Seatbelts

[kwisenor]

Hi...

New owner of a 1978 21' rear kitchen Clipper.  My grandparents bought it new and now it's ours...we're all very excited.  However, we have 4 small kids and I'm not about to take them in the thing w/o seatbelts/car seats.

Has anyone successfully installed seatbelts on the bench seats on both sides of the dining table?  

Thanks,
Kent...a happy new Clipper owner

[Horst]

What's across from your dinette? Two chairs or a rollover sofa?
I put two seat belts on the sofa - easy to do.

The dinette looked a bit more difficult to me - which is why I opted for the sofa.

I mounted two seatbelts on my rollover couch. I removed the couch, and mounted them on the plywood (drilled through the plywood and inserted bolts) - gained access to the bolts from the outside storage bin, and reinforced everything. I was then able to strap easily strap in two child seats. Turned out good - got the seat belts at Kragen, the hardware from Orchard Supply, and the whole job took a couple hours.

You could easily install three seatbelts, even four on a couch.

[Andy Illes]

Welcome to ClipperLand!!!!

If you have a full dinette (as opposed to the "L" shaped one), lift the seat cushions.... you'll probably find seatbelts down there.  

Velcro works too.... super glue some strips to the kids' backs...

[Conrad]

Mine has the seat belts under the cushions.  They get pushed there after being used a few times.  Driver and passenger always wear them but kids will just use them a while then want to move around.  We never worried about it.  Besides, if safety is what concerns you, don't take the kids in the rig.  These old girls were not designed with anything 'Ergo' in mind.  Take the front seats for instance.  Where is the head protection (high-back seats that we take for granted today) for the passenger and driver?  Aftermarket mods can be done to get what you want.  Good luck.

[Andy Illes]

Hadda chuckle at your post, Conrad.... the 2 rear bolts of my driver's seat have been missing since I got Fred.   If I ever hit anything.... I'm gonna wind up a few hundred yards ahead of where Fred stopped... and Jaws winds up in the glove compartment.... lol.

Ya takes yer chances, huh

Kids are a different story though.... look for those belts, bet they're under those cushions somewhere.