Furniture Issues

If there was one feature that we wished we could change in our fifth wheel, it would be the sofa we have in our living area. It is 92" and takes up the entire width of the rear of the rig. There is no room for end tables and we cannot utilize the outlets on each side without moving the sofa out a little bit. We actually upgraded to this sofa - mistake - thinking that it would provide an extra bed for us in the event that we should need extra beds for guests. Another mistake. The sofa came with an inflatable mattress that is separate from the sofa and what we thought was a integrated bed is not the case. It is extremely heavy and the only asset it provides is some additional storage under the cushions. We have talked about replacing it for some time now.

Yesterday, we went to a local furniture store that had advertised sofas and loveseats on sale. The problem is that RV furniture is not like household furniture which is much heavier and larger than the RV counterpart. Our biggest problem in replacing this sofa is removing it from the fifth wheel. It appears to us that the best - and maybe only - way is to remove the rear window and take it out the rear of the coach. We asked folks at the furniture store if they would remove old furniture while delivering the new, and they want no part of it for liability reasons. OK then. We didn't see a suitable replacement anyway so we left and went to our neighborhood RV dealer - Orangewood - to ask about furniture specifically for RV's. Their suggestion was this: go through all the rigs on the lot and choose the rig that has what you would want. Take down the VIN number and information on the rig and bring it it to the office. They then contact the manufacturer and order the exact piece from them which takes a couple months for delivery and is an expensive process. Sheesh!

It isn't going to be as easy as we thought to replace the sofa. We kick ourselves for not doing the proper research before ordering this sofa in the first place. The standard equipment would have been a decor matching loveseat with end tables and was a perfect solution. Maybe we can contact our Doubletree manufacturer and try to order that original setup directly from them. We'll give it a try.

We ended this stretch of rainy weather with 6 consecutive days of measurable rain. I don't remember ever seeing such a stretch except in WA where it is common. It seems like almost every day that there are weather extremes somewhere in the country that point to changes in our normal weather patterns everywhere in the country - and maybe the world. It's a little scary to think about what is happening with our global warming phenomena...