couch replacement

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Z

ztimbo

Member
Joined
May 25, 2007
Posts
22
Location
Austin, Texas
I tried search but didnt see anything.  Is it possbile to replace the RV couch with a regular one?  I have a leather couch that would match perfectly with the leather furnishings in the RV, the existing couch is not leather and kinda ugly.
Thanks
 
Usually the couches used in RV/s come apart into two or more pieces to allow getting them into or out of the RV.  Regualr couches may prove very difficult to get into a RV.
 
Additionally RV couches (that came with the RV) are matched to holes drilled in the floor, to keep it from going anywhere.  You really don't want a household couch in there that could go flying some direction like a missile if you were ever in the crash.  Not a nice thought I know, but something you've got to consider.

I have a similar problem in that my original RV couch is worn in and worn out.  It's an L-shaped jackknife couch (folds down to a bed), and is pretty much impossible to replace.  I'm looking into reupholster options now, and would be interested in hearing from anyone that has done that.
 
If-- the big word-- you could angle that new couch in the door- you might be able to swap the old one out. Angle brackets can be installed to keep that thing from moving around. What width entry door do you have on your coach?
 
Check the surplus places or call a few dealers.  Sometimes dealers remove stuff from new RV/s at purchasers request.  They may have something for sale.
 
I'm looking into reupholster options now, and would be interested in hearing from anyone that has done that.
Click to expand...

Scott,

We removed our jack knife sofa to make room for a desk. But the regular sofa was threadbare in a short time, and we had it re-upholstered at a Monaco service center. Turns out they sub-contracted the work, in this case to Countryside Interiors in Junction City, OR.
 
Hey Tom, just sent you a PM on that topic before seeing this response.  What that re-cover something you paid out-of-pocket for, or was that the warranty work mentioned in another thread?  I'm wondering what kind of price tag I might be facing for a basic reupholster (no fancy fabric, something basic) and some added padding in some areas.
 
Scotty, being in illinois, you might want to treat Momma to a day trip to Elkhart Indiana and search the surplus places for a nice couch replacement or upholstery shop.  Prices should be fair, I would think.
 
Scott,

Our sofa re-covering was covered under warranty, otherwise Chris would have done it herself. She almost asked Monaco to provide just the fabric, but realized how much work is involved.

Check your PM.
 
Has any one tried these guys?  http://www.discountvantruck.com/discountrvaccessories/rvfurniture.htm
The pictures look good  Don
 
When I tried to do the same thing, because in my case, it was cheaper just to buy a new regular sofa than to upholster the one in the MH, someone mentioned that I might have a problem with the Department of Motor Vehiclew Safety, becuase the one in the MH is made of steel structure and the regular household sofa is wood, which could be safety hazard in the event of an accident. :-\
 
Since RV operation and driver status is a gray area and barely covered (or not covered at ALL) in most state vehicle codes, I seriously doubt that any type of furniture in the RV will get flagged by any kind of enforcement.  It probably would be safer overall to have metal-framed furniture in the event of a crash... it's more likely to stay attached to the floor with factory bolts.  But when we bought our RV, the stock (metal framed) sofa bolts had been removed and the thing wasn't attached at all.  ::)  I do have a dilemma of the mounting holes lining up with a replacement sofa, if I ever find one.  It seems unlikely that things would work out that well...
 
My wife has re-upholstered our dinette seats and backs, the couch , the drivers captain's chair and is working on the passenger side captain's chair now. They look really good. She started the second week of Dec.
She is using UltraLeather Plus - kind of pricey but supposed to be very durable. She saw prices from about $80 per yard up to well over $100 per yard.

She has bought new fabric and will redo the valances also. We are removing the day/night shades and installing the MCD dual shades.

After she finishes I plan to post info and pictures.
 
We are having our couch and dinette reupholstered at a local place here in Saint Marys, GA. We were quoted about $1200 for work and fabric, including a new head board as well. And they also said 3 weeks for completion. We considered buying new but would have still had to do the dinette and headboard. The material we went with is a vinyl that looks and feels like leather. We will post pictures when we get it all back.
 
With any of the above reupholstery jobs, are you having any padding replaced?  Are local shops able to do that?  Our sofa problem is with the padding being worn out as much as the fabric, considering that the original adult male owner of our rig had removed the rear bed and slept on the couch every night.  The seating cushion is pretty flattened and uncomfortable as a result.
 
Ours does not need any replacement padding but they can surely do that as well. Even go as far as to let u pick the type u want for a more soft or firm feel.
 
Upholstery foam is readily available in different thicknesses and densities. When my other half re-upholsters sofas, chairs, and beds on boats, some folks want the foam replaced or upgraded, while others prefer to use the original foam. The incremental cost of upholstery foam is relatively small in the bigger picture, and certainly less expensive than deciding you want new foam after the job is complete (that has been known to happen).
 
I was told many years ago if you are going to go through all of the work to reupholster anything to replace all the padding too.  One year in Tucson I reupholstered our couch and window trim but didn't replace the padding on one of the window frames and was sorry.  Tom is right about the padding being relatively small compared to the big picture.
 
We are planning on using the framing from our dinnette seats to make a couch down the side and it will be bolted in.  May be able to use the seat belts or at least one, we shall see.  I have the long pieces of fabric from the beds in the cabover.  I washed it and its like new, looks great.  I'm thinking of taking some firm foam I had bought, man is that stuff expensive, and making cushions from it and making new covers from these pieces so it will match the rest in there.  The chair isn't worn, going to us upholstery shampoo on it.  Probably the drivers seat and passenger could be replaced but they aren't worn through or anything so will try just cleaning that upholstery too.  But we are replacing the carpet in the drivers area, its filthy.  Hubby said if this motorhome only had 50k miles or something on it he would just gut it and completely redo it but we are putting more work in it now then we intended.  But the majority is just our labor, not big dollars other then the mattresses so far.
 
When we started our remodeling project, we had just intended to rip out the carpet and replace it with laminate and do a few other things.. we ended up just gutting it and we're redoing everything... the more I looked at how it was put together, the more I realized just how simple the construction was. so, no fear with not being able to put it back together.. I'm confident it will be much better after we're finished than the original construction... it will definitely be wired better.. what a mess... circuits were overloaded.. a rats nest of wired behind the converter.. some wires weren't attached to anything.. I've completely redesigned the wiring system.. reconfiguring  cabinets to make use of every available inch... lot of work involved, but well worth it!

As for our couch.. I've bought a new jack knife sofa and I'm building a new base for it.. the old coach sat on a flimsy frame made of 2x4's with a flap that lifted up so you could shove blankets and pillows underneath.. the new frame will be more sturdy and will have drawers for storage..
 
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