Seat belts and seating

[Ravenna]

I'm trying to take a small trip ASAP, mid-conversion process.
I have no seats currently, and thus no seat belts.
Are there any work-arounds for this? I see a lot of buses out there without forward-facing seats... What's your experience? I'll have a couple kids on board.

 

[dbsoundman]

I would say you have to find some RV captains chairs or something else with integrated seatbelts ASAP then. No way I would transport kids or adults without seats much less seatbelts. Plus that’s illegal.

 

[Oscar1]

Hello Ravenna and welcome.
Yes it's definitely nice to use the bus while you're building to keep the motivation high. What dbsoundman says is bang on, don't risk it without proper seats and belts for all. Also quick and easy could be a trip to the scrap yards, many suv's and mini vans have removable passenger seating with incorporated seat belts. You may be able to quickly modify something like this to mount in the bus.
Good luck, be safe

Oscar

 

[magnakansas]

what I did

I have seats from 2017 ford transit vans.... they come on seaters, two seaters, and three seaters.... I have three wide and two wide. They have headrests, are cloth, have built in baby seat latch points, built in three point belts, they can recline a little like the seats in coach class in airplanes. I have medium blue and they are also come in coarcoal grey. the three wide seats, both outer seat positions have baby seat latch points, the two seaters - only one side has baby seat latch points. Almost for got... they have armrests too.

These seats mount like this.... there are rails that you bolt to the floor. The seats latch into the rails. If you put rails in different places, you can move the seats around. The rails stay put, the seats are the part that moves and latches into a different rail.

go to ebay and type in "ford transit van seats" Look around and you will see what I am talking about. The cheapest brand new ones I have seen are in the Phoenix arizona area. I paid $250 for my three seater in the Kansas City area. They are brand new never used. so are the ones in Phoenix. people that do up camper vans, or limosine vans buy the vans and dump the seats.

I also have front seats from chevrolet pickup trucks.... 2004-2007 cloth, built in three point belts, the one on the passenger side has baby seat latch points, head rests, arm rests, and recline to a point. I paid about $50-$75 for each one. Used but were all in very very good condition. Some folks must not have much in the way passengers in the pickups very often.

another option that is good but pricey is 2nd row seats from toyota siennas... find the ones with leg rests and built in seat belts.

I am finding several in facebook market place in the eureka ca area... seems to be quite a few out there.. hunt for the best deal.

there is a guy in Los Altos giving seats away....facebook market place.



telephone me if you want to talk mountings... or where to find them

william 785 207 7600

 

[Ravenna]

Thanks, Oscar! Good idea!

 

[Ravenna]

That's awesome, William! Sounds like a pretty straight-forward solution! Thanks so much.

 

[musigenesis]

I also have a double seat from a Ford transit van in my bus, but it's the smaller variety (31" wide total, so each seat only has about 15" of width) and the seats don't recline at all. They're basically just emergency transport seats - for long distances it would only be suitable for children or maybe for one adult. On the plus side, my double was cheap ($200 on Craiglist) and it's very easy to bolt the mounting rails through the floor. Because of the rails the seat is removable, but even my smaller variety is awfully heavy and awkward and you're not going to want to do it that often.

The larger, fancier version magnakansas is describing is a better option, if you can find one.

 

[musigenesis]

I would say you have to find some RV captains chairs or something else with integrated seatbelts ASAP then. No way I would transport kids or adults without seats much less seatbelts. Plus that’s illegal.

FWIW it depends on the state. In PA, for example, adults can legally ride in the back of an RV or fifth wheel camper without being belted in. As crazy as that is! Children here do have to be belted in forward-facing seats.