Our 2014 Milan travel trailer came with two swivel chairs. These chairs had two good attributes; the first is the material matched the sofa and dinette seating colors and patterns. But aesthetics do not mean excellent functionality.

The second positive, is they were somewhat small and fit into the seating area rather nicely.

After over 1,000 days/nights of camping, Joyce and I came to the realization that we didn’t like the chairs, color and patterns aside. Nine years of imperfect use was long enough to convince us.

What Should We Buy as a Replacement?

For many years we have owned a powered reclining love seat that is in our living room. It is awesome. Our favorite piece of furniture. The power feature is really, really nice — but not practical for a camper where we almost always are living off the electrical grid. Manual recliners would be our only suitable choice.

Replacing the two swivel chairs with a loveseat was my first inclination. This wouldn’t work out because the existing table between the chairs is built into the rear wall of the trailer and contains (hides) plumbing. With a bit of work I could have removed the table.

More important than freeing up this space for a love seat, is the realization that the table is just too convenient and even essential to how we camp. So the table stays. We took a vote and a couple reclining chairs were unanimously chosen. But first, before running off to a furniture store, would new chairs even fit through the door?

Measuring

Our entrance door is 24 inches wide. This is the only option to bring in a large object such as a chair.

Removing the old chairs was simple. I laid each chair on its side, with the back of the chair towards the door opening. On its side, the chair is an “L” shape. It was easy to slide it out, turning the chair 90° once the back of the chair was outside of the door opening. 

My calculations determined that a new chair would need to be 24 inches high from the floor to the top of the armrests, enabling us to slide the chair through the door sideways.

I was concerned that a new recliner would have a much taller back, thus the potential that it might not fit through our door even when turned on its side thus creating an “L” shape. 

Another and very important measurement was the width of the chairs. The old chairs were 27 inches wide. The space between the table and the walls is 31 inches, which seemed like a lot of extra space to fit new chairs.

But the original chairs are smallish chairs. Time to go to a furniture store and measure actual chairs.

The Shopping Trip

Measuring several chairs, it seems the height of chairs, from the floor to the top of the armrests, is a standard 24 inches. A couple “overstuffed” chairs were 25 inches high, but it would be easy to push on the top of the arms to get a little compression. This solved the first measurement concern.

We also found out that most recliners are shipped with the back of the chair separated from the base. This solved the “L” shape dilemma. 

Next step was to sit in some chairs. We found the La-Z-Boy brand seemed to have the best manual control of ease of use and a secure feel. Although the chairs have a limited warranty, the reclining mechanism has a lifetime warranty. Plus, the majority of the recliners the store had in stock were the La-Z-Boy brand.

Last on the measurement requirements was chair width. We needed a 30 inch wide (or smaller) to fit into the 31 inch space. Most of the chairs were puffy looking and over 31 inches wide. 

Luckily we found a model chair that Joyce really liked that was 30 inches wide.

The chairs were in stock and we took them home with us.

Happy wife, Happy life!

The Final Test

The base of the chairs easily fit through the trailer door when turned sideways. Once inside, it only took a couple minutes to install the backs.

We bought some Scotchgard fabric spray to protect the chairs.