This page will become a collection of furniture articles.
Update Sept – Oct ’21: Continuing with the LR remodel…
This is a ’02 Winnebago Journey, DSDP, with a 75″ wide couch that in this case is a powered infinite position but mainly 3 position couch (that are $1200 new). It has a motor/cable system that lowers the couch to a ‘Full Size’ and there’s also a Trundle that can be pulled out from underneath and makes the couch into a short ‘Queen Size’ bed. I rarely use it. Last time was when my brother visited with me last year for 2 days. So, I decided to get rid of the couch. What I can do if I do ever get a guest is for the short term buy a blow up mattress for them, and for the long term, just buy one of those European swivel, recliner, rocker chairs that make a nice bed for one. I have maybe one guest every 2-3 years so not really a big deal.
First thing to do was to remove all the bolts holding the couch to the floor, then the trundle railing, then remove the arms…those are held on by four bolts on each side. The couches are made this way for RV’s so the manufacturer doesn’t have to build the RV around the couch, the couch can squeeze inside through the door.
Removed the arms, the trundle (that is a wide foot rest that slips under the couch when not being used), and all the railings for the trundle and it was ready to remove.
To get it out the door, I extended it so it was flat. After it was outside, I cut off the 12 volt power connector inside the house and attached it to the couches connector so it’ll go with the couch to any new owner. Here’s one of the arms.
And after the chair is removed.
Then I removed the passenger side captain’s chair and with help, easily got the couch outside. Then hooked up my battery charger to the pigtail wires and set it upright. Than covered it with a 8′ X 6′ blue tarp as rain was predicted. The tarp has eyelets so I used nylon string to secure it to the couch frame in case of wind.
Kitchen Table straight backed chairs…
I have two (near) straight backed open seat (armless) padded chairs with wooden edges and legs. These chairs are used with the dining room table. Nice high quality chairs with padding on the seat and back with fabric that matches the overall decor of the RV’s interior. As with most RVs. The table is pull out with a stored leaf that I pull out when I’m going to be parked for any length of time longer than a couple weeks. Because the table could seat four, Winnebago also provided two other folding chairs in the same style. Not as comfortable though. I store those in a basement compartment.
Because I use these two non-folding chairs 99% of the time they are showing some wear. And two years ago I retired the one I used the most as one of the ‘Sinuous Springs’ aka ‘S-springs’ had broken at the attachment and no longer held me up comfortably while sitting. Here’s an Amazon link to show you what they look like though mine are 18″ long.
I had tried to clamp the broken end with a metal tab but then a few months later the other end of the same spring broke as well. So then swapped to the backup chair that I had rarely used up to that point. And after two years, it started to develop broken springs too. Eventually 3 springs had broken away from the wooden frame. So time to come up with a repair.
Note that over the last two years, whenever I had gone into a thrift store or a furniture store I tried to find a set of chairs that would match but with no luck. So repair was in order. I was thinking of ordering the repair springs but these chairs have hundreds of staples holding the fabric of the chair and it would take hours just for that chore. So I wanted to try an easier method.
And what I came up with was to take a metal clothes hanger…remember those? And use it to attach the springs. I always keep some so I can use them for special projects like this one turned out to be. I couldn’t find a neat metal tab to hold the broken end of the springs like I had in the past so I came up with this method:
First cut some pieces from the hanger, bent it here and there, made a couple loops for attachment points then threaded it through the springs. I sort of threaded the wire through the old springs to help hold it. Then I added zip ties to help hold the pieces of repair wire in place. After that, drilled a pilot hole for a screw and cinched up the springs with construction screws. So as you can see above, I did that in 3 places to support the ends of the sinuous springs. The hanger rods are close to the springs diameter so I expect them to hold fast for quite a while.
Since I was working on this one chair already, I pulled the other chair out and checked on repairing the other end of this attachment shown below. I doesn’t look very pretty but it had lasted the first time I repaired it so no need to change it. The other end of this same spring had broken so I attached it the way I did the springs above.
One of the side to side stiffeners had snapped on this chair so I added a zip tie. All the repair rods got a zip tie too to help keep the springs from shifting from my weight and dislodging. The ties are really strong so I hoped that this one would help the situation.
After all that, I now have two repaired chairs I can start using again. Happy with the results so far…hope the repairs last. If not, I just may have to remove all those hundreds of staples after all so I can access the attachment ends of the springs.