Jackknife Couch in our Coachman

Ours 'had' the water tank and furnace under it. I ripped it out, built a platform with cabinet doors underneath and put a nice thick foam pad (5 or 6")on it that my wife covered in thick fabric. We get more storage and a nice comfortable bed. We love it. I should post pics.

Just took a easy rest electric out of my coach . Too bad you weren't closer to Ca. could hook you up with a deal.

I found the ends on mine were bolted on, so I took them off. The front one interfered with the drivers seat reclining, and removing the back gave a few inches more bed length. I used some paneling to close the front of the under couch storage so stuff doesn't slide out under the drivers feet.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Gonna make this my winter project...

pmallonee wrote:
The more I look at the sofa and prices for a new one, the better a piece of 2" memory foam looks. I think I'll get a piece large enough to cut to size when the bed is open. Take the leftover and cut it to fit the 'seat' and have that wrapped in some cheap fabric. We'll use this for when we're just sittin on the sofa.
I'll wipe the metal, etc with some T9 or white litium to quiet the squeaky springs.

We have a similar problem.
What we have done for now, is we bought a day bed/futon
mattress from Wally World. This is a compressed soft fiber
block that is 6" thick, with a washable cover.
I believe this is the one:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/10247113?productRedirect=true

I took it out of the cover and cut off the excess with a
saturated edge butcher knife.

The wife then stitched the excess cover together and that
excess covers the front fascia of we want to leave it there.
Sleeps great.

Because of it's thickness, when turned into a sofa it
makes for a short seat. So I take it off and put it in
the bunk above.

Foam under a bed quilt makes for a good daytime sofa covering.

The sofa in my 1998 Coachmen is pretty beat up, with very rough/uncomfortable (as well as stained) upholstery. I just bought a nice fitted mattress pad and a fitted sheet in a coordinating solid color, and keep those on the sofa all the time. No one rides there, so I don't need to worry about using the seat belts--I just pushed them back under the couch. But now the couch looks better (although a bit wrinkled), and is comfy to sit on. If I were going to sleep on it much, I'd probably get an egg crate foam pad as well.

The more I look at the sofa and prices for a new one, the better a piece of 2" memory foam looks. I think I'll get a piece large enough to cut to size when the bed is open. Take the leftover and cut it to fit the 'seat' and have that wrapped in some cheap fabric. We'll use this for when we're just sittin on the sofa.
I'll wipe the metal, etc with some T9 or white litium to quiet the squeaky springs.

gOOgle search (jackknife rv sofa surplus) netted a number of hits, This being one.
Jacknife in our Jayco is called a J-Steel, does not have ends/arms. Some of the ones I just looked at had ends, some had optional ends, some had no ends. I don't know if ends could be removed from say a 72" to get you down to 64" or so, something like that.
If you need something shipped truck freight, see if a Less Than Truckload (LTL) consolidator can help. I saved about 45% having an axle assembly shipped that way. I can send you a name if you need it.

Drew,
The link is helpful. We want to keep the jackknife feature, primarily for the seat belts. I'm new to the rv world, but with residential coaches by the time you get a good reupholster done, yer damn near the price of a new couch.
I pulled some things apart tonight. The lower panels hangs to a steel frame, as does the actual seat/back. Might try to find something w/o ends to get a few more inches in length. The one we have is 65". Might be able to squeeze 68", as long as I don't recline the driver' seat. Good thing our daughter's only 5'-6". It's already a little tight.

I have something nearly the same model in my Coachmen motorhome, except it's just an external storage bay underneath without any sliding gizmo technology. It appears to me that the basic sofa mechanism just bolts to the box or the framework and could be removed relatively simply without affecting the compartment underneath. The upholstered "front" that goes below the cushions to the floor is, so far as I can make out, just decorative trim attached to the side of the box. (I'm using the word decorative rather loosely here, I admit!) It isn't uncommon in RVs, I gather, to have the sofa built on top of something else, and there are aftermarket units available with a bit of searching. One example is here (please note: I have no experience with this particular firm).

If you don't care about the jackkinfe feature, I think it would be pretty straightforward to build a daybed sort of thing on top of the tool box unit by basically stacking a few appropriately shaped cushions in place.