Dinette to captain chair conversion
I have grown to hate dinette seating, not very comfortable for sitting a long time, and I long for a recliner and footrest instead of the straight up seating in the dinette. For only 2 of us we didn't need a 4 person dinette and we could use the extra space two seats provided over a dinette.
Solution - remove dinette and install van seats instead. I started my search on eBay for reclining seats and stumbled on a website that sold seconds from Toyota vans that had small blemishes in the leather but otherwise fine. These were purchased for about $300 each but were all leather, were reclining, and had a flip up footrest like a miniature LazyBoy. I also purchased a boat type slide and swivel seat mounts to attach the seats to the modified bases I added after removing the dinette.
The project involved removing the dinette and relocating the 12v converter that was located under one side. I purchased a newer smaller sized 2 stage converter (better for battery charging) and relocated it below my refrigerator.
Next I built up new boxes for the seats to sit on out of the leftover dinette components, shortened the table about 12" and carpeted the new holes on the floor from scraps I saved from an earlier carpeting job of the motorhome.
I removed the seat mounting brackets from under the new seats and fabricated a new mount to make the seats act like a boat seat mounting. The new boat seat swivels were attached and bolted down to the new riser boxes in the motorhome. The swivels were required to allow the seats to recline fully and rotate within the small space I had to work with.
There was some additional mods required to reroute the heater duct that came out the base of the dinette, now routed through a boxed in section to a new round duct.
Overall a fun project and we really enjoyed the new comfort offered. The smaller table was perfect for meals and easily removed when necessary.
Here are the items I purchased:
Amazon.com - WFCO WF-8735-P Black 30 Amp Power Center $113
Amazon.com - Garelick/EEz-In 75090:01 Marine Low Profile Seat Slide and Locking Swivel $123 each
Ebay.com - 2010 Toyota Sienna van reclining 2nd row seats - seller: Warehousesalvage $300 each
Don't hestitate to ask questions, I'm sure you will have some!
Rick Grimm
Solution - remove dinette and install van seats instead. I started my search on eBay for reclining seats and stumbled on a website that sold seconds from Toyota vans that had small blemishes in the leather but otherwise fine. These were purchased for about $300 each but were all leather, were reclining, and had a flip up footrest like a miniature LazyBoy. I also purchased a boat type slide and swivel seat mounts to attach the seats to the modified bases I added after removing the dinette.
The project involved removing the dinette and relocating the 12v converter that was located under one side. I purchased a newer smaller sized 2 stage converter (better for battery charging) and relocated it below my refrigerator.
Next I built up new boxes for the seats to sit on out of the leftover dinette components, shortened the table about 12" and carpeted the new holes on the floor from scraps I saved from an earlier carpeting job of the motorhome.
I removed the seat mounting brackets from under the new seats and fabricated a new mount to make the seats act like a boat seat mounting. The new boat seat swivels were attached and bolted down to the new riser boxes in the motorhome. The swivels were required to allow the seats to recline fully and rotate within the small space I had to work with.
There was some additional mods required to reroute the heater duct that came out the base of the dinette, now routed through a boxed in section to a new round duct.
Overall a fun project and we really enjoyed the new comfort offered. The smaller table was perfect for meals and easily removed when necessary.
Here are the items I purchased:
Amazon.com - WFCO WF-8735-P Black 30 Amp Power Center $113
Amazon.com - Garelick/EEz-In 75090:01 Marine Low Profile Seat Slide and Locking Swivel $123 each
Ebay.com - 2010 Toyota Sienna van reclining 2nd row seats - seller: Warehousesalvage $300 each
Don't hestitate to ask questions, I'm sure you will have some!
Rick Grimm
