Stepping up to a Jayco SLX 195RB

[dexstrom]

After years of tents, and the last five years towing a tiny trailer (think an oversized teardrop) we will be adopting a SLX 195RB next Tuesday. My wife wants the 'facilities' inside the trailer not in a pop-up next to it and we both want more bed space We are in the PNW and being semi-retired our primary travel will be the Pacific coast of Oregon & Washington with limited travel to more distant places.

I've read through many of the threads here about the 195RB, a great help in our preps to be comfortable with it. The first thing I will improve is the bed supports which seem to be a major fix for many.

My wife has asked if it's possible to remove the bench seats of the dinette and put in swivel arm chairs, maybe with a recline capability. Has anyone done such a mod? There are only the two of us so we won't need the third bed. When we looked at the trailer I remember the seats not having anything under them like water tanks, just a small storage space. If someone has a thread on a similar mod I would appreciate a link. Thanks to all for the very helpful information in this forum and I hope to be contributing soon as well.

[Kim Gass]

the seats do have empty storage under them. No water tanks
The main problem you may or may not have is you need room to swivel and my husbands feet are always in the way of what there is of the center aisle even when he is centered on the bench.. You might want to measure your revolving radius to figure out if it leaves any room for the cook.
Why be limited. This little TT is raring to go cross country again for the third time. While we will be in the North Maine Woods for a while off dirt roads we plan on Nevada in January.. Its a very towable little vehicle and we dont worry about gravel roads or mountain grades.

I do think your revolving chair idea will have issues re blocking the entrance/exit door and getting around the end of the bed for the left hand person ( its already tight there)
and you will lose the table function unless you figure where to store it ( and its not graceful)

[ttavasc]

Welcome to the forum from a little further north and congrats on moving up to a bigger camper. I think you'll find that the 195RB for a couple is a nice unit. As Kim Gass pointed out there may be some space issues when it comes to replacing the dinette. You'll have to contend with the wheel well which sticks up under the dinette table and runs into the storage area under the rear dinette seat. You'll also have to figure out how to reinstall the LP/CO2 detector as that is also mounted under the rear dinette seat. We've found the layout to work well for the two of us including on longer trips.

If you going to be doing some mods on the bed supports I'd also recommend replacing the hinge strip at the head of the bed with something a little more substantial. The thin piano-style hinge that ours came with was very weak and actually starting coming apart when we added the gas lift struts.

[Mustang65]

WELCOME TO JOF!!!

The members here are GREAT!!! There is a lot of GREAT information to be found here. I am sure that you will have information and pictures to share with us... so please do!!

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[Ohiofinlander]

Welcome and enjoy!

[MontanaRick]

I also got a 195rb recently and have been contemplating the same dinette mod. I won't do it, if at all, until year 2 (so I have time to experience possible issues), but it's been fun to plan/think about.

My conclusions so far. Removal will be easy, moving the propane detector to the wall should be pretty straightforward. Room-wise, reclining is likely out of the question, but a glider might be possible. But, I haven't seen any glider that would fit through the door, and fitting the new chairs through the door seriously limits the options.

I think the best bet will be a roundish swivel chair, probably no wider than 30-32 inches across, with a smaller base to clear the wheel well. I've found a couple possibilities by searching Amazon under "barrel chairs", these seem to come. With base detached and so could fit through the door. Regarding the table, probably need to store it in the wardrobe with a bungee to hold it in place, but maybe get a lighter self standing table. We do use the table a lot during meal prep, so an idea I had of using "tv trays" is likely a non-starter.

I obviously haven't worked this all out or tried it, but I do like the idea of a more comfortable sitting space.

[NH_camper]

I took a different approach instead of installing lifts to raise the bed. Instead I removed the panel (6 screws) at the foot of the bed, so we can easily slide tubs in and out without raising the bed. I installed a 2x3 header from side to side to support the plywood bed. That still left 16" which accomodates fairly large tubs. The opening is 46" wide x 16" high.

I had previously installed a 2x3 support frame and panel separating the back storage area from the front.

Finally I covered the inside of the front storage area with dark paneling and trim to match the rest.

Now no need to raise the bed.

[RogerR]

I suggested to the spouse buying computer chairs and eliminating the bench seats. Since we have grand kids and she believes we need the bed space we are keeping the box seats for now.

I am getting a door like the cabinet above the counter to install by the main door seat to allow us easier access. We use that one for drinks bottles, cans, etc.

We have had major kitchen storage problems and are working on some kind of drawer idea for silverware and kitchen tools, Love to hear if someone figures out a way The table has supports that prevent use of the plastic drawers some have placed under their tables

Welcome to the forum. We love our 195rb. Especially since we upgraded to a memory foam mattress.

[Desertpull]

I have been wishing the dinette was more comfortable to watch movie or just hang in the trailer. The wheel wood cover seems so thin and cheap. I have thought about looking at Walmart for a futon couch if it fits opened up. Still scared to take it a part to see IF I like that better. My husband did modify the bed and also added more support under the dinette bench sears. They were starting to sag as the board under it is so paper thin!

[RogerR]

Re the dinette seats. We found them uncomfortable so spouse made pad covers for an additional 2 inches of foam. They are seperate from the old pads so they come off when it is made into a bed. We put them on the floor in case the 3 year old grandson falls out.

[Iraq 69]

Congrats and welcome to the Zoo from MO

[jkaras7]

Congrats on the new SLX and welcome to the forum.

[dexstrom]

Successful mod to our 195RB!
We replaced the bench seats with swivel chairs I ordered from WalMart:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Studio-De...Chair/54460528

So much more comfortable than the thin cushioned benches, and no mod needed to the table.

[dexstrom]

Originally Posted by dexstrom

successful mod to our 195rb!
We replaced the bench seats with swivel chairs i ordered from walmart:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/studio-de...chair/54460528

so much more comfortable than the thin cushioned benches, and no mod needed to the table.

Attachment 43262

[RogerR]

They look a whole lot more comfortable than the louse dinette seats!

Enjoy the new setup!

Where do you have your TV? Is it mounted on the wall or just portable? Jayco told me the wall is not solid enough and we hate to use up part of the counter to mount the TV.

[Kim Gass]

That does look nice but how did you secure the chair legs for travel? We have to always go on dirt roads just to get out of the house and loose chairs scare me.

Also is there a way to compensate for lost beer storage under the no longer there bench seat?

[dexstrom]

I mounted a TV extension on the side of the a/c cabinet. It’s only a 13” TV so it doesn’t weigh much, don’t think I would put a bigger one on the bracket.



Haven’t addressed securing the chairs for travel, we’re camped the rest of summer in one place so have time to think about it.

[Crooks]

I stay in my 195rb alone 98% of the time when on the road working. The very first thing I did was pull out the dinette seats. It is literally a job that can be done with a drill in less that 10 minutes. I left the table where it was and put a computer chair on the bed side of the table. It really opened up the camper which says a lot for the small amount of
Move around room in it. I have pictures but have no clue how to get them on here from an iPhone.

In all honesty, take them out and try it. If you don’t like it, it is extremely easy to just screw everything back in place.

As far as the extra sleeping room, I purchased the Large Disc-O-Beds which are bunk bed cots big enough for adults. The foot print it of it is almost exactly the same as the dinette was. I keep it under the bed and when my kids decide they want to come visit I just take the computer chair apart and store it under the bed and set up the cots.

[Kim Gass]

I’m all for outing the dinette seats but have no idea how to keep chairs from flying around on the road
We do a fair amount of bumpy roads and I’m
fine with laying the table on the bed on the road

So chair gurus do you have any ideas?

[Crooks]

All I did for the computer chair was get a few small D-ring that screws into the wall or floor and just wrap a bungee cord around the chair hooked into the D-rings. Any of the travel trailers you see that have a dinning table with stand alone chairs from the factory have some type of ring on the floor to strap the chairs down while towing.