Bunkhouse Rehab

[kevcarr59]

Has anyone done a bunkhouse rehab on a 264BHW?? We got the 264 on an impulse and are not quite happy with the configuration. Looking at the bottom bunk, it's easy to take that one out. The top bunk looks like it's going to be a bear.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The wife has seen too many of the HGTV shows, and thinks all this work will be easy peazy, and should be done in a few hours. Yeah, demo may take that time, but what about after that??

Some thoughts.... Cut top bunk to depth of 18" from rear wall and place 3 or 4 drawer storage units up top. Place center support under top bunk and place closet rod across to hand clothes. Keep access to water heater and valves in back of trailer.

Pull dinette seat and storage unit out & make a smaller table & chair dinette seating plan. Only have to reinstall monitor sensor in the bulkhead that's already there. Everything else will probably stay the same, but I guess I'll find out exactly what plans will actually work.

[RogerR]

Never had any experience doing that but did help my brother replace the floor around the door of an Airstream. After we did that we put in rubber wood look plank flooring.

Try calling Jayco for exact specs so you don't cut any wires or pipe.

I am trying to convince the spouse to pull the permanent seats and replace with computer style chairs for comfort.

[SkyBound]

It's not going to look right even if you do it. What would you use that extra space for anyways? It's not like you're going to throw a recliner in that little space which would then resemble a closet. Best bet is to find the floor plan you want and find an economical way to make it happen. Don't butcher it. You probably won't be thrilled with it in the end and then you've killed any resale value as well.

[Siamese]

I have a 26bh. We removed the top bunk. Fairly easy job. Wrestle the mattress out. The bunk is 2x2's going across the bunk, connecting to 2x2's that are screwed into wall joists. Remove the top and bottom skins on the 2x2's. Claw hammer, and a small wrecking bar will do it, and it come will out in splintered pieces.

Then, you can remove the cross pieces. I cut mine in the middle to make it easier to dislodge them from the perimeter 2x2's. You'll be removing square drive screws, so load a bit into a cordless drill.

With the skins and the cross bracing gone, you're ready to remove the perimeter pieces by unscrewing them from the wall. Three are easy but the one on the side, exterior wall is tricky. That piece was installed from the OUTSIDE, before the siding was applied, so there are no screws you can get at from the inside. Follow me?

I got that piece out using a chisel, a hammer and a small wrecking bar, and there wasn't a single piece larger than a television remote. In fact, all were considerably smaller. You can't just pry it off the wall, because it's held on by large screws.

When you do finally get it off, the screws will be sticking out of the wall. Use channel locks to hold each screw firmly at it's base, tight to the wall, and wiggle it back and forth until it snaps off flush. Easy.

If you broke off the screws tight to the wall, they'll actually be slightly recessed into the wall, which makes covering them much easier. You could put up some sort of wallpaper trim, or you could make some strips of luann plywood, cover it with foam and cloth, and attach it where the perimeter boards were. Or you could do what I did and get a tube of DAP biscuit colored kitchen and bath sealant, and put small dabs of the sealant over each screw hole. I was very pleased with the final appearance, Yes, you can see where they were in bright light, but practically speaking, they're invisible. If you get the urge to put up fancier trim later, there's nothing to stop you.

I located the studs on the back wall, and installed wire closet shelving from Home Depot. The stuff where you attach the rails vertically to the studs, snap in the shelf supports, and attach the shelving. I did two shelves, but three will fit. The standard four foot wire shelf fits perfectly with no trimming. The stuff is easy to cut, but it's even easier when you don't have to. Holds a lot of clothes.

The end result was very clean looking, and has become my wife's bedroom. Also a great place to hang out with a little privacy during the day. It's really like having a little den.

Obviously, we didn't remove the lower bunk.

It doesn't sound like you have a crystal clear plan for how you want to utilize the new space you create. That should make you back away from the tool box, in my opinion. Removing the top bunk made our trailer a little unique, but removing the whole works....hmmm.

You wouldn't be the first to remove the dinette, and many people do that and like it. Personally, I would prefer to stabilize the flimsy/wobbly sad excuse for a table they put in those things, stabilize the back of the forward dinette seat, and call it good. I like the storage in the dinette.

The 26bh has doors for the storage with large plastic trays that slide out and make a great pantry area. We use ours for spare bottled water and general food items. We find the food's MUCH easier to access than in the cupboards. YMMV. I don't recall if the 264 has openings for the trays to slide out. They'd be easy to add.

The back bunk mod, in our case, was planned well before we bought the trailer. We knew that it would be an excellent couple's trailer for a couple that likes to sleep apart. I stay up late, get up late, and she likes early and early. Plus, the layout is great for our two cats when they want to race around (start in rear of back bunk, accelerate, launch to floor straightaway, leap up on and over transverse sofa, get airborne, land on queen bed, bounce off forward wall, reverse, and repeat process).

Moral of the story is, what are your actual needs, and how can that area accommodate them? If you need closet and storage space, it would certainly accommodate that. If you NEED it. A man cave?....not so much.