Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
After using our 08 Hawk on half a dozen trips, I've come up with an idea to use some of the technology Westfalia put into their VW campers. I had an '84 Westy that I traveled in pretty extensively, including putting my belongings into storage and living on the road for about five months. It was a great time, even if we burned up a cylinder crossing the Eisenhower Tunnel crossing the Continental Divide in Colorado.
My camper came with the stock table, but I found it to be more of an hindrance than a help. Once set up, you couldn't move it and the thing is a pain to store in the camper, taking valuable space. Remembering my VW days, I recalled the swiveling table(s) they came equipped with.
A bit of online research brought me to GoWesty.com where they sell the table and bracket kits. The trick was to figure out how to adapt their corner bracket to the front of the bench. I also chose the smaller front table 400mmx800mm (16"x24" nominal) to fit the space. The table are mounted slightly off-center, but I moved the table bracket even farther off to one side so the table can spin square to the bench as well as parallel.
I think we're going to very happy with arrangement, especially after eating off our laps the last few trips. I raised the table to approx 26.5" off the floor so the table will clear our legs as we sit on the bench. It will even articulate over to the settee position if someone is sitting there, eating or prepping a meal. I think it will be ideal for a laptop station too. Locking knobs control the table and leg, so you can lock it down while traveling.
The only mods I really needed to do to mount the bracket was to grind off the lower steel tables at a 45 degree angle and remove an 1/8" of length to get the top and bottom to mount parallel to the bench face. Then I took my trusty Makita cordless and punched 1/4" holes in the plywood at the 45 degree angle for some bolts and put some nylock's on the backside. I remodel houses for a living, so I'm pretty open to knocking down walls, punching holes, or whatever.
The table with leg and bracket cost $196 plus tax and ship, so it wasn't real cheap. But GoWest is on the central CA coast and I got the unit within two days via UPS. You might find a less expensive used VW bracket / leg / table on Samba.com or other VW based sites.
My camper came with the stock table, but I found it to be more of an hindrance than a help. Once set up, you couldn't move it and the thing is a pain to store in the camper, taking valuable space. Remembering my VW days, I recalled the swiveling table(s) they came equipped with.
A bit of online research brought me to GoWesty.com where they sell the table and bracket kits. The trick was to figure out how to adapt their corner bracket to the front of the bench. I also chose the smaller front table 400mmx800mm (16"x24" nominal) to fit the space. The table are mounted slightly off-center, but I moved the table bracket even farther off to one side so the table can spin square to the bench as well as parallel.
I think we're going to very happy with arrangement, especially after eating off our laps the last few trips. I raised the table to approx 26.5" off the floor so the table will clear our legs as we sit on the bench. It will even articulate over to the settee position if someone is sitting there, eating or prepping a meal. I think it will be ideal for a laptop station too. Locking knobs control the table and leg, so you can lock it down while traveling.
The only mods I really needed to do to mount the bracket was to grind off the lower steel tables at a 45 degree angle and remove an 1/8" of length to get the top and bottom to mount parallel to the bench face. Then I took my trusty Makita cordless and punched 1/4" holes in the plywood at the 45 degree angle for some bolts and put some nylock's on the backside. I remodel houses for a living, so I'm pretty open to knocking down walls, punching holes, or whatever.
The table with leg and bracket cost $196 plus tax and ship, so it wasn't real cheap. But GoWest is on the central CA coast and I got the unit within two days via UPS. You might find a less expensive used VW bracket / leg / table on Samba.com or other VW based sites.