It is a common practice for RV owners to make modifications to their rig in order to best suit them. Mods are typically somewhat permanent and may involve replacing stock equipment or adding additional equipment that requires drilling holes or attaching items to the RV that can’t be easily removed, while add-ons are items added to enhance the existing setup. Here are the mods we’ve made to Usain, our 2022 Winnebago Boldt KL.
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Fridge Door Mod
The Boldt’s stock refrigerator comes with a right-handed door. The problem is that it can’t fully open since it hits one of the beds. This in turn means the freezer door can’t fully open either making it a real pain. Fortunately, the door can be converted to a left-handed door. It wasn’t as easy as…
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Bathroom Grab Bar Mod
This may have been Usain’s first mod back in May 2022 and it has been one that has proved to be more useful than we had ever imagined. I originally wanted a grab bar in the bathroom in order to assist in getting in Usain’s backdoor. Over time we’ve found that it helps in getting…
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Starlink with Flag Pole Buddy Mod
UPDATE: As of July 2024, I replaced the Starlink Gen 2 and ladder mounting with a permanently mounted high performance flat dish on the roof of Usain. See Starlink High Performance Flat Dish Mod. When I started working again doing some parttime software development I needed a way to ensure I always had an internet…
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Electronic Equipment Ventilation Mod
As you can see from the photo below, Usain’s electronics’ cabinet has several components — Pepwave router, Starlink router, an inverter, etc. — and they can all get pretty warm, especially when the sun is beating down on the top of the van. I found I was opening the door to the cabinet a lot…
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Floor Mat Replacement Mod
The Boldt came stock with a front floor covering of the typical carpet-like mat. An available option from Winnebago is the WeatherTech mats. Given the fact that we are in all kinds of weather conditions with Usain, we really didn’t like the stock carpet since it was hard to clean and we soon learned that…
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Visor Mirror Mod
The Mercedes Benz Sprinter van does not include a passenger-side visor mirror and Winnebago didn’t outfit one on their Boldt. I purchased one off of Amazon. It works but its not lighted and doesn’t lay completely flat, which prevents the visor from laying flat as well. I would look for a different one if I…
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Custom PVC Fan Holders Mod
Fans are great in camper vans for keeping the air flowing throughout the vehicle. I purchased a couple of small USB fans for above our beds (see Fans Add-on) but couldn’t find a good place to attach them. I again took advantage of the RAM tracks, YakAttack GearTrac mounting hardware, and PVC. This time I…
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Additional Water Pump Switches Mod
The Boldt comes with 3 water pump switches — one in the garage area for the outside shower, one in the bathroom, and one in the cabin at the back of the van — but not one up by the kitchen sink. Instead of by the sink (I was lazy) I installed it down by…
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Speaker Bar Relocation Mod
Usain came standard with a very nice JBL speaker bar for the TV. However, we did not like where Winnebago chose to install it, which was directly over the passenger side bed. Some Boldt owners have replaced it with a smaller speaker bar attached directly below the TV on the stock mount. I had a…
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TV/Monitor Replacement Mod
A second computer monitor is almost a necessity for my part time contracting work. While usable, the stock TV in the Boldt isn’t very good as a monitor. When we started traveling I took along a separate monitor with my laptop, but it was a pain to set up and store in Usain’s tight quarters.…
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30-amp Shore Power Mod (at home)
When Usain isn’t out on the highways and byways of the USA, he sits in our driveway. To keep all of his technology cool in the summary he needs the AC on, which requires more power than his batteries can survive on over a number of days. To solve that problem, I installed 30-amp receptacle…
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Clothes Drawers Mod
Another relatively quick mod was to add extensions to backs and sides of the closet drawers. Lisa thought we could pack more clothes into the drawers without them spilling out if the sides of the drawers were taller, essentially making them deeper. She was right! Rather than rebuilding the drawers I simply inserted some thinner…
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Custom Bed Baskets Mod
We end up spending a lot of time on the beds which also serve as our inside lounge chairs in Usain. This is where we work, stream, read, and watch TV when we are not busy with outside activities. One thing noticeably missing is drink holders. With the speaker bar moved (see my Speaker Bar…
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Cutting Board Feet Mod
Very likely the quickest mod I’ve made to Usain was to add rubber feet to the sink cover that doubles as a cutting board when flipped over. The Corian sink cover comes standard with the Boldt but when used as a cutting board beside the sink we didn’t want to scratch the surface. The solution…
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Paper Towel Holder Mod
We purchased a magnetic paper towel holder with the intention of sticking it to the bottom of the stock kitchen RAM Track basket. However, that was before I did the Kitchen RAM Track Baskets Mod, which meant the paper towels would be too low to the kitchen counter. To get around this problem and still…
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Bathroom Nightlight Mod
Usain’s bathroom can be very dark when needing to get up at night and the overhead light is very bright. I found some battery-operated, motion-detection lights that work perfectly in just the right spot.
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Kitchen RAM Track Baskets Mod
This was another very early Usain mod. The Boldt comes standard with several RAM Tracks including one over the kitchen counter. It also comes standard with a couple of baskets that can be attached to the tracks. We had a lot of little items to store in the kitchen and I wanted to make them…
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Security Safe Mod
We carry our passports and some cash on the road since some campsites don’t take credit cards. Therefore, we wanted a small safe to store our important documents and cash while traveling. I found just what I was looking for at Harbor Freight. It’s advertised as a personal gun safe, but it’s not gun specific…
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Spice Canisters Mod
Lisa does most (all?) of the cooking in Usain and she’s a master with spices. We found these magnetic spice canisters on Amazon and they work perfectly. I was afraid that bumps in the road might dislodge them but that has happened only rarely to a can or two. The bigger problem is my head…
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Fan Cover Mod
There are three times when it’s nice to be able to cover the MaxxAir fan in Usain’s ceiling: The magnetic cover we found on Amazon is perfect. It came with a nice storage bag but we simply slide it into one of the mesh pocket behind the driver’s seat. We use the bag to store…
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Lightstrip Mod
UPDATE: The original strip we installed in 2022 developed an issue, so it needed to replaced in 2026. We like the first one so well we went with the exact same product. It has actually improved during this time by providing a 4K remote that works without pointing it directly at the wired control. The…
