Launch 26BHS - shoring up flimsy couch side arms

[wdennis]

Finally got time to deal with shoring up and re-attaching the side arm. We glued a 1/4" piece of wood on the bottom, glued a 1/8" piece of wood on the inside, and then attached two steel "L" brackets to the side arm to attach it to the wall and support putting downwards pressure on the arm. Here's some pics of what we did:

https://flic.kr/p/VWNC3Y - wall side before mounting
https://flic.kr/p/VKDUTS - bottom before mounting
https://flic.kr/p/W1nsha - bottom, mounted
https://flic.kr/p/VqaLxm - inside, mounted

The side arm is rock-solid (wouldn't try to stand on it, but...) Now to do the other one!

[oldenuftoknowbetter]

I would remove and replace the back plate with a thicker piece of plywood. That should solve the problem.

Mine is a 2016 cloth upholstered (like GaryG's). I like the look and functionality of the arm rest on your model. I might need to look into a modification. The problem would be figuring out how to get the existing armrests off and matching the Formica counter tops.

[wdennis]

Here's what one of my sidearms looks like:

(obviously the one that's still attached ) It's like a magazine rack.

I love the floorplan and weight, not so crazy about the materials used and some of the construction techniques... But we'll get it fixed up and I'll let you all know after a few trips what I really think

[GaryG]

Thanks for sharing this unfortunate incident. I have the same trailer model for 2016. Is yours the same year? I hope I don't have the same issue. I have sat on the couch several times and so have the grandkids, but so far, so good. I'm wondering if your side arms are like mine? Are they upholstered in matching fabric? Iv'e uploaded a photo of mine so you can compare.

I'd probably try the dealer first then they can direct you. Yes, it seems better workmanship would not be that much more effort/expense. Otherwise, how do you like your trailer? We love ours.

[wdennis]

Ran into my first problem with my brand-new 26BHS when I got it home... Sat on the couch, and when I went to get up from it (this with the slide pulled in, which has the couch on it), I pushed down on the sidearm to help myself up, and it snapped right off the wall! No wonder - the back of the sidearm is only 1/8" plywood, and was attached to the wall with three screws through the back.





You can see in the second pic where the screw holes are, and also see how thin the wood is (the back is the same thisckness as the sides and bottom, which you can see in the pic)

So my thoughts are:

1) If I am going to re-attach the sidearms, I will install two "L" brackets on the slide out wall where the sidearms attach (pic 1) and glue a thicker piece of wood on the bottom on the sidearm assembly, which I will then attach to the protruding "L" brackets. Hopefully this would allow for quite a bit of downward pressure on the arm.

2) On the other hand, I could just lose the sidearms, and if I could get a piece of the molding that goes from the top of the slideout to the top on the sidearm, on the face of the slideout, then I'd just patch the exposed wood where the sidearm attached to the wall with that. Does anyone have any experience getting wood/moldings/etc from Starcraft to do such patches? Or do I go thru the dealer?

Wish things were built just a bit better (heavier materials) but I guess that's the price to pay for such a lightweight TT...

- Will