MrTweety's Sofa Mod

[Tweety]

Steve owns the swivel chair for TV watching. I got tired of my left shoulder falling off of the sofa when I'd lay down to watch TV. The DD thought the sofa was the most uncomfortable thing ever (well...besides the dinette) to sleep on. So here's the mod....

The sofa back just slips behind the seat and sits there. It is not attached in any way.



Luan was replace with plywood, and sofa bottom was screwed to angle bracket. Angle bracket is permenantly screwed to plywood base.



For sleeping, the backrest lifts out and sits on the floor. This is not necessary for TV watching since we gained seat width just by moving the backrest behind the seat. I think we gained 4-5" of seat. It's amazing what a difference that makes in comfort.



Closeup of angle bracket attached to plywood. If you wanted your seat to sit higher you could add wood under the angle bracket to raise the whole seat. This would also give you storage under the seat. Being short, we both like the low sofa.



Stuff a pillow or whatever is handy (towels?) in the space for sleeping. We found that this is only needed in the top part, not down where your feet are.

[kanyonkitty]

Geat Idea, Mr. Tweety

I'll check into doing that with my sofa, which I had already raised, (but I might raise it more ). So, I'll replace the luan with plywood, and convert the sofa. Hey, there is a warming trend coming in a day or two, yeehaw, maybe I can get out in Sunny to do some more mods.

Kitty & KD

I also have 7 greyhound coats to make, and I'll be greyhound sitting for 10 days

[Poppy & Nana]

AH HA - now I see said the blind man......I just could not picture what it was that you were describing in the other post........now I got it !

[Mr Tweety]

Hi Folks,

Mrs Tweety did an excellent job of describing our little sofa mod. I would just add that the original mechanism which used to allow the "slide out" is obviously removed. What you can't see in the photo is that the sofa seat is bolted to that angle iron (which you can see about the rear most 9 inches of) using the same bolts that once secured it to the "slide-out" mechanism. So you have to fabricate this part - but it's easy. Just drilling holes in angle iron.

Also not shown - Sunline had a flimsy piece of luan under this sofa which I never liked and was actually collapsing into the outside compartment. So the plywood "beefs up" this structure - much like the storage under the bedroom is made. (that's all solid). I had to fabricate some wooden rails along the wall to serve as attach and support for the plywood. The sides and front can be supported by existing structure. (Though I did add a few more upright pieces to the front sofa partition behind the panels to beef it up a little)

Of course - the sofa no longer slides out - won't even flip up. But Mrs Tweety is happy with the darn thing --- and that's all that matters.

Mr Tweety

[emam]

Steve, you said the most important thing of all, Pam is Happy.

If Momma aint happy, aint NOBODY happy!!

I'll have to show this to Cindy in the morning. We've been going back and forth over this for a few days now and actually stayed put today because of this and a few other last minute items.

I had looked in the Camping World catalog and saw that a Single mattress would fit perfect. So I assumed that a regular Single mattress would fit also. NOT

Cindy doesnt want to spend the $250 on a RV mattress that is going to hang over the edge of the what the couch already does anothe 6". We looked into having either a custom mattress made, or buying a standard mattress and having it trimmed, but we're talking about $400 or around that price range.

She told me I had to live with the uncomfortable thing or come up with the money myself (I handle no money in the relationship, just spend it as fast as I can get it from her )

So I'll let you know what we decide after I show her this mod.

THanks for the pictures, they help alot!

[Tweety]

Just went out for a quick measurement. The sofa sticks out from the wall 30.5 inches. I have to agree with Cindy...a standard single bed mattress at 38" would stick out too far. The good thing about this mod is that it was free - Steve had all the supplies hanging around in the garage.

[kanyonkitty]

OK, I just had to run in from the Sunline to look for this thread since I'm about ready to put the sofa back in place, BUT.....I'm putting that on hold and I'll finish the insulating under the kitchen cabinets & shower, as I have a "thought" in my head for the sofa, thanks Steve

[Janalee]

Hey all,
I told you a few months ago about our mod along this line--we used a twin mattress out of a used travel trailer--cost-$10.00...Perfect size!!!!!\Nice innerspring comfort-no brackets,just plywood under it for support.Janalee

[kanyonkitty]

Janalee,

I remember your thread, but I want to keep the sofa, as it's just me & the pups. But, I also have to have access under the sofa as that is where the water heater & furnace are located. So, I have a ruff idea for a modification borrowing from Mr. Tweetys' design.

[Tweety]

We were originally going to do your method Jan, but our sofa is a shorty. A regular mattress is too long and a baby crib mattress is too short. The older 2753s have a foot less counter space in the kitchen, which makes the sofa the length of a twin mattress, but in the newer ones they put some counterspace and took the length out of the sofa. I'm not complaining...I like that foot of counterspace
Kitty, our hot water heater is under there but we have an access panel on the front of the sofa. If you need the sofa bottom to lift up you could cut the plywood along the length of the sofa and add piano hinges at the seam. We (Mr Tweety) just did that for our one dinette bench where the plywood was screwed down. (only he hinged it along the short end)

[kanyonkitty]

Pam,

Your a mind reader, I plan to make the bottom board/cushion of the sofa hinged so I can lift it up. I hope to get to Lowes tomorrow for the wood, if my hands and arms aren't too sore. I need this mod done, as I leave on April 4th for Williamsburg (Unless I take the afternoon of the 3rd off "sick )

Of course, pictures will be posted.

Kitty