Dinette Removal 29R

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Indy Itasca

Indy Itasca

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2009
Posts
50
Location
Indianapolis, IN
I think I want to remove the dinette from our Itasca 29R. We seldom use it and I think the space would be much better used by a euro-style chair and maybe one of those bookcase / fold up tables that I've seen around.  I doesn't appear to be a difficult job. I've looked at the drawings and I don't see any problems with wiring or hidden panels.  Looks like it is screwed together with "L" brackets and then screwed to the floor and walls. The seat belts appear to be bolted all the way through the floor and into the basement compartments. It looks like the retaining bolt is actually welded to a 2 inch square steel plate and that is screwed to the top of the basement compartment.  Does anyone know if this is correct?  What other problems might I have that I haven't considered.  I plan on keeping all the parts and hopefully could put it all back together if / when we trade.  I'm interested in all your thoughts both good and bad on this.  DW is a little nervous about taking things out of the MH that are bolted down.
 
Bruce - I've never been a fan of dinettes starting with boats and continuing with RVs and I think you have an entirely valid idea and I have a big thumbs up for you.  If you don't have specific answers about the seat belt bolts, give Winnie a call and I'll bet they can give you specific answers.
 
We had the dinette removed from our Tiffin Allegro Bus.  It was done professionally, but we watched them do it.  It was held down by L-brackets and a couple of screws; and came out really easily, we could have done it.  The one thing to make sure is if there is carpet under the dinette.  It was on ours.  They replaced the dinette with a pull out table/credenza combination.  We then removed the couch and had a lower credenza and a computer corner table with file drawers put in.  We bought an euro chair which I love.  I've attached a photo.

When they pulled the seat belts out, they just unscrewed the bolts and pulled them out from the top; but there was a steel plate underneath. 

Marsha~

 

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I've been meaning to reply to this post, but I forgot.  Marsha....I love the small pull out table area....the wood looks like it matches almost perfectly!  :)

We've owned 13 RV's and every single one have had the lame "dinette", and I am SICK of them.  My back hurts to even think about sitting at the table, and we use ours for storage mainly.  When our daughter and her friends go with us, the usually sit at the dinette, otherwise it sits empty.  The only redeeming quality of these things are, that you can fold down the table and make a "bed" (no way I would attempt to sleep in it) for company....albeit a short person.

Our next RV will NOT have the dinette, and since now we are empty nesters (depresses me to say that!), we will go with the small table and chairs....mainly for laptop usage.   ;)

Now to the OP....my brother has a 29R, and since there is not a chair in it, the dinette removal would be a MUST as the only places to sit in the 29R is at the dinette and the couch.....I would removed the dinette and go with a Euro Chair, which have become so popular.
 
We are really pleased with the set-up.  I thought I'd miss the couch; but the euro chair lays back almost totally flat, so I can lay back and with the foot stool, it's very comfortable.

Marsha~
 
geodrake said:
I like the set up but question how you would handle overnight guests.
Click to expand...

Ummmm, we don't.  ;D  When we had the dinette and couch they were miserable to sleep on and we rarely used them.  In fact I can only think of one time that we did.  We do carry an "aero" blow up mattress for an over night visitor, but haven't even used that yet.  When our granddaughter gets a bit bigger we are hoping to take her with us a couple of times and she'll use the mattress.

We were leery when we took the dinette out because we were going to loose the big drawer space under the seats; but we had 3 drawers plus a slide out table for a computer for my husband put in by the left side of the dinette.  Under the upper credenza next to the table are 2 more sets of cabinets, then there are 3 file drawers under the lower credenza.  My corner computer stand has a place for our printer and 2 more drawers, so we gained a ton of storage with the conversion.  The entire slide out area was redone and matches the rest of the wood and counter tops in the coach.

I don't know if by not having a couch will make it harder to sell or not; but we are really enjoying the set-up.  And with depreciation, I don't think it even matters.

Marsha~
 
We removed the dinette from our Tradewinds but left the couch since we had a recliner on the passengers side. As Marsha mentioned we have more usable room in the credenza including two drawers, and lots of cabinet space including our bar/wine rack. If you do decide on a credenza type storage cabinet may I suggest having them hinge the doors so that they are hinged in the center. (We didn't!) It makes it much easier to open the doors while seated.
 

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geodrake said:
Jeff:

Are the chair legs at the dinette different in length?
Click to expand...

No. I have about a 1/4" difference in the level of the slide and floor and put longer pads on one side but they were too long and kept coming off so I use equal length ones now and we hardly notice it.
 
I did a similar modification on my previous coach and had trouble getting the bench seats out the door. They barely fit and it was a two man job as there was lots of in and out and jockeying around. The job itself was very straight forward and we loved the change with the Euro chair. Be sure to save the dinette as you might want to put it back in when you trade it in. I think it makes the coach less valuable to have it removed. Good Luck.
 
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