S
seilerbird
Guest
I am not finished with this project yet, but I have progressed far enough to show some photos. I decided to remove the dinette and replace it with a recliner because sitting at the dinette working on the computer was very uncomfortable. And a dinette that seats four is redundant since I am single. This is a 27 foot motorhome and there wasn't a lot of room in the living room/dining room area. By eliminating the dinette I am essentially making the living room larger. I am losing storage under the dinette seats, but I have more than enough storage already so it won't be missed.
The first photo shows the dinette right after I bought the rig. I had read several posts here from people who had removed their dinette and the consensus was that it was pretty easy to remove. Well Tiffin must be better built than the average motorhome because it was a royal pain to remove it. They certainly used more than their fair share of screws, bolts and staples.
I bought a 6' by 6' piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting at Home Depot and laid it down. The original carpeting has long since been removed everywhere except the front seat area and replaced by peel and stick floor tile. I want the living room carpeted but I am going to have to wait until I get to Texas this winter to have Ernie re-carpet the front seat area and the living room. So this piece of carpet is just temporary.
Then came my happy accident. The dinette table was three foot long by two foot wide. I wanted it to be one foot by two foot. So I cut it up and mounted the pole on the floor and put the one foot table on top of the pole. Oops, too short of a table. So I moved the pole a bit and used the two foot section of the table and it works perfectly.
Then I took some of the wall board that I removed from the dinette and cut it to fit the opening at the end of the kitchen counter. I put two pieces of backing inside the cabinet to stabilize the new end piece. I put two eye bolts with large fender washers into the end piece for attaching the chair. Then I cut a hole for the heat duct and then mounted it. I put two hooks into the back of the chair so it won't roll around while I am driving. The chair I selected was one I found in a thrift store for $7. I intend on replacing it with one that matches as soon as I can afford it.
The location of the dinette made it impossible to adjust the drivers seat to be located where I wanted it while I was driving. By removing the dinette and raising the drivers seat up four inches I can now put the chair where I want it and actually see the road.
Note to photographers: Check out the photos Dinette 1 and 2. Both were taken with my new Nikon P100 in the Active D-Lighting mode. That mode is designed for contrasting lighting situations and it did a pretty good job of exposing both the inside and the outside of the motorhome.
The first photo shows the dinette right after I bought the rig. I had read several posts here from people who had removed their dinette and the consensus was that it was pretty easy to remove. Well Tiffin must be better built than the average motorhome because it was a royal pain to remove it. They certainly used more than their fair share of screws, bolts and staples.
I bought a 6' by 6' piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting at Home Depot and laid it down. The original carpeting has long since been removed everywhere except the front seat area and replaced by peel and stick floor tile. I want the living room carpeted but I am going to have to wait until I get to Texas this winter to have Ernie re-carpet the front seat area and the living room. So this piece of carpet is just temporary.
Then came my happy accident. The dinette table was three foot long by two foot wide. I wanted it to be one foot by two foot. So I cut it up and mounted the pole on the floor and put the one foot table on top of the pole. Oops, too short of a table. So I moved the pole a bit and used the two foot section of the table and it works perfectly.
Then I took some of the wall board that I removed from the dinette and cut it to fit the opening at the end of the kitchen counter. I put two pieces of backing inside the cabinet to stabilize the new end piece. I put two eye bolts with large fender washers into the end piece for attaching the chair. Then I cut a hole for the heat duct and then mounted it. I put two hooks into the back of the chair so it won't roll around while I am driving. The chair I selected was one I found in a thrift store for $7. I intend on replacing it with one that matches as soon as I can afford it.
The location of the dinette made it impossible to adjust the drivers seat to be located where I wanted it while I was driving. By removing the dinette and raising the drivers seat up four inches I can now put the chair where I want it and actually see the road.
Note to photographers: Check out the photos Dinette 1 and 2. Both were taken with my new Nikon P100 in the Active D-Lighting mode. That mode is designed for contrasting lighting situations and it did a pretty good job of exposing both the inside and the outside of the motorhome.
