Where to stash the car seats???

[Carrot]

...we tend to not swivel the drivers seat and store them both on there.

That's what we did - more cramped but actually much easier to climb into the roof bed.

 

[2into1]

Apparently (according to their staff) Decathlon get a lot of distressed callers on late Sunday mornings, asking for 'folding tent' help!
I'd recommend having a few goes 'in-store' to get the hang of it!

 

[cleve]

If we're on chocks the booster seats go under the vehicle. Otherwise we use a quechua pop up beach shelter with door or a quechua Base if staying longer.

We have 3 car seats so the older ones have a low back booster now which store easily and then the youngest highback booster stores in the footwell when we don't want to take a tent. We bought a highback booster with 5 point harness to use as an interim option to make storage easier but without worrying about compromising safety. It can later convert to be used with 3 point belt which you might consider as easier to store.

 

[iamchucky]

Kids have one booster seat and one maxicosi air protect. Both go behind the front seats after we've turned them around (Seems to work ok). Just bought a Quechua base shelter though and so this weekend will be using this as our shed! Fingers crossed it goes down as easy as it goes up.

 

[Carrot]

Loving all the Cali kids and grandkids

Looking forward to when we can get out again and try out all these options. Good luck with your new shelter @iamchucky

 

[Quinnster77]

Loving all the Cali kids and grandkids

Looking forward to when we can get out again and try out all these options. Good luck with your new shelter @iamchucky

We camped out on grandparents driveway this weekend. Which gave us the opportunity to put the seats in the garage. The front seats when rotated didn't really get much space back from not needing to stow the kids seats.

 

[cleve]

Worth watching a YouTube video of how to fold a quechua tent before you go. I've had to rescue a few campers in the past who have seen us pack away in minutes whilst struggling to get theirs into their car let alone in the bag!

 

[iamchucky]

Worth watching a YouTube video of how to fold a quechua tent before you go. I've had to rescue a few campers in the past who have seen us pack away in minutes whilst struggling to get theirs into their car let alone in the bag!

Thanks for the heads up on the Quechua Base Tent. We did our revision on you tube and all worked fine and quick to put up & down (Great place to store the kids car seats!)

 

[zeratul]

Can you sleep in the Quechua Base? It looks compact when folded away and large enough to eat in with the family, but what about sleeping..? it doesn't come with a ground cover and it seems we cannot order them anymore.

 

[cleve]

I wouldn't want to sleep in it in a hurry as no inner tent or fitted ground sheet but you could. The base is big enough to all sit round a table.....just! Or you can store plenty of stuff in it but not both very easily.

We bought the brown older Quechua base which came with a groundsheet and the option to open up one of the sides with a hood to attach over a small tent so that is what our son is planning to try this summer. It's like this one:

 

[Old Sid]

How about putting the seats outside wrapped in a decent bike cover or mountain shelter?

 

[gregspam]

When I bought a new toddler car seat, I took it out to the car park before buying, not to try fitting it, but to check it would stash behind the front seats when swivelled!

I ended up buying a Maxi Cosi 2 way Pearl and you can store that in the footwell on its side, with the drivers seat rail slider handle pointing into the hollow of the toddler seat . Bases can then fit tidily between the two front seats, the other baby seat fits with plenty of spare room in the other footwell. You get full use of inside space that way without needing to leave stuff outside. Often handy to get car seat out sans base and rest it on swivelled front seat or bench as it makes a good high chair for eating. All in one seat/bases or swivelling ones stand no chance of fitting in footwell though.

 

[Lewis]

+1 for the two way pearl and two way fix base. Packs away a treat as described above. Currently only one child so the base goes in the passenger footwell but good to know we can add another if needed without losing any space.

Also worth noting that it's very easy to lift a child in and out of this base in the Ocean if the bench seat is rolled forwards. We use our Cali everyday and my 5'3 OH has no issue lifting our 2yr old in and out of her seat from outside without having to get into the rear cabin. Same applies to 5th seat if used in that spot.

I'm a big fan of ISOFIX in the Cali. Makes it so much easier to get moving after a night of camping by not having to faff with seat belts and worry about how securely fastened they are.