Dear Dave,
As you have worked for a major RV manufacturer, you might have some insight into this. I have purchased five RVs in the past 25 years (three 5th wheels, two truck campers). NONE of them came with towel racks installed in the bathroom. I had to figure out where to fit them and how to fasten them. Being that bath towels are rather heavy, securely fastening them is important. And, in my experience, finding a place to fit them is nearly impossible! The two truck campers had TP holders preinstalled; the three 5th wheels did not even provide that basic necessity.
Perhaps my RV purchasing experience is unique in this regard. If not, why do RV manufacturers leave it to the buyers to deal with this basic and important issue? We all need towels and a place to dry them after use, and the need to hang a roll of TP in the bathroom is self-evident. —Mike, 2018 Keystone Alpine
Dear Mike,
I had not noticed the lack of a towel bar or toilet paper holder in most RVs that I have driven and used over the years. But I have been very critical of the placement, as you must be a world class gymnast to get to the toilet paper in some models, or have a friend hand you a few sheets! I went through all the bathroom photos I have in my archives, which aren’t very many as most brochures and sales sheets tend to shy away from featuring the bathroom due to the compact size of most.
Several that I saw had a dual-purpose shower door handle/towel bar. I went through a few of Tony Barthel’s reviews, as well, and did not see many bathroom photos. But I did see a couple with the towel bar mounted underneath a side cabinet. I also remember several models that installed a cheap towel rack on the models that had a separate shower area with a door.
Some reasons there are no towel bars in some RVs
There could be several reasons there are no towel bars included by manufacturers. One that I have heard about other features is there is no one good place to mount a component that everyone will like. At Winnebago we got feedback from dealers and even owners wanting a different location or even a different type of component such as mirrors, pictures, and even towel bars.
Everyone has their distinct style and RV designers sometimes decide to leave a component out rather than wasting money on something or someplace that the ultimate buyer doesn’t like. Most of the time it is dealer driven during design discussions or dealer day events. The dealer would prefer to customize a component for the customer rather than risk the negative a factory-provided one might bring. I know it sounds pretty minor; however, you can’t please everyone all the time. And you indicated this, as well, when you stated you could not find a place to mount one!
Maybe it’s due to cost
Another reason could be cost. Again, at Winnebago we had a cost reduction program that rewarded employees that could provide suggestions for cost reduction. We even had a year in which upper management and designers did what was dubbed the “Strip Tease.” That was stripping several amenities out of the units to reduce cost and compete with other cheap brands. Items included taking out the cup holders in the dinette, going to flat panel cabinet doors rather than the raised rail style, panel ceiling vs. padded vinyl, and much more. This could also include towel bars and toilet paper holders, in many cases.
RV manufacturers look for anything they can eliminate just to have the unit sit a few hundred dollars lower than the unit across the aisle. That translates to more sales but, more important, translates to bigger bonuses!
Mounting components in RVs is a challenge
Mounting components in RVs has always been a challenge as the interior walls are made of paneling sandwiched to a thin wooden perimeter frame and sidewalls are paneling applied to block foam insulation. Not a very secure substructure to drill screws into and expect them to stay in place, especially with a heavy towel and bumping down the road.
This could be another reason you don’t see many installed, if the manufacturer had issues with the bar pulling out and the warranty costs associated with that. If they don’t install a bar, it doesn’t fall off and there is no warranty cost… another bonus! Typically, you will not find studs inside interior walls except around the perimeter, which makes it difficult to mount them. I have found that togglers work fairly well as the wings of the togglers spread out inside the wall and provide more support.
These are not “good” reasons, in my opinion. However, I have witnessed how designers and manufacturers approach some of what does and does not go into RVs. Many times it does not make sense. But keep in mind, most designers and upper management are not RVers and have a different version of what makes sense!
I think this is a good talking point for our readers to see what they have found over the years. I will be heading to six different RV shows January through March and will do a little research and post what I have found.
You might also enjoy this from Dave
With such poor RV quality, maybe we need Japanese manufacturers to take the lead?
OPINION
Dear Dave,
On the matter of RVs and their poor quality maybe we need Japanese manufacturers to take the lead and show North Amwrican[sic] RV builders how to do it right. I spend my summers worrying about what will break next on my late model Jayco. If only Toyota and Honda built RVs. Your thoughts Sir? —Colin, 2020 Jayco 26.7
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”
Read more from Dave here.
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We have found installing or hanging anything on our MH walls is a challenge. We do not like putting holes in our walls so command strips, double sided tape, etc. are our chosen method but we have found most fall off the wall over time. It seems as soon as it gets hot outside the adhesive on the hanger fails. Since there are no studs in most MH walls, we have resisted things like towel holders, pictures, shelves, etc. We have just made what came in the MH work!
Our 2017 Keystone TT has a manufacturer wall mounted hook rack above the toilet. There are no other manufacturer supplied interior hooks or bars. Our 2022 Gulf Stream TT didn’t even have that.
I used a stud finder to locate structural members. In many cases such members didn’t exist in locations where it made the most sense to mount amenities. Stainless steel pop rivets have worked well on exterior laminated walls. Shallow molly screws on interior walls. We use over the door/cabinet door racks extensively. Command hooks are for very light items many of which we unhook for travel or storage in hot temps.
Can not count the times when we have traveled over the last 7 years and found piles of unraveled TP, paper towels and bath towels on the floor. We now secure kitchen paper towels with an alligator clip take TP of of the roller, and hang towels inside the shower. It’s all gonna shake.
We use rubber bands around the TP and paper towels when traveling.
We use over the door towel racks and/or hooks … several on the same door !
Thank you, Dave! We are on RV #2. Both our RVs have been comparatively expensive DPs. Number one had a towel bar/shower door handle. DW used the towel bar and I put my towel on a hanger in the closet. Number two has no towel bar, but has towel hooks (as did #1). She uses one of the hooks and I hang my towel over the top of the shower door frame. DW added command hooks inside the shower for our wash cloths and the bathmat.
If you’re doing a compilation, #1 was a 2016 American Revolution and #2 is a 2022 Newmar New Aire. 🙂
Wow, very surprised at that!
Years ago I looked at some Hurricane model class a’s with bunks. The dealer had three on his lot. All of them had un mounted tp holders lying on the shower floor. Now, I’m pretty sure the average consumer would think this was a cheap/sloppy thing (not seeing it as an opportunity to put it somewhere convenient).
2019 Winnebago Sightseer, came with a towel bar mounted under the wall cabinet behind the toilet, towel ring next to the mirrored medicine cabinet for a hand towel, and a towel hook next to the shower door above an inset t.p. holder.
Our 2023 Forest River Georgetown 36D7 came with toilet paper holders in the drawer for the buyer to mount but no towel bars.
While I agree there’s a cost savings to not providing what could generate complaints, I think it’s more to just avoid complaints.
People come in a variety of sizes and a few inches in a bathroom is priceless so by leaving it to the buyer to choose convenience over real estate is a logical decision.
With the toilet paper holder, that one too is dictated by the user’s size and mobility. Putting it where it’s great for kids but a knee knocker for an adult just doesn’t make hay so let the buyer decide.
My motorhome came with a towel rack with three rods. It is attached to the inside of the bathroom door. However, I don’t like that arrangement because there is no space behind it for the towels to dry since they are hanging on top of each other. To solve this, I attached a towel rod inside the shower stall, using super glue. It has remained attached since 2006, so I guess it worked just fine. 🙂
our smallish fiberglass trailer has no towel rack, nor did our even smaller one before that. these both have wet baths, and I can only surmise that a towel inside the shower would get very wet. we put a towel hook on the outside of the bathroom door, and hand our towels there.
We do have a towel holder on the inside if the bathroom door in our DP. But, it really will only hold one towel, adequately. So, we also use an “over the doorframe” towelmholder which solves the problem. When traveling, it comes off until we stop, again.
Yes, this is because placement is a personal choice and no one can agree where they should be put – meaning hardly anyone would agree with where the RV mfgr. would put them. Ours came with a towel rack uninstalled, and we purchased one more matching one from the mfgr. (you can do that when new and they still have that style in stock). It’s a five minute install at the most.
I put a spring-loaded shower curtain rod above the tub in our 5th wheel. It holds towels and washcloths for 2 people. They’re out of sight when the shower door is closed.
I put an adjustable towel bar on the cabinet door below the bathroom sink. I had to make the interior bar shorter and add a bit of velcro to keep it from shifting. This is for a hand towel. We have over the door single or double hooks for hanging the bath towels. We use the fast drying towels found at camping places like REI. Everything stays in place just fine. The manuf. installed the toilet paper holder in a nice alcove next to the toilet. Nice if you can reach down and under. DH just removes it and it sits on the counter as needed.
So far as the missing towel bar mystery is concerned, if you don’t have one you probably lack the wall space to hang one. But, if you do have the wall space, that space may lack the studs or stud spacing necessary to securely fashion one to the wall. You know how flimsy those interior walls can be.
We have a 2009 Winnebago View. It has a chrome towel rack which is factory installed and has 4 chrome apx 1/4″ metal rods that lay flat against the door to which it is mounted between two 1/2″ hardwood rails mounted on the Interior side of the bathroom door. A brilliant solution to a small bathroom. To install anything on either the inside or outside of an RV I would recommend using well nuts. You could also use riv nuts but they may not grab and hard to remove. Well nuts work so well that I used them to install my giant 3x100w custom built tilting solar panel to the fibreglass roof along with the double sided expensive scotch tape sikaflex 12 well nuts and 4 bolts thru the roof. Solid.
My trailer came with a TP holder still in the package for me to mount wherever I wanted it.
As far as the towel holder, I made my own that hangs over the shower curtain rod. It’s similar to the ones that hang over a door. It’s three tiered and wide enough for the wash cloth, hand towel and bath towels.
LoL. Same reason they don’t put them in campground showers. They don’t give a darn, trying to save a few bucks by inconveniencing their own customers.
I wondered why there was no TP holder in my bathroom until I realized that the whole thing is a shower stall and all the walls will get wet. Thus the TP is in a drawer.