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Dinette to captain chair conversion

grimmrlg
Explorer
Explorer
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
8 REPLIES 8

jjrbus
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks for posting, nice job. I am at the beginning of doing something similar. Still in the thinking stage and am looking at Euro style recliners with ottomans. Jim

austex
Explorer
Explorer
That's what I'm talkin' 'bout - SEAT BELTS! for when dinner-time gets rowdy...
Tom & Jessie
Central Texas
MVPRV(RIP) Coast 26LRBS TT

MrWizard
Moderator
Moderator
Very nice, I like those seats
Thanks for the show & tell
I can explain it to you.
But I Can Not understand it for you !

....

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1997 F53 Bounder 36s

leadknee
Explorer
Explorer
Great job
Steve an Barb
2015 Itasca Solei 340hp cummins
2012 ford fiesta tow

fitznj
Explorer
Explorer
I've always thought that dinettes were a waste of space - how long does anyone
actually use them? We choose a TT without dinette (and got some odd looks from the sales people when we asked for that floor-plan) - it frees up a lot of floor space.

For seating, we have a lazy-boy style chair and collapsible tables to eat. If my next TT has a dinette, I would also remove it and use that space for better purposes.
Gerry

grimmrlg
Explorer
Explorer
Rbertalotto wrote:
EXCELLENT! Can you tell us where you sourced those seats? Perfect for our RVs.


See my sources at the bottom of the article, got them from seller Warehousesalvage on ebay, unfortunately they don't show them now but you might call them or check their website at www.warehousesalvage.net I did this project a couple years ago so they may no longer have the vast quantities they had then, also might check auto salvage yards.

Rick

Rbertalotto
Explorer
Explorer
EXCELLENT! Can you tell us where you sourced those seats? Perfect for our RVs.
RoyB
Dartmouth, MA
2021 RAM 2500 4X4 6.4L
2011 Forest River Grey Wolf Cherokee 19RR
520 w solar-200ah Renogy Li-Epever MPPT

nineoaks2004
Explorer
Explorer
Nice looking job...Just shows what "making it your own" really means
By the time you learn the rules of life
You're to old to play the game