Tim Smith wrote:

> Back to seats, the bench _will_ just fit, but even though I've done this with
> mine I have never put the bench in a second time.  Just not worth the
> hassles when
> trying to get lunch on the road or grab a drink, and having to take it
> outside at campsites etc. Also getting into the rear seat is essentially
> impossible for anyone, inc children.
 
One practical reason to do this conversion we were discussing 
yesterday on the chat server.  I would be very uneasy using a child's 
seat in any of the stock Westy seats on an air cooled Bus or Westy 
(save for the front seat of course).  So for the budding family with 
one or TWO safety seats who demands an air cooled camper the early 
Vanagon with a regular center bench installed is about your only safe 
choice IMHO.  Yes it would be a pain in the ass, but at least the 
Vanagon seat is free standing (why the hell couldn't the Bus one be) 
so when you do remove it you can use it around the campground.

Anyway some thoughts for discussion, personally I fear the regular 
bed/seat for anyones use in a head on 35mph or more crash, anyone 
with experience?  I'm a long way from kids but some other people 
might be interested.  One more thought, a set of the folding 
weekender middle seats would really improve access to the rear seats 
for someone trying to dual purpose the Westy as a daily kid hauler, 
didn't VW always do this even back to splitty days in the 9 passenger 
(ie the back of the outer center seat folded?)

John
vwbus@netbiz.net