does any one use the van fold down bench seats

[Trekking]

I was wondering if anybody use just the fold down bench seats in their vans or do you take them out.

 

[Reducto]

Some do, but many of us do not. They tend to not be terribly comfortable or space-efficient. If you build your own you can get a more comfortable mattress and can customize the interior layout.

 

[minimotos95]

I do because I no longer have a place to store the seat and don't want to get rid of it because chances of finding another are slim. Like Reducto said it's definitely not the most comfortable or space efficient.

 

[cyndi]

I know a lot of people start out using them. As time and finances allow they're rebuilt. The rebuild usually allows for storage underneath and a more comfortable mattress.

Every year there's at least one of those bench seats around the fire, at the RTR and then at the dump after the RTR.

 

[East]

Yeah, I still use mine because I feel it would be safer than anything I'm capable of building in the case of an accident. A foam mattress is over top of it and I sleep pretty well (cut to size). It's nice being able to convert it back into a bench seat when needed. There's definitely no right or wrong way to go about your sleeping arrangement, so do what fits your needs/interests the best.

My foam mattress is pretty thick and goes over the window-sills on each side of my conversion and across the bench naturally, so it's definitely more spacious than just sleeping on the bench by itself. I don't know if I would want to do that. That would be a bit too short/uncomfortable for me personally.

 

[Canine]

I've kept mine and both of the captains chairs as I have visions of upgrading and know I cannot get much out of the van if it is stripped out versus being able to make it look all stock again. Regular family people want matching chairs and interiors, but that's the way it is, otherwise, you can craigslist or junkyard hunt up the back sofa bed and the mid captains chairs.

If you are only part time van dwelling then just keep it. If permanent, then you'd better have a source of cheap storage as you will not only want the room they take up but you won't want to pay the monthly storage bills. Course if you have other things you are holding onto, then you may as well put the seats with them.

I've been up here in the northwest and upper north parts of the country (Washington, Idaho) and man there are a lot of good priced old class C's and trailers up here, as well as about 3-4x as many older conversion vans than I see in Phoenix. It's a big recreation area here, trucks often have truck campers on them, every other house has a trailer or rv parked beside it... Now I know where I will come look comes upgrade time.

Been fun sitting at coffee shops on the wifi looking on various craigslist and rv trader ads... I've "bought" about 20 rigs so far, just don't have the money to pay for them...

 

[sparky1]

I still use mine, I think it's comfortable enough for me. I did take out the (2) captains chairs But I have them stored still .
1990 G20 van
.in southern va.

 

[SoulRaven]

I still use mine, I think it's comfortable enough for me. I did take out the (2) captains chairs But I have them stored still .
1990 G20 van
.in southern va.

'89 G20 van here. I use the conversion bed in the back and put the captain's chairs in storage. The bed is now breaking - it collapses under any weight if there aren't bins beneath it to propr it up, and several areas have sunken in, the springs beneath having broken. But...it still works!

I think living on my conversion van bed has definitely devalued it. But, I needed an immediate solution at the time and it has served its purpose for that well enough.

Now that I'm going to be in an '04 Sienna, the seats didn't fold down into a bed, only into a mostly flat floor-like approximation, except I wouldn't wantot put much weigh on the "floor" of the stowaway seats. I removed all of them. Part of me wanted to keep at least one or two, but the moment I saw them out of hte car it was like HOLY CRAP LOOK AT ALL THE SPACE and I knew I wasn't going back. Space is precious.