49 replies to this topic

[DLN]

Thanks to all for the positive comments. We got to try out the new set up on a two nighter this past weekend and loved it. The camper feels larger and is brighter with the window not being blocked by the couch back. Having a solid table set up full time was great for food prep., washing up etc., and especially for morning coffee.

SunMan,
I changed the stock upper and lower cabinet doors to the fold downs last year to gain depth (about 1 1/8") and to allow us to open both doors at the same time. Much better use of the space. The safety latches (light bungees for the upper and barrel bolts for the lower) aren't the cleanest solution but have worked out well so far. There are some better pictures of the cabinets posted in the thread "FWC Interior Photos".

[leadsled9]

DLN,

Great job.

I have a new Hawk ordered, and want to do the same modification.

How hard was it to cut down the couch? Are the cushions hard to cut down?

I was thinking of buying another set of folding hardware, and have a back on both seats.

[DLN]

leadsled,

The seat cushions weren't that tough to resize. I had asked Chicali at FWC service about making them for us and he thought the custom sizes would get fairly pricey. The stock back cushion is very tough to cut down. It's made of a welded aluminum frame covered with 1/8" paneling and 2" of foam glued to that. The end aluminum tubes are filled with oak lumber to provide backing for connection to the roll over hardware. I remodeled the back once when we first got the camper but didn't use it this time. A piece of 3/4" plywood with 3" of foam glued to it and covered with fabric is plenty strong.

I looked into using two roll over backs in our Eagle and found that the rear seat would always have to move to get in and out of the camper. In order to roll the back enough for access the table would have to be removed or it would require some complicated swivel/tilting hardware. The double roll over seat backs will work great in the 8' campers but I couldn't get to fit in the 6 1/2' I had to work with.

I'll look forward to seeing how your's comes out. Best of Luck.

[DLN]

leadsled,

I just checked the FWC site for Hawk dimensions and it appears you'll have about 10" more width to work with than I had in our Eagle. I measured our dinette and with that 10" the second seat back may be flush or close to flush with the right hand side of the door. If that's case you will be able add the second roll over seat back to your dinette.

[leadsled9]

Thank you DLN. I was hoping that would be the case.

[erod]

very impressive mod...i would love to do something like that to my rig! tons of room and great point about opening that window space up...awesome!

[DLN]

erod,

Jump in and do it, it really wasn't that much work and the result is well worth it. I'm going to be working on a prototype drop leaf table for a bit more versatility in the near future and will post pix when it's done. If I can provide any info/advice along the way let me know.

[DLN]

I decided a drop leaf table might create a bit more versatility in the limited space we have in the Eagle Dinette. With the full table we had to remove or spin it for access to the seat storage and remove it when the bed was in use so we didn't step on it getting out of bed. Now we can drop the leaves for storage access and spin it 90 degrees when the bed is pulled out. Also, with one leaf down I think I'll have enough room to add a fold down seat back to the seat closest to the door.

Here are a few pix. Sorry for the poor quality of the first shot, I deleted the good shot instead that one and the image is no longer on the camera, oops.

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[marc]

Very nice. Well done.

Marc:thumb:

[bobg333]

I may have to copy it. With proper attribution of course.