We originally used two buckets to keep our dirty shoes off our Aliner floor, which worked much better than nothing, but was a bit awkward, since we were putting them on and off all the time, and the buckets were never in one place, and never fully out of the way.
Photo of the side of a black Aliner couch showing a
cut-out in the side with a white visible shelf. There´s a
blue and white whisk broom in the lower section.
We ended up hacking a hole into the side of the dinette couch base, next to the Aliner door. This was scary — but it turned out amazingly well, and we love the convenience.
It´s probably our favorite hack of all.
I bought a small thin piece of plywood and a couple of thicker rectangular sticks at a hardware store, and a wire shelf which just fit in the space between the camper wall and the front of the couch support.
View from the top of an Aliner storage section adapted for
shoe storage showing a white wire shelf backing onto a thin
plywood support wall. Two unfinished wood supports
hold the back board in place.
The plywood keeps the shoes from slipping into the larger cargo area below the couch, and the rack allows two levels of shoe storage.
Photo showing the cutout for the shoe shelf opening. A white wire
shelf runs across from side to side; the gray camper floor is
visible below. Black vinyl automotive trim finishes the raw opening.
I drew the opening on the side wall in pencil, and then used a coping saw to cut it out. This was horrifyingly easy; the interior plywood is maybe 1/8th of an inch thick? Not cardboard, but even easier to cut.
The edges are finished in automotive door trim; buy trim that comes with an adhesive inside so that the trim stays where it belongs; it will naturally get banged a bit in use.
Photo of the the completed shoe compartment, showing
two pair of black shoes on the upper wire rack. The
lower shelf is covered with a light weight green canvas liner.
The bottom shelf has a light canvas liner to make dirt removal easy. Don´t be tempted to ever use plastic on your camper floor; it will trap moisture. You want something breathable here.
However, the upper shelf does have a ribbed plastic shelf liner, since there is a lot of air circulation around it, and it doesn´t lie on moisture-sensitive wood.
It´s easy to grab or place shoes from inside or outside the Aliner, and all the footwear is completely out of the way. (For convenience, we also keep our whisk broom tucked inside the lower section so that it´s easy to use on a moment´s notice. Our floor appreciates the love!)
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