Fitting 2nd Row Seat Brackets so I can move my Kombi Bench back

[Phil1878]

Hoping to breathe a bit of life into this thread as its the closest I've seen to what I want. Hopefully be getting a T6.1 in the autumn with the plan of turning it into a day van/camper for the following spring. So many ideas so please bear with me.

It's going to have to have 3 full size seatbelted seats in the back, no RIB or rock n roll. As further up in the thread states position '2.5' is unsuitable due to mounting spacing and seat belts, so my question is.... how difficult are the seats to move? Is it possible to have normal driving position like a kombi, park up, pop the seats back a notch, spin the front seats and have a useable living space.

Alternatively, has any fitted non-vw seats. Ford tourneo for example with the intergrated seat belts in position 2.5?

Great thread by the way

 

[david173]

Hi Phil, welcome!

Yes you are correct position 2.5 is not possible with a SWB. I have seen it done in a LWB though but not something I have experience with myself as I have SWB. Are you getting a factory Kombi or panel van?

When you say 3 full size seats what do you mean exactly? the Kombi Triple bench seat? or the shuttle 1+1+1 single seats.

The triple Kombi bench is heavy! I can move it on my own between position 2 and 3 and its doable just a bit awkward wouldn't want to be do be doing it multiple times a day. I have the third row brackets and seat belts installed on my van (as detailed earlier in the thread) as we tend to move them back on holiday or if out and about for the whole day etc. It does indeed work really well and give you a really good useable living space. With the seatbelts you can of course travel with passengers in the rear and the boot is still bigger than most cars. Much cheaper than a fixed or sliding bed!

only downside is if you don't have rear quarter windows the passengers in the rear cant see out. not a major issue really and you could always get windows installed if you wanted.

Look forward to seeing how you get on!

on a another note.....
If you are getting a panel van I would seriously consider the caravelle rail system. Yes its going to be more expensive than the kombi seats but the kombi seats have got really expensive recently so its not the difference it used to be. That's the setup I ultimately want, then you can just slide the bench back to any position you want really easily and also have the option of additional single seats.

 

[Phil1878]

Thanks for getting back to me. By 3 full sized seats i mean something that would sit 3 prople comfortably. Was looking at the 2+1 set up. When you say 2.5 is not possible is that down to no seat belts and a longer distance between mounting points? It would never be used as a driving position, just when camping ir parked up for the day. Hadn't even considered rails, would solve all of my problems really. I'll hopefully have about 20k by November so would rather spend it on a decent panel van rather than pay the extra that comes with a kombi. I consider myself to be a handy youtube DIYer so will be giving most things a bash myself

 

[david173]

Was looking at the 2+1 set up.

sounds good just bare in mind only the triple bench or single centre shuttle seat will acutally fit in the third row.

When you say 2.5 is not possible is that down to no seat belts and a longer distance between mounting points?

yes correct on both reasons

 

[Phil1878]

So after a lot of head scratching I think I'm just going to put a 3 seat bench in the 3rd row. Caravelle rails would be ideal but for the price difference I don't think it makes sense. The kids rarely look up from a screen on a long journey anyway.
Should be looking to buy early Nov and spend the winter getting it usable for the spring. Just going to spend the next few months scouring these threads for ideas. Thanks @david173 for your advice