RV and carseats - help please

[scubamomma]

Our almost 7 year old DD thinks "housecars" are the coolest thing ever!! We will be surprising her in October with a trip to WDW and Ft Wilderness in a rented "housecar". What do you do with your carseats? We will be renting a 2012 32ft Freelander that has front and rear facing benches at the dinette. The couch is side facing so that is out for the carseats. How do you secure the seats? From what I have seen the dinette does not have shoulder belts. Big sister is in a highback booster and 3 year old little sister is in a five way restraint carseat.

One other question - Tell me about the sand pit. Should I bring sand castle building stuff? I can see them building Cinderella's castle or digging to China. I don't think I will be able to keep them out of it so, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I read this forum frequently so I can get all the great tips for a newbie - Thanks.

 

[chartle]

I found this.

http://carseatblog.com/2493/a-bit-about-rvs/

I think this is one of those Good Luck Situations.

 

[vtwinwilly]

I think Chartle is right. It is sort of a "Good Luck with That" situation as the RV industry really doesn't accomodate carseats very well.

My kids are now 17 and 19, but they've been RVing since they were 2 and 4. Our first RV was a 1992 27 foot class C, and I was trying to remember what we did way back when.

As I recall we'd turn the pasenger seat around facing backwards and locked the seat in that position. The car seat got strapped in there, and that's where the 2year old went. This also made it easier for the "Adult in charge" (the one not driving) to care for the 2 year old as needed.

We had two barrell chairs right behind the passenger seat that would lock facing forward. Our 4 year old would go in one of these with a lap belt only and away we went. We travelled all over the U.S. this way and never had a problem, but of course we never got in an accident either... Then again, that's the whole idea isn't it!

I'll be very interested in hearing about how you resolve this. I'm interested because motor homes and automobiles are such different types of vehicles. What's practical for one might not make any sense for the other.

I'll stop there as this could easily turn into a "How safe are RV's anyway" discussion and that was not my intent. I just wanted to share with you what we did 15 some odd years ago. It worked for us, but then again... when I was a kid my parents used to let me sleep up in the rear window deck of our 1969 Chrysler Newport. Your risk taking propensity may vary.

 

[scubamomma]

Thanks for the link and the info. I checked out the link and the website and you are both right. It seems a few RV makers have only recently upgraded their vehicles to include LATCH systems for carseats. If our rental doesn't include the LATCH system then we will work with what we have and pray for the best outcome. You can have a serious accident in your own backyard so I see no reason to give up on the whole idea.

 

[retired and happy]

We have motorhomed for about 16 years, all with foster and adopted special needs kids ranging from a few months to now a 16 year old. We have had as many as 4 car seats lined up on the sofa, all secured with seat belts. (I added one to the 3 the mfgr provided.) We also have one who has ridden in the recliner for nearly 15 years, and recently lost one who rode on the sofa just behind the drivers seat for about 12 years, connected to an array of medical equipment. With the wings on the sides of most of the car seats, we felt a good deal of support was added to the 5-point belt restraints. Only in the past couple of years when the two girls moved into larger sized carseats did I add tether straps to secure the tops of the seats....one added to a seat belt anchor bolt, and one anchored to a new bolt added through the floor. Our 16 year old has ridden shotgun most of his life, and I was noting today that once he couldn't rest his feet on the motor console. Now he's down to the main floor. We have never felt we were putting our children in danger, however, in any catastrophic wreck, probably no restraints would completely suffice.

Now sand... That stuff is not really sand, but cocina, or finely crushed shells. I have seen children digging around in it, but not much in the way of construction projects. Mostly it's good for tracking into your RV. Good luck with that.