Excella:couch out - recliners in. Good idea?

[mudmuffin]

I own a 1994 Excella 30 ft with dinette. The couch is in excellent shape but not comfortable for sitting and reading. Any guest could use the fold down dinette as a bed but this would be infrequent. I am thinking of pulling the couch out and replacing with two rocker recliners which would suit our travel needs much better. The question is will this neagtively effect the value upon resale some day and how to cover the battery boxes/converter boxes? Thanks for your thoughts folks and attachment of pictures if you have done this would be appreciated. Charles & MaryLynn

[Kevin245]

Hello M2,

You're not the first to consider this path. Here are some threads on that subject and recliners in Airstreams as well.


http://www.airforums.com/forums/f46/...light=recliner

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f38/...light=recliner

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f39/...light=recliner

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f38/...light=recliner

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f46/...light=recliner

Best of luck,

Kevin

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by mudmuffin

Thanks for your thoughts folks and attachment of pictures if you have done this would be appreciated. Charles & MaryLynn

I did this in my 2005 Classic 28. The posts from about #200 on at http://www.airforums.com/forums/f296...-17610-18.html shows the cabinets I built in the front of the trailer. Previous posts in that thread show a step by step sequence of building and installing the new cabinets and show how I relocated the converter.

[SSChanger]

We have a similar 1994 30' Excella, and the previous owner discarded the "groucho" (because it was uncomfortable and made people grouchy when they slept on it) with a double recliner.

Here's a tip: Remove the bottom part of the gaucho but save the top to cover the battery boxes. It's a small, but useful advantage--it'll give you an extra three inches.

As for the resale deal: We paid twice what the NADA said for our unit. (notice that "NADA" is the word for "nothing" in Spanish, which is a clue to its relevance). Our Excella did not have the gaucho, but was in very good overall shape, and we didn't blink an eye at the difference. These rigs are not like classic cars, in my humble opinion. People buy them for their utility and quality. The dual recliners are very comfortable, and by moving the table from curb side to street side, we can use it now too.

Good luck! Suggest worrying more about how you'll enjoy your unit and not about resale. I think your '94 will hold its value and then some over the years!

[deauxrite]

This is our installation. The edge of the couch now has a magazine rack that cleans up the installation. The heater doubles as a place to put the satellite box and remote..and coffee cups if care is exercised!

As for resale, I think that it has little or no effect, though people have told me that they would much prefer the way that we have it over the standard install.

Good luck!

[Airslide]

That looks great! Really clean and uncluttered.

Good job.

Vinnie

[bugsbunny]

Deauxrite,

Would you please tell us about your heater?

Thx
Bugs

[deauxrite]

The heater is a 2500 BTU Electric. We bought it at Lowes during the fall. They make two sizes and this is the smaller of the two. The neatest part is that you can run the heater on low, high or just the light for those evenings when the temps do not require the heat.

[mouth012006]

we are also thinking about doing this except not in the front of our Argosy but on the side where we have already removed our twin beds....was thinking about putting a fold up type bed on one side and a set of chairs on the other....where did you get your chairs?

[deauxrite]

Those are "Stressless" brand chairs that I bought in San Antonio. A google search will return a nearby dealer.