Can anyone help me get 5 kids into my Venture?

U

Unregistered

Guest
I have a 2002 Venture. It measures 49.5 across the back bench. I need to get 3 seats back there and one in each captain's chair in the middle.

I have a ton of seats between my car and DH's car. I have 4 Marathons and 2 regents and a Snugride.

I need to sit a 7 year old in a booster (I havent bought it yet, he is still in a Regent)
5 year old (34 lbs)
2.5 year old (28 lbs)
18 month old (25 lbs)
and newborn in snugride

I am willing to buy whatever seats I need to. I thought 3 radians would fit across the back since a friend can do it in her Odyssey but the Venture is smaller I guess. I want to keep all the kids except the 7 year old in a 5 point Harness. 2.5 year old is FF.

If we can't find something that works we will need to get a new car before the baby comes! Help, please! :)
 
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anniemo

New member
My 5 year old will still fit in a Marathon for some time. She's a shortie.

I didn't get the Radians since I measured and they are 17" across, 3 would not fit in my seat. I am missing about 1-2 inches of room.

Thanks!
 

skipspin

New member
You could probably do RN/MA/RN in the back seat if they are all FFing. This combination takes up LESS room that 3 RNs even though the measurements are more. They just puzzle very well. You *might* be able to do MA/RN/MA, so it's worth a try, but if anything works for harnessed seats that RN/MA/RN should.
Then you could put the Husky or booster and the newborn in the captains chairs.

ETA: I just re-read your post. You have a RFin 18 month old, right? I missed that. You might have to play around more, but I'd try one RN and 2 MAs first, and if that doesn't work perhaps 2 RNs an 1 MA. The trick is to put a FFing RN and FFing MA next to eachother because you will save several inches that way. Then, you could play with either putting a Booster next to them, or the RFing seat.
 

Gypsy

Senior Community Member
My 5 year old will still fit in a Marathon for some time. She's a shortie.

I didn't get the Radians since I measured and they are 17" across, 3 would not fit in my seat. I am missing about 1-2 inches of room.

Thanks!

They are 17 inches at their widest, they are 14 inches at the base.

Most vehicle seats have more room at the shoulder then they do at the seat.

They will probably fit fine, but they do puzzle well with the Britax 65 seats, and take up even less room than they would separately.

Could you borrow your friend's Radian and install it with the Marathons on each side, also try the Radian outboard *on both sides* (sometimes one side is bigger than the other, and the bigger seat will work best there) next to two Marathons.
 

anniemo

New member
Oh, thanks for pointing that out about the 14" at base! I never would have figured that out. I will try with 2 radians and one marathon- thanks!!
 

mommy4girls

Senior Community Member
I had a '98 Venture and got a RA/Futura/SIV (the Futura and SIV have been discontinued for a few years ;)) in the back row. I'll see if I can upload the picture I took and show you how the Futura and RA puzzled together.
 

kae

Member
I got an Fisher Price booster, FPSVD, and Turbo Booster in the back row of a '99 Venture. In your case I think a radian instead of the turbo booster would work.
 

mommy4girls

Senior Community Member
rafuturasiv.jpg


See how the RA and Futura sit close and the RA sort of laps over the Futura? The Radian is very similar to the Futura (hmmm.. I still have my Futura in my garage, I should measure and compare - someday:whistle:).
 

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