Nautilus or Trufit for my almost 6 year old?

[Kristydrosgers]

I am trying to figure out our seating arrangement for when the baby comes in a couple weeks. Right now I have my almost 6 year old (44lbs) not sure how tall in the 2nd row of my 06 durango in a Regent, my 3 yr old (33 lbs) in the 2nd row in a blvd and the baby will be in a combi shuttle, not sure somewhere in the second row after I figure this out. The blvd fits in the 3rd row but my dd can't buckle and unbuckle herself yet so this would be a pain and the regent is too big for the 3rd row. I was thinking since I will have to get the baby a new seat after the baby bucket anyways I could just get my son one instead. I could put my 3 year old in the 2nd row in the regent, the baby in the 2nd row in the blvd and get a trufit or nautilus for my almost 6 year old to put in the 3rd row since he can climb back there and buckle himself in and out. So would the harness straps be tall enough for him on those seats ( I still want him harnessed so I won't be using nautilus as a booster for awhile) I can't measure him right now, he is at school and I can't find the measuring tape, but he is in the the 3rd slot up in the regent if that helps. and do those seats have to be tethered after a certain weight because there aren't tethers for the 3rd row.

 

[April]

The True Fit is a convertable (rear faces then forward faces) and the Nautilus is a combination seat (Forward faces then boosters). If you are not using the seat rear facing, then it seems like a waste to buy a convertable for a 6 year old. Also, the Nautilus top harness height is about 1-1.5 inches higher than the True Fit.

All seats are safer tethered when forward facing, but the only one that requires it after a certain weight is the Regent (unless you're in Canada where all FF seats must be tethered.) However, does your 06 Durango have the 60/40 split seat in the third row? If so, there is a tether anchor back there as well as the 3 on the back of the second row seats. So you should be able to put your 6yo back there in a Nautilus, provided that a Nautilus fits back there. I had a 2000 Durango and the third row seats were really shallow front to back, and because Graco specifies that 100% of the Nautilus seat bottom be on the vehicle seat, it didn't work for me in the third row. However, the 06 seats could be different, I'm not sure. If it doesn't fit, the Frontier 85 might work back there provided you can get 80% of the seat on the vehicle seat.

 

[jjordan]

Here is a thread that might help you visualize the harness heights. The nautilus is higher than the truefit so it will keep your son harnessed longer. But the seat that will keep your son harnessed the longest (with the possible exception of the regent) is the new frontier 85 (in the thread linked above, the frontier was an older version; the frontier 85 has even higher top harness slots).

As for the top tethering, I don't know what to tell you there. It is always better to have a FF seat top tethered. Some seats do better than others when they're not top tethered though. I know the Radian is one that does well when not tethered, so depending on how much growing room ds has in the radian, you might add that to your list.

 

[morninglori]

How much time do you have left on your BLVD? If you have about a year left, and your 6yo fits, I'd might go with the trufit. By then, you almost 7yo could be ready for a BPbooster, and the baby can go in the trufit RF.

 

[Kristydrosgers]

Ok so the trufit is out. I hadn't thought of the 85.