Theater Seats replaced with Modified Futon

Newly installed and modified futon

April 30, 2019

Hello, and thanks again for reading our blog!  As we briefly noted in our last blog (4/9), we purchased a futon to replace our theater seating.  While the theater seats were fine, on occasion like to lay down, and that is impossible with the theater seats.  And the original "couch/bed" wasn't the size needed for me to lay my 6'5" big frame down on, so that wasn't even considered for this spot.

The original couch we were thinking of getting was way out of our price range - a Love Sac Sactional.  This would have been awesome; as the Sactional would have arrived at our door in many smaller boxes.  They takes very little to set up and could have been anchored to the floor.  Great setup, but cost prohibitive.

So we decided for the time being to go the way of a futon, knowing that the problem with futons is that they are very low to the floor and have a steep rake angle to the back.  Since we are not planning to use the futon as a sleeping bed, we decided to lift it up in height and reduce the posterior angle.  After a lot of thought, we decided to try to use PVC pipe of different sizes to both hold the oblong frame that goes to the floor and to elevate it with inserts in the PVC pipe.

We purchased 3" and 2" PVC piping with the 2" being used for the interior of the three inch to perform the "lift".  Additionally, 1 1/2" piping was needed for the center supports.  It was our thought to also use some aerosol foam insulation between the three and two inch piping to make it a more stable platform.  We lived with the setup (without the spray in foam) for a couple of months to see if we liked how it was sitting, after which, we agreed on a slight modification to increase the rake to the back just about one inch.

The night before the finishing work was to be completed, we thought that since we had a hole saw from the desk project, why not use a round piece of wood as the top of the interior stack.  We believed that this would help produce a more stable platform for the futon legs to sit on.  On April 27th, modification work on the PVC started with the cutting of some 5/8" plywood with the 3" hole saw and another test fitting.  

All 6 of the lifts being painted, the two center lifts are being held up by their little brother lifts

With the additional 5/8", the back part of the futon's lift would have to drop a little more.  Once we were happy with the result, we started gluing the PVC parts; spaying the foam insulation between the pieces (not as easy as thought!); installing the wood platforms and painting.

Painted PVC lifts with wood platform and some spray insulation showing

If you notice, the bases are actually PVC toilet flanges with the center parts intact.  These flanges are sturdy and provide holes for mounting screws to help secure everything to the slide out floor.

The final product looks pretty good, not perfect, but definitely workable.  We are still considering whether we should spray foam up to the top of the PVC pipe and paint it the same color.  We may put a cloth bed sham around it in the future.

We are happy with the outcome.  The modifications done too our fifth wheel are not for everyone, but this is our home and the mods make it feel more like "home"

Let us know your thoughts, and until next time, God Bless!

New RV Batteries and Dog lookout post added!

April 9, 2019

Buddy on Watch Duty!

While I apologize for the delay in writing, to be honest, we just have been living life with friends and family for the most part.  In March was filled with rain and storms, one that left us without power for over 16 hours and a visit from Rhonda's daughter and son-in-law, pretty much one right after the other...storm, no power and a few days later, a surprise visit!

The storm and loss of power was a blessing in disguise.  The loss of power showed our unit's strength and weaknesses.  Our GD Reflection fifth wheel did great, no leaks no major issues with the wind gusts of over 25 mph with the slides out.  We learned that the previous owner had installed a 2000 Watt Go Power industrial pure sign wave inverter when we purchased the unit.  What we didn't know is what the inverter powered, until we turned it on.  The previous owner either knew what they were doing, or had the inverter installed professionally, because they also installed a 15 Amp transfer switch.  During our power outage, we found that the inverter, wired thru the transfer switch powers a few outlets in the rig.  This took some thought and knowledge of the unit and it's circuits.  

When the power went out we were able to see if our batteries were indeed "good".  When we purchased the unit, one of our concerns was the batteries.  When we first looked at the fifth wheel, the lights were very dim as it wasn't plugged into shore power.  We had asked Lazy Days to fully check the batteries, which they said they did (2 UltraPower 6 Volt).  Power went out, refrigerator and water heater on their "gas" setting.  We used only the rig's furnace which (we know the blower motor uses a lot of 12 volt power) and minimal 12 volt LED lighting, but the batteries couldn't stand up to the demand and lasted only 2.5 hours.   I maintained the batteries with distilled water every 4-6 weeks to ensure their life would be good, but I do believe Lazy Days didn't even look or test them.

We are thankful for what we have, and that included a hurriedly purchased Champion dual fuel generator (purchased in September 2018 just before 2 hurricanes landed in our area).  We are thankful we had it, as it kept our rig powered up, albeit noisily, until shore power was restored.   Funny how life works, 2 hurricanes, shore power was not affected at all.  Severe winter storm and BAM, loss of power for 16 hours.

When the storm was over and shore power restored; I researched battery replacements.  We wanted more power and maintenance free batteries, but our budget was stretched thin as it was and Lithium batteries were out of the question at $960 each.  We ended up gong with  2 AGM 12 V 100 AH batteries from Amazon.  We also bought 2 new battery boxes as the old ones did not fit the new batteries. The wiring had to change from series to parallel, but that was easy enough to do.  I will say that I don't like how the wiring to the batteries was done, and of course none of the wires are labeled, so that will be a future project.  We want to get everything prepared for a big battery, solar and inverter upgrade, but prices have to come down and our budget has to increase! 

Our visitors arrived when the new battery install was being completed along with more rain.  Tammy and Dale are a great couple and we really enjoy our time with them.  They arrived on Saturday and after we had some local Mexican food, they went off to check into the Hampton Inn on the Reedy River.  We met up with them at their hotel and walked with them along the park up to the Liberty Bridge.  This park is one of our favorite places to take Buddy, our Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix rescue puppy, and we all enjoyed the sunny day.

Left to Right - Dale, Tammy and Rhonda!

We then had an awesome late breakfast/lunch at Passerelle Bistro on the patio overlooking the river and falls.

We also purchased a Futon to replace our theater seats.  We have to make some changes to the Futon which is a work in progress, and we will update the blog when that work is completed!

Then, with the wood scraps left over from the previous "desk project" we build a dog lookout stand which also doubles as our rubber boot storage area.  I am not a great carpenter by any means, but it works and Buddy is enjoying the views!

Buddy on his new Lookout Post!

And finally, our brother Jeff and his fiance Margaret visited us.  We took them to the park and then to Passerelle Bistro too, which we all enjoyed.  Unfortunately, they were at the beginning of a 10 day illness, so we didn't get to see much of them after the Friday visit, but we enjoyed the time we had! 
Until next time, God Bless!