6 Seats in a SE

[andyinluton]

We have 4 children & a 5 seater SE, the oldest, 15 year old twins don't "do" camping anymore so its not normally a problem. However very occasionaly we do need to transport all six of us & the wife Mazda 5 normally does the deed. In August we had a villa booked in Spain again & needed to get all of us + luggage there & back & there was no way I was using the Mazda as it gives me backache in an hour or so, drinks petrol & most importantly with six seats in use has no luggage space left.

Having sorted everything with the insurers etc I took a gamble on a cheap ex caravelle additional seat, as the attached shows it fits! With it in position we had decent legroom for 5 of us, the youngest was fine on her booster at the back & we managed to fit 6 small suitcases in the remaining boot space. Access to the cupboards was still fine with room just, for the portapoti to be used in emergency. the only thing we couldn't access was the draw under the bench. I admit it was a bit cramped stopping for the night on the way down, 3 of us in the roof & 3 downstairs in reclined chairs but actually compared with all the cars that spent the night at the service station I reckon we were probably better off.

My main concerns were access & with the seats in this configuration all the rear passengers could get in & out without moving or tilting seats & could actually walk through to the front if necessary.

I have now gone back to 4 seat mode & the van feels cavernous.

The biggest downside is that theres now 2 spare seats sitting in my study most of the time.

 

[Skylark2.0]

How do you keep the beige carpet clean with all those kids? It looks very pretty!
How well do you sleep in he reclining chairs and which ones do you use?
We contemplated this in a severe storm in Scotland this year and it would be useful to know.

 

[andyinluton]

1. we don't keep the carpet clean its the Brandrup Grey one ! the camera has distorted the colour.
2. By rotating the drivers seat it meets one of the rear seats which can be reclined so makes one half decent bed, one child sleeps curled up across the rear seat, final one slept on the front passenger seat rotated. For a one night stop over its ok, as I said its not bad compared to what others were doing in cars. I wouldn't want to do it often.