At 11:45 PM -0500 9/26/00, Hydesmith wrote:
>Anyone with good advice on mounting a tether bolt for a child's car
>seat in the back of a 1983 Westy?

I don't like drilling holes in my bus, and when drilling one has to
be sure the hole is drilled into a structurally strong point of the
vehicle, not just through sheet metal.

Rather than drilling, I had a thick plate welded on to the rear deck,
just forward of the rear hatch striker plate.  It is positioned
carefully so that the door can close, the engine cover can be
removed, and the rear westy mat lies in the right place and a
sleeping person won't clock their head on it.

It is very very solid.

Drilled a hole through the plate's exposed tongue for the tether
strap to attach to.  Drilled two, actually, one for each car seat.

Local welder guy did it in exchange for a home made chocolate cake.

Hope this helps!

T.
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Tobin Copley        Bowen Island, BC, Canada      49deg 23'N-123deg 19'W

'82 Westfalia 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell                                   =============
'99 daughter Margaret                            /_| |_L| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi       {.            .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT   7,400 km        ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/