Opinions on seating dimensions, or dinette headroom minimiums?

[grizzlyj]

Hi folks

I'm looking at making a U shaped dinette with a central table for our camper and am playing with how much I can squeeze things to maximise storage underneath. I own but don't have hands on the vehicle yet, so probably should wait but....

Does anyone have some guidelines on what averages to work to so I can make it comfy for different body sizes?

Or more specifically, I can copy a kitchen chair for floor to top of chair seat and back height, I have window sill height already set determining top of seat back cushion, and if I put the leisure batteries under the central floor section that will leave 200mm or 8" from my head to the ceiling when seated. No high level storage in that area and windows on three sides.

Will that be claustrophobic?

Cheers
Jason

 

[Ramdough]

Hi folks

I'm looking at making a U shaped dinette with a central table for our camper and am playing with how much I can squeeze things to maximise storage underneath. I own but don't have hands on the vehicle yet, so probably should wait but....

Does anyone have some guidelines on what averages to work to so I can make it comfy for different body sizes?

Or more specifically, I can copy a kitchen chair for floor to top of chair seat and back height, I have window sill height already set determining top of seat back cushion, and if I put the leisure batteries under the central floor section that will leave 200mm or 8" from my head to the ceiling when seated. No high level storage in that area and windows on three sides.

Will that be claustrophobic?

Cheers
Jason

I think more information would help.

How many people do you plan to have seated?

Are you installing it where you have space requirements? For example, are you putting it across the back of a box and the inside width of you box is 7'6"? Are you mounting it lengthwise and you have a kitchen next to it so the legs of the "U" can only extend out 4' from the wall? Your space limitations would help judge how to fit your target number of people.

To answer you last question, claustrophobic is subjective, but 8" sounds like plenty. I doubt most people would notice and that may be more than many have.



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[dlh62c]

Goggle RV Dinette Plans. You may even find some YouTube videos.

 

[grizzlyj]

Extract of camper layout, not drawn by me. Vehicle front is to the left of the drawing. Includes CAD layers of underlying frame in blue/grey so a few too many lines to be succinct, but you can see the three sided dinette layout covering most of the camper width, table shown offset of centre, three water tanks under the left hand side seat with an alternative position for one tank shown under the right hand seat. The black square is an access hatch in the floor. Dinette possible dimensions drawn in brown and in mm. WM on right hand side is for possible washing machine position, so the seat does not reach the right hand camper wall, also allowing for an inward opening hatch into crawl through to the cab. Bottom right is the kitchen sink just appearing, top right is the camper entry door with a question mark drawn. Darker grey/brown are fixed built walls, all the externals plus one between entry way and washing machine position extending 600mm inside. Design by F&F for me in Germany. Two adults, one kid, one big dog

 

[oldnslow]

Copying a kitchen chair seems like a good idea to me. They are designed to do what you are looking for. I would look at RV dinettes with a wary eye, many of them are designed to fit a space, not to fit a human body. The seats in my Lance truck camper are 23" high - much too high. The side to side space for legs is 11" from the center seat of the "U" to the outside edge of the legs of the "U" - way to small. So I have to sit partly sideways, with a lot of pressure under my knees. Not comfortable at all.

 

[NatersXJ6]

IIRC, Chairs are generally 16-17” from floor to seat surface. Dining tables are 28-30” to to top surface, countertops are 36”, bars 44”. As mentioned above, having a place for legs to go is an issue not often considered, but likely more important than headroom. This is especially true if there is not enough headroom to fully stand while getting to/from the table.

 

[Ramdough]

All,

Just my two cents….

I am planning to make two parallel benches with a table between so I can use off the shelf patio furniture cushions. I am making the dimensions match what the cushions need instead of making custom cushions.

Just my solution to a problem.


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[Awkragt]

I realize this is a zombie thread but van builds with tables and seating around them are kinda silly in person. I've checked out two so far that seem normal in photos but in real life the table is for toddlers. There just isn't enough width to have a normally proportioned bench seat on either side of a table. One literally had a 12" wide bench on either side. That's not a real seat. In a wider truck camper or class C that makes a lot more sense.