Can a dinette be replaced with sofa?

[karenk1210]

Is it possible to replace a dinette with a sofa in a used Trailmanor? Where would you go to have this done? Thank you.

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

I had asked the same question before, but in reverse. I was curious if a sofa could be turned into a dinette.

If your craftsman skills are good, you can make most of it yourself. You'd have to build the sofa, make cushions, redo the floor, and relocate the furnace.

If you want it to look as factory as possible, you may be able to have Trailmanor send out the sofa and table, I'm not sure. You may be able to find these parts here ( http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=17 ), but you'd still have to redo the carpeting for the floor, or change it into vinyl plank as some have.

If you're not sure you can do this yourself, I'm sure most cabinet shops could fabricate and install something for you. The only hard part would be relocating the furnace. I'm sure anyone licensed to work with propane could do that for you.

Keep in mind that if you make this yourself, or have some one do it, it would likely increase the tongue weight quite a bit unless you use lightweight materials.

It appears as if you live about 12 hours away from the factory. You may be able to get a dinette model, tow it to the factory, and have them convert it for you. They would use the lightweight materials for sure, but this might be more time consuming than it's worth. You could drive up there, pick up the sofa and tables, bring them back to South Fork, and have some one install it for you.

Others may have some solutions that I didn't think of.

 

[Bill]

The big issue is that the dinette model and the sofa model both have a slideout, and the dinette or sofa are built on that platform. Any competent carpenter should be able to do what you have in mind, the cost depending on how much you want to duplicate the "factory look". It would be a good deal harder to retrofit a slide onto a non-slide TM, so you are fortunate you don't have to do that.

Bill

 

[Kidkraz]

What version of TM do you have?

 

[commodor47]

I remember reading somewhere (the "where" eludes me at the moment) the factory was designing stand alone slides, both dinette and sofa configurations. The hope was the dealer would have the ability to swap out or install the slide version preferred by the buyer. You might give the factory a call and see if that is an option for you. I imagine it will be a bit pricey though.

Dick

 

[ThePair]

The slide is really just a big drawer. I'm quite certain the factory can just make a swap without too much trouble. For a dealership, it would be a bigger issue, but there's precious little that lives on the slide outside of a power line and a gas line, both of which the factory could disconnect, swap, and reconnect.

I almost "dropped" my slide once, so I'm convinced that there isn't a difficult mechanism holding it in place that couldn't be removed/disconnected/replaced/reconnected by factory staff.

Personally, if you're that close to the factory, that's the route I'd take, for sure.

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

I would be hesitant to change out the entire slide. Components of the slide may have been installed to match up exactly to the shell and box. ln theory, it shouldn't matter. But if the rollers had to be bolted in a certain position, or the vinyl flaps screwed on to match the shell to the slide, they may not match the same way on the new slide. It might work okay if you find a sofa slide of the same year. Also, there are electricals and gas connections to deal with.

l still think it would be easier to strip out the dinette, sell it to someone, then buy the sofa cabinetry from Trailmanor. I'm sure installing the cabinets would be cheaper than swapping slides.

 

[HoMiPa]

I would be hesitant to change out the entire slide. Components of the slide may have been installed to match up exactly to the shell and box. ln theory, it shouldn't matter. But if the rollers had to be bolted in a certain position, or the vinyl flaps screwed on to match the shell to the slide, they may not match the same way on the new slide.

Hmmm - good thought. I found in my remodel that not a single curtain rail, valance, even cabinet door, had the screw holes in the same place or the same distance apart. There didn't seem to be any 'template', they just drilled holes randomly.....

 

[Popmom]

It would be helpful to know exactly which TM she is talking about. In my 2720 (two beds) I'm pretty sure the fresh water tank is underneath the left bench seat. I don't see how it could be done in that case.

 

[pmhellings]

Anything can be done if you have the skills and tools. I don't think it would be difficult and you could come up with something better than the factory install. Their couch uses pretty bad foam and the tables are awkward at best.

Paul

 

[HoMiPa]

It would be helpful to know exactly which TM she is talking about. In my 2720 (two beds) I'm pretty sure the fresh water tank is underneath the left bench seat. I don't see how it could be done in that case.

If you read back in the thread, it's a discussion about swapping out which type of slide (sofa or dinette) they have. The TM's with full slides are different than the ones you and I have. On a slide unit, a portion of the entire bottom front shell slides out, instead of just the bed platform.