Decathalon in 2005 Grand Caravan

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I am trying to find out how well a Decathalon will fit in a 2005 Grand Caravan on a mid row bench. I am wondering about having it rear-facing behind the driver. My dh is 6'4" so I want to be sure there is enough room.
I have been to a site where there was a fit database but didn't find anything.
I see on Amazon it says that the Boulevard is its predecessor. If I find something about the fit of the Boulevard would it be like the fit of the Decathalon? How about the Marathon?
Thanks for any info you can help with!

[canadiangie]

Hi,

Welcome to the board.

The Marathon, Decathlon and Boulevard all use the same shell, so feel free to search the car seat database website using any of those seats. In my experience, you should be fine installing a rear facing MA, DC or BV in a Grand Caravan especially if you don't need a true 45 degree angle. As long as your child has good head control you can install the seat as upright as 30 degrees. To do this you'll still leave the seat in recline mode, but you'll want to scoot the base of the seat out a bit from the vehicle seat bite/crack. The more you scoot the base out, the more upright your install will be, and the more front to back room you'll have for dh's drivers seat. (and if none of that makes sense at the moment, don't worry, just post back once you've purchased your seat and we can walk you through proper installation ).

Now going back to wanting a DC, is it the infant padding that interests you? If so, I might be inclined to consider the BV instead. You'll gain the TSIP headwings, plus you'll be moving to a seat with two separate LATCH straps, and you'll be avoiding the iffy harness adjuster that the DC is sometimes known for. OR, if you don't think you'll need the infant padding for long or at all, you might want to consider the MA. It's the most basic of the larger Britax convertibles and is pretty 'tried, tested and true'. It has everything the DC has minus the padding, but with the two separate LATCH straps, and with the easier to use harness adjuster.



How old is the baby?

The baby is 7 months old.

[Kat_Momof3]

I never had any problem installing any of those seats in my 2005 Caravan.

I had the Marathon and I was able to have it installed with the vehicle seat all the way back.

what you want to do is install the seat, hook up the tether with the front seat pushed all the way forward (as long as the driver's seat isn't a power seat and is manual adjust, you'll be able to look under it and find a metal plate across the bottom of it... you can put the d-ring around the middle or through the hole on the side further from the door to create your anchor point.

once you have that done, set your front seat up how your dh wants it.

THEN.. tighten the tether so that all the slack is out... you can pull it until the seat presses into the front seat, even, but make sure it does not exceed 45* (though that would be hard with the front seat fully back)

If you find you need a little more space to work with, before installing, simply recline the bench back 1-2 "clicks", which will allow the seat to go further into the crack of the vehicle bench.

Thank you!