7 Seat Arrangement

mike5im5 · Jun 11, 2020

I know quite impractical (given the weight of the bench and difficulty removing). However, is it possible to put the two captains seats behind the bench? I appreciate you'd have to remove the bench first which is a 2-3 man job but I just wondered if there was room to install and insert rail covers in this order.

I like having the three young kids not too fair from drivers cab and potentially, being a third row being the captains seats when we know we wont be camping in the near future.

s2bear · Jun 11, 2020

I think you could probably do it by removing the multiflex instead of the bench. Slide the multiflex forward then put the captains chairs in via the tailgate entrance. Or can you not access the rail covers from the back?

Probably still have some access issues getting the rear passengers out though

EDIT: SORRY, I looked at some pics online and looks like you can’t do it that way. How good would it be if you could though!

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Amarillo · Jun 11, 2020

mike5im5 said:
I know quite impractical (given the weight of the bench and difficulty removing). However, is it possible to put the two captains seats behind the bench? I appreciate you'd have to remove the bench first which is a 2-3 man job but I just wondered if there was room to install and insert rail covers in this order.

I like having the three young kids not too fair from drivers cab and potentially, being a third row being the captains seats when we know we wont be camping in the near future.

I reckon you could do it.

Have the two captain's seats rear facing and passengers could enter and exit via the tailgate if the multiflex was removed.

s2bear · Jun 11, 2020

Whatever you do, mind your fingers and your back. A dealer (VW - not drug) told me the 3 seat bench is around 180kg.

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Borris · Jun 11, 2020

I can't recall ever seeing a post where anyone has actually done this. Your problem would probably be access and egress to the rear seats from the sliding door. That would be a safety concern in the event of an accident. It might be possible but it would be tight.

To do this you would have to remove the bench seat before putting the swivel seats in and then sliding them backwards. I do seem to remember someone posted a while ago saying that they had removed the bench using an engine hoist and some help.

Amarillo · Jun 11, 2020

Borris said:
I can't recall ever seeing a post where anyone has actually done this. Your problem would probably be access and egress to the rear seats from the sliding door. That would be a safety concern in the event of an accident. It might be possible but it would be tight.

To do this you would have to remove the bench seat before putting the swivel seats in and then sliding them backwards. I do seem to remember someone posted a while ago saying that they had removed the bench using an engine hoist and some help.

Here:

VW California Beach seating and bed options

Hello! I currently drive a 2009 Multivan 4m and I´m looking into buying a 2010 or newer California Beach with the pop top roof. I´m aware of the differences regarding the 2 versus the 3 seater rear bench seat and that the 2 seater is more geared towards camping with the lower bed and rear...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Borris · Jun 11, 2020

Amarillo said:
I reckon you could do it.

Have the two captain's seats rear facing and passengers could enter and exit via the tailgate if the multiflex was removed.

Yes that's possible. You could even gain access to each swivel from the rear even if they were facing forward by climbing through between them. However, I doubt if the vehicle was ever designed or tested in this configuration and whilst possible it would be this access/egress safety issue that would concern me.

Actually one thing has just occurred to me. Access might be a lot easier via the slider than I first thought. The seat back on the later three seat bench model folds flat in the forward direction. I cannot remember if it's possible to do this easily from the rear swivel seat position though. You may need assistance from someone in front of the bench.

Amarillo · Jun 11, 2020

Borris said:
Yes that's possible. You could even gain access to each swivel from the rear even if they were facing forward by climbing through between them. However, I doubt if the vehicle was ever designed or tested in this configuration and whilst possible it would be this access/egress safety issue that would concern me.

The Caravelle, which is in many ways very similar to the Beach, can be bought with a 2, 2, 2 configuration. What I don't know is if the two rear seats are swivel seats, but if it is OK for the Caravelle, I'd be fairly confident with it in the Beach.

Edit: In the six seat Caravelle, and the eight seat LWB Caravelle, the rearmost seats are non swivel.

https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/content/dam/vw-ngw/vw_nfz/importers/gb/Downloads/brochures/caravelle/caravelle-brochure.pdf/_jcr_content/renditions/original./caravelle-brochure.pdf

s2bear · Jun 11, 2020

On thing I did for my youngest when we went to the zoo was to put the extra captains chair on the middle two rails and pull it as far forward as possible.

With the extra height of her child seat and the central position right near us - she loved the view and we could stick the dummy back in easily

.

You could then pull the bench forwards and perhaps have your other two children on the outer two seats.

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mike5im5 · Jun 11, 2020

s2bear said:
On thing I did for my youngest when we went to the zoo was to put the extra captains chair on the middle two rails and pull it as far forward as possible.

With the extra height of her child seat and the central position right near us - she loved the view and we could stick the dummy back in easily .

You could then pull the bench forwards and perhaps have your other two children on the outer two seats.

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Thats an awesome suggestion. Hadn’t thought about using a single captain seat that way. Much easier too

Borris · Jun 11, 2020

Amarillo said:
The Caravelle, which is in many ways very similar to the Beach, can be bought with a 2, 2, 2 configuration. What I don't know is if the two rear seats are swivel seats, but if it is OK for the Caravelle, I'd be fairly confident with it in the Beach.

Good point, althought with the 2,2,2 configuration, access/egress from the rear can be achieved via the gap between the middle row. Not as easy if the Bench forms the middle row. Also it's made easier by having the swivel facility on the middle row.

From memory, on the Caravelle with 2,2,2 configuration all four rear seats are identical swivels.