Replacing swivel bench seat

[Sharkie]

Hi
My Bongo is currently fitted with a swivel seat (1st bench seat behind driver) I had this fitted when purchasing the vehicle.
In hind site not such a good move for us, as to swivel the seat from facing one direction to the other we have to remove two back storage floor cupboards (rear Kitchen) and anything else in the way due to the turning circle of the seat.

As storage space is a premium I would rather remove the swivel seat and replace with a standard seat facing forward and make / buy storage draw under the seat. obviously the storage box draw cannot be fitted with the swivel mechanism fitted.

Looking at the swivel mechanism it would appear that the original seat steel framework has been modified to suit the swivel frame meaning a new seat, secondly is their a standard storage draw available that fits under the seat or do we make our own to suit.
Has anyone been down this road.

Kind Regards
Sharkie

[Bob]

Hi, and a warm welcome to BF.

I'm pretty sure MikeonB4C has made a very good underseat arrangement, try a search on here, or he'll likely be along later.

I've not heard of a company who do this but there may be someone.

If you need a new middle seat try any of the converters, many just throw them away, or George at Bongo Spares is very well thought of. If you collect/fit it bear in mind they are monster heavy.

You may well find a buyer for the swivel one.

Hope that helps a bit.

[mikeonb4c]

Hi, and a warm welcome to BF.

I'm pretty sure MikeonB4C has made a very good underseat arrangement, try a search on here, or he'll likely be along later.

I've not heard of a company who do this but there may be someone.

If you need a new middle seat try any of the converters, many just throw them away, or George at Bongo Spares is very well thought of. If you collect/fit it bear in mind they are monster heavy.

You may well find a buyer for the swivel one.

Hope that helps a bit.

My unit goes under a standard middle bench seat and I suspect the swivel one probably has gubbins taking up that space. There should be a link to pics of it on this thread:

http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... underbench

I'm sure a similar thing has been done by others before (by Simon Jones maybe?).

Yes I reckon that swivel bench could be highly sellable to the right Bongo owner. I'd l ove to see pcis of it one here if you got a moment - never seen one before. I'd be tempted myself in some ways except can't immediately think why I'd need one and it probably takes a bit of lifting and fitting to get it up and working.

[Simon Jones]

I reckon you could sell the swivel seat for a decent sum which will fund a replacement seat and an underseat storage drawer. This was one that I made a couple of years ago but you can buy a ready made version from Celtic Motorhomes.

[Sharkie]

Hi, and a warm welcome to BF.

I'm pretty sure MikeonB4C has made a very good underseat arrangement, try a search on here, or he'll likely be along later.

I've not heard of a company who do this but there may be someone.

If you need a new middle seat try any of the converters, many just throw them away, or George at Bongo Spares is very well thought of. If you collect/fit it bear in mind they are monster heavy.

You may well find a buyer for the swivel one.

Hope that helps a bit.

My unit goes under a standard middle bench seat and I suspect the swivel one probably has gubbins taking up that space. There should be a link to pics of it on this thread:

http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... underbench

I'm sure a similar thing has been done by others before (by Simon Jones maybe?).

Yes I reckon that swivel bench could be highly sellable to the right Bongo owner. I'd l ove to see pcis of it one here if you got a moment - never seen one before. I'd be tempted myself in some ways except can't immediately think why I'd need one and it probably takes a bit of lifting and fitting to get it up and working.

Many thanks for everyone's help going forward the best way is to remove complete seat with turntable as a complete unit, replace with standard seat which I can get from Bongo supplier and make under-seat draw to suit then sell the swivel seat.
If anyone wants to see the operation of the seat North Star Conversions have a video on U tube ref no http://youtu.be/rdT5O10PZ0Y

once again many thanks
Sharkie

[mikeonb4c]

Looking at that video, I think you might be able to keep the (valuable) turning bench seat and make an underbench drawer for it?

[nth]

I have the Northstar swivel seat and you would be lucky to fit a laptop underneath it. Mines has a bar that runs the full length off the seat at the front to allow it to slide forward and backwards. Certainly nowhere near the same room under the swivel seat as the original. Maybe now using different swivel plates or changed the design ??
They seem to be very desirable & im sure you would have no trouble selling it, worst case im sure someone would do you a straight swap.

[mikeonb4c]

I have the Northstar swivel seat and you would be lucky to fit a laptop underneath it. Mines has a bar that runs the full length off the seat at the front to allow it to slide forward and backwards. Certainly nowhere near the same room under the swivel seat as the original. Maybe now using different swivel plates or changed the design ??
They seem to be very desirable & im sure you would have no trouble selling it, worst case im sure someone would do you a straight swap.

Ah! The underside/base in the video clip looked much as per original but I couldn't see underneath to be sure. Sounds like it has to come out then if under drawer space required. Personally though, I'd be sad to lose it as it looks a really nice thing to have.

[g8dhe]

Without having the removed seat professionally fitted I would have thought that the insurance companies would be less than happy without an inspection ?

[nth]

Personally though, I'd be sad to lose it as it looks a really nice thing to have.

I only got it out of necessity, if I never needed the forward facing 3 point seat belts for a child seat I would just have permanently reversed them, swivelling the seat round is a pain with my conversion as you need to lift the rear seat boxes out to swivel it. The seat can also be quite noisy in the back with rattle's & squeaks, more so if there is no one sitting on it.

[mikeonb4c]

Personally though, I'd be sad to lose it as it looks a really nice thing to have.

I only got it out of necessity, if I never needed the forward facing 3 point seat belts for a child seat I would just have permanently reversed them, swivelling the seat round is a pain with my conversion as you need to lift the rear seat boxes out to swivel it. The seat can also be quite noisy in the back with rattle's & squeaks, more so if there is no one sitting on it.

Interesting feedback, and I can see that rattles could be a risk with that kind of modification.

[fjj1]

I got one of those seats a few months ago - I love it! It does just fit using the standard four bolts onto the regular runners, so I doubt there would be a requirement for professional fitting.

I have my old seat if you need one, you can have it free - where are you based? I'm near Edinburgh.

The requirement to remove the rear benches to swivel is a bit of a pain, but I don't need to do it very often, it usually stays reversed in summer and forward in winter! It does rattle a bit, but I just lower the back rest when its not in use and that helps a lot.

[Jimbobvfr400]

I'm currently looking for my first Bongo so I've seen so many ads. I've noticed recently a few rear conversions having either shorter rear seat box's with the hinge down sear overhanging or seat box's with the corner cut off. Presumably this is to allow the swivel seat to swivel without removing the box.

[Jimbobvfr400]

This is similar to what I mean.
https://goo.gl/photos/Wof6uDW5YxP4uUfm8

[Bob]

Hi, and a warm welcome to the Forum.

A swivel rear seat is pretty rare so if you require one make sure the conversion has it or be prepard to fit one.

It might pay to get along to a couple of Meets and chat to owners about how they get on with the various conversions, and remember a good base vehicle is the first requirement.

You can pop in to Meets as a day visitor if you don't want to stay over but remember lots go out for the day so 09.30 or 17.00 might be good times.