Bigfoot 25RQ reno to Twin Beds?

[ninklink]

The Thiessen brothers at GetAwayRV in Abbotsford BC are not only Bigfoot dealers but they have a nice shop to do those mods. With a 30% discount on your US dollar you should do well. Rent our suite for a couple days, rent a car to visit Vancouver or Victoria and bob’s your uncle. just a thought.

[donniebob]

I have one of those rare 20' Bigfoor 5th wheels (the mold burnt in the fire a long time ago). I bought it from an idiot who left it overlooking the Pacific Ocean WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN for 2 years. Needless to say, most of the wood components were trashed.

I had to replace all the living area plywood, using 1/4" instead of the 1/8" factory install. I used a high end adhesive to glue it to the existing styrofoam.

For the base cabinets, I went to IKEA. That was 10 years ago and they are like new. They look beautiful with a knotty alder finish. The overhead cabinets were more of a challenge. I am not an accomplished cabinet maker, but I have some experience and I know my way around tools.

Because of the issues you raised, I couldn't install ready-made, upper cabinets.

After the design phase, I used 1x2" finish grade pine to screw the wall supports to the plywood. Then I bought a Kreg joining system (https://www.kregtool.com/store/c13/kreg-jigsreg/). I used this to build the super-strong outer cabinet frame. I wouldn't use anything but Kreg to fabricate the frame and I augmented the screws with Gorilla glue.

The outer frame provides the real strength of the system. It should be designed to lock together two weight-bearing walls. It should be made of high quality, knot-free pine or something similar. For example, my kitchen frame (with several "windows" for cabinet doors extends from the 1/4" plywood on the wall to a vertical support that covers the refrigerator. In the bedroom, it extends from wall to wall, using the plywood.

The combination of the Kreg system and high quality wood makes for a super strong cabinet frame. In my case, I augmented this by adding a wall-to-wall arch made of 1 1/2" finish plywood (2 3/4s glued together).

Then, you just have to add the shelving and the doors that match the IKEA cabinets (again made with the Kreg system).

I probably over-engineered this. But, after 10 years, it is still in great shape. As an added bonus, it helps prevent the roof from sagging.

[ChrisinWA]

Hi Jim. We have a 2016 BF25RQ which has twin beds. I’d be happy to send you pictures. It has a cabinet on the back wall between the beds and storage under the beds. Still has the overhead on the driver side. No overhead on passenger side, but a TV on the closet wall. We love it. We had the queen walk around before and this is so much roomier.

[Maggie Harris]

Originally Posted by JimKE

My wife and I have owned a Bigfoot 25RQ for the last 5 years, our current being a 2008. We really like the quality, although there are times we would like a slide out. But, we think we would like our Bigfoot better with twin beds. We're older and think the ability to move around twin beds will be easier.

Since our unit has been configured and modified just how we want it to be, we're thinking that rather than splurge for a new one, or a hard to find used one, we can save quite a bit of money if we renovate it ourselves.

Creating a bed frame is no big deal. But placing any additional overhead cabinets on the opposite side, well, not sure what would be there to support them? Anyone have any experience here? The other question would be if anyone has done this project before and issues they may have run into? Lastly, Bigfoot has gone with newer style cabinets than what were in the old models. We're thinking of haveing some custom built.

For those who like tinkering with Bigfoots, do you think this project is too much to take on?



Just trying to get a feel from others?

Thank you!

Hi Jim,
I haven’t posted on this forum forever so I had to redo my password to sign in because we did exactly what you want to do to our 2006 25RQ Big Foot trailer and I wanted to tell you about it. I posted photos in the gallery under Big Foot category and wrote captions under each photo explaining what we did. We knew we were going to convert the queen into twin beds before we bought it not knowing if it was even possible. I was determined to make it happen and it was. And it was surprisingly easy. Tore everything out including the box around the outside storage at the head of the queen bed. We bought twin medal bed frames from Amazon. Thought we would have to bolt them down but they don’t move while towing and are light weight so it makes it easy to pull out to make the beds. We bought the adjustable head and foot type. I’m in the process of replacing the 30” wide mattresses with 36” wide mattresses. The 36” fit just fine on the 30” wide medal frames so no need to replace them. Not sure why I didn’t use 36” to begin with. Heaven. Both beds are 76” long but there were ducts and pipes in the bottom of the wood side table next to the bathroom wall that we managed to condense into a small space at the foot of that bed. Only glitch but worked out fine. We used a kitchen remodeling company to do the work and they did a wonderful job. I guarantee you will love twin beds for all the reasons you expressed in your post. Hope this helps, Maggie Harris

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by donniebob

Because of the issues you raised, I couldn't install ready-made, upper I probably over-engineered this. But, after 10 years, it is still in great shape. As an added bonus, it helps prevent the roof from sagging.

just curious, did you ever weigh it? going 1/4" ply instead of the 1/8" original musta added some dead weight.

[JimKE]

Originally Posted by Maggie Harris

Hi Jim,
I haven’t posted on this forum forever so I had to redo my password to sign in because we did exactly what you want to do to our 2006 25RQ Big Foot trailer and I wanted to tell you about it. I posted photos in the gallery under Big Foot category and wrote captions under each photo explaining what we did. We knew we were going to convert the queen into twin beds before we bought it not knowing if it was even possible. I was determined to make it happen and it was. And it was surprisingly easy. Tore everything out including the box around the outside storage at the head of the queen bed. We bought twin medal bed frames from Amazon. Thought we would have to bolt them down but they don’t move while towing and are light weight so it makes it easy to pull out to make the beds. We bought the adjustable head and foot type. I’m in the process of replacing the 30” wide mattresses with 36” wide mattresses. The 36” fit just fine on the 30” wide medal frames so no need to replace them. Not sure why I didn’t use 36” to begin with. Heaven. Both beds are 76” long but there were ducts and pipes in the bottom of the wood side table next to the bathroom wall that we managed to condense into a small space at the foot of that bed. Only glitch but worked out fine. We used a kitchen remodeling company to do the work and they did a wonderful job. I guarantee you will love twin beds for all the reasons you expressed in your post. Hope this helps, Maggie Harris

Thanks to everyone! Maggie, couldn't find any photos other than the one you recently posted. If you can provide the link or re-attach those (big job) I would appreciate it as I would really like to see how it was done, although your description and current photo gives me a pretty good idea.

Thanks again!

[Vicki Cobb]

Vicki and I opted to remove the front dinette and put in two rocker recliners. Removing the dinette frames was easy. I used one side panel to cover the area for the water pump area. I wanted to install a shelf under the front window so I did take out the front paneling. It is a thin plastic covered veneer glued to styrofoam which in turn is glued to the fibreglass. I do not consider it strong enough to hang cabinets off of. I did scuff the inside of the front fibreglass hull and glued wood mounting strips with J&B Weld epoxy. There are several types of epoxy and one is for gluing to fibreglass (I like the stuff). How many and how large of epoxied wood backing strips would dictate how much weight the upper cabinets would hold. I would not be afraid to put a sealed small stainless steel bolt through the hull and the top of the glued in mounting strips.