Advice on Rear facing seats in day van conversion

[Hewzey]

Hi all, have just bought another mk7 (lwb hi roof) to convert into a day/odd night away van and could use some advice please. I have three kids so what I wanted to do ideally is buy a triple bench seat or double/single combo with built in 3 point seat belts and fit it rear facing behind the cab seats (bulkhead removed first) so as to maximise space and still have the side loading door useable.

Is this option possible/safe?

Thanks in advance...

[Airthies]

Yep. We've got a ex welfare crew van and originally had 5 seats in back with table 3rear facing 2 fwd.
As long as they're fixed to the van securely with spreader plates on the underside it should be fine.

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[Hewzey]

Ah nice 1 Airthies, thanks for that, prob overthinking it a bit but I also wondered if seats are specific to front or rear facing meaning maybe they are specifically crash tested to just face one way or can I buy any seats? (prob gonna be transit seats from minibus as they are quite cheap second hand and have integrated belts)
Cheers...

[Airthies]

Ours are generic seats that came as part of the welfare van.

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[Hewzey]

Arghhh this is frustrating, please help!!

I have been reading so many mixed opinions and don’t want to go ahead if it will cause big hassle later on with getting insured, someone must have some experience in this sort of thing.

If I am modifying a panel van and fitting rear facing seats, the outcome of which will be 6 seater including driver, if I fit properly with correct hi tensile bolts/locking nuts and 6 mm spreader plates top and bottom of floor, get an inspection from a Vosa mot inspector, convert to camper van and re register with Dvla with the usual bed/window/cooker/water storage/storage unit checklist, am I making it uninsurable by putting in seats backwards facing even though they have built in Seatbelts ?
Airthies, really appreciate the advice, I know the crewvans have them but are factory fitted and kind of purpose built. I’m worried that fitting them backwards facing myself with seatbelts (as purpose built passenger seating) is not acceptable or frowned upon by insurers.

Someone must of done this sort of thing before? I’m desperately wanting to start working on it but need to finalise layout and this affects it hugely.

[Airthies]

Ok let's jus knock the panic down a notch.

Simplest thing to do is give your insurers a call a lot of the time there actually quite approachable and helpful (If you get the right person)
It may be you need to look for another insurer A-plan are good and give forum discount. Give them a call to discuss, but make sure you get the right branch
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=112285&hilit=dan+cameron

As for DVLA/VOSA when we bought ours it was only listed as 3 seats on the V5 not the 8 that it had.
Called them up and they said to just send in V5 with correction as we had bought it like that, no need for pics or report etc.

One thing you may find is that getting reclassified as a "motor carsvan" is much harder these days, lots of folk seam to be getting knocked back. As it's all about the "look" of the van on the outside, if it doesn't scream CAMPERVAN on the outside then it will probably not change. But it sounds like it depends who gets your paperwork on the day and what kind of mood there in.

Lastly and here it becomes more iffy there's only one of our 3 boys who'll travel in the rear facing seats the other two don't like them

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[Outtheway]

Hi we have the same van as you but without the welfare unit, it had 2 rear rows of 3 seats. When we started to work on our van in removed 4 of them and sold them off and turned the other 2 so that they are rear facing. We found it was good for space but our 2 boys didnt like it as they felt secluded from us,we have just recently turned them back around and removed the double bench in front and fitted a drivers base and seat onto swivel base on 2 front seats,and what a difference. Boys love it as they can see us and hear us without shouting. Our van sleeps 4 and the dog but have just bought a drive away awning but not tested it out,our oldest wants to sleep in the tent

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[Airthies]

Our van sleeps 4 and the dog but have just bought a drive away awning but not tested it out,our oldest wants to sleep in the tent[

What awning did you get, looking for options ourself as we've got 5of us an two dogs


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[Outtheway]

We bought the outdoor revolution 2019 and bought a double pod to go into it, see one when we went to the lake district and the owner was very happy with it, it's always better to get a real review as when you read online they could be a bit iffy. Really looking forward to using it as enjoy the extra space, cheers Paul

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[Hewzey]

Sorry guys not been back on for a bit, thanks for the advice, that captain seats setup looks great! Pity I don’t have the budget right now for that without sacrificing the back but we’ll see what’s left at the end, I’ve got the seats from a 13 plate movano, I am going to fit them on Unwin tracks to enable us to reverse or face forward and see how it pans out. I personally cant sit backwards facing without chucking up within about 5 minutes of setting off

Airthries thank you for great information, having looked around I see your point about re registering being the problem these days!

[Ashlemon]

I've just fit these from a Transit custom, great seats that can face either way.

Very tough to fit though...

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