Dinette seats size and length

[m00py]

Working with Sketchup getting some $hit figured out and I'm not sure about the dinette length.

The length from back to back, left to right, is 4 1/2'. Is that enough or does it need to be longer? People with dinettes in your buses: What are the dimensions of your dinette?

 

[somewhereinusa]

That seems awfully small. Why not set it up with chairs at your table and see what is comfy for you, or measure one at a diner you like. I personally think they take up space, but there is just two of us.

 

[austin1989us]

Here's an ugly sketch of the dinette I built. I still don't have the cushions or table top done yet, it's sorta been a work bench during the construction phase of my bus.

Note that the dinette sits on top of my wheel well, so it's sitting a little higher than it ought to. My cushions should come right up to the bottom of the window. I may or may not build a little platform so my feet aren't dangling when I sit at the table. A drawer would fit under there perfectly.

The dinette cushions are gonna be made from an old foam twin mattress I have, so I designed it with the idea that it'd be convertible into a twin bed. The seat backs are 13.5" tall. The seats are 24" deep. The seat without the cushion is 16" above the platform I might build. The table is 27"x38". The whole dinette is as wide as a twin mattress (38").

 

[austin1989us]

So, if you want a general footprint of the dinette for the layout, if you build what I built it's the same footprint as a twin mattress. 39" x 75"

I'm sure you could make it smaller, but this works for me.

 

[bansil]

I forgot what ours measures, short people hate our setup, we love it, perfect ht and width

I started with a table width that allowed plates and a pot/bowl in between and a couple inches from edge to plate, and it is high

Best bet is to mock it up for you and yours

Good luck

 

[Tango-SKO]

Best bet for just about anything going into the interior of a Shorty is to mock it up out of cardboard or some such. Even fractions of inches can make a world of difference. And while I do love the modeling ability of virtual systems, standing next to the actual form is the only way to really get the feel of something.

I feel the same is true for bigger buses but space allocation in a Shorty is much more critical.

 

[m00py]

Turns out 4 1/2 ' was awfully small so I bumped the length to 4' 11" and the width to 3' after messing around with some chairs around the house and found that to be theoretically perfect. Pictured is the adjustment:

Only problem is that I was trying to fit a shower between the dinette and wheel well (toilet going atop the wheel well) and now I don't think I can do that. I may try to design a toilet/shower combo, take a seat out of the dinette which I really don't want to do or scrap a shower altogether and just stick with a toilet. Any suggestions?

 

[family wagon]

I've gone with the wet bath approach in mine. I put down a 30x60 shower base and mounted the toilet in one corner. The thought is the toilet consumes some of the floor area, but it's short so there's still plenty of elbow room for washing oneself. Anyway, all the high-end places have a bench in the shower, right? So much the better to be able to attend all those bodily needs at the same place and time..?

I still haven't really lived with this setup in a finished form; we've used it just a few times with black plastic sheeting surround instead of a real hard-wall enclosure. Still need to figure out how I'll keep the towel and clothes, and especially the toilet paper, dry through showers!

Maybe build yourself a custom pan with stone or tile and the rubber sheet shower pan liner stuff, like Offgr1d did in hers. Or build the pan with fiberglass. Put the throne up high over the wheel well, since you don't need so much head room while sitting anyway, and the shower drain down low there behind the dinette.

 

[bansil]

how about using 2 chairs on the shower side?

you can scoot them under table while traveling and when you need to drop the "soft wall" curtain? the entrance to shower could be the side with table/chairs so hallway would be hard wall

Multitasking space

 

[m00py]

Going to go for the shower/toilet combo with the toilet on the wheel well. Refer here for the update. Pretty pleased with it