Jackknife sofa vs. dinette in Axis 25.3 - your experiences

[RVwife]

Our Axis came with the jackknife sofa. Neither DH nor I are too fond of it. It's not quite wide enough as a bed for 2. (We've used it in a pinch.) Nor do we care for the side by side seating to eat; a bit cramped.

Our pop up had a dinette with benches on either side of the table. DH has measured and thinks he can build a very similar dinette to fit the sofa space. I or a gal we know, who does great upholstery, can sew cushion covers in a decor that we would like. We're seriously considering dong that.

So a couple questions:

• What have your experiences been with either a dinette or the sofa - pro & con
• Is it hard to anchor and secure the relocated seat belts? Is there anything special we should be aware of safety wise? (One plus of the benches would be our soon to arrive grandchild would have to ride in a rear facing child seat for several years. With the sofa configuration, that is not possible but with benches it is.)
• Any of you who have remodeled a dinette, what density of foam did you used for the cushions? (I'm leaning toward d rather firm.)

Given someone will ask - no the sofa/dining area is not a slide out. Also not interested in recliners since we want a good size table for games and puzzles on rainy days or after dinner.

Thanks for your thoughts & suggestions

[2015axis]

Attachment 30560

We had the sofa in ours that lasted about a year then I built this dinette, much more user friendly, great for game night and just slide in and eat, plus having the additional storage under the benches is great. It too makes into a bed, not the most spacious but keeps out two grandkids separated,,

[Mr Sunshine]

Our 25.2 has a water tank under the jack knife sofa. If yours has the same, it makes changes more challenging, if not impossible.

[RVwife]

2015 Axis, that's exactly what we want to do. Love what you did there, nice work. Thanks for the photo. You built those yourself, rather than buying some stock benches, right? DH figures he can build them too, has lots of woodworking tools. How/where did you end up anchoring the seat belts. Any tips on that?

Mr. Sunshine, fortunately our H2O tank is under our bed in the rear slide. I think the generator and propane are under the existing sofa, so hopefully we will be OK with that set-up. Have to check it out carefully before forging ahead. We will have to work around or reroute some heat ducting, but that shouldn't be to much of a problem. We'll have to content with one control box (furnace fan maybe) of some sort in the far corner, but that should be OK as the sofa already does so and we would probably be working with the same frame work there. Open to any other tips or suggestions you have.

[2015axis]

Originally Posted by RVwife

2015 Axis, that's exactly what we want to do. Love what you did there, nice work. Thanks for the photo. You built those yourself, rather than buying some stock benches, right? DH figures he can build them too, has lots of woodworking tools. How/where did you end up anchoring the seat belts. Any tips on that?



Mr. Sunshine, fortunately our H2O tank is under our bed in the rear slide. I think the generator and propane are under the existing sofa, so hopefully we will be OK with that set-up. Have to check it out carefully before forging ahead. We will have to work around or reroute some heat ducting, but that shouldn't be to much of a problem. We'll have to content with one control box (furnace fan maybe) of some sort in the far corner, but that should be OK as the sofa already does so and we would probably be working with the same frame work there. Open to any other tips or suggestions you have.

One seatbelt per side, attached to frame structure using flat bar.