Customizing Howie: New Dinette Table

The standard dinette table in the Geo Pro G19RD is designed to convert into a full bed. It is 52″ long 31.25″ wide which takes up a lot of space in the rear of the trailer. It can be difficult to sit on both sides of the dinette. The table has to be slid from one side to another to squeeze in & we are not big people. So we decided to install a different table when we do not need to convert the dinette into a bed.
There are many videos on installing a Lagun table arm into van conversions for a small, swing-arm table. Once we decided to mount the arm on the right rear bench behind the lower cabinet door, using the aluminum bench seat support. We tried a variety of cardboard tabletop sizes and decided to try two – 31.25″x28″ & 36″x28″.
36″x28″ is about as large a tabletop weight-wise as I would use on the Lagun arm. It requires both shims on the mounting bracket to maintain a level tabletop surface. The underside mounting plate is off-center so when pivoted, the table sits evenly between both benches. The table can be pivoted towards the rear wall when not needed for meals. Installing the tabletop using screw knobs allows us to swap table tops easily. The mounting plate uses t-nuts or threaded inserts to make the tabletops modular. Changing the dinette table to a smaller, pivoting table makes it extremely versatile & handy. Plus it really opens up the rear of the trailer, making it feel much bigger.
The second tabletop’s 31.25″ dimension allows the table to span the benches and be used as a bed board. It is only 28″ long so definitely a single bed. I also cut a third 31.25″x48″ board that we may try next trip since we need the full size dinette bed. This board will store under a bench cushion and be used once the table arm is removed. We’ll experiment and update this page once it’s tried.