RV Chairperson

Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
My husband and I are always fighting over the driver's captain chair. The driver's chair swivels all the way around when we stop and faces out into the living/kitchen area. The passenger seat swivels, but only part way because the dinette bench is in the way.

I think we should just shop for a longer motorhome, with a floor plan that allows both seats to fully swivel. My husband says that's the economic equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

We live in this space full-time and I want it comfortable without drawing straws for "the chair."
--Redesign Chairperson in Chautauqua

Dear Chairperson:
I feel your pain. I also understand your husband's resistance to solve a problem of inconvenience by throwing money at it.

I have always wondered why manufacturers stick with design engineering that does not allow many passenger captain chairs to fully swivel. I assume they just want to deploy standard equipment into standard floor plans and not confuse the buying public too much.

This exact problem bothered us when we looked at rigs. We wanted to stay under 30 feet, but by going with a unit that was just two feet longer, we could have both chairs swivel completely around.

We decided to take the road less traveled. If you are handy at all, you can redesign and remodel your rolling castle to fit your personal needs pretty inexpensively.

A simple change solved three inconveniences for us. We removed the dinette bench that blocked the passenger seat, ripped out the carpet and put in Karndean Loose Lay vinyl plank flooring. We replaced the dinette bench with two nice chairs that slide in under the table on that side. The flooring solved the refinishing problem under the old dinette bench and made motorhome housekeeping much more convenient.

I said, three things. We also hated craning our necks to watch TV at the front of the motorhome where the manufacturers find it so convenient to stuff a tube on the ceiling above the dash. We turned that space into a cupboard, moved the TV to the cupboard above the dinette table and attached it to a full-swivel TV bracket. This bracket allows the TV to drop down and turn a full 90 degrees. Now we can sit in our comfortable, full swivel captain chairs and watch our normal level, full-swivel TV.

All this will cost you less than a grand if you can do some simple flooring.

This does not solve all problems. We still fight over the popcorn.
--Keep Smilin', Dr. R.V. Shrink