I remodeled my BF10.4 living room - picture heavy

[HMS_Beagle]

I really like the forward bath, aft dinette of the Bigfoot 10.4, looked for one for several years and found one (new old stock) in 2013. While I like the general arrangement, the dinette is quite small, especially for two tall people. This is the compromise of this floor plan. We lived with it this long, but the seats are uncomfortable for more than a few minutes (like most camper dinettes) and they are too close together, so your legs and feet interfere with the person facing you. It is only about 30 inches in width and 66 inches in length, useless as a bed except for small children.

[BurbMan]

Nice work!

[JimK-NY]

My camper has about a 4" diameter tube of fabric covered foam so that the bottom of the back cushion is held out from the wall to create a slope. I added a strip made of several layers of foam carpet backing under the front of the bottom cushion so it also slopes backwards.

[HMS_Beagle]

Typical good seating has about 3-5 deg slope to the seat, and 20 degrees slope to the back. Typical camper dinette is 0 and 90. They are forced to do it so that the cushions can double as a mattress on the occasion when the dinette is converted to a bed. An occasion that never happens in our (and I suspect, many) campers.

The aforementioned BF 5th wheel had a huge U shaped dinette across the back, with picture windows on 3 sides. We never used the back of the U, and ended up taking the cushion off of it leaving it at home, used the seat for storage.

[JimK-NY]

Bert the Welder wrote:


It is interesting to see everyone's preferences. We tried a U shape and hated the narrow leg room do to the seating on the back side. It just just forced us to keep our knees clamped together. ...

With just the two of us the U shaped dinette works great. Typically my wife sits on one end and I sit on the other. We have a long table between us for our computers or dinner plates, etc. We use the back side when watching movies on the computer. The dinette is cramped for 4 adults but it works for eating. The few times we have had 4 adults sitting in the camper for the evening, we had 3 sitting at the dinette and the 4th using a folding chair.

A Lagun table has made a huge difference. The tables rotates completely out of the way when seating people on the back bench. When there is just the 2 of us, we push the table back parallel to the rear seat and that opens us lots of aisle space.

[Bert_the_Welder]

JimK-NY wrote:

HMS Beagle wrote:
Before this I had the BF 9.6 with the aft wet bath. I was Ok with it, the wife was not. The dinette was larger, but not much more comfortable - still flat seat bottoms and upright backs. The 10.4 also has a lot more storage. I've gotten used to the nice stall shower and the extra storage.

I certainly would not want to argue about this. You are happy with a dry bath but not the size of the dinette. I am happy with a smaller wet bath and glad to have have some of that extra space go to a dinette that is U shaped with the back area over 6.5' long. There is plenty of leg room and also room for a large table on a Lagun support. Each of us has a vested interest and cannot undo the choices. Perhaps someone reading this and trying to make a decision on a camper will be able to make a decision that matches their needs.

It is interesting to see everyone's preferences. We tried a U shape and hated the narrow leg room do to the seating on the back side. It just just forced us to keep our knees clamped together. Then found our Okanagan with the face to face table and loved it. But it is located in the rear, across from the kitchen and doesn't have that clipped corner like the OP's. That would drive me nuts.
Looking forward to seeing the table solution. And I like the idea of sloping the seat a couple degrees for comfort. That be easy to do for most campers, I'd guess.

[JimK-NY]

HMS Beagle wrote:
Before this I had the BF 9.6 with the aft wet bath. I was Ok with it, the wife was not. The dinette was larger, but not much more comfortable - still flat seat bottoms and upright backs. The 10.4 also has a lot more storage. I've gotten used to the nice stall shower and the extra storage.

I certainly would not want to argue about this. You are happy with a dry bath but not the size of the dinette. I am happy with a smaller wet bath and glad to have have some of that extra space go to a dinette that is U shaped with the back area over 6.5' long. There is plenty of leg room and also room for a large table on a Lagun support. Each of us has a vested interest and cannot undo the choices. Perhaps someone reading this and trying to make a decision on a camper will be able to make a decision that matches their needs.

[HMS_Beagle]

Before this I had the BF 9.6 with the aft wet bath. I was Ok with it, the wife was not. The dinette was larger, but not much more comfortable - still flat seat bottoms and upright backs. The 10.4 also has a lot more storage. I've gotten used to the nice stall shower and the extra storage.

[JimK-NY]

I would not survive without decent table space, at least enough so that both my wife and I could use our 17" laptops. It did not make sense how a 10.4 camper could have such a cramped dinette. I checked the floor plan and it only took an instant to see the issue. It is that massive dry bath. I am very glad I went for the wet bath and a much longer U shaped dinette. Of course there is a downside. After the showers it takes an extra minute to squeegee dry the walls and floor.

[bigfootgrey]

Nice work as always, Beagle! Be sure to post some pics of the table when finished.

[HMS_Beagle]

That's the swing away table yet to be fabricated. As is, it is inconvenient even to set your teacup down. I'm going to build a broken arm swinging table that will stow in the space between the seats, and be able to swing into position for either seat including the chase lounge position. Something like the Lagun, but with a longer swinging arm. When stowed in the middle, it'll be like a side table for both seats.

[JimK-NY]

Nicely done. Do you have any sort of table space for a computer or for eating?

[HMS_Beagle]

Thanks for the encouraging words!

The rear dinette would be spectacular if there were a way to have a side entrance. You could then mimic the Bigfoot 5th wheel floor plan, the best ever in a small RV. But a true slide in camper is stuck with the pullman arrangement. I've drawn up the plans for a flatbed camper (actually a Texas welder bed) that would do this, won't happen in my lifetime unless there's another pandemic, then maybe I'll have the time.

[Bert_the_Welder]

Nicely done!

[cptqueeg]

Beautiful work! Love the rear dinette floor plan myself.