Replacing chairs

I'm new to the rving lifestyle and had a question, that may be a dumb one.  We have two swivel recliners in our 5th wheel that are not attached to the floor.  When we eventually replace them, I would like to replace them with a recliner loveseat.  Since the chairs are not secured, would it be ok to but a loveseat from a regular furniture store?

Wouldn't hurt a thing. Get you a couple football players to get that baby inside the coach. It will be heavy.

In addition to needing help to get it in ---- make sure it will fit true the door! Most "home" furniture will not unless you can partially dis-assemble it - or - have a lerge window you can take out.

ken

I read someplace else that an rver went to a furniture store with her rv and told the salesman that she would buy the piece that fit through her door, lol!  I think I'll try that. 

Try IKEA, they seem to have slightly smaller type furniture that is more likely to fit thru your door.  Being a 5th wheel a windshield removal won't work. 

Thanks so much!

Ernie Ekberg said:

Wouldn't hurt a thing. Get you a couple football players to get that baby inside the coach. It will be heavy.

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And be mindful of the weight.  Everything you bring in to your RV adds weight, so you don?t want to go over the RV?s carrying capacities (especially if you travel with water in your holding tanks!).  So if the chairs you replace weigh 100lbs and the new chairs weigh 200lbs., you?ve just reduced your acceptable travel weight by 100lbs...

Guess that means you have to leave the anvil at home... 

And when sizing things up, don't forget to account for the slide if you have one near where you are putting the new seats!

You may want to look into Flex-steel chairs. They are the chairs that the newer RV's are installing. They are lighter than most and come in all kinds of configurations. I think you may be impressed with what they are to offer. ine are getting replaced with these chairs. the ones I presently have are much heavier than the Flex-steel.

One thing to note...

The reason that most original RV furniture should be replaced with aftermarket RV-specific furniture is because they share bolt configurations to bolt your chairs to your subfloor.  Many of them also come with seat belt harnesses as well.

Ultimately, if you use a piece of furniture from a regular furniture store, those pieces are not meant to be bolted down.  RV furniture is bolted down for a reason - namely, if you suffer a catastrophic crash, your chairs / sofas won't fly through the coach, availing the passengers to further injury.

The last point I would make is that each line of RV specific furniture we carry utilizes RV-specific fabric options.  When manufacturing their furniture, Flexsteel and Villa, for example, know that the chairs they produce will reside in a motorhome and will be exposed to sunlight much of the time and fairly dirty conditions.  As such, materials such as Ultraleather are targeted at being stain-resistant and easy to clean, requiring only Formula 409 to lift most uncommon spills or stains.

Thanks for the info.  One thing that puzzles me, though, is that the rocker recliners that are in there now are not bolted down.  MOst rvs that I've seen don't have their recliners bolted down.  Am I missing something?

I do not believe it is true that "most RV furntire is bolted down". For awhile that was a trend, but the last several years customer requests or the practical demands of multiple slideouts have lead to the opposite situation.

Having recently been in a major RV accident, I can say that our unbolted furniture did not move at all., whereas a few bolted itens were damaged by the sudden stop.  But we only ran into things smaller than us.

tnsauerkraut said:

Thanks for the info.  One thing that puzzles me, though, is that the rocker recliners that are in there now are not bolted down.  MOst rvs that I've seen don't have their recliners bolted down.  Am I missing something?

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Depending on the manufacturer, there is generally an additional part that can bolt your free-standing recliner down. 

For example, the 283-R recliner from Flexsteel (probably their most popular style recliner) comes either on a pedestal or freestanding.  The pedestal option obviously gets bolted down, but the downside is that it is set in place - not too flexible.  The freestanding options, like this one, often times come with a clamp that is screwed into the subfloor and if you want to secure your chair for fear of a major accident - namely one that you do in fact hit something substantial and/or roll your coach over - you have the option to do so.  The upside to this style is that you can take the chair out of the clamp and move it around in the coach, and should you ever need a new chair, you have the flexibility of an open space with no pedestal to contend with.

Obviously, when I made the claim that most RV furniture is bolted down, I am primarily focusing on bigger pieces, namely the captain's chairs and sofas. Considering the captain's chairs need no explanation, the sofa is best bolted down in a motorhome due to the intricacy of the chair itself.  If the sofa is a Convertible Sofa Sleeper (hide-a-bed) for example, the bolted down nature of this style sofa allows the user to pull the bed out without the frame of the sofa moving (a tough feat for anyone who has ever pulled out a sofa bed with a light weight frame.  The other thing is that RV furniture like this takes into consideration the general depth of the space, height amidst common window placement, and whether the frame should be built for a slideout that is raised or flat.  An Easy Bed or J-Lounge also avails RV owners to storage if needed or a hollow space for fan vents / heaters or subwoofers (a common home for these items).

These are the little things seldom considered in the purchase process, but could really be key to find the right chairs, sofas, or other accessories you need for your coach.

Although some good points were made (i.e. weight, fabric durability, etc), we are talking about a 5th wheel not a motorhome so seatbelts, capt's chairs, etc., are not a consideration. 

i changed my mid-evil, sharped spring, torture device for these sweet things http://www.shopko.com/detail/micro-glider-rocker-with-ottoman/4071/0001/0000/1 there cheap,comfy,lightweight and come in a big box with little parts so you can get them in the smallest of doors.
They are no lazy-boy but i have been really happy with them they are pretty light so you better secure them. Here's how i did it go to the hardware store and get some 1" plastic pipe clamps.They come in all sorts of different colors ask for the one's that hold PEX pipe they are usually black here is a link that shows you one http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materials-Plumbing-Plumbing-Accessories-Pipe-Hangers/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xloZascu/R-100345000/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053  When you get them pull the nail out insert a screw and put the secure the clamp around the base of the chair(make sure the screw is facing inside of the chair so it almost makes the clamp unseen) and screw it to the floor i only used 3 and have never had a problem.

Looks like a pretty nice chair for the price.

We had a couple of those for quite a while. When we redecorated we gave them to the kids.