I had a HW-277 for many years.
I always put the table down for travel. Reasons:
- Vibration on the road...and worse in offroad conditions...would play hell with the table post mounts. As it was, I had to upsize the screws on the floor post mounts because a number of them came loose and stripped out. It's a hard life.
- The flat bed...from the dinette...makes great storage for the bathroom door, a folding dog crate, the tent end poles, and other detritus. I put a LOT of stuff on that table/bed. Under the table can be devoted to smaller items including the table support posts and other stuff that can be jammed in there.
- The back cushions MUST be laid flat to make room for the bed slides.
- It's easier to tuck the canvas for the slide if the center is a bit lower than with the table up. The slide canvas is kind of a big lump in the middle of the rig, because of its three-side shape and being attached to the slide tub.
- And for the sake of being a bit OCD, this is how the rig is designed to travel.
These rigs are NOT built like tanks. Something as large and heavy as that table top teetering on the top of those two posts as you careen down the road is asking for trouble. If you rip loose the post bases, upsized replacement screws are just so big before you have trouble finding something that will work. When I upsized my base screws to #14 stainless, I had to drill out the aluminum base to accommodate those larger screws, and #14 is as big as you'll find at your local hardware store. You might go with bolts, washers and nylock nuts, but it's not very easy to get in that space under the floor to work.
Given the nature of your question, it may also occur to you to leave the faucet goosneck in place. The short answer is that, yes, it can be done successfully, but that's a pretty fragile faucet. The bed won't hit it, but tucking canvas might. It's designed to be removed for a reason. I forgot to remove mine a couple of times and got away with it, but I didn't do so intentionally.
Speaking of faucets, I hated the factory faucet that had the knobs. Invariably I wasted water (boondocking) because the cold water faucet has to be turned counter clockwise to close it...and that is counter intuitive (righty-tighty).
I bought this faucet as a replacement, because it has lever handles...far more intuitive operation, and it has a removable goosneck.
One other suggestion for tucking canvas. This is a high camper, and tucking canvas can be a bear. I lifted mine for off-road boondocking, and that made tucking canvas MUCH harder. Climbing on the A-frame and the rear bumper gets old...especially if they are wet and slick, and shoving my arm into the void under the roof all the way up to my shoulder never felt smart. And I'm 6'6"...and still had to go through these gymnastics.
I got this rubber pet hair "rake", and it worked like a charm. Note that it has an extending, twist-lock handle. I could tuck the canvas from the ground, and the rubber head was very gentle on the canvas and "windows." Above all, it did a better job, because it has a longer reach than my 37" sleeve.
Finally, if you boondock and travel with a full freshwater tank, you absolutely MUST add support under the tank. 20 gallons of water weigh 166 pounds. My fresh tank couldn't take that abuse when going overland to get into boondocking sites. After I replaced the cracked tank, I added the support in the photo so I could safely get to sites like the one in the other pic. The support takes advantage of the pipe "looms" on the frame and is made from 1/2" galvanized water pipe, a couple of clevis pins, a piece of plywood, a couple of pipe clamps, and a heavy rubber floor mat. Worked absolutely wonderfully. (You can also see the lift kit on the far side of the axle. I needed the lift kit because I was constantly draging the steps and bending them out of shape...so much so that I carried a 6 pound sledge hammer to straighten them out so I could use them...pix.)
There are MANY other things to know about your rig: sag of the front wall; bathroom wall mount weaknesses, self-disassembly (screws falling out everywhere), issues with the outdoor kitchen "drain," issues with the tee in the main grey water drain, goofy limit switch on the roof lift winch, TP holder, flaw in awning design, adding solar [pic], and so on but I'll stop here unless you're interested. I absolutely LOVED my HW-277, but if you use it a lot and if you boondock with it, you'll need to be "handy."
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