New Table and Underbed Storage

[Sheryl M]

Keep us posted with how it goes. We have a spot on top of our 13' that needs to be resealed / repaired.

[Sharon G]

Sheryl, I think for an exterior repair like that I would find an auto body shop that did fiberglass repairs. It would probably be a lot less expensive. You could also look at boat repair places, but I would guess they would be more expensive.

[Camilla]

Please come and make my camper looks as beautiful as yours. Some people just have a knack and you sure do!

[sfoss]

Her photography rocks as well!!

[Sandy Bee]

Hi Sharon..I'm going to try to copy your floor plan in my Spirit. It is such a good idea! Did you make a new board to fill in the back bed or did you use a twin bed size piece of plywood as the base? Also did you make complete new cushions or just recover the old ones?

Thanks, Sandy

[Sharon G]

Sandy, the back bed has a piece of 5/8" plywood instead of a table between the white seats.

For the rear mattress, I covered the foam with a mattress pad and the fabric, turned it upside down, placed a piece of thin 1/4" plywood on top, and stapled the pad and fabric to the plywood. I only needed thin plywood on the bottom of that mattress since it was not going to support any weight.

I also used 1/4" plywood underneath the small dinette bed, but that was a mistake. I had planned to secure a 1" x 4" board with brackets to the outside edge of the dinette cabinet to support the edge of the mattress. But the water heater switch made it impossible to fit a bracket at that end of the bed.

I tried using the 1/4" plywood base with nothing supporting the edge. But when I sat on the bed, the plywood flexed and pulled the staples out. So I ended up screwing an additional piece of 1/4" plywood on top of the original one.

It works, but if I were doing it again I would have used 5/8" plywood for the dinette mattress since it extends over the edge of the fiberglass cabinet.

The new dinette cushions keep the rear mattress from shifting. I use a piece of the rubber waffle-weave non-skid shelf liner from Walmart taped to the back of the plywood on the small dinette bed to keep it from shifting. It's probably not necessary, but it also helps protect the fiberglass base from getting scratched by the screw heads.

I still keep the small dinette table in its place under the bed, but it does slide out partway when we are in transit. If I had used 5/8" plywood as a mattress base, no support would be needed under there.

I learned a lot in that project, and someday WAY down the line, I might redo it and fix the mistakes I made.

Hope that helps.

[Sandy Bee]

Thanks Sharon...I can't wait to try this. Sleeping in separate beds may take some getting used to, but nature calls are increasing with our age so it may be time for a change!
Sandy

[Bonnie n Claude]

Originally Posted by Sharon G

I decided I would rather have a glass table so the trailer would look more open instead of the drop leaf table I had originally planned on building...So I found a plant stand at a thrift store and put a glass top that had been on some old wicker furniture on it and made instant Casita furniture...

This is lovely!

[Sharon G]

Thanks B&C. I still am crazy about the table, but had to replace the baskets. Their metal tops scraped the fiberglass seat supports.

Right now I'm using ugly, utilitarian fabric baskets, but will replace them with pretty baskets when I find some more that I like that won't scratch the furniture.

[Bonnie n Claude]

That's a shame Sharon. Were the pretty baskets scrapping the sides of the fiberglass seats? If so, could you have taken a piece of fiberboard, padded it a bit and attached it to the seats--or even a thin piece of covered foam? It's a shame because the baskets were really pretty!

[Sharon G]

Yes, the baskets were scraping the sides of the fiberglass seats.

I thought of taking some of the same material that I made the valances out of and making a padded top to the baskets. I might do that yet.

[Bonnie n Claude]

BTW, where did you buy the baskets...I'd love some for my home!

[Sharon G]

I found them at Hobby Lobby. The quality isn't as great as I had hoped. They do shed little pieces of stuff. And I had to line them to keep them from picking my clothes.

I have bought baskets from The Basket Lady online before and hers were top quality. But the prices were also a bit high.

Sometimes Target will have really nice quality baskets at reasonable prices.

[Bonnie n Claude]

Thanks Sharon. I have never been to a Hobby Lobby but they have one in St Augustine, FLA so will be sure to check it out when I'm there next month.