What is the size of your front dinette cut-out?

[Vickie B.]

Could someone tell me the dimensions of your "knee space" in the front dinette? I'm interested in the dimensions of the campers that came with the space as standard and from those of you who transformed the front couch to a dinette.

Also---what are the dimensions of your table in that space?

Thanks so much!

Vickie

[DannyH]

Vickie, when my trailer had the top off and down to only the frame, I had the welders widen out the foot space under the table to 24". I originally had the couch in the front and wanted to convert it to a table. My wife and I sat on buckets and experimented with different distances and came up with the 24" to not knock knees togather.

The table top we have is 25" between the two seats and 29" wide.

Have a great day

Dan

[jen b]

My Burro dinette gap is 23.5 inches, which luckily feels okay, since it's a built-in part of the interior fiberglass mold.

I figured out my table size by laying out a piece of newspaper and setting a "table" with two dinner plates, glasses, and a couple of elbows, and then folding and tucking the newspaper into a table shape to accommodate all of that. It came out to about 24 inches wide.

[Donna D.]

The only downside I've ever seen where people remove a front gaucho and bunks to turn the area into a dinette... is when seated, rather than looking out through the middle of the window, the eyes were almost at the very bottom of the window. Looked like folks needed to sit on a phonebook! Something to keep in mind, if you care....

[Vickie B.]

Thanks, guys, for your info. That helps alot!

Donna---you silly billy! I figure I'll only be eating in there if it's raining (and I don't want to see no stinkin rain!) or if it's first thing in the morning coffee time (and I don't want to see nobody)!

[Mike Magee]

I'm waiting for some of the guys to start claiming, "my dinette cutout is bigger than your dinette cutout"...

[CindyL]

We used a wooden TV tray as a table in our Burro. Then we put the top part of captain's chairs on spinners and attached them to the lids of the storage bins that were the supports to the couch. The TV tray was detached from the legs and reattached to the old dinette support pipe since we were not using the dinette anymore. I liked the space without that dinette.

CindyL

[Bonnie n Claude]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

The only downside I've ever seen where people remove a front gaucho and bunks to turn the area into a dinette... is when seated, rather than looking out through the middle of the window, the eyes were almost at the very bottom of the window. Looked like folks needed to sit on a phonebook! Something to keep in mind, if you care....

Our boler has a step-up the entire length of the front gaucho area so in order to accommodate the chemical toilet, the bench frame needed to be a bit higher than the original sofa. Hopefully this will take care of the window view challenges. If not, I may just make thicker cushions but it is a very good point to conside, Donna.

[Per Walthinsen]

Sure, I'll bite, Mike Magee and Vicki B.: 28 1/2" providing the hugest, most decadent and luxurious room for them knees and foots I have seen anywhere. Top that, all you "narrow-bodies." (I dare ya).

[rabbit]

No knees knockin . . . and the tabletop that goes with that factory "cutout" in the front dinette is 30" wide by 31" fore and aft. I replaced mine because the T-mold on the original melamine bd. table/filler was pretty ratty. Take that, Casita side dinette! IIRC, Per has bentwood rockers on the "decks;" we have swivelling boat seats.

jack

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Per Walthinsen

Sure, I'll bite, Mike Magee and Vicki B.: 28 1/2" providing the hugest, most decadent and luxurious room for them knees and foots I have seen anywhere. Top that, all you "narrow-bodies." (I dare ya).

Originally Posted by rabbit

No knees knockin . . . and the tabletop that goes with that factory "cutout" in the front dinette is 30" wide by 31" fore and aft.

The same model with only a few years differance. Did either of you make changes to the stock front dinette?

[rabbit]

Dave, the Burro wide bodies are 90" wide O.D.; that width is reflected in the transverse spacing of the inner shells; there is no reason unless you're Shaq O to modify the lockers of the front dinette for additional kneehole space and I didn't do so.

I measured my trailer a few minutes ago. Distance between the vertical walls of the molded in lockers is 29 3/4". Add to this the molded in 5/8" rabbet or ledge on the upper edge of each which allows the table to sit flush to the decks when in the "bunk" position gives a a combo table/bunk support width of 31". I checked my replacement table and it is actually 31" wide by 32" long.

As for the reason my kneehole opening is an 1 1/4" wider than Per's I offer the speculation that fabrication tolerances may have "wandered" a bit. I doubt if a very elaborate system of jigs and spacers was employed to locate the inner shell halves when they were screwed to the floor and joined on the centerline. The upshot is that recent mensuration yields a bigger "fish" than does recollection. I find that more commonly it's the other way around, don't you?

jack

[Per Walthinsen]

Actually, Jack, I measured from the fixed wall to the molded door, so the distance from fixed wall to fixed wall would be greater, probably about like yours.

[rabbit]

Yes, 2 X 5/8" melamine board = 1-1/4" unless maybe yours has the access to curbside locker on the end rather than on the kneehole side. But close enuf in any case. Do you not have melamine board locker doors, Per? I stifle the urge to change them out for appliqued face frames and frame&panel hardwood doors. It helps to remember the words of the Scaleman as applied to the usual unanticipated consequence of mobilehome improvement, to wit, the "wretched excess" of additional wgt.

jack

[Per Walthinsen]

I's one of those little mysteries, Jack, because all the cabinet doors in mine hare molded fiberglass, rounded with a lip all around. Being a woodworker I have itched to replace them but they are actually very much in tune with the rest of the fiberglass work. Besides, the wife likes them too, so I have left them alone.

If you search some of the pictures I've posted over the years you will probably find one that shows this, which includes the door on the street side cubby hole under the seat. The only thing I will do to them is to find a more pleasing finish treatment on the inside. Currently raw fiberglass, or as my wife says: snot colored (sorry).

[rabbit]

Some of us get carried away with "improvements" and lose the ability to whistle the tune called "Light-weight Camping Trailer." I would guess that the molded doors are lighter than solid melamine board doors. I take them as an indicator of an effort by Escondido Burro to improve the product even in the "time of troubles." I did cover mine with forest green MBA vinyl to add a bit of color to the interior of the "fridge."

jack