Thank you to everyone for your input on transporting our baby.  We agree that putting her seat in the front seat is not the best option.  For the record, we would not have even considered it unless we got the passenger side airbag removed.  Putting her seat in the passenger seat turned rear facing would have been a good option if we could have figured out a way to get the seat to lock into that position.  Again, we would have removed the airbag and we would have put her seat frontfacing, which would have made her rearfacing, which is the preferred position.  This would have actually been a quite good option because we could have kept her rearfacing for the life of the seat, whereas in normal position we must turn her seat frontfacing when she hits 30lbs.  But, we decided on a better solution, we think.

We tried the rear bench seat.  This location did work well for her infant seat, which is pretty small.  It fit in quite nicely and was snug.  However, by the time of the trip we will be into the convertible seat, which is much larger.  The convertible seat just did not work in the rear bench seat.  It felt very ubstable.  The rear bench is too narrow and the seat belts are placed improperly for mounting the seat.  If we were to use the rear seat we would have to install a lap belt and do it that way I think. But, it just didn't seem really stable to me. 

So, we think that the best alternative is to place her seat in teh middle where it would be if the bench seat were in the van.  We will do this by bolting two lapbelts into the four bolt holes that are used to mount the center seat and threading both of those belts through the seat.  This seems like it will be very secure and we will also be able to use the tether that comes with the seat for added security.  We can place her seat rearfacing this way and then when she is too big to rear face we can turn it around front facing.  We think this is the safest, sturdiest, and most convenient alternative.  Unfortunately, these winnebago seats just don't seem as if they were made for carseats. 

So, now we just need to find lapbelts that will fit into those bolt holes.  Any guidance in that direction would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Alexis

Alexis Martin Neely

Mama of Kaia Ray (11/2/99)

Wife of Todd Patrick (2/14/99)

Driver of 1996 GTI and 1997 EVC