Date:         Sun, 16 Apr 2006 23:55:16 +0000
Reply-To:     dlwilhite@COMCAST.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Wilhite <dlwilhite@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Westfalia - 4 Passenger to 7

I have an 84' Westy that has served me well for many years.  However, there were often times when I needed additional passenger capacity.  I have finally gotten around to making it a seven passenger.

I recently purchased an 87' Syncro (which I will be parting out by the way & transaxles are already gone), to get a number of spare parts and the interior from.  It was a full width seat in the back and the 2-passenger middle bench.

I removed the rear side cabinet, AC enclosure, rear seat, and the water tank storage cabinet.  The 3-person rear seat installed with no major problems.  All of the mounting holes, except the ones for the upper seat latches are there.  The rear seat folds flat, just like the orginal Westy one did, and it stops a couple inches short of touching the refrigerator/sink cabinet.  So I now have extra wiggle room, when sleeping.

It's true what everybody says about the two person bench seat fitting in a Westy.  The mounting points for the rails are there under the floor and everything mounts up just fine.  I did have to take off the driver's side armrest on the bench to give enough clearance.  The one on the passenger side is still in place.  Of course I can't open the fridge door with the seat in place.  But I can open the cabinet door.  Whenever I'm camping, I plan on having the center bench seat out anyways.  The carpet and floor insulation took some major cuts/mods to get it to fit, since the 2-person bench seat is in a different location.  I'm not sure how I'll handle the carpet long term, so that I can slide the seat in and out easily.  Right now I don't have the aluminum cover mounted, so that I can move the carpet out of the way.

What I'm lacking now, is to do something with my overhead AC unit, and install a water tank.  I'm partially considering removing my fridge and installing the water tank there.  We usually end up taking a cooler with us when we camp, because the fridge just doesn't work great when it's above 95 out and plus, it doesn't hold  much for a family of four.  Another option I am thinking about is placing a long narrow water tank under the van on the passenger side.  There looks to be quite a bit of space there, I'll have to measure it and see what I can find that may fit there.

I'm sure somebody else has done this too, but I don't remember reading about it.  If someone has, and they've covered some of the issues I mentioned, I'd be glad to hear what they did, and of course, any other suggestions/ideas will also be well considered.

Best of all, I now have seven passenger capacity, but still retain the stove/sink/fridge conveinence.
David Wilhite
84' Westy
Middle Tennessee