My Seneca mods

[whporwil]

My wife and I spend about 5 months a year in our Seneca. 99.9 percent of the time it's just us two. In the interest of keeping a happy wife I've made some changes. First was a queen size bed. Having the extra 6 inches on the sides is really nice. Then full hiback splash in both the rear bath and kitchen. More outlets in the living area. Residental fridge in black stainless. Induction cook top. Fireplace. Get rid of the dinette. Change out the sliding door to the bedroom. In my pictures you can see an outlet by the chair and between the cabinets were the dinette was. I never had to drill a hole to run the wires except through flooring. The cabinets came from Menards and are unfinished kitchen cabinets cut down to 9 inches. The fireplace I made from scratch. Counter tops made locally. Enjoy. Our camper is a 2017 37 rb. Not letting me post pictures now so look for a second message from me. Whporwil

[RVermont]

I await your photos as you have some great mods listed. I am trying to convince my wife that a smaller bed is better but so far she is not biting. I also want to replace the dinette with a cabinet and pull out dinner table.

Thanks for posting.

[whporwil]

Still having problems with pictures, if anyone can't wait send me a private message with you phone number and I'll send them to you. When I click on down load files it doesn't respond.

[Stargazerandu]

Originally Posted by whporwil

My wife and I spend about 5 months a year in our Seneca. 99.9 percent of the time it's just us two. In the interest of keeping a happy wife I've made some changes. First was a queen size bed. Having the extra 6 inches on the sides is really nice. Then full hiback splash in both the rear bath and kitchen. More outlets in the living area. Residental fridge in black stainless. Induction cook top. Fireplace. Get rid of the dinette. Change out the sliding door to the bedroom. In my pictures you can see an outlet by the chair and between the cabinets were the dinette was. I never had to drill a hole to run the wires except through flooring. The cabinets came from Menards and are unfinished kitchen cabinets cut down to 9 inches. The fireplace I made from scratch. Counter tops made locally. Enjoy. Our camper is a 2017 37 rb. Not letting me post pictures now so look for a second message from me. Whporwil

Well, I can't wait to see the pics!!

[Rustynuts]

I had whporwil send me the pics. Here is what he sent. Nice job on the MODS! What brand and model is the residential fridge?

[Bruceter]

X2 on the very nice job on the mods, looks like factory job

Bruce

[whporwil]

Thank you Rustynuts for posting my pictures. The fridge is a Samsund 17.5 cubic ft, model RF18HEFENBSG. I believe you have your choice between stainless or black stainless only. In the RB that doesn't have the furnace underneath the only cut I had to make was take about an inch off the board that goes across the top of the fridge and remove the bottom one. Their screwed in and come out easy. To get the fridge in the camper I took the door as well as it's frame off (this is a great time to see how many screws Jayco snapped off when they built my camper, there were many) Laying a couple of 2x4 on the steps and we were able to slide the old one out and push the new one in. If your electrical and inverter panels are like mine it was a matter of taking the fridge wire off electrical and connecting it to the inverter. I did have to get a single pole breaker that had two switches on it.


AL
2017 37RB

[RVermont]

What are the specs on the fireplace. Size?Electric or propane? It might be a good mod for behind the passenger seat in my TS. There is no heat up front in my unit and that might be perfect. The furnace mine is by the refegerator which is about 12 feet from the front and the duct is blocked by the slide if it is in. Might be a good way to get some heat up there.

[whporwil]

This is a great way to get heat in the front, wife uses it all the time. The fireplace is electric and bought on ebay for a hundred bucks. You want one that's flat not curved because of the slide. It measures 24" wide and 19" tall not counting the 2" frame on three sides. This is a 1500 watt unit so you need a 20 amp power source and 12 gage wire. Buy the fireplace first. If you haven't already done so remove the panel facing the living room and you will see a sheet metal cover on the floor. This comes up easy and the wire goes down this hole and along the frame rail, I did not reuse this panel. I came up in the water closet through the hole that my fresh water drain is in. On my RB my electrical panel is above this area. My cabinet is 40" tall and 30" wide and 6" deep not counting the door fronts or counter top hang over. I have a little better than an inch between the handles and slide. I also have a 4" spacer on the left side of the cabinet to move it away from the wall. this went on last because I have a L bracket screwed to the floor and side of the cabinet behind the spacer. When I put my cabinet together I was short on height and my counter top was flush with the panel behind it. I installed a 3/4" plywood to the bottom of the cabinet to raise it up and this allowed me to mount a couple of screws through it into the floor.

[RVermont]

Thank you, it really has me thinking for this winter and this is perfect fix.
Two nice projects to mull over. Safe travels.

[whporwil]

One thing I haven't said is that everything I did happened in a Campground with the tools I had. Aren't you the retired cabinet maker who's son still has a shop? Or am i thinking of another on this forum. I look forward to seeing what you come with. By the way I'm a steel guy not a wood worker.

AL

[RVermont]

Originally Posted by whporwil

One thing I haven't said is that everything I did happened in a Campground with the tools I had. Aren't you the retired cabinet maker who's son still has a shop? Or am i thinking of another on this forum. I look forward to seeing what you come with. By the way I'm a steel guy not a wood worker.

AL

I think rustynuts is the cabinet make. He does very high end work. I dabble and can do a pretty good job but no where near his standard.

[whporwil]

Thanks. There is another way to build the fireplace cabinet. You can buy an upper and lower kitchen cabinet from Lowel's, or Home Depot and put one on top of the other to come up with the same thing. You would have to put the plywood under it to raise it up to the right height.

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by whporwil

This is a great way to get heat in the front, wife uses it all the time. The fireplace is electric and bought on ebay for a hundred bucks.

We agree, We use the Dimplex fireplace that Jayco put in our 36FK and it kicks out some serious heat...

I have a new heater module ordered for ours as it has been overheating and tripping the internal protection. Since we are heading to the land of 10,000 lakes this fall, we will need this heat to survive the frigid temps.

[whporwil]

Some people never learn, you got bombed on last year. FYI, according to the Farmers Almanac Minnesota is going to have snow at the end of September. Right now it's beautiful here.

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by whporwil

Some people never learn, you got bombed on last year. FYI, according to the Farmers Almanac Minnesota is going to have snow at the end of September. Right now it's beautiful here.

Oh... you don't need to remind me - I lived in Farmington MN for a few years.

The only months that are of interest to go back are: April / May and September / October. This is a work trip that I have to make to see my team that is based there, at least we get to avoid July and January

We get our share of snow in Utah... and we don't mind a little and we have outfitted our Seneca to be very capable down to +5F (the fireplace heater is part of that strategy). Not that we want to be in +5F in our Seneca, but we can deal with another "Bomb Cyclone" or NorEaster if they happen to come along our path.

[OldSarge]

Originally Posted by whporwil

My wife and I spend about 5 months a year in our Seneca. 99.9 percent of the time it's just us two. In the interest of keeping a happy wife I've made some changes. First was a queen size bed. Having the extra 6 inches on the sides is really nice. Then full hiback splash in both the rear bath and kitchen. More outlets in the living area. Residental fridge in black stainless. Induction cook top. Fireplace. Get rid of the dinette. Change out the sliding door to the bedroom. In my pictures you can see an outlet by the chair and between the cabinets were the dinette was. I never had to drill a hole to run the wires except through flooring. The cabinets came from Menards and are unfinished kitchen cabinets cut down to 9 inches. The fireplace I made from scratch. Counter tops made locally. Enjoy. Our camper is a 2017 37 rb. Not letting me post pictures now so look for a second message from me. Whporwil

Whporwil. Great mods. Wish I had your talent!!! We have a 2018 Seneca 37RB. I did not want the overhead bunk but a set up like you have. At the time we purchased there were none in that configuration to be found in a reasonable amount of time. Did yours come that way with the cabinetry and TV where the overhead bunk was or is this a modification you did?

[Melissa103]

Originally Posted by whporwil

My wife and I spend about 5 months a year in our Seneca. 99.9 percent of the time it's just us two. In the interest of keeping a happy wife I've made some changes. First was a queen size bed. Having the extra 6 inches on the sides is really nice. Then full hiback splash in both the rear bath and kitchen. More outlets in the living area. Residental fridge in black stainless. Induction cook top. Fireplace. Get rid of the dinette. Change out the sliding door to the bedroom. In my pictures you can see an outlet by the chair and between the cabinets were the dinette was. I never had to drill a hole to run the wires except through flooring. The cabinets came from Menards and are unfinished kitchen cabinets cut down to 9 inches. The fireplace I made from scratch. Counter tops made locally. Enjoy. Our camper is a 2017 37 rb. Not letting me post pictures now so look for a second message from me. Whporwil

I do not know how to pm on this forum yet. We are new members here. We’d love to see the pics

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Melissa103

I do not know how to pm on this forum yet. We are new members here. We’d love to see the pics

I posted them for whporwil as he couldnt get them to post. They are up on post #5 of this thread.

[whporwil]

OldSarge In 2017 the front entertainment center was optional on all models except the HJ.