At our current location, our site does not have a place to sit or a picnic table. We are allowed to provide our own, but we have not had time to address this in previous years. While planning our stay, John decided we are going to solve some of our own problems this year.

In Clinton and Hillsdale State Park, we found that the cats like to sit outside at the picnic table will us, but picnic tables are not that comfortable. We also do not really have room for a full sized picnic table and bench. Fortunately, they make picnic table to bench transformers. We have a friend back in Maryland that had one of these at his house.

Our functional requirements are:

• Light enough for two people to carry
• Strong enough to hold two people and two cats (i.e. 500#)
• Functions as a table and bench
• Has a table top at least 18″ to 20″ wide
• Has no arm rest, so cats can fit
• Wide enough for two people and a cat (i.e., about 48″)

No, we do not neglect one of the cats. MacKie sits in John’s lap.

There are many built units or plans for sale on the internet. The list below does not have every brand and model, but these are the primary different variants. Some versions have knock-offs that are slightly different. You can click on the image to go to the site to see more information. Some of these links might be temporary and stop working in a few days, weeks, or months.

Our friend has this one, the ULINE 56″ convertible bench. It 76 lbs with a 500 pound capacity (200 pounds on the tabletop), but it is $300 and the table top is only 14.5″ wide.

This Amish convertible bench is a similar style made in wood by the Amish. It is 85 pounds with a 700 pound capacity, but it is $480, only a 16″ table top, and unfinished wood.

This one is a really neat design, but we do not really need seats on either side. We plan to put it up against the RV on one side. It only costs $190, weighs 42.5 pounds, and has a 19.9″ table top, but it only holds 380 pounds and has arm rests.

The Convert-a-Bench is a plastic/vinyl version of a wooden bench. There are plans available from the Kreg tool site for the wooden version, here. The bench is $290 ($145 on sale!), 34 pounds, and at least 1000 pounds capacity, but it is only a 17″ table top, has arm rests, and it is plastic. Sun rot will be a problem.

The ONZA was an entirely different solution. John did not see this one before designing his plans. There are some advantages and disadvantages to the design. An advantage would be breaking easily into two seats and a back. The disadvantage is that is looks uncomfortable with a low table capacity. It is only $85 with an 800 pound bench capacity, 27.5 pound weight, 18″ table top, and no arm rests. The only problem is the 100 pound table top capacity and 33″ bench width.

Bench	Cost	Bench LxWxH	Table LxWxH	Table Top	Arms	Weight	Capacity
ULINE	$300	55.5″x32.5″x35.5″	55.5″x33.5″x29.5″	14.5″	N	76#	500#
Amish	$480	58.5″x29″x35″	58.5″x35″x30″	16″	N	85#	700#
Best Choice	$190	53.4″x27.2″x35″	53.4″x58.5″x29.9″	19.9″	Y	42.5#	380#
Convert-a-Bench	$290 ($145)	58″x14.5″x34″	58″x33″x28.5″	17″	Y	34#	1000#+
Onza	$85	33″x18″x32″	66″x18″x32″	18″	N	27.5#	800#

The Amish one was close to what we were looking for, except that it is $480 unfinished with a 16″ table top. We could build it for less, but making the table top 4″ wider looked like it might make the table prone to tipping over.

So, John made his own plans. He wanted the table to fold over to a bench back on a more complicated path, so he hunted down an online tool to do linkage testing. It is called PMKS+. It is pretty linked, but it is also pretty neat.

The capacity should be greater than 500 pounds, table top 20″, bench width 48″, no arm rests, and a cost less than $200. The only downside is the weight will probably be at least 100 pounds, but it is designed to be separated into three parts.

To test it, he made a model out of Popsicle sticks. The model did not work perfectly; the table top does not sit flat. The problem is that a 1/32″ error in cut is a 5% error on the model, but on the full sized unit, it will only be about 0.4% error.

The actual table is being built now, and the plans were changed along the way. There was a change to make it sturdier, a change to give Kate an integrated footrest, and a change to make it more comfortable. When it is done, we will put up another post.