5 EKKO Owner Gear Garage Tours

5 EKKO Owner Gear Garage Tours
Get inspired by touring these DIY mods and personalizations!
By: Stefany Adinaro @TheFitRV

When James and I got our Winnebago EKKO, the two main draws for us were its van-similar footprint and its gear garage. Turns out we aren’t alone in that. Now that we’ve connected with many other EKKO owners, we’ve learned many of them were drawn by those two things as well. 

It’s nothing new that RVing “small” makes us more mobile, but that comes at the cost of less real estate, and especially less storage. Campervans are great for the “small’ part, but if you want to bring your bikes and other outdoor toys, packing them into your Class B becomes a challenge. Vans don’t have exterior storage cabinets like Class Cs, As, and towables do. So the EKKO, with its compact van-like size AND a gear garage, is a rare combination of both those things, and that’s what has made it an exciting option for many of us. 

Now that you know what a big deal the EKKO gear garage is to us owners, it probably doesn’t surprise you to learn that organizing the garages has become a popular topic of interest in the EKKO community. The challenge of working out how best to maximize our 42”H x 29”W x 80”L garage space has gotten lots of discussion time over on our Facebook group for EKKO Owners and Wannabes. While EKKOs haven’t even been in production for a year yet, EKKO owners have already come up with some great ideas. 

So, we’re sharing tours of five of those gear garages to help inspire others:

1. Bike-Focused, Light-Weight Gear Garage

EKKO OWNERS: James and Stef @TheFitRV  |  EKKO’s NAME: Number One

First, I’ll start by sharing how we organized our own gear garage in ‘Number One.’ James and I had two goals for our gear garage. First: to make our two road bikes as quick and easy as possible to remove (and pack). Second: to keep the weight down to as light as possible. 

Originally, we wanted to build a large slide-out tray in our garage. But, after all the mods we had done to the interior, we realized our weight was creeping up. Slide trays are incredibly heavy, so we scratched that idea and went on to Plan B… and we absolutely love how our gear garage turned out. To see a thorough tour of how our garage is organized, we’ve done a whole video and post detailing that over on The Fit RV.

My favorite part of our garage organization is the clever camp chair storage James built on our ceiling. He took a plastic fence post, cut it in half, and turned the two halves into a track the chairs easily slide in and out of. That wasn’t the only place we made use of vertical space. Our bike wheels mount on the ceiling inside some clip-on straps James made. 

2. Sliding Cabinet Gear Garage for Outdoor Toys

EKKO OWNER: Robert McCampbell, California  |  EKKO’s NAME: La Cajita Blanca

Robert has DIYed the most involved storage unit for his garage that I’ve seen so far. His goal was to create space for his XL carbon fiber mountain bike, inflatable kayak, fishing poles, grill, and clam shell screen room-- and have room left over for tools and miscellaneous items. Robert built an impressive cabinetry unit out of ½” Baltic birch and put it all on a large slide.

The unit has two large pullout drawers and three smaller drawers. His mountain bike mounts in a narrow space to the side of the storage unit, also on the slide-out tray. To get his bike in that narrow space, Robert did two noteworthy things. He added a special stem - the “Revelo Folding Thinstem” - that allows him to rotate his handlebars. He also switched to quick release pedals so he can remove them for transport.

3. Creative & Convenient Gear Garage Design

EKKO OWNER: Cheri Golden, Washington  |  EKKO’s NAME: Lagniappe

When Cheri and her partner started planning their garage organization, they knew they wanted to be able to access their things without having to move other things as much as possible. They started by adding a shelf along the top of the garage. The shelf extends completely across the space and hangs from the L-track system (which is included in the EKKO) with sections of plastic covered chain. 

To prevent scratches during transport, pool noodles were cut and zip-tied to the shelf’s edges. Four clear watertight buckets are arranged on the shelf to keep RV utility supplies organized and easily accessible. 

On the garage floor, Cheri keeps the things she accesses the most near each of the three garage doors: leveling blocks by the driver’s side door, her two Bike Fridays (foldable bikes) in their cases by the passenger side door, and a portable fire pit by the rear door. Bike panniers and helmets are attached to the Molle panels which are mounted on the inside of the passenger and drivers garage doors.  

Even though this system has been working, Cherie does have plans to reconfigure her garage to accommodate two mountain bikes in place of the Bike Fridays.  

4. Cargo Net for Gear Garage Vertical Space

EKKO OWNER: Cynthia Landon, Georgia  |   EKKO’s NAME: Serenity

Like Cheri, Cynthia and her partner Richard also wanted to take advantage of the vertical space. Instead of a rigid shelf though, Cynthia hung a heavy-duty cargo net from the ceiling’s L-track system. On the net, she added one tan colored bin for smaller supplies, and used the rest of the net space to store larger things like a table, patio rug, chairs, and a tent for their bikes. Cynthia likes the flexibility she gets using the cargo net. The net conforms to the items, and she can also push the net up when getting the bikes in and out. 

Her one complaint is that the holes in the net can snag on her bikes when stowing or removing them, so she’s considering a future mod where she’d replace the cargo net with heavy duty fabric. 

Cynthia and Richard travel with two Rad Power folding e-bikes which are almost 70lbs each. To make loading and unloading them easier, they put each e-bike inside its own 40-gallon bin. According to Cynthia, the bins have not only kept her garage more organized, they also make getting the bikes in and out less of a hassle.   

5. Gear Garage Storage Mods for Scooters & More!

EKKO OWNER: Paul and Vicki LeMair, Virginia  |   EKKO’s NAME: GEKKO

Paul and Vicki are road cycling enthusiasts, and they also enjoy riding their Segway scooters on RV trips. Their goal was to be able to transport their road bikes and scooters, while leaving as much space as possible for other items. To accomplish this, they built a shelf, accessible from the passenger side door. The scooters fit under the shelf and the bikes fit on it. 

Vicki got creative and personalized it by painting a gecko on the shelf’s ¾” plywood platform. The shelf is held up by a frame made from 1” square aluminum pipe and EZTube pipe connectors. Paul and Vicki continue to improve on their shelf design and recently added tracks to guide the bikes for easier loading and unloading. 

Paul did note that there was one catch to make this design work—the need to remove the bike seats. He solved this by adding some high quality quick-release seat binder bolts to each bike frame. Now, removing their seats takes very little effort. Paul and Vicki have put the L-tracks along the ceiling to use by mounting their bike panniers there. 

They keep their RV supplies, like their power cord, in a clear plastic tub easily accessible from either the back or driver's side door. Their camp table folds flat and slides along the wall below the panniers, and their camp chairs fit under the shelf with their scooters. 

So, there you are! A look at five different EKKO gear garages—each sharing some clever and unique ideas worth considering. Though as I interviewed each owner, one thing was clear: none of these owners were calling their garages “done.” Everyone talked about changes or improvements they plan to make. It certainly doesn’t surprise me. The more you’re out there RVing, the more you realize how well your storage system is working, which things you’re actually using, and whether there are things you wish you could bring that you aren’t. Getting your storage just right is an ongoing work in progress for all RVers, regardless of which RV you have. For us EKKO owners with our dear-to-us gear garages, it’s been an especially fun problem to solve.