I like the dinette table set up in my Burro. I think it looks really neat, especially when it has a vase with a flower in it on it. We all know the dinette works great for playing cards or board games, and is spacious enough for a dinner with a lot of food on plates, etc. When I show off my Burro to newbees more than anything the dinette area is a statement that immediately defines the interior. It is welcoming. I will hold on to that dinette table and its chrome pedestal.

Yet, there is a problem. We are big. A tad and a half too big, for this wee trailer. "You can sleep in that?" is the usual incredulous reaction. Well ah, nuts. Regardless, what is really annoying for me is when we are out there, boondocking in woodsy paradise, I have to convert that fine dinette each night into our sleeping quarters, and then in the morning have to set the table back up again, for breakfast.

I must be getting lazy. I must be going soft. When we camp I want to be doing less, not more. I want to lounge about, instead of spending my time setting things up. I want to reach for another cup of coffee, listen to the sounds of the forest, stretch, snooze. Why can't I do more of that, and less set-up drudge?

There must be a solution.

Early on, recognizing the need for more flat counter space, I made a cover for the stove burners. That cover could also become the new dining table. Eureka! The solution is, employ multi-tasking. The table would be in the center of the room, and two people could sit opposite each other to use it. Lounge time gets multiplied. Drudge set up becomes history. All that is needed is a way to set it up. A hinge? A hook? A flange? Hmmm...

Being resourceful, and cheap, I decided to use what was already at hand. Though that stove cover is small it could work. I could always make it a little larger with a fold-out flap extension. Rooting through my workshop, I found telescoping tubes salvaged from a kids mini-scooter. I had thought this would work on an earlier, different project, but it didn't. Telescoping tubes could work here, as a table support that drops neatly out of the way when not employed. The cabinet door would need a lock to keep it shut. A window lock. Yeah.

So the stove cover nests into the long, wood, "hook-ledge" I screwed to the cabinet door. To keep the table top in place I drilled a hole and screwed a 1/4 -20 threaded insert into the sycamore ledge. Could have used a thumb screw, but I made a softer, kinder knob that tightens against the stove cover. Fun to make your own stuff. I imbedded a 1/4-20 hex bolt in a bottle cap with resin.

Though this arrangement is far less formal than the dinette it is a much faster set up and may even prove to be a practical keeper. We will see. I'm not throwing the dinette table away any time soon. Burro interior space being so small to begin with, doing any standing is for us simply not an option. Now, we can sit with everything still at arms reach (we have very long arms), and the word "lounge" has a nicer ring for me. Maybe I will Formica over my new table top. Why not?

Next up is a king-sized bed. Rube Goldberg, move over.

Very nice! Please tell us where you got you lights that are under your cabinets. Thanks. I wish that I was as handy as you. Right now I'd settle for windows that don't leak.

Slick setup, Myron Thanks for sharing it.

Anyone interested in building this sort of stuff (and less resourceful than Myron) might be interested in the Jig and Fixture Parts at Lee Valley. There you'll find ready-made knobs and stuff to hold the parts together, similar to the bolt with the blue hand knob which Myron custom-built. I used one on a modification to a bike rack, but haven't built anything for the Boler interesting enough to need this stuff...

For an alternative to the insert nuts Myron used, there are also tee nuts, which are cheap and readily available. They're handy if you want a threaded insert fixed in wood, and can get at the back side of the piece for installation. I used them in the spacer which I built for the inside of my MaxxFan mounting in my Boler (I used bolts - or machine screws - through the fan's flange, instead of the usual self-tapping screws).

Myron, not only is this a great mod..it's a great story too! Thanks for sharing

I solved my similar problem for eating as well as where do you sit comfortably See my website http://web.mac.com/oksure

Great Idea!
Wife wants a cover similar to this for the stovetop. Couldn't think of where to store it when not in use on the counter so kept putting it off. ....Problem now solved. I guess that I've just lost another "rowntuit". This one'll probably show up with this years renos.
Jim

Hi: I just want to know if you call this "Stove Top Stuffing" Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

NO NO NO... Stove Top Stuffin is when you sit on the stove and stuff your mouth with stuffing.

Hi: The last time I heard of any one sitting on the stove their bottom has burns too both sides Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

Alf, are you talking sideburns now???

Hi: Yep... Now..for a trim where did I put my "GEEZER TWEEZERS"??? Alf S. North Shore of Lake Erie

Fellas, stuff happens if you get your top stove into somebody's geezer.

Patty, I bought that under counter light from a guy calling himself "the rv guy" on ebay some months ago, for $12.95 plus $9 shipping. Just checked and he's not selling anything on ebay right now. I liked it for its shape but the long plastic bulb lens/cover is so thin and cheap it falls out, probably from bulb heat shrinkage. I'm trying to figure out how to "stuff" those plastic tabs to make them a tight fit.

Thanks for the info for the inside lights, Myron. I like what you have done to your Burro so much, that it is my background on my computer (the picture taken in Maine).

OK so I decided to make use of some left-over piano hinge I just happened to have, and added an extension to my stove-top cover/table. Also had some left-over formica, the phony green marble, so used it. Will probably formica over the exposed hinge side, for a better look, later.

Still plenty of room there for Ben to hop on the bed.

AWWW, Myron. Ben has that look that says "You have plates out and there is nothing on them. What ever are you thinking??? "