Recliners

[daplumbr]

We just got back from an RV show here in mid-Michigan and found some very comfortable La-Z-Boy Pinnacle rocker-recliners in one of the units. I'm going to see if those could be retrofit into the slide of our 16TBS in place of the sleeper-sofa. The sleeper aspect of our sofa is useless because there is no center support for the "mattress". The sofa is only marginally comfortable for anything longer than eating dinner. Two of the recliners would fit, but I'm not sure the bases can be accommodated in the slide. Some camper disassembly is coming up! 

[gbpack]

Merlin - It's funny that you happen to be mentioning this right now because we were just talking about doing this earlier today! We are on our inaugural trip in our new 21BHS and love it, but we find ourselves really longing for a comfortable chair or recliner to sit in (especially while on a 5-week trip!). We were talking about doing the exact same thing...... Retrofitting the dinette area into 2 recliners. Would have to be built into the slide, but I think it could be done. Then we could have some sort of a free-standing table to set up in front of the recliners when it's time to eat. Will be interested in following your pursuits in this, as maybe we could do something similar.

[montedtrotter1]

We just changed out all the cushion padding to a much denser firmer padding trying to make our 21BHS more comfortable. It worked but hey tow lazy boy chairs would certainly do the trick. Even two small comfortable sitting chairs would be more preferable to the table arrangement.

[daplumbr]

I've spent some time in the camper today looking the situation over. A simple fact (I'm sure known by others who have replaced furniture) is that anything in the slide has to ride in and out with it. In the 16TBS, the bottom of the slide is just over 9 inches higher than the floor of the trailer. So, if you put a standard recliner/chair/sofa/whatever in the slide, you start with your feet an extra 9 inches off the floor (+ or - a bit). 

I did look into putting more comfortable sofa cushions in ours, but the construction is such that a steel bar runs the length right under your knees. Avoiding that would require a much deeper cushion, and then you are back with the issue noted above; your feet dangling in the air in front of the sofa. 

I've not given up on the nice recliner idea, but the search is on for one that starts with the seat much lower than standard. 

I was discouraged at the RV show I mentioned earlier in that a lot of furniture made for RVs is just simply uncomfortable. The cushions are either hard, or sit on something hard, or way too soft with no support. In the 14,000 seats (or so it seemed) we sat in that day, only the very last ones, the La-Z-Boys, were really comfortable. 

We did buy last year a pair of very comfortable outdoor folding chairs from Gander Mountain that we transport in the front storage area and get out at campsites for around the campfire. I wonder if even something like those could work in the slide? First world problems, I know, but when you gotta sit you gotta sit. 

[montedtrotter1]

My bride  Jan (43 years)  purchased a couple of very light weight hasseks that are about 18 inches in diameter and 18 inches tall. We use these to prop up our feet and also as a back rest when on the bed sitting up reading as they fill in the curved area (front of trailer) quite well. Cheap addition that adds measurable comfort for little money. A chair would be choice however!

[david]

[p]You can't really make the La-Z-Boy boxy recliner shorter so it will fit on the slide out with your feet on the floor. You would have to cut it all apart and sew it back together to make it shorter[/p][p]
[/p][p]But take a look at the following pic of our living room recliner. It would be fairly easy to cut the top of the u-shaped wooden frame off about 9" to lower its overall height and the re bolt it to the arm and frame. Then bolt the round base to the diamond plate on the slideout, and viola! you have a short recliner. The hassock that goes with it can sit in front after it is slid out. Should work nicely.[/p][p]
[/p][p]And it is a very comfortable recliner. We bought it a dozen years ago to use in our then new 24' fifth wheel while we camped in the western states for a few months. Now it is my favorite in the living room. Not cheap though. Probably would now cost $400 in a furniture store, but maybe cheaper online. Here is one of a similar design that could work the same- http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Enterprises-Leather-Recliner-Ottoman/dp/B004X5YBI0/ref=sr_1_53?s=furniture&ie=UTF8&qid=1453773969&sr=1-53&keywords=leather+recliner[/p][p]
[/p][p][attachment id="1123" thumbnail="1"][/p][p]

David[/p]

[aggie79]

Instead of finding shorter chairs, assuming there is room with the slide not extended, has anyone built a folding platform to extend the platform area of the slide?  My thoughts were to build fabricate and L-shaped extension that is hinged in the center of the L and hinged at the connection to the slide.

Am I crazy?

[daplumbr]

I would need more lines of evidence before I could answer your crazy or not question, but extending the platform is intriguing. That might give the much needed "footrest" for climbing up into a standard recliner in the slide. I'm not sure it needs to be folding. I'll give that a careful look next time I can get the slide out (probably frozen in right now).

[david]

Just guessing from memory, there is enough room in front of the slide platform with it closed to put in a platform extension. But it would mean climbing over it each time you went inside with the slide closed. Also the recliner would look like an elevated throne.

David

[aggie79]

[quote source="/post/18232/thread" timestamp="1454341016" author="@david"]Just guessing from memory, there is enough room in front of the slide platform with it closed to put in a platform extension. But it would mean climbing over it each time you went inside with the slide closed.[/quote]

[a href="https://flic.kr/p/Dzhzot"]

[livinthegoodlife]

This is amazing!I got on here to ask a question about something I saw on another site and voila...here you guys are already talking about an idea that I was going to put across to you. We found a reclining sofa, but think it may be a bit too heavy for the slide in our 16TBS. We even entertained the idea of some kind of gaming chair that resembled a computer chair. Anything would be better than the sofa we have in there now. We did get the other couch to replace it, but have elected not to put it in (that is another story).  David, we are really liking your idea with your recliner as we have a three month trip in the future. We will be following this story.

[kycamper]

My wife and I are contemplating putting in swivel chairs and a table in place of the sofa. I read, on another forum, that Casita has such chairs, but I don't know the brand name, or where/how to purchase them. If we were able to do this conversion, is there a market for the sofa??? Would anyone want this hardly used item?

Let me know what you think

Happy Trails

[livinthegoodlife]

I looked up the Casita Campers and saw the swivel captains chairs that come in their campers. They really didn't look comfortable. I did find at www.cymax.com a Coaster faux leather recliner that comes with an ottoman.  I was wondering if a gaming chair would somehow work. Some are fairly small and quite comfortable.  As for getting rid of the sofa...maybe put online under ebay or recreational accessories website for sale? We have two sofas to get rid of, the original that came with our camper without the support and also the jacknife sofa that was to replace the sofa bed

[daplumbr]

I like the looks of the chairs that David posted in the earlier link. I looks doable to make those fit. However, I've learned to only buy chairs of any sort only after some "seat time", since things that look good may or may not be comfortable. I'm going to look around locally for something like that to try them out. 

[leslie]

Camping World in Bartow FL has a light-weight reclining chair at the front of the store. I asked the brand - they said it was Voltage. It is not a swivel recliner, and the base appeared to be plastic. However, it might work.