Dinette Seats Help

[mike802]

I everyone:  As most of you know, I am converting an old bus into an RV.  I have come to the point in my project where I have to build a set of dinette seats.   I will admit that I am asking a lot out of these dinette seats, I need them to be comfortable to eat at and for extended sitting times when traveling down the road for 8 to 12 hours.  They also have to make into a bed and have accessible storage underneath.  I have considered using a knife hinge so they can fold down into a bed, with the addition of reclining mechanisms from car seats to recline the backs.  Any ideas would be greatly helpful, thanks guys.

[Mike]

most campers that I had the table was places on a lip so it made for a bed deck the dinette  backs would be placed on the tqable tpp making a full berth

[mike802]

Mike, yea that pretty much sums up the dinette seating arrangement that the RV industry has used since day one.  Having the opportunity to build my own, I was thinking of doing something better.  Anytime I slept on a convertible dinette by morning the cushions would have slid around and be half off the table.  The seating arrangement is ok for eating, but in a motor home where someone might be sitting for 10 to 12 hours during traveling they can be horrendous.  I was thinking that a knife hinge would open the seat for sleeping without having the cushions sliding around and a reclining mechanism would make long term travel more comfortable, also a mechanism to lift the legs just behind the knees would also help.  I went to the junk yard and picked up two bucket seats out of a pick up, hopefully this weekend I will see just what I have to work with.

[Mike]

Mike seems you eould still need to jugle the cushions around.
What if you hinged the back  ushion to the seat bottom on each side slid them down in pla e fo make one bed then perhaps.  Zipper the 2 sets together so they did t move around.

I had a boat dinett area that mDe into. Bed. It was "L" shaped.  The long ze tion had a panel thT slid out. Doubling the size to make the bottom. The. Ushion still had to. E moved around to cover the  berth.

[Mojo]

Mike:

How about an arrangement of two opposing jack knife seats ? It would be an off take of a jack knife
love seat found in many MH's.

Chris

[mike802]

Chris:  Yea, that is what I was thinking and meant by a knife hinge, with the addition of the reclining mech. out of the truck seats.  I still have to come up with some way to add support for under the legs and some head rests.  Maybe I could also have the kick panel part of the dinette seat box fold out to make a foot rest.  Its going to be an involved project for sure.

[Mike]

my winnibeago had a sofa like that it hinged and layed down into a bed maybe you could find 2 mike and with some welding to shorten them  for your purpose.ive not seen a flip up footrest though on a couch maybe mojo ho has seem many more has

[mike802]

Thanks Mike, thats along the lines I was thinking, but ended up buying some truck seats, I did a little work on my truck seat idea, for dinette seats yesterday.  Tore one all down and was thinking of widening it into a bench seat, then decided maybe it would be best to use 4 seats and keep them as singles.  That way everyone seated can adjust for their own comfort setting.  It would mean compromising a little on sleeping comfort, but in our case the dinette would only be used for occasional sleeping anyway.  Still have a lot to figure out, but I am video recording it all as I go and should have some footage to share soon.