Dinette conversion - 1963

[Cochese]

I have a 63 GT. Was wandering if anyone has removed the front gaucho and converted to a dinette. I have measured and found that the street side could be made to seat 2, but the curb side would only seat 1 adult.I thik it would be a nice addition for the fact of having a table that folds to complete the bed platform....any thoughts?

[InsideOut]

We have in our "64 GT...

Gaucho > Dinette

We have fit 4 around the table cozily ~

Shari

[goransons]

that's our plan on the 66, a 4 seater. Only thing I haven't addressed is figuring out fresh water tank placement. I hate to take out foot room under the front window. On our 69 we made a U shape and the tank was under the seat itself, but no room on the overlander for that. I'm affraid if I put one tank on the street side it won't pull right, other option is two smaller tanks, but then adding a second filler and plumbing to join them.

[InsideOut]

We didn't have to deal with that...our tank is already on the side, under the bed. I could see if the tank was in the front, the loss of leg room would be a problem.

Shari

[goransons]

Shari so it was down one side of the trailer (such as street side)? Was that original that way?

[InsideOut]

Yes, it is down the streetside under the gaucho/bed and it is original. I know in other models & different years it was located in the front, but in our '64 GT it.s not. You can see it below during our restoration...there is also a filler tube to the exterior side that matches every other '64 GT we have ever seen.



Shari

[05ModPod]

Originally Posted by Cochese

I have a 63 GT. Was wandering if anyone has removed the front gaucho and converted to a dinette. I have measured and found that the street side could be made to seat 2, but the curb side would only seat 1 adult.I thik it would be a nice addition for the fact of having a table that folds to complete the bed platform....any thoughts?

Hi Cochese,

We also have a 63 GT. We have looked at several different interior re-designs. As the orginal layout seemed to omit the use of any sort of dinette - perhaps it was just a sleep and eat outside model

We looked at a front dinette but it is really tight with the galley being on the street side and not much space from the door to the front.

I have seen pictures of another 63 with traditional booth style side dinette but with the wheel well and only being 7' wide that also was a really tight squeeze for four.

As both setups have you making the bed each time the option of a permanent bed set up was sort of abandoned.

So after all of our deliberations we settled with the following.

We are going to incorporate the Panamerican side dinning table set up - but the table will not use such large bulky posts or top as pictured below. We are thinking of perhaps a more boomerang shape to the table with possibly a drop leaf or pull out section for extra counter space or serving space during meals. With the addition of folding stools there could be seating for six - with two on either side and one at each end.




For the front we have decided to go again with the Safari Sport L-slide out couch system.



This shows the stow away table - but we were not impressed and the leg room was very very tight and I had the table almost on the floor at first attempt to get in during an RV show besides we have two big dogs and with that table we would never survive without the meals ending up all over us.



There is still room to get in and out of the door so if you are not one to make up and take down the bed every day then for two people you could get away with not having to and use the side couch for both entertaining and meals.

We will also use the same slide out system on the curb side couch incorporating a spot for the table top and legs to be stowed while the bed is in use.

FYI a few other mods we are deviating from original are...
- a revised double closet taking 1/3 of the first closet closest to the Galley for a new pantry.
- Reshaping the back closet to move forward and provide more space for the toilet seating.
- Duplicate the safari rear vanity style and shape (the ledge will be slightly thinner.)
- Install a safari shower stall in place of the original tube.
- Remove the original heater and replace with a compact heater located beside the new water heater behind the street side wheel well.

As the 63 is 19' it is the best of both the safari sport 17' model and the 22' models. And it has more windows thus is much brighter than the current sport models

May consider installing a grey tank but then the 15 gallon "Pop Up" trailer style blue buggy has worked just fine with our 69 - so we may not go to that expense and mess about with the trailers centre of gravity. although we could do one forward of the new axle that we bumped up to 3500#'s from the existing 3200# (just in case we did go with some extra weight in tanks and new cabinetry or to give us more cargo weight carrying capacity.

If you can change out your axle too - then you will be far ahead of the current model in carrying capacity even the 22' model.
(although you do get a bit more with the CSA models) Keep in mind that the 63 is considerably lighter all round and can take a 3500# axle - although I would not push it to a 4000# to stiff for the size.

Carol (wheelinterested) gave us a heads up on that small carrying capacity oversight - as we were seriously considering buying the 17' but then decided to retrofit the 19' instead.

And then life just got too complicated and we decided to buy a newer trailer after all going with the 22' CCD International that was built during the years of 03-06 we bought an 05

Hope this might give you some ideas.

[MayaPapaya]

I love your design sense and some of the ideas were really helpful. I'm trying to sort out what to do with my '62. I loved the slickness of these ideas. Without being a slave to what was there previously, I feel like it totally carries the feel of what people liked at that time.