On our trip to Lake Havasu we brought our dog Bodhi and Ollie, my eldest son’s dog. We’ve traveled with Bodhi before and he’s always been on-leash when outside the RV. So we decided to buy a fence like we’ve seen around other RV, so they could be outside without being on a leash. Ollie jumps high but we figured a 32″ high panel would be adequate. Plus we wanted to keep the weight down – a 16-panel 32″ high set is ~57lbs. The similar 16×40″ set is 72lbs.
We’ve never used a fence pen so I looked for one with great reviews on Amazon & recommended by RVLifestyle.com. We bought the FXW Rollick Dog Playpen from Amazon. We would have ordered the FXW Aster 16×32″ but it wouldn’t ship in time for our trip. Both are very similar but the Aster is silver & $20 cheaper.
The pen was easy to setup and we ended up using all 16 panels, placing the two gates at the front & back of the RV. Ollie escaped within minutes so we had to block under the stairs where there was a small gap. Using our Starlink carry bin & a shoe storage box kept him from escaping again. If possible, I’d create a complete enclosure and not use the RV as one wall.
When I ordered the pen, I added two (rather-pricey) storage bags that hold 8-32″panel + 9 stakes. It’s a significant additional investment but unless you have a good storage compartment. A necessity for keeping your panels in good shape.
The enclosure breaks down in about 15mins. The 8 panels fit snug, like a glove, in the well-constructed storage bag. Since one bag holds 8 panels/9 stakes, they weigh a little over 30lbs – manageable. Both bags fit in the bed of my Tacoma perfectly so that’s how we’ll carry them on future trips.
Category: Travel Trailer
20-27 Nov 2023: Lake Havasu Thanksgiving Trip
Thanksgiving 2023, our sons & families had travel plans – one to Dominican Republic, the other to Arizona. So we took the opportunity to travel to Cattail Cove State Park at Lake Havasu. We had booked here in March 2023 but ended up heading into southern Arizona to Tucson and Yuma because of bad weather. We were fortunate to find 5 nights available at Cattail Cove State Park. This campground is about 12mi south of Lake Havasu City, in a remote cove 5mi from the Parker Dam. It was a great place to spend Thanksgiving and we enjoyed it so much. We’ve already booked Thanksgiving week 2024.
Because we took two dogs with us this trip, something new. We kept our day-trips short and close-by. Bodhi, our 12yr old poodle terrier, has traveled with us, but not for a few years. We typically leave him with family during our RV trips since he doesn’t travel well. This time, since all the family were traveling, we took him and our son’s dog Ollie. Our 20ft travel trailer is just barely big enough for four occupants so we made it work. We setup a 32″x16-panel enclosure around the campsite so they could be off-leash outside. Ollie immediately escaped by slipping through a gap under the stairs. So we closed all possible gaps under the travel trailer with chairs and boxes. We also added collapsible stairs up onto the bed since Bodhi can’t jump like he used too.
We tried to hike the McKinney Loop Trail at Cattail Cove with the dogs. But Bodhi wanted to turn around after 0.5mi – it was sunny and unshaded so he got hot. He’s just not a hiker, as much as he enjoys being with us & discovering new smells. So for the remainder of the holiday, we hiked without the dogs.
Day Trips
- 22 Nov: Lake Havasu City
- 23 Nov: Sara Crack Slot Canyon & Thanksgiving Potluckn
- 24 Nov: Havasu Island Bike Trail
After 4 nights at Cattail Cove, we drove to Desert Hot Springs to visit family, staying at the Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA.
20-23 Mar 2023: Tucson/Saguaro National Park
With unpredictable weather north of Phoenix, we decided to head south to Tucson. Our bucket-list of visiting all the national parks did not have a check mark next to Saguaro National Park. Plus the weather and driving conditions were noticeably better heading south.
We book three nights at the Tucson/Lazydays KOA primarily for its location. Saguaro National Park is split into east & west sections about 30mi apart, separated by Tucson. The KOA was about midway so we planned to visit the west park Tuesday then hike the east park Wednesday.
The easy, scenic drive from northern Phoenix to southern Tucson was a ~2.5hrs. We passed Picacho Peak State Park, surrounded by wildflowers, and added it to our list of places to visit next time. It’s midway between Phoenix and Tucson and it’s distinctive peak has some challenging trails. Plus it’s in a ‘dark-sky’ area so would be great for astrophotography.
March is a great time to visit Tucson and Saguaro NP but it was overcast with scattered showers two of the days we were there. The Tucson/Lazydays KOA is huge with a variety of RV sites ranging from covered pull-thrus ($110+/ni) to small back-in sites. There’s actually a BBQ restaurant-bar on-site so after we pulled-in and setup. We stopped there for BBQ & beer.
We had time to catch an Arizona sunset so an hour before, we headed to Gates Pass Scenic Outlook towards west Saguaro National Park. This is supposed to be the best place around town to catch the sunset. Being popular, it was recommended we get there early so we could find a parking space in the overlook’s small lot. With the overcast skies, we were not predicting a spectacular sunset. But the clouds were clear at the horizon so I hoped the sun might break through before disappearing behind the mountains. Not spectacular, but the sun did shine through for a short time just above the horizon.
16-26 Mar 2023: Spring Training/Arizona
We had ambitious plans for March. First going to San Diego Padres Spring Training in Peoria, Az for three days then heading to northern Arizona and Utah. Unfortunately, like February, the weather became a factor and all our northward plans to Page, to Monument Valley, to Flagstaff, to Lake Havasu, ending in Desert Hot Springs were cancelled. The unprecedented heavy snows this winter were still a factor especially on the route through Flagstaff. More snow & rain were forecast on our Mar 19 travel day.
I didn’t feel safe towing Howie north through Flagstaff even with plowed roads and chains. Alternate routes were just as bad or take too long and disrupt the schedule. Rain was forecast on our Upper Antelope Canyon (slot canyon) tour date. Monument Valley’s nightly temperatures were in the 20s, so we reluctantly decided to stay in southern Arizona and visit Saguaro National Park. Those northern destinations are still on our to-do list but later in the season.
16 Apr 2023 – Driving to Ehrenberg, AZ
Towing Howie to Phoenix in one shot is doable but not the way we prefer to travel. So we booked an overnight layover at the California-Arizona border, in Ehrenberg, Az. We considered boondocking since it’s not far from Quartzsite. But one night at River Sands RV Resort using our Passport America membership was only $35. Planning our one night layover here was fortuitous because the predicted 4 hour drive took over 9 hours because of a major fatality accident on the I-10 near Cabazon, CA. The traffic speeds were under 5mph for miles so it took hours till the road opened up in Palm Springs. We didn’t arrive to the border till 9pm – finding a boondocking site at night would have been tough. River Sands is just off the I-10, the first exit in Arizona. There’s also a Flying J Travel Center at the same exit.
River Sands RV Resort opened Jan 2023 and everything – restrooms (several large private, individual rooms w/ shower & toilet), pool-hot tub, clubhouse w/ pool/ping-pong/chess/foosball tables, full hook-ups – are all brand new. The resort is well laid out with hundreds of spacious RV sites along the Colorado River on the Arizona-side. The space to manuever a travel trailer & back-in is phenomenal plus there are many pull-thru sites. All the RV sites are wide and level. There was a meet-up of an AirStream group coincidentally so our section was filled with 48 all aluminum RVs and us.
My only ‘concern’ is there aren’t any trees or shade of any kind. So when it gets hot, there isn’t any protection other than jumping into the river. Still, we definately will stop here again when we have more time or want a winter get-away that’s (typically) 4-hours from home.
17-19 Apr 2023 – Desert’s Edge RV Resort
With our late arrival at River Sands RV Resort, they were kind enough to give us a 1pm checkout time so we could explore the place. With a 2 hour drive to Phoenix/Peoria, we didn’t want to arrive before the 2pm check-in at Desert’s Edge RV Resort. But after the unexpected driving delay yesterday, we left at noon so we’d be sure to make it to Phoenix before our night game started.
When trying to find a RV site for Spring Training, I think we got the last spot near Peoria. Our ‘pull-thru’ site right in front of the office was just big enough for our 20ft travel trailer & truck – there was no extra space. Desert’s Edge RV Resort is in northern Phoenix, about 12mi from the Peoria Sports Complex where the Padres play. This park definitely caters to Spring Training visitors with all the ‘streets’ named for teams that train in the area. With the change in our trip after Spring Training, we hoped to stay an extra day but this park is booked solid in Spring. After 3 days of Spring Training baseball, we headed south to Tucson.
01 Oct 2022: Zion to Bryce Scenic Drive
Ordinarily, our drive from one destination to another doesn’t warrant comment but this one is pretty unique. There are a couple ways to get from Springdale to Bryce Canyon. The shortest is UT-9E through Zion National Park to US-89. But UT-9E is a winding route that has a 1.1mi tunnel with height restrictions. If your RV is taller than 13ft than you have to take one of the alternate routes.
From NPS.Gov: “The Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel – Construction of the 1.1 mile Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel began in the late 1920s and was completed in 1930. At the time that the tunnel was dedicated, on July 4, 1930, it was the longest tunnel of its type in the United States. The Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel (and the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway) provides direct access for travel between Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Zion National Parks.
Rangers posted at both ends of the tunnel convert two-way tunnel traffic to one-way for larger vehicles, ensuring safe passage. This service, for which a $15 dollar tunnel permit fee is charged, was provided for over 32,832 oversized oversized vehicles in calendar year 2019.
In 2022 large vehicles may only travel through the tunnel daily from:
- February 27 to March 12 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m
- March 13 to April 23 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- April 24 to August 27 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- August 28 to September 24 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- September 25 to November 5 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m
- Starting November 6, winter hours of operations for the tunnel are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.”
We opted to pay the toll and save ourselves and extra hour of driving using an alternate route. Much of UT-9E through Zion NP is 35mph or slower because of all the 180° curves. There are plenty of turnouts so you can let cars pass if they start to pile-up behind you. There is a second short tunnel on UT-9 inside of Zion NP without any restictions because of better clearance so no toll.
Once out of the park, much of the route is fairly flat and you can tow full-speed. But only a few sections on US-89 have more than two lanes.
26 Sep – 09 Oct 2022: Zion/Bryce/Kanab
In September 2021, we took our first RV trip out of California to St. George Utah & Zion National Park. It was such a great trip, we decided to visit southern Utah again in 2022 to explore the many places we missed. Utah is a RV and hiker’s paradise with so many diverse and amazing national & state parks. It’ll take years to see all that Utah offers.
26 Sept 2022 – Thousand Trails, Las Vegas
We bought a Thousand Trails Camping Pass during our Yosemite Trip in July 2022. So we stopped for a one-night layover at their location in Las Vegas. The annual membership allows us to stay at any Thousand Trails campground in the southwest region at no additional cost.
Driving 6 hours from Oceanside to Las Vegas is the longest single-day trek we’ve done so far. After a food & fuel break in Barstow, driving a few more hours to Vegas was no problem. We would not hesitate driving this distance again, although heavy traffic in Riverside between the 215 to 15 & in Vegas can be challenging.
Thousand Trails Las Vegas is east of the Strip in central Vegas (see map below). It was busy for a Monday & looks like a popular campground. Sites are pretty close together with relatively narrow roads & turns. Site 112 was a level, loose gravel site with full hookups & only one neighbor. This location is the only Thousand Trails RV park between SoCal and Utah and we were glad to find a vacancy on our route.
27 Sep – Oct 1 2022: Springdale, Utah – Zion National Park
After one-night in Vegas, we drove to Springdale, the gateway into Zion National Park south. We booked a full-hookup, riverside site for 4 nights at Zion Canyon Campground & RV Resort where we stayed last year. A fantastic location that’s 1/2mi from the entrance to Zion National Park.
Last year we hiked Angel’s Landing & the Narrows so we opted to explore other trails this visit –
- Emerald Pools Trail – popular trail near Zion Lodge that treks up to three pools – Lower, Middle, Upper – fed by one waterfall. Pools were small due to the low water level this late in the season.
- Zion Canyon Overlook Trail – short popular hike just east of the Zion Tunnel. Great short hike along a mid-canyon trail that ends is a panoramic view of Zion Canyon. Bring plenty of water since none is available anywhere close.
- Shelf Canyon Trail – slot canyon trail near Zion Canyon Overlook Trail – looked blocked by recent rockfall(s) so we didn’t make it very far.
- Lower Pine Creek Waterfall Trail – lesser known trail that end at a waterfall, a short hike that requires scrambling along the creek bed.
The Narrows Trail is still our favorite hike but it was great to explore other parts of Zion NP. Each of these trails have unique aspects, different terrain & scenery. There are plenty of Zion trails to still to explore, especially the eastern trails.
Driving from Zion to Bryce Canyon
The second leg of our trip was to Bryce Canyon and there are a couple routes from Springdale. The shortest route (~1.5hr 75mi) takes you on the winding scenic road through Zion National Park. This route has the historic 1.1mi Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel with a maximum height clearance of 13ft. Taller RVs have to take the longer route around the west side of Zion NP through Hurricane than north on the 15.
Towing Howie (~10ft tall, ~3400lbs) with our Tacoma to 8000ft is always a concern since it struggles on long inclines. But since Springdale/Zion is already at 4000ft, the additional 4000ft climb to Bryce was doable. So we took this winding eastbound route on UT-9E through Zion National Park & its mile-long tunnel. For a $15 ‘toll’, they stop oncoming traffic between 8am-7pm – these hours vary seasonally. Towing Howie was a piece-of-cake without any high transmission temperatures issues. It’s a beautiful scenic drive & we were tempted to pull over many times.
Leg 2 Bryce Canyon: 01 – 05 Oct 2022
We booked 4 nights at Ruby’s Inn, an RV resort a few miles outside the park entrance. It’s a huge, full-amenities RV and hotel resort that’s a town in itself – Bryce Canyon City. We reserved a full-hookup, pull-through site that was rustic, in a grove of trees, beautiful but extremely uneven. We repositioned a few time to find the flattest section and it still required 4.5″ to level Howie. The new section of RV sites numbered in the 200s are more spacious, flatter, with fewer trees. If you want more room with more open-sky (for Starlink), definitely consider booking one of theses unshaded sites.
Bryce Canyon National Park has uniquely spectacular vistas. Photos cannot do it justice & capture the wonder of this place.
Hikes into Bryce Canyon:
- Queen’s Garden to Navajo Loop trail.
- From Bryce Point, we hiked the Peekaboo Trail to Navajo Trail.
- Near Tropic, a nearby town, we hiked the Mossy Cave Trail. After the hike and lunch, we took the scenic drive through Bryce Canyon.
Bryce Canyon is an amazing place with some great hikes. Most take you down into the canyon, which can be vertically challenging. If you are visiting Zion National Park, adding Bryce Canyon to your itinerary is a must. Bryce Canyon was the high point for me this trip.
Leg 3 Kanab: 05-08 Oct 2022
To be honest, after all the hikes and driving, by the time we arrived at Kanab, we were tired. Although retired a few years now, I find it hard to sit & relax by the RV when there are so many unexplored places to see & photograph. But we shortened our 4 night stay to 3 at Kanab RV Corral.
Since we shortened our visit by a day and arrived fairly early Wednesday. We spent the afternoon hiking to the Sand Caves just north of town.
We also entered the lottery for a Friday permit to hike the Wave. We didn’t get selected so we drove to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s about 75mi south of Kanab but a great drive for fall colors. We had a great day exploring the north rim & enjoyed the panoramic canyon view at the lodge restaurant. We wanted to continue exploring so we drove Cape Royal Road to all the viewpoints. Another high-point was photographing sunset at Cape Royal/Angels Window, although the drive back to Kanab in the dark was challenging.
We wanted to make Day 2 of our drive home shorter so that meant driving further from Kanab Day 1. Stopping at Thousand Trails Las Vegas again would make the Day 2 drive home 6hrs or more. So we opted to stop in Las Vegas to fuel and take a break then continue to Barstow. We stayed at the Barstow/Yermo KOA in 2021 and found it to be an acceptable stopping point from Zion-Utah to Oceanside. So we reserved a pull-thru spot this trip. The site assigned to us this trip was a lot nicer than last year’s. We had trees shading our site and the restrooms were much closer & cleaner.
18-19 2022: Yosemite Valley
The iconic Yosemite Valley is always a great place to visit. With national park visitation so popular, we are glad they’ve implemented the 3-day pass ($2) requirement. Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of our July pass somewhat last-minute, booking our campsites just a month before traveling.
July can be hot in Yosemite with 95-100°F mid-day temperatures. Starting hikes early, picking shaded trails, and bringing plenty of water and sunscreen can help make the experience enjoyable. The free shuttle buses stop frequently but many riders do not comply with the mandatory mask mandate. So we chose to drive & bike to the trails and lodge for lunch. Parking becomes scarce by noon so biking around Yosemite Valley, once you find a parking spot, is an ideal way to see the place.
Because of the heat, we picked shorter hikes – Day 1: Mirror Lake, which we mostly biked to, was pretty low but Half Dome was reflecting in the pools.
and Day 2: Mist Trail to Vernal Falls, a somewhat challenging 4mi hike because of the 1279ft elevation gain and 600+ often slippery steps. Like Angel’s Landing in Zion, this is a must-do especially during summer since many waterfalls are low flowing. This was one of the few falls in late July to have a decent flow. In Spring, this waterfall is normally much fuller with mist showering the trail & hikers. Here is the website that tells you what the flow rate is: Should I Hike the Mist Trail Today? (yosemitehikes.com)
This one is worth the hard upward effort but, like Angels Landing, crowded by noon.
14-22 July 2022: Yosemite National Park
Our last RV trip was in February so by mid-June, after our new grandson’s Jun 2nd arrival, we were ready for a road-trip. Fortunately, Carol made a July reservation for Yosemite and accepting the $6/gal fuel costs and 90-100°F temperatures forecast. We found a campsite available for a week at Bass Lake at Yosemite RV Resort so we decided to go.
All campsites inside Yosemite National Park were booked and with hot weather expected. We wanted full hookups or at least electric so we could run the A/C. Bass Lake is ~18 miles from the south entrance, and 90mins from Yosemite Valley. A bit of a drive but doable, plus we could drive through the sequoias at Mariposa Grove.
Washburn Fire – change of plans
Unfortunately, the Washburn Fire (see map below) started the week before we were to leave. This resulted in the closure of highway 41 and the south entrance to Yosemite for civilian traffic. To avoid driving 2hrs via highway 49 & 140 from Bass Lake to the west entrance three times in three days. We found an opened campsite at Yosemite Lakes RV Resort and rescheduled only 2 nights at Bass Lake and added 4 nights at Yosemite Lakes (on the Merced River – no lake). Our 3-day pass into Yosemite National Park started Monday so we used the three days at Bass Lake to enjoy the lake & surrounding area.
Bakersfield One Night Layover
This was our first road-trip on I-5 over Tejon Pass aka the Grapevine, so I was concerned how difficult our tow was going to be. We packed lightly as usual, had empty tanks, brought our lighter Zizzo folding bikes (vs e-bikes), and the inclines turned out to be no problem. This was our 1st trip after installing Sumo Springs to the rear of our Tacoma. They helped reduce the Tacoma’s hitch sag when hooked to Howie, our 3400# travel trailer w/ 420lbs tongue weight. Plus these taller ‘springs’ improved the tow angle and ride.
We stopped midway at Bakersfield River Run RV Park. A Good Sam RV resort w/ full hookups so we could run the A/C and keep cool during our 1-night layover in 104°F heat. River Run is a convenient location close to highway 99, Starbucks, Costco (fuel), & Temblor Brewery so we stayed here on our way home too.
Bass Lake at Yosemite RV Resort
We enjoyed three days at Bass Lake RV Resort: beating the heat in the cool but boat-busy waters of the lake; renting a pontoon boat and doing a little early morning cruising & fishing; and taking the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad Moonlight Special Saturday night. Sunday we moved to Yosemite Lakes RV Resort, driving the switch-backs of highway 49 then 140 for 90mi (~2.5hrs).
Yosemite Lakes RV Resort – 1000 Trails
Yosemite Lakes RV Resort is a 1000 Trails campground with campsites available to anyone, not just members. But since a new annual membership was roughly the same price as the cost of 4 nights, we decided to join. Figuring we’d end up ‘ahead’ if we booked an additional stay at a 1000 Trails campground, like Palm Springs, within a year.
There were prime sites on the Merced River but they are closer together than other sections of the campground. There is the ‘Sun Valley’ section, which has no trees, so great for Starlink reception but unshaded & hot during the day. We opted for site 57, on the end, across from the river, partially shaded. Starlink worked okay although partially obstructed. Still we were able to watch the Home-run Derby and All-Star game after spending the earlier part of the day in Yosemite Valley. There was zero T-Mobile or Visible cell reception (July 2022) and wifi costs $6/day. We were told by the office the wifi wasn’t very good but their only option. So having Starlink was a wonderful solution and worked fine, although we did not stress the bandwidth.
This campground is only 5mi away from the west entrance and ~40mins to Yosemite Valley. Expecting long lines to get in since the south entrance was closed due to the fire. We were pleasantly surprised that at 9ish am, there wasn’t a queue to get in.
Other than fire fighters in town, fire engines on the road, aircraft in the sky. We never smelt smoke or saw any signs of the Washburn Fire. Another wildfire – the Oak Fire – broke out the day after we left Yosemite. The Yosemite area is extremely dry and with the heatwave & strong afternoon winds, it is easy for a wildfire to spread. We were fortunate to not be affected and had a great trip.
SmallWanders Logo
We do not typically do a lot of customization to our vehicles, let alone our travel trailer. We’ve had our GeoPro several months and the only mods we’ve done are to make it more liveable – bed extension, table reduction, sink counter extension. I know many people add a lot to their RVs to make them more homey. But so far, we’ve keep ours pretty stock primarily cause we like the way it looks. BUT one thing we truly enjoy & appreciate is when RV’ers add a logo or exterior sticker that uniquely identifies them.
I dabbled in Graphic Design in college and enjoy logo design and fonts. So I thought I’d design a logo for Howie our 20ft GeoPro G19RD. Starting with a few Adobe Stock vector elements, I came up with a these ideas.
Adobe Stock provides vector illustrations, usually in .ai format, so I subscribed to Adobe Illustrator in order to customize the stock art. An Adobe Stock subscription is required separately and allows you to download 20 pieces of vector art per month. Vector art is preferable so you can scale the image, edit & add elements, and produce print-ready artwork.
I found wrapping the text easier to do in Adobe Photoshop so I converted the .ai to .pdf and imported it. Choosing the right font so it’s legible from several yards away is important. Once typed in and positioned in Photoshop, browsing fonts will change the text in the logo dynamically so it’s easy to see which works best.
Printing – so doing a sunburst graphic requires a continuous tone printer. The popular (on Facebook’s RV groups) Etsy decal designer Jenny of JadeDesign couldn’t do it. She does wonderful monochrome RV-wide decals and could do the two or three-color versions. But we wanted the continuous tone version to go along with our GeoPro graphic.
So google-searching ‘vinyl decals for rv’, I ordered from two vendors: BestOfSigns.com and StickerApp. BestOfSigns.com was 1/2 the price of StickerApp. Both had easy to use online logo upload portals and order forms. BestOfSigns was the first to complete our order and shipped in one week, ordered Aug 18, arrived Aug 30 from India. StickerApp was ordered on the same day, Aug 18 and arrived today Sep 2 from Sweden.
They both turned out great but the BestOfSigns UV ink is matte finished. The StickerApp is glossy so the colors are more vibrant and font legibility is better. I do not know if I could have had both as glossy. On the order page for BestOfSigns, you picked glossy, matte, or uv. I did not see an option for glossy+uv. But the BestOfSigns decal came with instructions and a squeegee for applying the decal. StickerApp only had the decals.
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.