VW T5 BEACH - 6 seat

[ssaini]

Has anyone converted their Beach from 2 seats to 4? (in the back)
Is it possible to buy a new2 seaterbench and place it on the rails?
I assumes insurance and DVLA willneed to be informed

 

[Borris]

Has anyone converted their Beach from 2 seats to 4? (in the back)
Is it possible to buy a new2 seaterbench and place it on the rails?
I assumes insurance and DVLA willneed to be informed

I'm not sure what you mean. Your details say that you have a T5 SE 180 4Motion which has two seats in the front and a two seat bench in the rear. Do you want to fit a second two seat bench in the rear? However your post mentions a Beach?

The Beach has four floor rails. Various configurations are possible including: two seat bench and storage box. One extra captains swivel can also be fitted in front making it a 4 or 5 seater. The other Beach version employs a three seat full width bench. One or two aditional captains swivel seats can be used making it a 6 or 7 seater.

The Beach is designed to incorporate these configurations without issue.

 

[ssaini]

Hi Borris
Yes, i have a t5 beach with 2 seater in the back and i would like to have additional (similar ) bench for when i need 6 seats

cheers

 

[Borris]

Well a second two seat bench would fit but getting in and out might be the issue. Accordingly safety would be a concern in the event of an accident. It would also be very tight on legroom without the multiflex removed. There may also be other issues such as insurance to consider.

 

[ssaini]

thanks - that was my concern as well.
but i think if i remove the table/mattress support in the back then there is plenty of space i think. its just the legality and insurance that i wanna undertand

 

[Bellcrew]

thanks - that was my concern as well.
but i think if i remove the table/mattress support in the back then there is plenty of space i think. its just the legality and insurance that i wanna undertand

Obviously the Beach 3 seat version can take 7 people when the extra swivel seats are fitted and the insurance/DVLA are OK with that. The two seat bench is very heavy which will take a fair chunk of the vehicles allowable load but will probably still be within the fairly generous limit even when seating 6.
It is a shame that the T4 Westfalia extra double seat is not still produced/adapted for the T5/6 California, it was relatively light and fitted with its own safety belts etc.

 

[MattBW]

I can only speak from my experience, but usually on the V5 (vehicle record) it will state the number of seats and that can be updated with the DVLA.

If you have for example:
- 2 Seat beach will state 4 seats
- 2 Seat beach and 1 extra seat, it will state 5 seat.
- 3 Seat beach with 2 extras seats will state 7 seat.

If you add the extra seat that wasn't there from new, we send off the V5 to be updated with the new number of seats and a photo usually. You then get a new V5 back, which covers any insurance worries etc.

It may be possible to have a 3 seat bench and swap it with the 2 seat bench but it may be a challenging job as they are both quite heavy and need a few people to do it. It is possible though I think. The multiflex boards are also different heights so you'd have consider that.

As mentioned above 2 2 seat benches may fit if you remove the multiflex from the back entirely. Easiest way may be just 2 extra seats as designed by VW.

 

[Amarillo]

Easiest way may be just 2 extra seats as designed by VW.

I don't think that two extra seats would fit side by side in the 2 seat bench Beach. You would have to stagger the seats, and that would severely limit leg room in one or more seats.

 

[MattBW]

I was assuming the storage box would need removing? Ive never been in a 2 seat one so I have no real world context sadly.

 

[ssaini]

I can only speak from my experience, but usually on the V5 (vehicle record) it will state the number of seats and that can be updated with the DVLA.

If you have for example:
- 2 Seat beach will state 4 seats
- 2 Seat beach and 1 extra seat, it will state 5 seat.
- 3 Seat beach with 2 extras seats will state 7 seat.

If you add the extra seat that wasn't there from new, we send off the V5 to be updated with the new number of seats and a photo usually. You then get a new V5 back, which covers any insurance worries etc.

It may be possible to have a 3 seat bench and swap it with the 2 seat bench but it may be a challenging job as they are both quite heavy and need a few people to do it. It is possible though I think. The multiflex boards are also different heights so you'd have consider that.

As mentioned above 2 2 seat benches may fit if you remove the multiflex from the back entirely. Easiest way may be just 2 extra seats as designed by VW.

I checked the original 2 seater is around 80 kg and if I remove the multiflex ( I assume that means the back bench with mattress ) then there's is plenty of space and legroom to slot in another one. And if I remove the storage box then it's easy to move around and get in as well

 

[andyinluton]

I have done a load of research into this when trying to fit six seats into an SE.
I can confidently state that 2 x 2 seat benches does not work. To demonstrate the biggest problem, just slide the bench that you already have as far forward as you can & work out how your rearmost passengers are going to get into their seats?

The gap between the rear of the seat & the door pillar is ok to squeeze in if your just trying to get something out the boot with the bike rack loaded but not as a regular thing.

Also the view for the rearmost passengers is pretty awful, just the high back of the bench in front & its got a lot of hard bits on it - not the sort of thing I would want to be thrown against in an accident.

As others have said just remove the storage box & put a pair of the captains seats in the middle. Without the box there you can get them alongside each other.
Far cheaper - have you seen the price of a bench?
Easier to swap seats around on an as needed basis.
You can replace the storage box with a shorter one from Maxcamp or the like.

Re insurance etc NFU were happy to insure my 6 seater SE with just a letter from a VW garage stating that the 6th seat was a genuine VW item attached to the van using factory fitted mountings with its own integral seatbelt.

Updating the V5 was just a case of sending them the same letter.

 

[ssaini]

how will captain seats fit in there? have you tried that?
I dont care much about the storage box and happy to remove it when i need 6 seats

 

[Borris]

Just a thought. If the storage box and multiflex were removed and the 2 x two seater benches were fitted to the N/S floor rails instead of the usual O/S ones then there would be room on the O/S to access the rear bench. Does anyone know if that would be possible?

 

[andyinluton]

how will captain seats fit in there? have you tried that?
I dont care much about the storage box and happy to remove it when i need 6 seats

Unless I'm mistaken you've got exactly the same floor rails in your beach as one with a 3 seat bench, just that you've got a storage box covering one of them.

The 2 seat bench seat won't fit onto the passenger side rails as the spacing of the rails is wrong, & the feet that fit in the rails are not the right distance from the edge of the seat, difficult to describe but I know where people have tried to use them in conversions with the sliding door on the other side they've had to cut the seat cushions.

 

[andyinluton]

In the picture below you can just see the passenger side rail under the storage box.
One captains seat would run in the 2 rails behind the drivers seat & once the box is removed another will fit on the other two rails.

 

[ssaini]

In the picture below you can just see the passenger side rail under the storage box.
One captains seat would run in the 2 rails behind the drivers seat & once the box is removed another will fit on the other two rails.

View attachment 46486

yes the rails and set up look exactly same - would have thought the rails for 3 bench were different.
I guess i need to check the dimensions of seats and compare against the rails.

does VW sell them as spares?

 

[2haw]

Have you checked that your rails have the removable sections of aluminium trim at the ends nearest to the front seats?

If they are are removable, remove storage box and install 2 typical swivel captain's chairs that VW supply with the 7 seat Beach or Caravelle. For sale on here very often for approx £300 ea. Just remove the trim pieces and drop in. Takes 5 mins for each seat.

 

[ssaini]

Have you checked that your rails have the removable sections of aluminium trim at the ends nearest to the front seats?

If they are are removable, remove storage box and install 2 typical swivel captain's chairs that VW supply with the 7 seat Beach or Caravelle. For sale on here very often for approx £300 ea. Just remove the trim pieces and drop in. Takes 5 mins for each seat.

thanks
yes - it has the removable sections and slots to place seats in
I ll keep an eye on this forum for these seats

 

[2haw]

A pair for sale on ebay right now for £600 or make offer. I appreciate they not match your colour trim but this can be sorted with seat covers in time.

 

[babble]

i think these are one option for getting an extra place: https://www.multimac.com/home

thread here:
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/extra-seats-mulling-over-ideas.10807/