Date:         Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:46:36 -0700
Reply-To:     "Joe T." <vanagon85@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Joe T." <vanagon85@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Westy seating/sleeping: Questions for families of 5+
In-Reply-To:  <05a601ccda3b$ba267570$2e736050$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I've been thinking about a similar issue for my family of four for when we
need to sleep with the top down.

My daughters are small (8 and 5) so three can sleep in the downstairs bed.

My idea is to get front seats from a Eurovan and modify them to
fit.  Eurovan seats fully recline, so I could recline the passenger seat
and have one of the kids sleep there.  It would be tight, but everybody
would have a spot.

--
Joe T.
'85 Wolfsburg Westy Subie 2.2


On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 6:58 PM, The Bus Depot <vanagon@busdepot.com> wrote:

> > I was looking into this, and since my 8 y.o. son loves a hard bed, I
> ended
> up with
> > cutting a piece of 1/2" ply that sits across the front seats.  I put a
> 2x4
> on each seat
> > to level it and put some detachable legs (aka 2x4's) on the front corners
> to support
> > the front.  I glued a 1/4" foam yaga mat on top of it so it wouldn't be
> too hard.  If
> > you'd like i could take a pic of it - it's hard to describe even though
> it's so simple.
> > The board is thin enough that it stores up on top of the folded cot when
> the top is
> > down.
>
>
> I do a similar thing on my '87, but I kept it simple. I have a piece of
> plywood cut to size that sits across the two front seats. No 2x4's or legs;
> just a piece of plywood.  I have an extra section of mattress from the
> fold-out part of the upper bunk bed, salvaged from another Westy, which
> fits
> perfectly on that piece of plywood. We have three kids - 8, 10, and 13 -
> and
> even the 13 year old has used it (albeit without enough room to stretch
> out)
> with no sign of breakage.  The plywood easily stores under the rear
> mattress
> when driving, and the extra mattress on top of the rear mattress.
>
> For transporting the family of five, I added a rear-facing seat behind the
> passenger seat from a Multivan.
>
> Using an Add-A-Room (or, for shorter trips, an Ezy-Awning) also makes a
> huge
> difference. The five of us sleep quite comfortably in our Westy, but it
> doesn't leave much room for belongings. Being able to store bags, coolers,
> etc. outside of the camper but still under cover allows us to make full use
> of the camper's interior space.  (See our website for info on the Add A
> Room
> and the Ezy Awning.)
>
> - Ron Salmon
>   The Bus Depot, Inc.
>   www.busdepot.com
>   (215)  234-VWVW
>
> _____________________________________________
> Toll-Free for Orders by PART # :  1-866-BUS-DEPOT
>