25' FB remodel

[Chief]

Originally Posted by Tincrew

Your remodel looks great. We also have a 25'fb and find the dinette uncomfortable for TV viewing but we don't want to lose the table. We've been thinking of removing the curbside (smaller) couch & replacing it with a small euro style recliner. We thought we could replace the table with a drop leaf version and keep all the pcs so we could un-do the re-do when necessary. Any ideas on this??

Leslie

Leslie,

Will use a pic to answer your question. Everything can go back to original in a couple of hours. Table is butcher block from Camping World, with some custom anchors/attachments.

Ron

[bolerama]

Originally Posted by Chief

Leslie,

Will use a pic to answer your question. Everything can go back to original in a couple of hours. Table is butcher block from Camping World, with some custom anchors/attachments.

Ron

Hi Ron...that looks really cool. We have a 23foot with the same layout (just narrower). It adds possibilities!
Lisa

[wheel interested]

Ron that looks super too, a superchief! It looks comfortable for lounging and you still have a flip up table (?) when you want. The door corner is perfect for that chair. I also like the memorbilia and decorations on your upper cabinets and over them. Nice look and feel to your coach also. I am loving this thread and the modifications people have done to their newer Airstreams. You don't see as much of those ideas as we generally do on the vintage ASs, so thank you very much for posting these unique improvements. I would never have thought of either of these. Nice to see it implimented.

[Antique Pedaler]

We're working on the same tight dinette situation. Although we are a fairly slim couple, it's a tight squeeze to sit down or get up. The last straw was when I bumped the bottom of the table top with my leg while getting up and dumped a filled glass all over the place. So what we're doing is replacing the 35" X 40" dinette table top with a matching 26" x 40" designed for the Bambi. It's on order and should be here from the factory in a couple of weeks. If that works, it will be a relatively simple answer.

[fmr.capt.evi]

Great improvement, Mike........I've made mine "less uncomfortable" by reducing the height of the sofa cushions by 3" and by reducing the length of the dinette table top by a few inches. It's better, but now I won't be happy until I do what you did!! Thanks.

[airbassador]

That looks really good. Nice work!

[Gene]

Originally Posted by wheel interested

It looks comfortable for lounging

That chair is comfortable. I got to sit in it and didn't want to get up.

We also look at that area differently. I love a table for my laptop and wish it were bigger so I could leave the laptop on it when we eat. The cushions aren't very comfortable, but I can live with them.

Our plan is to replace the cheapo table top with a nice one made of real wood. I went looking for hardwood in Grand Junction yesterday and found maple and oak at Sutherlands, oak Home Depot and Lowe's. I was looking for hickory since natural hickory has some nice grain. We heard one lumberyard that used to stock hardwoods went out of business 2 weeks ago and when we went to another, they had no hardwoods. If you want to stay in business vs. the big box stores, don't you have to have things they don't carry? Will look some more another time.

I plan to add about 3" to the length of the table—make it 43"—to fit more stuff on it.

Gene

[mike rogers]

Before the remodel I had replaced the table with an Oak veneer one with walnut edging. (The old white laminate table was ugly.) When I advertised the old dinette set on craigslist one guy came out to look and did not buy the dinette but did buy the table top. I used the Plywood based material because it was so much lighter than solid material. especially when making it into a bed.

Cheif--I think your set up looks great!

Mike

[wheel interested]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I plan to add about 3" to the length of the table—make it 43"—to fit more stuff on it.

Gene

I really think a rear wrap around window affords the best views. As far as extending the present table length, would a hinged extension be viable as a modification? A convertable drop down table would also be a good option. Thinner certainly is another way to go. If the rear could be a side to side couch and the side have narrow cabinets ending with a credenza under the tv next to the refrigerator, I think that would be ideal but the door is too far back to extend a sofa into a bed without obstructing the door to mention the furnance and wheel well. I think removing the Zip Dee credenza inside the door and relocating one with a base equal to the clearance needed for the TV on the fridge wall or a tad wider and making the side lounge less long would add space for microwave or allin one printer under the TV and over the chair storage and give width at the entrance and the couch width at the rear as a modification.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by wheel interested

As far as extending the present table length, would a hinged extension be viable as a modification?

Carol, we discussed that and decided it would perform the duty of whacking us in the knees when we tried to get out or in if it were down, and get in the way when up. The space between the dinette and sink manages to accumulate stuff—wet boots among other things. Thus the space next to the sink cabinet can't be made much smaller.

Gene

[Tincrew]

Originally Posted by Chief

Leslie,

Will use a pic to answer your question. Everything can go back to original in a couple of hours. Table is butcher block from Camping World, with some custom anchors/attachments.

Ron

Hail to the Chief! This is exactly what I was thinking, I have a couple of questions. 1-What size chair did you use? (we're looking at the small Stressless or similar.) 2-Are you able to lift the table leaf & sit at the table in your chair or are the arms in the way. (I was thinking of making a drop leaf table going the other way, same as original length, so we could still sit & eat, play games, compute, etc. 3-Any problems reclining, space wise?

Thanks,

Leslie

[Chief]

Originally Posted by Tincrew

Hail to the Chief! This is exactly what I was thinking, I have a couple of questions. 1-What size chair did you use? (we're looking at the small Stressless or similar.) 2-Are you able to lift the table leaf & sit at the table in your chair or are the arms in the way. (I was thinking of making a drop leaf table going the other way, same as original length, so we could still sit & eat, play games, compute, etc. 3-Any problems reclining, space wise?

Thanks,

Leslie

1. A normal size recliner is too big for the space you're working with. The chair that I have is made by Benchmaster, Ventura model, color is taupe. Price is about 1/4 of a stressfree (I know...I have an Ikorne in my living room). Here is a link: Leather Recliner - BenchMaster Ventura
2. I just searched Camping World's website for the table we used, but evidently it has been discontinued. It really worked out great for us....actually has two drop leaves (one attached to the wall), and can easily be removed for use outside the trailer. The first pic is a better view of the leaf in the up position.

I used the bar from the original table to attach this one to the wall, as shown in the second pic. I tapped a couple of holes for thumb screws to keep the bar from slipping out of the brackets. I also attached a small bracket to the floor, just to anchor the table a bit more.

Reclining is no problem.....staying awake is another question. I do not anchor the chair to the floor, and have had no problems since the mod.....about 8,000 miles of towing. The chair came with an ottoman, but I prefer to use the one in the pic as it serves double-duty for shoe storage. The only slight problem I have with this setup is that it is difficult to eat at the table while sitting in the recliner....your sitting position is a little far from the table. Most of the time I either use a tray, or just hold the plate.

Hope this helps with your mods.

Ron

BTW, I hated the original dinette seat by the door.....I don't know how anyone can sit there for longer than 15 mins.

[Tincrew]

Chief, thanks so much for the pics & link. It really helps to get us going, I'll be sure to post pics when I get done. You're right about that dinette, the chair will be for my "King", but I'm really looking forward to the big couch!

Leslie

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Chief

BTW, I hated the original dinette seat by the door.....I don't know how anyone can sit there for longer than 15 mins.

Ron, it takes training. But you wouldn't like our living room sofa and chair—also hard cushions, but the dinette seat is even harder. I can sit there for hours and will never fall asleep. The bed is also very hard, but we solved that with a foam topper.

Gene

[wmarsha]

Gene C. is the above place still around in Denver? They had a superb reputation and wonderful woods.
ol' Bill

[Gene]

wmarsha,

We are 240 miles from Denver, so I'm pretty much out of touch. The place I knew about when we lived much closer was Paxton. They have stores in 5 cities including Denver. I couldn't find Anthony Jacobs on a quick internet search. I may check Santa Fe since we'll be there in a month, or I could go with maple. It's a good wood, but not my first choice for grain. The problem is that it's getting harder to get items that are not the biggest sellers when the big box stores move in and eventually drive smaller businesses out. In this case it's Lowe's and Home Depot plus the Great Recession and a big drop off in natural gas development because on many new discoveries across the US that area cheaper to develop than areas near Grand Junction. GJ was booming a few years ago and unemployment was very low—a Burger King even offered a signing bonus. Not so now. And we have a few more possibilities to check in GJ for wood, but making a table may conflict with the fact we may buy new kitchen cabinets and I'll be installing a new kitchen this spring, then getting ready to go to Alaska at the end of May. Not sure how I can find time to do all this and may be taking lots of ibuprofen.

But enough of that.

Some of us start transforming our trailers as soon as we get them. Sometimes it is just because we want to make it ours, sometimes it's because Airstream does a bad job with interiors, sometimes both. Having seen Ron and Jenn's trailer, I can tell you they did a very nice job. I'd like to replace the cushions in ours, but I haven't convinced Barb she wants to make new cushions and probably never will succeed in that effort. I know I am hopeless at sewing, so I'm not going to do it. Custom work is very expensive and I'd rather spend money on other things that I can do or improve safety and reliability.

Gene

[Tincrew]

I'm with you on that mattress topper Gene, we put in a memory foam on our first long trip and it made all the difference in the world.

I hope some other members post pics of their upgrades, I've seen some beautiful things folks have done out there. (ASwiffey where are you??)

Leslie

[Blue Pearl]

One persons garbage is anothers treasure. I brought Mikes dinette for my 81 excella 11 last friday, put it in the back of my PT cruiser (yes), and took it home, Yesterday took out the sofa and all the stuff behind it, started the remod until the grandkids came to spend the night. They tried it out for sleeping and should work for a couple of years. Nothing done today so tomorrow I hope to finish except for new slipcovers. I love the new look and it takes no more space then the sofa. Thanks Mike

[Antique Pedaler]

Originally Posted by Antique Pedaler

We're working on the same tight dinette situation. Although we are a fairly slim couple, it's a tight squeeze to sit down or get up. The last straw was when I bumped the bottom of the table top with my leg while getting up and dumped a filled glass all over the place. So what we're doing is replacing the 35" X 40" dinette table top with a matching 26" x 40" designed for the Bambi. It's on order and should be here from the factory in a couple of weeks. If that works, it will be a relatively simple answer.

The Bambi table top arrived, complete with mounting hardware attached. The hardware placement and dimensions are the same as for the larger Flying Cloud. So it took about a minute to remove and replace the table top. You'd never notice the difference unless you got out a tape measure. But we now have 4 1/2 " of additional space on each side.

I would think this switch would work on any rear mounted dinette table and maybe other models. The down side for some would be that the new table top is too narrow to convert the dinette to a bed. We'll keep the original table top just in case we ever invite sleepovers.

No benefit in taking a picture, the table still looks stock.