called "Stay Put Coat Hangers" that have some sort of fastener incorporated into the curled upper part.

So, rather than following John's almost "free" suggestions, you can Google these things, order them online and pay quite a bit more for them.

And with our Canadian dollar being what it is today, I'm kinda thinking you'll be following our resident genius' advice.

[ROLIN JOSEPH]

Festus2,
OK...you're almost a genius too.
there there

[fla-gypsy]

I have never had one bounce off, ever. Something does not seem right with that.

[PARAPTOR]

Originally Posted by fla-gypsy

I have never had one bounce off, ever. Something does not seem right with that.

X2, but think OP stated clothes are hung way in rear, where as most of our stuff hung in front. But do have stuff in garage that seems to stay in same place

Or maybe have not experienced the condition of OP roads yet

[outwest]

I've had that problem. Closet is on the rear end of trailer and they all bounced off. First part of first trip, they bounced off. Put them back on, this time though put them on backwards (hook the hanger from the back) because read online (i think here?) that doing so helps to prevent them coming off, and continued trip. When got to destination, they stayed on the rod this time, and instead of coming off they pulled the entire clothes rod down, destroying the closet shelf in the process.

What the problem was (besides the rear bouncing and tossing things around) was the rod was attached to the underside of the shelf and the underside of the shelf was attached to the wall and upper part of the shelf by means of staples that were stapled from the underside. Hmm... staples that are installed point-side up, holding up the bottom of a shelf. Surely they'll hold and not get affected by that nonsensical thing they call gravity.

Got it all fixed under warranty and they reinforced the system (dealer used screws and put in more bracing). Now using the Tri-Lynx Stay-Put hangers. The only thing about them is that you can't use them in house if house closet has the more traditional, larger diameter, clothes rod. If you do, they'll stretch out and wont work any more in the RV.

There's used to be another version of RV hangers that has a latch that flips up to close the opening on the rod hook section. I don't remember who made them and I haven't seen them for sale online in awhile. They might still make them, dunno. The plus to them was that they could be used on the larger rod in house without stretching out.

All that being said, there's the other options that were already mentioned, or try hanging the hangers backwards, with the hook facing toward you.

I hope your clothes rod is installed better than mine was.

[Murphsmom]

We bought some of those Stay Put hangers right after we bought the new TT last spring. Got them at CW. I have to say that I LOVE them. The closet in the Cougar 25RLS is in the middle of the trailer, and the one in the old trailer was at the back. Coats were always on the floor of the closet in the old TT. We still had things fall off in the new trailer until we got those hangers. They are a tight snap onto the bar, so they don't have a chance to jump off. You do still have to remember to button up whatever is hanging on them, though. They are also a lot tougher than wire hangers.

[JRTJH]

Our fifth wheel has all the closets in the front, so there's no problem with clothes falling off the hangers or the hangers falling off the rod. In our Holiday Rambler we had about 8' of closet (actually 3 separate closets) over the axle across from the bathroom and two shirt closets on the back wall on either side of the bed. We never had "clothes on the floor" syndrome with the center closets, but the two rear shirt closets were more like a "tumble dryer" than a closet. Anything (and I do mean ANYTHING) hung in there was guaranteed to be shaken off the hanger or the hanger shaken off the rod. We finally resorted to just using them for folding clothes and even then, the clothes would be "unfolded and turned upside down" after a lengthy tow.

Using the "lock on hangers" is a great way to keep the hangers on the rod, but unless you're really into "buttoning and clamping", the clothes will still work their way off the rod. Pants folded across the bar on the hanger seem to really enjoy slipping down to "rest their weary legs" on the floor of the closet.

We even tried using two spring tension rods, one on each side of the clothes bar to keep the hangers from swinging. Yup, everything was still on the floor after a couple hundred miles. We finally just used them for sweaters and sweats, anything bulky that was easy to refold once we opened the "tumbler door" LOL

Closets on the rear wall seem to be particularly hard to keep "tidy" when travelling.

[sbmarks3]

I have used a motorcycle tie down strap in the past, which worked well. Just hook one end on the left side, span the back side of the hanger hooks, then attach the other end to the right side. Snug up and you're done. It helps prevent them from lifting and if they do lift the come back down on to the rod.
I like the curtain rod idea too.

[ROLIN JOSEPH]

Well, thank you all for your ideas.
I like yours too 'sbmarks3'.
Another possible solution my DW just came up with is a beach noodle (styrene) cut to size and stuffed in between the top of the hangers and the underside of the shelf.
Thanks.

[PARAPTOR]

Like that, will have to put in my notes " tumble Dry" hang in garage

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by ROLIN JOSEPH

Well, thank you all for your ideas.
I like yours too 'sbmarks3'.
Another possible solution my DW just came up with is a beach noodle (styrene) cut to size and stuffed in between the top of the hangers and the underside of the shelf.
Thanks.

her to the "genius" club

[GaryWT]

I hope these ideas work for you. I do not travel with hangers. Since I am camping I do not bring anything that needs to be hung. My folded clothes go into the cabinets next to and above my bed. Works out great.

[koko]

Beach noodle - awesome idea for an annoying problem that we also experience in our rear closet. If that doesn't work, we'll try the tension rod.

[Ram189]

I had this problem in my old TT all the time with the bedroom closets.

I got the spring loaded clothes rods that you can use in cars ect. We would put those across the top of the regular rod to hold the hangers in place.

[Western Traveler]

Either I haven't had that problem with hangers in that closet yet or been too busy picking up the stuff that falls off the shelf above to notice. Spring tension rod is on the list for the shelf. I would like to keep my boots and shoes up there for an entire trip someday...

[Blackbears]

Originally Posted by Festus2

Joe & Bev -
They actually make specially designed coat hangers for RV's! They are called "Stay Put Coat Hangers" that have some sort of fastener incorporated into the curled upper part.

So, rather than following John's almost "free" suggestions, you can Google these things, order them online and pay quite a bit more for them.

And with our Canadian dollar being what it is today, I'm kinda thinking you'll be following our resident genius' advice.

When they reinvent the wheel, why is it always more expensive?