need plans for front dinette

[bigal1437]

I have a 1974 overlander. I would like to find drawings with dimensions, materials to use and any advise I can get. I recently stumbled onto some images that showed what I want. It showed lines with dimensions in red.
I can't find it again and I 'm not happy. HELP!!

Thanks. Bigal1437

[SpikeC]

I would like to find something like this as well, we are getting a '58 Overlander that has nothing in the front!

[ND10CentCan]

I would be interested in seeing the same information on making a dinette. That is next up after we make our first trip out in the trailer tomorrow. Once we have used it for a long trip, we ought to know what we would like for the dinette hopefully. It is always good to see what others have done though because you can benefit from their experience and know how. Thanks for sharing and asking the question.
Sandy

[Tom Nugler]

If you do a search of the Forum for dinette plans and pics you'll find lots of concepts and photos of the finished product. Plans are few and far between.
The problem here is that there are so many differences in trailer widths, lengths, window placements and personal preferences that they could only be used as a rough guide.
I designed and built the one for our Tradewind based on existing cabinetry, the diminutive stature of the better half (bench depth and height) the desire for shelves under the windows and the addition of 120 and 12 volt outlets and switches.
Plans, if I had actually done anything more than rough sketches, would be too short for a '74 Overlander and too narrow for a '58.
I'd suggest scanning the treads for pics and ideas, figuring out what will work in your particular situation. Mark out layout lines on the floor and walls with masking tape for benches and tables. Make rough wood or cardboard mockups if necessary. Don't forget to make allowances for the thickness of the cushions.
After you do all that you'll find nothing factory installed was built, or has remained, square or symmetrical. It took 3 months of trial and error cutting and fitting to get things to fit right.
It was a bigger project than it looked. I'm not trying to discourage you just some of the things I discovered doing my own build.


Good Luck,
Tom

[ddstech]

I have a 58 flying cloud. The dinette is next to do. I am starting on it next week. I will share my progress with you. I have a very good woodworker that helps me and provides great ideas.

The problem as stated earlier is that tanks and other things vary so much. But the general idea is the same.

More to come.

[SpikeC]

Many thanks, Tom, I have followed your advice and it looks much clearer now. The idea of cardboard mockups is golden!

[webspinner]

Tin Pickle Adventures: Front dinette/Double bed

This is the outline of our dinette project. I carefully measured the empty space in the front of the trailer and made plans from that. One problem is that there are almost no right angles on the inside of the trailer. For measuring and planning purposes, I created a starting line perpendicular to the doorway, a few inches forward of the door opening.

To make my plans, I found the halfway point on that line across the floor. This became my center line. I wanted the fronts of the dinette benches to be parallel with enough space between them for knees under a table. I worked the plans outward from there, measuring comfortable chairs (wooden Ikea folding chairs, in our case) for seat height, depth and slope for the back. I planned the seat height to allow for foam, assuming that the high density foam would squish to about half its thickness to give the final seat height.

It was my first woodworking project for our trailer, so I was extra careful to make sure that every bit of space was still accessible. The storage planning turned out to be unnecessary since we keep the dinette set up as our bed when we travel. The only spaces we can get to are the vertical places behind the main seat backs, and the drawers that pull out from the sides of the dinette.

I built another dinette in the back room that covers the battery/electrical systems and serves as a spare bed. We even have a bunk board that I made to turn the spare bed into bunks.

We like the versatility that custom designing offers. It might be a good idea to camp in your trailer as an aluminum tent while you figure out what features you might want or need.

[Foiled Again]

Out of sight, out of mind storage CAN make you more disorganized (or has anyone else ever found eight rolls of dental floss in the bathroom cabinets?)

I've always liked the look of the Eddie Bauer, but decried the loss of storage under the dinette and side couch, but then realized NO you don't have to lose that space - you have to have DISPLAY storage, not hidden storage. One of my best friends lives in an 1813 house with no closets or built in cabinets. He has no linen closet and a bathroom with NO storage in it. He keeps big wicker laundry baskets with his towels and washcloths in them (he chose jewel tones and rolls them up to look like tulips ... yes, he's gay, but the bathroom is wonderful!) His bedroom storage includes custom made clear lexan foot lockers. Everything stored there is on display as soon as he pulls it out from under the bed. He can find everything instantly. His third trick for storage is to label each drawer, box or bag attractively and prominently - and you can only have one "misc."

Here are a couple of things he and I came up with - just chatting about how small the Airstream is. The pantry in the 25 FB wastes more space than it uses. Measure the distance from the edge of the stove to the bathroom wall - 8 inches - yet the shelves on the pantry are 4 inches wide. You might get more real storage by having open shelves from the countertop to the overhead cabinets, and next to the stove a narrow cabinet for cookie sheets, griddles, aluminum foil and other odd stuff we all have to cook with. The real waste is the hidden "nook" under the bottom of the pantry. Big enough for 3 bottles of scotch, but if you peeled away the extra layers of wood, you could probably have a nice tilt out waste bin, something that kitchen needs.

Cabinet doors themselves themselves preclude use of the space in FRONT of the cabinet. I've got two ridiculous sliding doors in my bathroom - right by the throne. When I bought the Airstream they had round knobs installed on the front 2 inches from the edge of the drawer. They effectively limited the slide of each door by 2 inches - allowing an opening of about 5 inches on a 20 inch cabinet. Really fun when you need a new roll of TP - right NOW! I took the handles off, and replaced them with recessed pull out marine handles. Now the doors slide fully past each other - and open about 9.5 inches. Of course sliding completely past each other is a bit of a pain in the neck sometimes. Yesterday I removed the doors to clean out those shelves when an epiphany hit. The doors are GONE, and one more piece of the 'orrible bedspread is being turned into a curtain. I'll use two heavy duty spring rods top and bottom, and drill INTO the sides of each cabinet about 1/8 inch to recess the rods so they won't tend to fly out while traveling. When I want to clean I can simply pull the curtain out and clean the whole cupboard.

Next the medicine cabinet. I'm not tall. At least not tall enough to see DOWN into the bottom of the open shelf under the medicine cabinet.
As part of the great bathroom cleanout I located several lost partly used rolls of dental floss that had found nooks and crannies within the cabinet. One is now the "truck emergency roll" and I'm set for life with floss.

So Buddy & I agree, I'm pulling off the shelf fronts and replacing them with lexan, and the open shelf on the bottom? Going to have it remade - custom - in all lexan. I'm going to have some kind of holster for my blow dryer to hang from too. I'll have to keep the stuff in the bath neat, and dust at least weekly, but I generally do that anyway. Fortunately I won't have to learn how to do oragamy tulips with my towels because I only have 3.

And after that, the bedroom!

[rumrunner]

Check out R.J. Dials excellent vintage airstream blog for dimensions and diagrams Good attention to the details of angles etc. that make a dinette liveable instead of awful.
I seem to remember that this blog has been transferred to somewhere here in the forums but apparently I'm not smart enough to find it quickly. Maybe someone will chime in with better directions?
tim

[Ibenoverland]

Originally Posted by bigal1437

I have a 1974 overlander. I would like to find drawings with dimensions, materials to use and any advise I can get. I recently stumbled onto some images that showed what I want. It showed lines with dimensions in red.
I can't find it again and I 'm not happy. HELP!!

Thanks. Bigal1437

I just bought a 74 overlander 27' with a full bed in the rear, center bath I am not sure if it can be any help but I am sure it is original. Let me know.