MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* Chaises and Chairs, Clock and Bucket

I am going to start off the new year with posting three of our motorhome modifications at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter C now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER C

Chaises and Chairs for Camping:

Camping means relaxing.. and that is just what we do!  These zero gravity recliners are soooo comfortable, and we really like them enough to make space in our basement compartments to take them along.  They take up a LOT of room because they do not fold up very flat. But they are worth it for sure.

We bought them about 8 or 9 years ago when these style chairs were first coming out on the market. We got mine first and it was made with softly padded washable fabric.  There was only one left in the store, so we got a rain check for one for Steve. It took months before the store got them in again, and this time the material was a woven mesh kinda rubber coated and holds up well too.

We do not allow them near the campfire to avoid any flinging sparks or burn holes. We put them away every night, we never leave them out in the rain, and they are lasting a long time and wearing well.

We found these wonderful clamp on tables that swivel and move around for best positioning. The recessed cup holder can also fit the stem end of a wine glass!  The flat surface can hold a dinner plate, or scissors and thread and needles when working on my stuff.  The small clamping piece around the metal frame stays on the chair all the time, and the arm and tray both lift off and can be washed. The arm and tray can lay flat on the seat of the chair when folding it up and are ready for the next time it is set up. 

We do not let the grandkids sit in our chairs, or company if we can help it.  By just keeping them for us, they are kept in good shape and stored away when we leave so nobody ever walks off with them.

But we did find some nice sitting chairs for company and grandkids. They fold up really flat and we bought four of them at Walmart for about $8 each on clearance.  Works well and we have had them for about 4 years now and the grandkids all enjoy having chairs close to the campfire.

We watch out for sparks, but do have a few tiny holes in them from campfires.  At that price, we can replace them if need be down the road. But for the small space they take up in the compartment, we would replace them with exactly the same kind or find a way to sew new fabric onto the frames.

Speaking of frames... THESE are the favorite chairs for us to take along to other peoples campsites for a visit, or take to a parade or picnic or family gathering. They are more comfortable than the bag type chairs.  We bought the heavy duty, taller backed lawn chairs about 20 years ago. They had the wide flat plastic webbing on them.  I cut the webbing from the frames and wove on this pattern with macrame cord.

The pine tree pattern motif was inspired by the shutters we made for our last home, a log home on the banks of the Oconto River.

I stole that pine tree cut out pattern from a logging company in the UP of Michigan. It was cut into the boards on the front porch of their office. On a Sunday, I made my teenage daughter Heather hold up a large piece of cardboard while I traced the cutout design. She was mortified and embarrassed, but I was happy and got my pattern!  LOL

Yes, we take along 8 chairs in our motorhome when camping.  When camphosting or camping with family, we are usually full of company and visitors to our campsite. Having enough chairs along is a must for us.

Our frames have broken a few times over the years, but I have convinced Steve each time to let me unwind parts of the woven sections and let him repair the frames by sliding on new pipes over the old ones, or using new stronger bolts and nuts instead of the cheaper ones they came with. They are so comfortable and warmer than plastic webbing. The backs are taller than most lawn chairs and a bit wider for the butt too. LOL

Here is a link to my blog post about the fixing of the frame and re-weaving them to become useful again:

reweaving-woven-macrame-lawn-chair

These chairs are hard to do, and are a strain on my hands to keep doing them now as I age.  My sister and I have done a lot of them over the years....

Here are some links if you would like to make one yourself :

diynetwork Macrame Lawn Chair

deucecitieshenhouse.com Macrame Lawn Chair

and a You Tube for step by step instructions:

Clock for Retirement:

Our friend Seann has this clock for camping now that he got retired. I think we need one of these. Steve has started asking me what day is it.... he has lost track now of such things since being retired. 

Coffee table:
Steve made this sturdy little coffee table for our motorhome.  Having items to meet more than one need in an RV is a plus. Not only is it a great coffee table, but it is a multi use item because it is strong enough to be a bench to sit on if we need an extra spot at the table. 

Since this above photo was taken, we added rolling casters so I can set my table loom on it, clamp it tight and weave while sitting inside. Then if I want to get up, I can just roll it away from me to move around and pull it back up tight to the right position to weave again. 

Now that we put in the reclining loveseat, the casters let us push the table out of the way before putting up the footrests.

Easy Peasy! 

Collapsible bucket:
This is a handy item that we found in a camping store. It is wide enough to dip in our squeegee. It stores flat of course, but works well for quick wash that we try to do on the motorhome. Good for doing the front end windshield or back side from dirt and road grime.  I have seen some folks set them up as outdoor trash bins, and line it with a plastic bag.

Most campgrounds frown on washing your rig on your campsite, so we usually do it from our own water tank when in a parkinglot or wayside.

~~~~~~~~~

It's frosty cold outside in Wisconsin today, but the sun is shining! It's only 6 degrees, but the wind chill is at 9 below. brrrr we might warm up by the weekend and get some SNOW!  YAYYYY

We are looking ahead to camping this upcoming summer and making some plans.

Mid summer we have toyed with the idea of going out west through to the Pacific ocean in Washington... and taking a big block of time off from Steve's part time county driving job.  I would also like to do Alaska, but for that we would want a whole summer and pick up an extra RV that is smaller to take up there. Maybe a small B or C or a pickup truck and camper on back. We could then resell it when we come back. We don't want to beat up our big diesel motorhome going that far on rugged road construction and gravel.  Maybe in 2019 or 2020.

Our friends Roz and Gary went to the local RV show in Green Bay last week.  They learned about a nice private campground up near Munising MI and we are making some reservations for this summer, perhaps even with a Pictured Rocks Boat Tour! We usually boondock or rustic camp, but they don't, so we will do the fancy route and have hookups!  LOL.  Plus we could leave the dogs inside of the rig safely while we do the boat trip, knowing they have AC and fans blowing while we are gone. The campground looks nice and has some great reviews.   http://jackpinelodgeup.com/

In October, we usually take two sites for our family at High Cliff State Park for the big Halloween celebration there. Sadly, this year, all of the sites are already taken. I sat online at 1 minute to midnight on the first day available to make those reservations. I sat with credit card at hand, with two devices open, ready to book.... but the sites all got snatched up before I could get any of them!   So plan B is to take two sites nearby at Calumet County Park   We can drive over to High Cliff with all of the grandkids in their costumes for the trick or treating. We will still have our family fun camping with all of the kids and grandkids, and celebrate my birthday as well.

We are also thinking of a couple longer trips... perhaps in spring a loop down to Tennessee to see friends, and then over to another friend in Missouri and loop back home. Maybe 2-3 weeks.

Then in the fall, we are thinking of a jaunt out through Minnesota and see how far we go west, and then turn around and come on back for a 2-3 week span.

In the meantime, I will snuggle up cozy warm in our sticks and bricks house, sewing and weaving and spinning and knitting..... and looking out at the frozen landscape of Wisconsin.

Motorhome Modification - CHAIRS, CLOCKS AND COFFEE TABLE

First note, two years ago today our youngest granddaughter Chelsea was born.  Here she is just a few minutes old, in my arms.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEEDLE BUG CHELSEA! 

I called her this morning on the phone and sang to her.  On Saturday we will go to her party, with all her little cousins there.  What fun!

Wow.. all our grandbabies are growing up fast!   It's a good thing there are two more grandsons on the way in April, so we will have more babies to hold in our arms and in our hearts.  Amazing how a Grandmuddah's heart can stretch and grow with each new addition!




I am getting through the boring winter months of No Camping by posting alphabetically the things we have either modified, improved or bought to make our RVing life easier.

This post is in the C's .....  Oh boy... chairs chairs chairs!  

We now carry SIX chairs in our rig and probably need to cut back down to  four.  I will start with the first two we will keep for sure.  These are the ones pictured in my post the other day about the camping mat.  They are called "The Ultimate Relaxer Recliner"    We bought ours about five years ago, one at Pamida and one at Shopko in Wisconsin.   They are the most relaxing lounge chairs we have ever sat in.  We never leave them out at night, or sitting out in the hot sun where they will get bleached or weakened.  They are sure nice chairs.

I googled right now and found them for $44.99 through a deal place from JCPenny.  http://dealspl.us/ultimate_relaxer_recliner_64619  

We paid in the $69 range back then.  We tried buying some cheaper ones at Ace Hardware for my folks (because Lowell would not get out of mine any time we went camping!)     They were not quite the same.  I would suggest sitting in them for a length of time to test them out before buying.  Beware, you might fall asleep in the store, so bring along a fellow shopper to wake you up again.


Added to my chair, is something that is found now in many camping supply stores. Steve bought me this tray device for Xmas to go on my Ultimate Relaxer Recliner chair.  The bracket portion stays bolted on the frame, even when folding the chair up to put away.  The arm and swiveling top tray removes during storage or for easy cleaning.  When in use, the tray stays level no matter what position the chair is put in.  Great for my coffee cup, scissors, knitting stuff or a plate.  The recessed area is where my taller coffee cup or water bottle sits into.  But our fat wide coffee mugs need to set on the round portion of the tray.

Our next set of chairs are the ones we have had for about 12-13 years now.  I made them from macrame cord on new heavy aluminum chair frames.  These are wider and taller than most webbed lawn chairs, and we can not find these kind of chairs any more in the stores.  Twice now our frames have broken, so for Steve's we found a new frame and I transferred the woven portion of the chair from one to another (NOT an easy task!)   ...

Then my frame broke two years ago...  Steve was gonna toss our chairs in the trash because we bought new ones from Coleman instead (see below)  He put ours in the garage and kept saying he was gonna haul them to the dump!!!   But stubborn me, I said NOOOOOO  ----   I unwove the portion of the chair where the frame broke, had Steve cut a piece of pipe to slide over the broken portion, screwed it into place, and I re-wove the chair again!   I like these better than the Coleman ones in the next topic below. 

The tree pattern is traced from our shutters on our house, which is also repeated on our bed headboard and bronco doors to our changing room. So keeping these chairs will bring a piece of our log home along with us once we go full time.  I vote to keep them!


Here are the instructions on making these chairs... all you need are 2 big skeins of macrame cord (the braided works better than the twisted)   and two large crochet hooks, about size K.  

www.kingskountry.com/how-to-make-a-macrame-lawn-chair.html

My sister and I have made many of these chairs over the years, but it takes a lot of oomph and hard on the hands to tug the loops around and through the previous loops along the frame.  Similar to crocheting.

Here are the Coleman chairs we bought to replace the macrame ones.

Of course, Steve happens to like these better, so we now have SIX chairs in our rig.  They all fit in the one compartment designated to stow the chairs, so I suppose they can ride along for a while longer.  He likes these because they fold up and can be carried over to neighboring campsites, and they have the little fold out table to set things on.   I find the macrame ones are taller, warmer on the butt on cold nights and just all and out prettier! 

So stay tuned to the Saga of Survivor of the Lawn Chairs... 

wait and see who will be voted off the motorhome next!

Next up is Clocks.... 

We don't have much of any wall space in our rig for a clock to hang up.  (it's all windows) So we decided to buy a battery operated one and attach it to one of the smoked glass panels up front that double as cabinet doors over our electronics.  We used a heavy duty velcro, so we can pull it down to change the batteries or set it ahead and back for daylight savings time.   Our RVing buddy Seann has THIS clock instead... (see pic on the right)    I think that is what we will change over to once we hit the road full time.  Even on vacation, after the first few days, you forget what day of the week it even is.  The sad part, is when you are on vacation, you HAVE to keep track because you need to realize what day you have to go home again.  Sigh.  

I saw a blog post the other day with a clock 

that had all the numbers jumbled up at the bottom and it read: "WHO CARES?"   

I forgot which blog it was one, but I think that is the type of clock to get!!!

Last on the list is Coffee Table.

Steve, my wonderful woodworking spouse made us this heavy duty coffee table for our rig. It is just the right height as a base for my table loom. It doubles as a stool to sit on for company at the table or as a step stool for me to get up high into the back of the overhead compartments.  He made it with wide stance legs for added stability. 

This photo was taken while we still had two couches in the rig.  We removed one couch first.. then the other last fall.  We now have two reclining chairs instead.  And, of course, we still have the coffee table. 

It even works for the wee grandtots to use for a lunch spot or an activity table! 

Last topic:  Prepping of the house for sale:   Last night Steveio burnt the taller weeds along the river on the lowest terrace of our land along the bank... last summer the weeds took over and grew too tall for the mower.

Now while the winds were calm, and the grass is dry (no snow) he was able to do a slow controlled burn along the river frontage.   And the doggers had to supervise!