Replace table & chairs with booth dinette

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:01 pm

I recently bought a 2000 24RB and it has a sofa with two swivel chairs and pull-down table. I would like the table and chairs replaced with a booth dinette, preferably at the factory. Has anyone done this, and about how much would it cost?

whemme · Post by **whemme** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:21 am

Call Kim Olson at the factory. When I bought a new 1999 BF 24' Rear Bath, it was a floor model with your setup. I had them remove the 2 Flexsteel captains chairs and pull-up table and replace it with the large dinette set option. They can do it but ask Kim about conversion costs.

shilohdad · Post by **shilohdad** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:28 am

When we bought our 2006 24RB (a leftover), it had the chairs and pull-up table and we had the factory replace them with the dinette. It was no problem. We also had the fold-out sofa replaced by an incline bed.

Since this was part of a new purchase, and it was a leftover, there was very little cost for this work (there was no extra cost for the incline bed, but there was some cost for the dinette, but we can't remember exactly what it was).

As Bill Hemme said, call Kim Olsen for pricing.

By the way, the floor plan works great for us. We leave the dinette up until just before bed time and put it up first thing in the morning for breakfast. During the day you just sit down and eat. The dinette can stay set up while driving with no problem, so even during travel days you have a place to eat lunch. I myself find the dinette-as-bed comfortable, but not all people have. I am 5'7" and my proportions just seem to fit the bed.

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:10 am

Thank you for your prompt replies. Are there two size options for the dinette? I assume there is storage under the seats. What are the table dimensions? I find the pull-up table to be ridiculously small and the 'wine-rack' cabinet quite unusable.

whemme · Post by **whemme** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:15 pm

As far as I know, there is only one size dinette set option but the dinette table is much larger than the pull-up table associated with the two captains chairs. The dinette will seat 4 (somewhat crowded) but the existing setup will obviously seat only 2. There is a pull out drawer under each of the two seats - my wife used one for her underwear and socks and I used the other one for the same purpose.

I can't give you any table dimensions as we no longer have that 1999 BF 24' RB coach.

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:42 pm

Thanks, Bill!

shilohdad · Post by **shilohdad** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:04 am

I just went out and measured our dinette. The table is 33-1/2" x 26". The dinette seats are 31" wide. It helps if at least two of the people are on the small side, as 31" is not a whole lot of width for two people on each side of the dinette.

Born Free changed dinette manufacturers about 2005, so Bill Hemme's dinette may have been a little different unless he got it retrofitted after that time. However, his description sounds very similar to ours. Ours also has two drawers, one under each seat. The drawers are not very spacious. We actually keep a CD collection in one drawer (along with a couple of paper back books). The other drawer is our "everything drawer". It contains all those odds and ends that get used every so often - Scotch tape, duct tape, small tools, Velcro, etc. It is a tight fit for all that stuff. It would be nice if the drawers were a little larger.

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:57 pm

Thank you! That's a significantly bigger table! I'm surprised there isn't more storage room under the seats, though. Still, it's more than there is under the captain's chairs.

--Pat

Dallas Baillio · Post by **Dallas Baillio** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:07 pm

Can you access under the seats of the dinette by lifting the seat cushion and removing the wooden support? On my old MH there was a door under each seat, but there was only a thin sheet of plywood under the seat that you could lift up for additional access. We store a lot of stuff in the area between the chairs and the wall of the BF. Fruits and vegetables, beer six packs, a small space heater, a trash can just behind the passenger seat, etc. Aren't you also giving up this storage space if you convert to a dinette? How much of it is left with a dinette installed?

whemme · Post by **whemme** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:10 pm

Maybe they changed the drawer depth under the seats of the booth dinette in the later model Born Free coaches with that option. I know in our 1999 BF 24' RB coach, the depth of those two drawers was approximately 2 feet. They had pretty good storage room as I remember.