Hi everyone,
My wife and I are ready to pull the trigger on a Hawk and I was wondering what the general consensus is on the dinette vs standard couch option. Are the beds the same size when folded out? Is there a spot for the table when the dinette is in the sleeping postion?
Thanks for the input
The beds aren't the same size. You get a very narrow single bed with the dinette. With the couch rolled over, you get a slightly wider bed, but still tight for two. In the Fleet (wide body Eagle) that I was loaned for a two week trip last year, there was no fixed place for the table. I tucked it away wherever I found a spot for it when I used the lower bed. It was not the most comfortable bed I ever slept on either.
I liked the idea of the dinette until I used a camper with it for those two weeks... By the time the trip was over, I couldn't wait to give the camper back. There is less storage for bigger items with the dinette over the couch, like camp chairs and rolled up items. I found the table-top to be too small for two to comfortably eat off of at the same time, it was not much bigger than a cafeteria lunch tray... An adult male friend joined me inside for dinner one night and we both couldn't sit with our feet under the table, I had to turn 90* to eat. I also felt that the table & seat-back intruded in the alley, making it a bit of a pain to get dressed without feeling like I was trying to change clothes in an airplane bathroom.
By having the seat back by the back door, it made getting in & out of the camper more difficult than with the couch. Packing the camper and loading the fridge from outside, were much more difficult tasks with the single seat-back in the way. And you can forget about accessing the storage under the single seat from the outside... unless you have really long arms.
I know I'm in the minority here, but for me, the dinette was a bit of a hassle with no real upside: too small for what it's designed for and too awkward & in the way for everything else. It may work great for other folks, but I tried it and it didn't work for me and how we are used to using our camper. We had a Grandby with the dinette in our possession for awhile too and we didn't like it in that bigger model either. It's a nice option and if it's all you know, you might like it. But the loss of long storage, awkward seating position, small table-top, intrusive seat-back and the more narrow bed was a deal-breaker for us.
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