One additional piece of info:  the rails provide virtually all of the
structural integrity (i.e., holding the seat in place in case of an
accident).  The bolts merely ensure that the seat doesn't slip "sideways"
(which it couldn't do as long as the sliding door was closed).  The upshot
of this is that I've stopped hassling with screwing and unscrewing the
bolts and just slide the seat in and out as needed.  (It's "in" a lot more
than it's "out"...)  I bought a piece of generic brown rubber-backed
carpet/doormat at Home Depot and cut it to fit in front of and behind the
middle seat -- works just fine.

I agree that, for anyone who has the need to ferry more than four
passengers on a regular basis, this is really a valuable addition to the
van .  Even with just two kids, it's saved our sanity on more than one
occasion by allowing us to "split 'em up." :-)

At 05:09 PM 8/13/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 8/13/02 4:45:53 PM, eric@SENIORNET.ORG writes:
>
> >Anyone have experience with the middle seat and know just exactly how easy
> >it is to get it in and out of the van?
>
>Pretty straight forward. There are 4 bolts holding the middle seat to the
>rails. On my 86 there is also some foam noise reducing material under the
>carpet and to the side of the rails (where you'll be pulling the seat
>towards.)
>
>So, remove the bolts, move the carpet out of the way. Remove the foam. Pull
>seat out of Van. It is pretty heavy (though I can move it myself, I find
>putting it on a handtruck makes toting it around to the basement a lot
>easier.)

Ray Reinhard
'86 TiiCo Westy Camper GL