By Emily Woodbury
When we asked this question in last week’s Thursday edition of the RV Daily Tips Newsletter, we were asking about the big pieces of furniture such as a couch, chair, table, etc.
I know when my dad, Chuck, and Gail first bought their RV, Gail had the thing torn up within the first few days of owning it. I went over to see it and was greeted by many power tools and a sawdust-covered Gail. “The table just wasn’t our style, plus the placement of it was so stupid!” She explained to me. Did you do the same with your RV? Let’s find out.
More than half of you, 61 percent, said no, you’ve never replaced any of the furniture in your RV. However, 17 percent of you have replaced more than one piece, and just under a quarter of you have replaced more than one (you and Gail would get along well).
Here’s what a few of you said about the matter:
“Bought a two yr old Jayco Eagle 5th wheel and the factory queen bed (given some superior name that I forget) was HORRIBLE! Jayco should be ashamed to sell that trash. It was about as comfortable as 2 old fashioned kapok life jackets piled up. Out it went and in with a new Verlo custom mattress.” —Gene Cheatham
You know, Gene, I have to comment here. I went to the Seattle RV show a few weekends ago and sat on quite a few of the RV beds. Your description of them feeling like life jackets piled up is very accurate. I sure wouldn’t want to sleep on some (er, most) of them!
“I removed our dining nook (nobody could fit in it anyway) and replaced it with a slide out futon (I designed the frame). Now we have a comfortable couch for 2 and when you slide it open it makes a comfortable bed for 2 adults.” —Bagman
“We ordered our MH without the couch or queen mattress. We had an expensive La-Z-Boy love seat recliner in our home’s living room and a nearly unused high-quality mattress in the guest room. I had measured the MH doorway and knew they would fit through it. Saved money and got quality furniture that we already knew we liked.” —Bob Eggett
“Replaced swivel-rocker-recliner chairs with La-Z-Boy rocker-recliners in our 5th wheel. Putting one hand on the arm of the swivel-type caused it to turn before we could get our other hand on the other armrest. Things happen when you’re old and must use one hand at a time when reaching back.” —Tom Gutzke
“Those who own an RV and have a sleeper sofa and haven’t replaced it are indeed fortunate or can’t afford it. What a piece of junk. One night in it and out the door. Same with a swivel chair. Would have been nice to buy RV without crappy furniture and buy our own. Could have saved money. Gave the sofa to our granddaughter and she got rid of it promptly.” —Thomas
“Put in center island. More storage and counter area. Turned table sideways to fit two people only and store center island against it when moving.” —Vic
“We have done modifications to three 5th-wheels we’ve had, usually to make room for a desk and dog beds by removing either the sofa or chairs/theater seating. We swapped for our own more comfortable recliner in one rig but put the original ones back in when we traded up for a new coach. Also traveled with only two of the four dining chairs in each of the rigs, and changed king mattress to queen in current one.” —Sue
Nice work, everyone! I’m glad to hear you’re rollin’ in style. La-Z-Boy sure makes some money off RVers, don’t they?
We loved everything about our small class C, until we tried to relax in the evenings. The horseshoe shaped dinette was uncomfortable for sitting and for stretching out. Not good for reading, or watching tv. We replaced the dinette with LaZBoy Rocker-recliners with a small console. We have a small, folding table for those days we don’t eat outside at the picnic table. Best decision, after the one to buy this rv!
We bought a 2013 Forest River Sabre fifth wheel in 2015. It originally had a sleeper sofa next to the dining table/chairs in the curbside slideout and two rocker/recliners in the rear. The tv was directly across from the sofa but we preferred to sit in the chairs which made tv viewing problematic. We sold the sofa, put the chairs in the slideout area, and bought a lightweight wood-framed couch with removable cushions for the rear. Much better! Plus we cut down some of the weight by getting rid of the sleeper/sofa, and we can truly say it only sleeps two now.
Manufacturers should be shot for the cheap crap they install in rv’s. I replaced everything in mine including restuffing the cushions in the dinette They sell BLING, not quality. I tried GIVING away the hide a bed.No takers. Into the scrap it went.
We bought our first RV and it had a dinette. After a couple of trips we quickly realized it’s not working for us. As we speak, the RV is in the shop, the dinette is out and a RecPro wallhugger reclining love seat is being installed. we even have the seats assigned (hers is in front of the TV, mine is in front of the kitchen. wait…what???) Looking forward to the added comfort. for the two of us, this should be just about perfect.
When we walked into the La-Z-Boy store and told the rep what we were there for (just to ‘look’), she said: “I know just what you want!”. I thought “right . . .”. But she DID know just what we wanted! She told us she sells a ton of these recliners to RV’ers. We have met several other RV’ers over time who have the exact same chairs, except for maybe color or material.