Long past time I wrote another post!
Our 1976
Surfside refit has moved forward quite a bit since my last post, when we'd just finished the kitchen counter & backsplash. Lynne and I have completed a number of steps since then, the most thrilling of which are: 1) THE FLOOR IS IN! and 2) THE FRONT DINETTE IS ALMOST DONE!
The floor story is pretty simple. We installed a
light gray "floating" cork laminate floor. Not much to that part of the story other than I made a nice-looking oak threshold/transition piece that's dovetailed into and level with the floor for the doorway.
The front dinette, on the other hand, is a much bigger thing. First, the dinette table and center console is unique.
The table is made out of two layers of 1/2" oak plywood with the exposed raw edges of the plywood filled, rounded and stained to match the stained birch plywood, IronPly underlayment, and oak trimmed console that holds the table up.
The table is the most unique part of the dinette. It, like many trailer tables, folds in half to create a smaller table that allows for easy access to the dinette. Our fold-up creates an attractive rounded tray table shape that's perfect for morning coffee or lounging in the dinette chairs to read.
The really cool thing about the dining table is one of the two layers of plywood that make up the "tray table" extends 3 inches beyond the underlying fixed portion of the dining table. When the tray table is folded out along its four inset sewing machine table hinges to convert the tray into a more conventional dining table, the 3" extension swings underneath the fixed portion of the dining table to support the
weight of the tray-table extension without sagging.
The console's design has a couple innovations built into it. Like the dinette table, the street & curb sides of the console are made of layers of 1/2" plywood (this time in stained birch) with exposed edges, but with a slot in the layers that the dining table slides into. Underneath the slot for the table the plywood is three layers thick instead of just two, and hiding behind the facia with two sets of USB charging plugs over the table is a sturdy brace the back-top edge of the table butts up against to support its
weight. The table is firmly attached by two screws that bolt the table to this brace.
Underneath the table the console has slots for books and magazines and a space to store shoes and hiking boots. The backside of the shoe storage area is lined with wipeable vinyl upholstery fabric.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the seating. The seats are not simple block foam but sprung upholstery-style, like an easy chair and with the same back-to-seat angle of an easy chair. The aim for the seating was to make it very comfy to sit in for hours at a time on a rainy day.
The dinette seating has a secret, too: The backs of the seats tilt forward to expose storage compartments. The curb and front seat back compartments are just large enough to store a couple books, some magazines, or a laptop computer or tablet. The street-side seat back tilts forward to expose a cloth laundry hamper. (We still have to make the hamper part.)
That's the update for now!