Should have checked wires from below....

[Sagefemme]

Three ideas for your improvements list. We did them after a couple of years with our FB Hawk and wish that we had done them right away.

Swap out the standard table for a Lagune table with a rectangular top. Much better performance and flexibility.

Commit to east-west sleeping and leave the bed slider at home. Suddenly the under bed storage is easily accessible because it’s always ready and lifting the bed is soooooo easy because it’s lighter. And making or breaking camp goes much faster.

If you don’t need the guest bed, replace the heavy and awkward dinette bench slabs with light plywood on piano hinges. Access to the big storage bins is now easy. We use folding bleacher seats for padding and back support.

Anyhoo, there’s some ideas. Wisdom suggests that you do some camping to see if any of these make sense for you. Enjoy.

John

I will look into the Lagune table. The standard table does seem a bit lacking.

As to E-W sleeping, we are already committed as our camper does not have the bed slide out. We are finding the sleeping area plenty roomy; it's hard to imagine who needs the slide out except I guess it makes N-S sleeping possible. Maybe I don't really understand what I'm missing, but east and west seem like perfectly good directions for my head and my feet! One thing that will improve the sleeping is some sort of leveling devices for the wheels and a bubble level. I am more sensitive to out of level-ness than my spouse, so I will likely try to figure out what levelers to get.

As for the guest bed, I'm pretty certain we will never use it. We also have the indoor shower which is very hard to imagine ever using. Not sure if changing to hinged seats would affect showering, probably not. I also wonder if anyone has found a way to compartmentalize the big storage bins. Currently they don't have much in them, but over time, and on longer trips, I can see them become an annoying jumble of stuff that has to be rooted through repeatedly to find anything.

Are you saying you put bleacher seats on top of the cushions?

 

[Sagefemme]

Consider getting the aluminum tire table. Amazon.com
It is one of our most used add-ons, sets up quickly and moves the cooking outside. We put it up under the awning (right rear) where it serves as a hang-out spot and, with a connecter to one of the propane tanks, a cooking surface to hold our stove. Save cooking smells & grease from building up in the camper.

I have been considering tables, especially after last weekend when we "dry camped" with some friends at a marina/RV park where dry camping was LITERALLY in a pair of spaces in an ordinary parking lot! No picnic tables or anything. Do you have the standard or the large tire table? Is it sturdy enough to use a cutting board and chop vegetables?

 

[Sagefemme]

A bit off topic, but since we mentioned speaker jacks…

After tweaking my back (second time this year) doing landscaping earlier in the week, I decided to buy another one for lifting the Cougar roof. It should be here by the end of next week.

The first went with the Grandby when I sold it.

We just realized (maybe we should have known this) that lifting the hinged panel back to horizontal (it hangs down after unlatching it) before pushing up on the wood push panels makes 90% of our previous issues go away. I don't understand the mechanics of why it helps, but now, between this discovery and the new 40# gas struts, I think our lifting issues are solved! But it's good to know that the speaker jack is available should we begin to have trouble again. I am truly dedicated to saving my back. And my spouse's back.

 

[JaSAn]

. . . One thing that will improve the sleeping is some sort of leveling devices for the wheels and a bubble level. I am more sensitive to out of level-ness than my spouse . . .

I too am sensitive to level. In the past I used the level app on my iPhone; gives level in 2 axis.
Last year I used the Truma phone app. Put in your trucks track and wheelbase, it gives you cm to put under each tire. I found a level spot in the cab so I don't have to keep going to the camper to check level. I use the yellow 'lego' blocks to level.

I have been considering tables . . . Do you have the standard or the large tire table? Is it sturdy enough to use a cutting board and chop vegetables?

I use a folding plastic table sold by Walmart; 2.5' X 5'. I use it indoors and outside. I barely fits in the isle of my camper and is a difficult to maneuver around but handy when studying folding maps or a big project. One can't sit on it but is strong enough to do kitchen chores.

 

[rubberlegs]

I also wonder if anyone has found a way to compartmentalize the big storage bins.

You could fit cardboard boxes or stiff bags in the big bins, or other containers you might prefer. For example, in our food storage we have a bag for breakfast, and another for dinner.

 

[Taku]

Ah do-overs. The life of a DIYer and everyone who builds things. I met a woodworker who became a fine furniture maker years ago and when I saw how many prototypes he went through to get to a finished product - that was a light bulb moment for me!

 

[Sagefemme]

Whoops. I must need to make these pics into jpegs.

 

[Sagefemme]

And yes I know there's damage to the jack plate in the photo. And that there are no screws holding it on.......that's another project.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

And yes I know there's damage to the jack plate in the photo. And that there are no screws holding it on.......that's another project.

I am not sure if it’s camera angle or frame damage in the jack mount image. That corner appears to have a slight bend. When the jack mount bubbles to the top of the project list, you may want to investigate that.

 

[AWG_Pics]

I have been considering tables, especially after last weekend when we "dry camped" with some friends at a marina/RV park where dry camping was LITERALLY in a pair of spaces in an ordinary parking lot! No picnic tables or anything. Do you have the standard or the large tire table? Is it sturdy enough to use a cutting board and chop vegetables?

We bought this one: Amazon.com
At first we had a bit of confusion about how to stabilize it. After a bit of practice I am now confident making coffee (with a jet boil and a glass chemex carafe), putting our Everest 2-burner stove on it, placing wine and other beverages on it during beer-thirty and even stacking our lunch, several books, binoculars, my camera and water bottles on it at the same time. When you get the routine down it takes less than a minute to set up or take down.

An example about 5 minutes in to a set up at a new site: