Is the separate dinette worth it?

[Riskinator]

Question for those more knowledgeable than I.

- Considering a 27' GB FB twin; love the storage, interior, etc.
- Comparing that to the 28' International (or Pottery Barn) which has the rear twin bed (which I prefer for sleeping, loaded towing, etc.). This has the separate dining booth at the expense of storage.

Question:

For those that have the 28' do you like the separate couch and dining booth? Ideally, love to hear from those that have had both; the couch/dining table combo and those that have the separate dinette table. I notice that with the separate booth you actually get two large windows that face your own campsite not the neighbours! Is that a big deal?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Regards,

Ian

[CRH]

The lack of a dinette is something I appreciated about my trailer. I find most dinettes to be small and uncomfortable.

[Doc Savage]

I have the 28 RBT 2022 International. The two things I don't like are the dinette. and the sofa couch. I will start with the dinette. The cushions sink and become uncomfortable and the space between the tabletop edge and yourself is very tight fitting. I would change the table hardware for a pedestal, that would allow height adjustment and be lowered to make a bed, when needed. An alternate plan would be to turn the Left bench assembly and secure it under the window to open up floor space at the door, leaving about 12 inches for a shoe cabinet. You would then have an L-shape seating and a need for about a 16 x 36 inch wide table on a pole pedestal to be removed during travel.

The sofa couch is all about the lack of comfort to watch a movie or sit there to read. The vinyl cushions are slippery and slide out, along with the foam cushions being just awful. We have cloth material on the cushions and the bed is used for the grandkids, so no thoughts on removing them for recliners. The tv is over the dinette area and sitting on the sofa is the best location for viewing.

[Riskinator]

Originally Posted by Doc Savage

I have the 28 RBT 2022 International. The two things I don't like are the dinette. and the sofa couch. I will start with the dinette. The cushions sink and become uncomfortable and the space between the tabletop edge and yourself is very tight fitting. I would change the table hardware for a pedestal, that would allow height adjustment and be lowered to make a bed, when needed. An alternate plan would be to turn the Left bench assembly and secure it under the window to open up floor space at the door, leaving about 12 inches for a shoe cabinet. You would then have an L-shape seating and a need for about a 16 x 36 inch wide table on a pole pedestal to be removed during travel.

The sofa couch is all about the lack of comfort to watch a movie or sit there to read. The vinyl cushions are slippery and slide out, along with the foam cushions being just awful. We have cloth material on the cushions and the bed is used for the grandkids, so no thoughts on removing them for recliners. The tv is over the dinette area and sitting on the sofa is the best location for viewing.

That is very helpful, thank you! I wonder if the cloth couch and dinette and adjustable table of the Pottery Barn would be a different experience.

I just love the rear bed so much better than the front bed but don't want get this at the cost of a comfortable lounge area....

[Bcc75]

The seating material in the Globetrotter is so much more comfortable than the international. It’s textured and not as slippery. One of the prime reasons we went with the GT. However you cannot get the 28RB in the GT.

[StuartsDad]

We have a 28 rbq and selected it over the 27 because of the floor plan. We like the L- couch across the front for tv viewing. In a 27, we felt we would be sitting sideways at the dinette to watch TV. They are both good layouts. We spent a lot of time at the dealer, on more than one visit, hanging out in each. Almost every time we went from one, back to the other, we would notice something different. I agree, the foam density sucks, and many have changed foam to correct. In our model, the foam was not specific to the trailer length. Can't speak to the other trim levels.

[PB_NB]

We have a dinette and it has the ultra leather covers. We took the lower cushions to a foam shop and had them replaced with a nicer dense foam. Makes a huge difference. If I had a couch, I would do the same with the lower cushions to make it more comfortable.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by Riskinator

Question for those more knowledgeable than I.

Question:

For those that have the 28' do you like the separate couch and dining booth? Ideally, love to hear from those that have had both; the couch/dining table combo and those that have the separate dinette table. I notice that with the separate booth you actually get two large windows that face your own campsite not the neighbours! Is that a big deal?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Regards,

Ian

May or not be responsive to your question, but here goes anyway....

Or first trailer was a 2001 Safari 25. The original owner had removed the sofa and added recliners. There was no dinette. When trying to eat, the recliners would rock back so that one had to do sit ups to hold over a plate on a TV Tray-equivalent. Not ideal.

Our next trailer was/is a 2002 Classic 30 slideout. I replaced the sleeper sofa with a recliner sofa. One criteria for the trailer to follow the Safari was to have a dinette. We find it excellent for two and usable for four. no more sit-up exercises to eat out of the recliners.

Admittedly we spend more time inside than most, probably. I can count on one hand the meals we have taken at a site picnic table.


Al

[Thiss]

Absolutely love our 28 Twin. We have logged 33 nights in its since November and it is easily the best floor plan of the three trailers we have had.

We are a family of 4 though and the separate sleeping space is vital for the kids. On the nights when it has just been the kids and me we were able to leave the dinette up and I enjoyed it for coffee and early morning work before heading out to ski. We could also easily fit two more people too.

Our Overlander (same length as 28) had the gaucho with the folding table and meals for all four were not comfortable. Meals at our new dinette are one of our favorite aspects of our new trailer.

We have a FC and have no complaints about the cushions, but if the Pottery Barn had been in the budget I would have been tempted.

Word of caution on the double windows, if the window closest to door is open, it is in the way of the door and can cause a nasty scratch on the door.

[KHarris]

We have had both set ups. Our previous trailer was a 25 foot international and we wanted to upgrade two twin beds. When we saw the dinette that sealed the deal and we have a 28 foot international with rear twin bed and separate dinette.

We love it! It gives everyone a comfortable place to sit, especially when there's more than two of us, when the weather is not ideal, or when one of us is working. It's very spacious and comfortable, and we love the large windows.

My brother just purchased a 27 foot flying cloud with out the dinette and he said he wished that he had gotten it.

Hope that helps!

[gzvette61]

We have a FC 28 RBQ. We went for this floor plan because of the sofa seating at the front. There is alot of storage under the sofa, and the FC also has the storage cabinets above the dinette table. We like the fact that we have a comfortable place to sit when we don't want to sit at the table. We will often extend the bed portion of the couch and use the larger area similar to a recliner for reading, surfing, or TV watching. Our previous class C didn't have a comfortable place to sit other than the dinette, and this was one of the reasons we got rid of it. We haven't found that or ultraleather cushions slide around much.

[ChrisC]

We were looking at two different Airstreams. We bought a 28ft FC because our friends the salesmen and manager (Bruce Miller and Mike Harlan) told my wife, "With the dinette you could host a wine tasting for 7 friends."

That decided it. We had that Airstream for 6 years and recently purchased a 2023 30 ft International (from Bruce and Mike) which also has a dinette. We like that the dinette can be used for under table storage on the floor or can make into a bed.

[B17drvr]

Love our 28RBQ Pottery Barn floor plan. The sofa is more comfortable than our one at home. We prefer the separate booth as it gives a "dining room".
We had booths in our previous motor coaches and airstreams and that is what we prefer. It all comes down to what you like and works best for you.

[LWinters]

We had a 25’ and have since traded for the 28’..,for two reasons - in the 25’ you are always sitting sideways to watch TV & when our grandkids are with us, they can sleep on the couch and we can still use the dinette for morning coffee etc. we have enjoyed the 28’ and have just replaced the front couch with a loveseat recliners, put rollout shelves in the wardrobe for a pantry & added an electric lift to the bed for easy access to the storage. Much more comfortable & plenty of storage room to travel on long trips

[Hermes]

We were in the same decision situation you are in. We chose tbe 28' for the following reasons:

- Since ce we spend 4-6 months per year traveling (retired couple, grown kids) we like to have separate spaces, the dinette and the "lounge" area. My wife takes the dinette area, and I take the lounge area. I have a folding table that I can use there if needed.

- The dinette table can be used as an extension to the kitchen counter when preparing meals, you turn around and it's there.

- When sitting at the dinette, the drawers are at arms length, so is tbe counter, very convenient.

- When sitting on the front end side of the dinette we can watch the television screen face on. It's not theater seating but it works fine for us.

- We chose the 28' vs the 25' for the walk around queen bed. Twin beds would probably work fine in a 25'.

- And finally, it was not part of our decision criteria at the time, but an RB model doesn't have the front end storage bin behind the propane tanks, it's in the rear which is more convenient in addition to the problems many have had with front end separation in FB models due to structural issues. This may have been corrected in recent models.

[Thiss]

The exterior storage compartments and the less chance of front end separation were both major considerations for us choosing the 28.

I think the 28 is a great model, is rarely seen on a dealer lot.

[Greg1960]

We’ve had a 25’ FC and now a 28’ RBT International Serenity.

The 25’ had a dinette that had to be reconfigured every time we wanted living space. With the 28’ and separate dinette, no such issue. The only issues with the 28’ model in general is the window adjacent to the door. Don’t open it except for cleaning unless you want to replace it.

The only issue with the international version are the vista view windows over the dinette instead of cabinets. They are mounted below the awning, so not functional when the awning is deployed.

Other than that, the International Serenity is nice and bright inside, but that flavor is a collectors item now & I haven’t kept up with new color schemes.

[David in Lex]

We have a FC 30, so not strictly pertinent to your question. But I can say that we use the dinette often, both for eating and when I need a ‘desk’ for doing stuff on the computer or iPad. And we use the separate sofa too, for reading, tv watching, and guitar playing. If we stop doing multi-month trips and downsize to a smaller AS, I’m sure we’ll miss these features.

[superChop]

How many days will you be using your AS? We have a 26’ vintage w/o a dinette and decided it was too inconvenient for long term stays wintering over in FL. We purchased a dedicated to one RV park, a 34’ AS and LOVE the dinette! We have recently decided to order a 30’ with 20% off sticker, and take it everywhere.

if you spend a lot of nights in your AS most of our AS friends prefer flexibility of a dinette.

It would be nice if you share with all of us what your decision is and why you selected your AS.

[DonDiego]

We considered the 27FB Twin vs the 28 Twin as well.

In addition to the benefits mentioned so far in this post, on thing that convinced us to go 28 was that the dinette offers alternative counter-top for preparing meals. Its location makes it easy to turn and use the table for food prep.

On a side note, both the model 27 and the model 28 are actually the same length..... 27'.
Also, we went with the Flying Cloud so as to have the storage above the dinette.

Originally Posted by Riskinator

Question for those more knowledgeable than I.

- Considering a 27' GB FB twin; love the storage, interior, etc.
- Comparing that to the 28' International (or Pottery Barn) which has the rear twin bed (which I prefer for sleeping, loaded towing, etc.). This has the separate dining booth at the expense of storage.

Question:

For those that have the 28' do you like the separate couch and dining booth? Ideally, love to hear from those that have had both; the couch/dining table combo and those that have the separate dinette table. I notice that with the separate booth you actually get two large windows that face your own campsite not the neighbours! Is that a big deal?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Regards,

Ian