Dinette Storage

[MarineOne]

My wife wanted a pantry in the Legacy. So she pointed to the dinette and said "You could build a slide drawer in there couldn't you. YES DEAR. So here it is. Not AS hard as I thought but hard enough.

First off.... There are three and only three screws holding the bench to the slide. Remove them and pull the bench out.

Cut the seams in the end of the bench across the top end and down the middle panel seams. Pull staples and Fold the material back to expose the end of the bench. Pull off the cardboard face that exposes the 1x1s that form the arched end.

Pull the 30 or so staples out of the particle board that secure it to the frame. This is a huge pain in the arse but you will find a method. We used a punch to start a hole under the staple then pulled them out with a pointed hook and pliers.

Now you should be able to just lift the arched end off. On the side that faced the drivers seat we glued and screwed a 1x2 so that there would be an edge sticking out that side that you can use to open the drawer with.

Go talk someone into covering that arched end to match the seams in the other bench. This is where I tell you it took my wife over a month of run-a-rounds to finally get a very nice lady in the FR parts department to locate and order us matching fabric.

I ordered 500 lb capacity 30 inch side slides to put on the drawer They are very expensive and lighter weight slide may work just as well.

I built a box 38 inches long and as wide as I needed to to fit flush with the slides. I added 1x2s right on top of the bottom frame 1x2s to give the slides a place to mount.

Next we attached the slides to the bench and the box and slid it into place. Finally we mounted the face/arch of the drawer to the box

Seems to be perfect and my wife thinks I'm DA MAN.

[MarineOne]

More pics of the finished product. Hope to plug it back into the MH tomorrow if the tornadoes don't get in our way.

[rmac04401]

Very nice job

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by MarineOne

Attachment 106240Attachment 106241

More pics of the finished product. Hope to plug it back into the MH tomorrow if the tornadoes don't get in our way.

Wow, you are DA man. I have been studying this project for the past year and the need for matching fabric kinda kept me from starting out on it. Very impressed. After the upcoming summer trip to Canada, I can see a project.

Thanks for posting

[MarineOne]

Installed and working well. One word of caution. Be careful about placement of the drawer face. It appears the slide slopes slightly down (toward the floor) when OUT. If the drawer face is even a quarter inch below the top of the bench it will drag the floor when it's about halfway out and pulling the slide in might get ugly. We figured it out before we slid in. We raised the drawer face to right at level and it works great slid out. Slid in you start dragging about 8 inches out. If that becomes an issue for you just shim the bench to raise it a half inch and it will slide all the way to the sofa while slid in.

[DSMURPHY]

Originally Posted by rmac04401

Very nice job

x2

[captnrick3]

Is there a latch of some sort to prevent them from opening?

[MarineOne]

We had two 10 pound larches we were going to put on the inside of the box and attached to the frame , like every other drawer in the kitchen, BUT. As I hinted to earlier....when the slide is in and you are traveling the drawer CANT open more then a few inches before it stops as it hits the floor. So far it hasn't come open at all. If we run into that problem we will install the two latches on the face of the drawer.

[Blacknchromehd]

I am in no means able to do work like this and going to look at someone who can do this for me...its an excellent idea and would look great on mine...I have the 360 RB so mine is a tad different...any more photos of the job you can send me?

[MarineOne]

Originally Posted by Blacknchromehd

I am in no means able to do work like this and going to look at someone who can do this for me...its an excellent idea and would look great on mine...I have the 360 RB so mine is a tad different...any more photos of the job you can send me?

Im attaching all the pics I took that I didn't attach before. If you have any specific questions just give me a shout. Believe me, Im not a carpenter and not skilled at any art. Once you get into it and see how they put it together it doesn't take a lot to see how you can make the project work. The key to this was being there with the guy doing the upholstery so I cold relate to him what I needed. He really only had to sew two seams that looked like the ones on the other bench but there were a LOT of staples when you went to put the bench back together. My father-in-law, who has been camping all his adult life and worked on them for a long time, suggested that I could put the slides on the bottom of the drawer and that might work even better. It might have. So that is another way to do it. It would sure eliminate the need to get the width of the drawer EXCTLY right between the slides......and it would give a bit more support to the bottom of the drawer. Maybe next time.

[psw757]

Drawers look great.

This is something we have been wanting to do as well. I'm sure I can handle getting it apart and building the box and rails however that end cap with the fabric is the key.

How willing was forest river to get the fabric for you? What exactly did you tell them you needed?

Thanks

[Big Red and 30WR]

Maybe you can give lessons @ forest river plant on how to build stuff and build it right. Very nice job.

[MarineOne]

Originally Posted by psw757

Drawers look great.

This is something we have been wanting to do as well. I'm sure I can handle getting it apart and building the box and rails however that end cap with the fabric is the key.

How willing was forest river to get the fabric for you? What exactly did you tell them you needed?

Thanks

The toughest part was pulling all the LONG staples and separating the end cap. Seeing the seams and covering it took about 15 minutes for the guy to do. Once my wife finally got to the right person (FR PARTS DEP) the young lady there was VERY willing She had to order it from their source and then forwarded it to us. My wife sent her pics of our fabric to make sure it matched before she ordered it. We ordered 5 yards just so we would have extra on hand.

[captnrick3]

Thanks again for a great post. I have studied every picture and word, going to do it for sure, probably after summer. We are leaving on a couple month trip to the Canadian Rockies shortly but I will be eyeballing those seats while we are out.

I'm surprised you didn't decide to do the aft bench as well since the front one came out so well. My wife looked over your pictures as well, she is focused on getting it done now.

[MarineOne]

The aft seat has the frame for the seat belts and we use those seat belts for the grand kids car seats so that wasn't really an option. But it would have been nice. Enjoy the Rockies. Make sure you stop by Banff and Lake Louise

[captnrick3]

Now that we have a little pause in travel I am copying your dinette drawer. Just received the drawer slides, working on the fabric. Naturally the fabric has been discontinued per FR. So I am working with Williamsburg Furniture to find something close. Got some swatches coming via snail mail so we can match as good as possible. Anxious to get started once all the materials arrive.

[MarineOne]

Good luck with it. We have really enjoyed ours. After months of use the only issue we found was that I did not mount the drawer face high enough and about a Foot before full extension it drags the floor. Just mount the bottom of the drawer as high as you can and it should clear, no problem.

[MacGumbo]

I see you have the Dream Dinette mechanism. Installed mine this past year and my DW loves it.

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by MarineOne

Good luck with it. We have really enjoyed ours. After months of use the only issue we found was that I did not mount the drawer face high enough and about a Foot before full extension it drags the floor. Just mount the bottom of the drawer as high as you can and it should clear, no problem.

Thanks much. Can't beat experience.

[MarineOne]

Not sure what a Dream Dinette System is but if you mean the under seat storage , yes. We built it a few months ago and really like it.