Fishermen. Boot access: Anyone ever try something like this?

[Stripler]

Am a keen fisherman and have had a few fishing trips complicated by the lack of a "pole hole" through the rear armrest in my lancer (like magnas, comoodores etc have.) Basically you can't fit four people in the car if you want to fit long fishing rods too, the split seating allows for long fishing rods to fit leaving four empty seats (lay the small section down and point the rods towards the dash) but the middle seat is pretty much useless and leaves 2 adults crammed next to each other.

Am wondering if anyone has ever customized the rear seating with their own boot access (via the hole left by the central armrest)? This would allow for an adult rear passenger each side and the fishing rods through the hole in the middle.

I imagine this would require cutting through the seat and cleaning up the new hole with some sort of aftermarket flap/door or edging and may or may not jeopardize the integrity of the rear seat.

So I guess I'm interested in a few things here if anyone has opinions or ideas:

1. Any ideas for a custom setup like this?

2. Would a modification like this leave the rear seat too weak for rear passengers and possibly dangerous for crash safety? etc etc

Thinking out loud, hope this makes sense!

[The X]

You have an arm rest in the back seat? Surely all you could do is cut a rectangular hole into the back of the seat in the recessed bit where the arm rest is usually lives. You could get some auto trimmer to tidy up the trim. That way you only see the hole when the arm rest is down and the hole is low enough so when you poke the rods through they rest on the arm rest itself for support.
...or if you have deeper pockets, go to a wreckers buy a spare back seat, hack away at that, when it comes to resell, put the undamaged seat back in?

[Stripler]

Yeah, the recessed armrest hole is where I would cut If i was going to do it, leaving the armrest attached as a still functioning armrest/door for the hole. I just wonder if the rear seat would go a bit floppy with that rectangular piece missing? and if it would be safe.

Also, probably not gonna happen, but It would be great if there was a similarly sized car that has a factory boot access door/flap assembly small enough to fit in this potential hole (that I could pull from a wreck and fit to my new hole) or if there was such an item you could buy after market.

It's hard to find an example image, but I mean the extra flap behind the armrest that cars with that style of boot access have. Kind of like this:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com ... detail.jpg

This would make it a nice clean install with the possibility for armrest use whilst still being able to block off the new hole.

I like the spare wreckers seat idea, that would leave me room to move if I muck it up!

Thanks

[scraverX]

Simple enough to unclip/unzip the seat trim and have a look see at what you're dealing with.

Considering I've seen custom Sub setups using the space behind the armrest in similar cars as a Port for the sound you shouldn't have any issue putting a hole through for poles - in my opinion at least.

Or, go with a higher cost option... roof racks and if you want to go that extra step, a roof box.

[Stripler]

Yeah might be time to get my hands dirty. Will have to start searching for sub install pics too, might find some clues. Cheers

[Fitter]

I'm liking the idea of getting a seat from a wreckers thanks Pete

[aspir3]

You have an arm rest in the back seat? Surely all you could do is cut a rectangular hole into the back of the seat in the recessed bit where the arm rest is usually lives. You could get some auto trimmer to tidy up the trim. That way you only see the hole when the arm rest is down and the hole is low enough so when you poke the rods through they rest on the arm rest itself for support. ...or if you have deeper pockets, go to a wreckers buy a spare back seat, hack away at that, when it comes to resell, put the undamaged seat back in?

WOW!
I can't believe you are the owner of a car club and give such irresponsible advice.


Seats have frames and wires in them which they then poor different formula foams around to give the seat strength and support. Seats are engineered and it takes a lot
to get them adr approved.
Any modification to the seat foam could be tragic results to a passenger in an accident.

I would think roof racks would be easier and safer.

[Fitter]

Seat backs do not have wiring inside the foam as in the event of accident and severed wire this can cause a fire.

[aspir3]

Seat backs do not have wiring inside the foam as in the event of accident and severed wire this can cause a fire.

Where did you get that informatiou from?

I use to work at the company that made the seats for Mitsubishi, holdens and Fords and I cat tell you most seats have a 6 mm steel frame in them and wire which the material is held on to. Have a look at our back seats and you can see the frame where it latches in the upright position.

The seats are made normally from 2 different foam formulas which blend together in the mould.

[Fitter]

ive pulled apart a lot of back seats and mounted stuff in them or modded them to then house brackets for subboxes. no wires EVER found.

and all done withing ADR and Engineering requirements.

[The X]

WOW! I cant believe you are the owner of a car club and give such irresponsible advice. Seats have frames and wires in them which they then poor different formula foams around to give the seat strength and support. Seats are engineered and it takes a lot to get them adr approved. Any modification to the seat foam could be tragic results to a passenger in an accident. I would think roof racks would be easier and safer.

Care that to back that up with fact? Owner? No, just the president here. No one "owns" the club. But let's not let facts get in the way here. It just never suits your incoherent arguments you seem to peddle. Misinformed as usual.
Let's clear a few things up here and get back on topic.
What you say would certainly be true in the case of front seats - as the vertical part of the seats are not secured to the body of the car, they recline back and forth, and slide forwards and backwards, so there are a lot of mechanisms to prevent seats from "moving" during an impact, including for them to "collapse".
Back seats, completely different story. The bulk of the safety in a back seat is derived from the anchor points that form the seat belt and the head rests. Nothing more. The wire frame and foam are for comfort and impact absorption. Yes there is some metal sheet to provide strength to the back part of the seat as they "attach" to the car body by virtue of the fasterners that you push down to release the seat to fold down.
Now if you actually bothered to have a look before shooting your mouth off, you'll notice where the arm rest is, there is a plastic backing plate, you can pop it off as it's held with 4 clips. Behind it, there is a pre-fabtricated hole. Yes a hole! Covered by the felt facing into the boot space. Removing the felt is in no way going to weaken or compromise any safety features/systems within the seat itself. Unless you know of some secret properties that felt possesses that aids in preventing the seat flexing, etc.
However it seems you are more knowledgeable about car saftey systems and fabric, so for the public good, please call Mitsubishi Japan's engineering department and feel free to enlighten them on your little nugget of wisdom.

[ofey]

Here we go again... .

[The X]

However Seb, he didn't want the adults squeezing together so he was looking for alternatives. So yes, I think what you suggest is an acceptable situation, as the passengers would just have to "live with" the temporary inconvenience. Or just strap one of the passengers to the roof or shove them in the boot.

[SEB15]

Yes after i post i read the whole lot ( i need to stop doing that) :/

Roof racks might be the best ideea! Aslo you can remove them any time.

[Mr Charisma]

The old TE - TJ Magna's had a ski port hole in the middle of the rear seat, I used to love being able to open that flap to get a cold one out of the boot on long trips ( when I wasn't driving of course ).

Not helpful, but another option is leaving someone at home, put down the 40 bit of the 40/60 rear seat and only have 3 adults in the car...