What to do ?

[NADZ]

As I get closer to finishing the respray.
Im left with a problem.When I first got my bus it had a shite awful Late 80's AAAAACCCCCEEEEEDDDDDD ! chill out room in it.All gray carpet and green neon netting :roll: So out it came.
Now ive got 4 boys and the dogs(though they arnt so much of a priority).
The bus is a walk through.And I like the lounge style of interior and im not scared of a bit of fabrication.But I do want the seats belted and would like to keep the walkthrough. :roll: :roll: So what interior am I after ?Do I go for bus seats or knock up an approximation of a known interior?Some one please come up with some ideas as im getting a bit punch drunk from my own overload of bus insides.By the way the bus is gonna have a sort of satin black, pinstripe Old skool, Rod, rat and goth vibe to it (hope i explained my self well) Cheers

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Are you going to use it for camping in or just as a day bus?

 

[Guest]

With 4 kids you'd need a big back seat and at least one buddy seat. Is this a transport or for camping, or both?

 

[NADZ]

Thats the biggy im thinking a bit of both :roll:

 

[Loxy]

We get 5 of us (3kids) and one dog in our dormobile & sleep in it (double bed, 2 bunks in roof, 1 bunk over front seats, dog on floor)with no problems, not much room on rainy days though
We do have a huge awning but we always seem to prefer sitting in the bus.
We have 2 diagonal and one lap belt on the 3/4 width rear seat, but the kids are growing out of it, so I have removed the wardrobe behind the passenger seat and am going to fit a seat with diagonal belt there, could you not do the same behind the drivers seat as well? although it might make sleeping difficult.
Didnt split dormobiles have something called dormatic (sp?) seats a bit like the microbus seats but they allowed you to face forwards/backwards and then convert into a bed, might be worth looking for pics?
Alternatively you could get one of those boat sized viking roofs that sleep 4 up top, then just have a double bed in the back with static seats behind the drivers & pass seats?

 

[Alzy]

Sounds like a dormobile interior would be a good idea!! :!: 8)

 

[NADZ]

I really do bulk at the idea of cutting my roof tin tops are getting rare.
How do you put belts along the side ?

 

[vil]

I have got 6 belts in total fitted in my Westy and have 3 kids and we get on just fine

2 fronts (obviously)
1 on the Buddy seat
3 on the 3/4 Rock n Roll (2 shoulder and 1 lap in the middle)

I can understand you wanting the belts, it is a neccessity if you have kids. I was lucky enough to find my Westy and that it had these fitted.

Good luck with whatever you decide to go for!

 

[NADZ]

I've got the belt points no prob as mine was a bus.Its just kinda how do you do a L shape seat and keep belts.If you see what i mean

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

I think the Dormobile interior Loxy is reffering to is also in the early bay as the D4/8 which seats upto 8 people and sleeps 4 (5 with a cab bunk) and also had removeable furniture like cooker and cupboard units can easilly be removed.But these are very rare to find.My normal D4/6 (sleeps 4 or 5 with cab bunk, seats 4+2 buddy seats but no seatbelts on the buddy seats) interior I find is good,but mainly because of the usefullness of the poptop which gives you the headroom when up and the 2 bunks up there (mainly for kids though,too small for adults really) But the D4/6 interior is quite common to find and usualy is hard wearing unless it's gotten wet.

I think to get the sleeping space you will need to either use an awning or cut the roof and fit a poptop,which is a bit frowned upon these days with a tintop (I wouldn't do it)

I think ideally you best solution would be to sell the tintop and buy an allready converted camper wether it be a Westy,Dormy,Devon,Danbury or whatever.I quite like the Vikings too,the roof looks a bit ugly but have a well thought out spacious interior with the largest beds.

 

[Araon]

If your wanting an "L bench" arrangement why not keep the three belts on the rear fit a moveable ( anchored when driving obviously) Buddy seat behind the front passenger fit a retractable belt there. Fit a bench from drivers bulk head to just short of the rear bench seat then when your chilling as a familly un hook the buddy and fit it into the gap left between the rear and side benches, voila one L shaped bench at the camp site fit a decent awning like the new KHYAMs'...

The worlds your lobster....

 

[NADZ]

I, liking the sound of that.How do you fit the belt for the budy seat anyone got piccys ?

 

[Araon]

Not sure if you've already got it but theres a cad drawing at the below link

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?t=217&highlight=cad

print it off and have a doodle....

Mounting the belt shouldnt be that bad just dont double up on the existing mounting points with the passenger front... similar locations ie the pillar and the tub for the pass. seat ... but sure some one on here has pics of a buddy seat install with belt, infact if you do a search for buddy seats there was a thread some time back about that very problem....

 

[halfpint_fighter]

Have you seen the Danbury interior? It is a bit of a multi van instead of hardcore camper.

With 2 buddy seats and the rear bench you can seat 5 in the back. Then the table fits between them with a couple of bits of wood to fill in the gaps and hey presto full size bed!
pics here
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?t=3348

I saw a buddy seat with a seat belt, they had fitted the plug in bit to a spare bolt hole by the drivers one. they used the top fixing point for both belts. Then they welded a new fixing point down at the bottom of the bulkhead.

If you are going to Slough come and have a closer look at how the interior works.

 

[Tintop]

Try this website to get ideas from different interiors.

http://www.camperinterior.webfotos.co.uk/html/camper_interior_-_danbury.html