Table for Two - Lockdown Project

I don't know if Bailey are typical of manufacturers when it comes to providing free standing tables? The one in our current two berth motorhome is, in my opinion, too large and heavy given that we don't hold dinner parties in the van!!! 

This set me thinking about whether there was an easy solution to my perceived problem, after all I did have a lot of time on my hands during lockdown. What seems a simple thing can turn out not to be so simple. Firstly, do you have a centre leg design or a swing out arm design? Likewise should it be round or square? What made life a bit easier was that I came across a company called Clearcut Conversions who specialise in providing fittings for camper vans. They had a range of table tops and fittings. We finally decided on a table with a centre leg as I thought the position would suit both of us. In order to establish whether a round or square table would be best I mocked up a square table in plywood which was a good move as it highlighted to us that a round version would be better. We knew that we would not get an exact match colour wise with the rest of the fitted worktops but Clearcut do have quite a range of colours. We selected what we thought would be a reasonable match and we turned out to be right.

The order was placed and arrived pretty quickly. I now set about putting it all together. The first thing to fit was the upper collar on the underside of the table. Great care is needed not to drill too deeply as you don't want a series of holes in the tabletop staring at you whilst eating your lasagne!!! Fortunately the fitting of the collar went without incident. Next job was to the fit the floor plate which required cutting a circle out of the removable carpet. Once that was carefully completed you can then fix the floor plate in place. I checked the depth of the screws which appeared to be just the right length for the thickness of the floor. When all this is done, it only remains to fit the leg into the floor plate and twist lock and tighten the screw collar and then place the tabletop onto the upper end of the leg and press down. Hey presto you have a compact table in place! When not in use there is a cover that can be fitted into the floor plate to stop things being caught in the hole!

This is quite a simple job once you have made the decisions of what you want. The tool list is fairly minimal, a pencil, tape measure, Phillips screwdriver, scissors and a drill. The cost of the project was £110.