Chinook Concourse Club Lounge...take seats out?

[Billyidol]

Hello!

Im interested in buying a Concourse 21 footer. I wanted to get club lounge because I wanted to take seats out so that I could store my 7 foot long fully faire recumbent in there. Google Lightning F40

I was going to just use foldable chairs when needed. I really want to keep the bike inside.

Can the chairs be taken out? I mean the club lounge seats...not the passenger seats.

Sidenote....can 1-2 people full time in a Concourse 21?

John

[chin_k]

Both the club lounge seats and the front passenger seat are removable.

There are many people who do full time in Concourse. For example, Xatlatc has spend Almost one year in the Chinook, and he and his wife had not murder/divorce each other yet.

[Kirah]

One thing to note is that the furnace is usually installed under the forward chair, or forward dinette bench, so you'd want to account for that when measuring the space for your bike. You may be able to just leave the box over the furnace and park the bike on a bit of an angle to go around it.

Full-timing in a Chinook with a bike inside wouldn't be my first choice, but it's certainly possible. The couch side slides out to make a wider bed, but it may be a bit on the cozy side for two adults.

[Scott]

As Kira noted, the furnace is in the forward box and makes removing that chair a bit challenging but it's certainly doable.

In my Premier, it's 82 inches between the forward vertical edge of the stove cabinet and the passenger seat back with the seat all the way forward. So you're looking at a close fit even at an angle. If you remove the passenger seat, then probably no problem regarding length. Concourse might be different.

But there is the issue of width. How wide is the fairing? I saw a listed figure of 22 inches. The opening in my back door is 20 in; another inch or so could be had by removing the screen door. But then the way the fridge juts out, I'm thinking square peg, round hole. So without seeing the bike I'd guess it'd be really, really tight at best, and maybe not possible at all.

Assuming you can slip it through, it is not going to be a fun chore long-term. Same goes for sharing the living space with the bike and another person.

I would get an enclosed trailer.

[chin_k]

I know it has fairing and all, but is there any way to hang the bike on the back? Maybe a large hard case that can be mounted on the back or top?

[Blue~Go]

Pretty much easy peasy on removing everything on the passenger side forward of the stove counter. The aft seat and box are no problem at all. The forward one is only tricky because the furnace is *jammed* in there and you have to get your screwdriver in around it to loosen the screws. Of course they are all put in at an angle because the Chinook installer had to do the same thing, so that helps. Also they are all Robertson drive so no screwdriver slipping.

I removed both club seats and the furnace (side bonus: now it's easy to remove/replace both seats if I want to). I have used a Wave 3 on a long hose and the portable legs for a few years now. I may install the larger Propex heater so I can lazily click over a thermostat from my bed, but if so it takes up a LOT Less space than the stock furnace. It also uses quite a bit less battery power. And it's ducted if you want. It is fewer btu, but I don't think that will be a big problem.

I have a post on removing the furnace that shows some about removing the club seats which I believe will show up in search. [Edit: here is a link to that post - photos may help you to visualize]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13&p=45&hilit=remove+furnace#p45

I also removed the little bar/table piece - that was even easier. It's surprisingly heavy but manageable. You may not need to remove it though.

Note that there will be one thing remaining on that side that you can't remove, which is the wheelwell. That is partially under the stove and partially in the dining room space. It comes forward about 15", into the room about 18", and is around 6" tall. It tapers down to nothing as it gets into the last part of the 15" going forward. I built a mini-box over it (vs. the big chair base box that was stock but larger than needed to just cover the wheelwell).

If you have the space, it's easy to store the stock parts for posterity which is what I did. They could be re-installed in an hour or so. Mine are stored away not getting scratched, worn, or dusty -- so if I do put them back they will be in great shape.

I really like that dining room side because it can be whatever you want it to be (vs. the couch side which is kind of set in its ways due to stuff underneath). I've used it as the stock club chairs, one chair and an open platform, one automotive seat and a table I made (larger than stock one), a long desk that ran the full length -- and other variations.

BG

PS: Of course everyone is different -- just look at the various size houses different people think is the desired size -- but I'd say that for one person full timing in a Chinook is simple. The space is all yours. There is quite a bit of storage. And it even has three rooms! (Bathroom, main room, cab.) If you tow a car you get four Two people suddenly means privacy to consider, plus how amenable they both are to scooching past each other, carving out their own "space" (mental and physical), deciding to both want to leave at the same time, and etc. So both are "it depends" but perhaps one person is a bit easier to predict (still dependent on the person).

[HoosierB]

Could suspending the bike under the cabinets (on the lounge side) be an option? Using simple PVC pipe or more expensive 80/20 to make custom brackets to fit. Then you could leave the integrity of the interior in place when needed.

[Blue~Go]

Could suspending the bike under the cabinets (on the lounge side) be an option? Using simple PVC pipe or more expensive 80/20 to make custom brackets to fit. Then you could leave the integrity of the interior in place when needed.

Not a bad idea. Just FYI if you start to plan this, you would want to support the weight of the bike in some way. The cabinets are only held up by pointy screws into wood. They weigh quite a bit even empty (80+#). I wouldn't want to hang a bike from them without supporting things a bit extra (but that could take many forms: extra support for the cabinets, support for the bikes, or other).

OTOH, by the time you hang a recumbent from the cabinets, I'm envisioning you probably would not have much or any space under it anyway, so maybe just roll it in and secure it on the floor?

[chin_k]

I have a hard time rolling my mountain bikes into Chinook. I would try to keep it outside, but have not put a rack for them yet. Recumbent bike with fairing will be more hassle, IMHO.

[HoosierB]

You're right about the cabinets not being a good support for anything heavy.
I was thinking more of a support frame that fit under the cabinet area. With the bike weighing in at 32-34 lbs., it wouldn't take much to construct "brackets" that were floor mounted behind each club seat back and would suspend the bike at each end. Depending on design, parts of the brackets could be removable to allow complete use of the lounge/seats. My guess is the bike will need to be secured during travel mode no matter which way you go. Even after seeing pics of this bike, still difficult to determine how much of the bike breaks down, and size/position restraints that may be incurred for this type of "Chinook project".