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Where does the co-pilot sit?
Where does the co-pilot sit?
After removing all the passenger seats, the only place to sit on the bus was the driver's seat. Which means that anytime ones of us drives somewhere with the bus, the other person is following in the car. We looked around for a while and researched how other people do their passenger seating.
The most common arrangement is exactly what we didn't want: the driver sitting up front while the passenger sat strapped into the couch facing sideways and having to yell at each other to communicate. We understand that the engine doghouse of some buses makes sitting near the driver pretty difficult and forces people into the arrangement we just described, but our bus does not have that restriction. We love long road trips because we get to sit next to each other, talk, hold hands, share the experience of the road, and sing along to our favorite songs. We needed a way to sit next to each other, but our online research hadn't proved very fruitful until Ana was skimming the Shuttle Bus Conversions group on Facebook and found the following gem of an idea!
How simple! A second-row seat from an SUV the folds flat and then flips up, to allow for people to use the stairs and pass by.
We got so excited by this idea that we immediately began looking on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, but we didn't see anything close to what we wanted. On a whim, we called some local salvage yards to see if they had anything like what we wanted and a salvage yard close to us told us to drop by. We went one day to wander around and check out seats, and figured why not also look for a more comfortable driver's seat? Our current driver's seat isn't super comfortable, it doesn't have armrests, and the material is not in the best shape.
We found some great contenders wandering around the salvage yard and came back the next day to pick up the perfect passenger seat and a replacement driver's seat.
First, we decided to install the passenger's seat. That meant making decisions about how close we wanted to sit, leaving room for cupholders and the parking brake, and pretending the original door mechanism was not there.
Drilling holes into the bus is always nerve-wracking, but it had to be done. Brie doesn't make it any easier by having support beams and curved metal in the way of drilling holes that are vertically straight so bolts fit nicely.
Position 1: fully functional seat!
Position 1: fully functional seat!
Position 2: folded flat
Position 2: folded flat
Position 3: flipped up!
Position 3: flipped up!
When we remove the door mechanism, it will fold all the way up to be completely out of the way. Also, once the framing and insulation are done, the seat hardware will be recessed into the floor so no one trips.
Replacing the driver's seat:
Replacing the driver's seat:
Measuring metal c-channels
Measuring metal c-channels
Our seat base is a little wider than the mounting base from the previous chair, so we decided to extend the mounting base with sturdy c-channel
Cutting and drilling bolt holes
Cutting and drilling bolt holes
Not pictured? Elad welding the c-channels to the seat. He learned to weld just in time for this project, and made this a great success!
Attaching the c-channels to the mounting base
Attaching the c-channels to the mounting base
Don't drop the nuts. Or the bolts. Preferably, don't drop anything ever in hard to reach places.
Sitting back in relaxing in a super sturdy chair
Sitting back in relaxing in a super sturdy chair
Right now, the driver's seat feels a little high in comparison to the passenger's seat, but after we install the insulation and subfloor, the passenger's seat will be raised a bit.
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