In my previous article, I described how I removed all the rear seats that came with the minivan. In place of the rear seats, I installed a captain’s chair instead. This setup provides the ability to rotate the chair 360 degrees so that an investigator can comfortably watch any direction from the rear of the surveillance vehicle. Further, allows for an investigator to sit comfortably for 12+ hours while on surveillance. While comfort may seem frivolous, as many investigators are away, an investigator’s back can suffer from significant discomfort while on surveillance. As such, this setup can truly save an investigator’s back from future medical issues. Lastly, for extremely long surveillance segments, this seat fully reclines and can function almost like a full-length bed.
 
 
I purchased the De Leon Captains Chair from Shop4Seats.com. The options I chose were: Leather, High Resilience Foam Upgrade, Manual Lumber Support, 7 Spring Seat Frame Bottom, and the FlexSteel Base Handle. The total cost for this chair (with taxes and shipping) was around $850.00. I also purchased a 3-inch swivel pedestal for the captain’s chair for about $50.00. (Note: Please do not use anything taller than 3 inches as the seat will sit too high and your head will reach the ceiling. I am 6’0″ tall and with this setup I have about 3-5″ of head space depending on how far I lean back).
 
 
Unfortunately, I did not take pictures during the installation process; however, I will describe the setup below. The seat is fairly simple to install. Installing the seat to the base requires 1″ bolts and nuts and is very straightforward. However, installing the base to the floor was a bit trickier:
 
 
1. I removed the car’s carpet were the base will be installed. I discovered that the floor was uneven in the center of the car, so I had to be a bit creative (see step number three).
 
2. I removed the gas tank from under the minivan. This required removing 4 bolts that hold the tank. If you do not remove the tank, you run the risk of puncturing it during installation. (Hint: make sure gas tank is fairly empty to make it lighter and easier to deal with).
 
3. I marked and drilled 6 holes in the bottom of the vehicle, where I had removed the carpet, in order to mount the base. I then used long bolts (3-6″ depending on the location as floor is not even) to install the base. I used washers to even out the base so it would sit level (given the uneven floor).
 
4. I installed and tightened the nuts from the bottom of the vehicle (where the gas tank was). I also applied silicone around the nuts under the vehicle and the bolts inside the vehicle to prevent road noise.
 
5. I re-installed the gas tank.
 
6. I installed the chair onto the base.
 
7. Additional: I purchased a few rubber gym mats and installed them around the chair to make future cleanup easier and to give the floor a clean look.
 
 
This project should take 3-4 hours and will require 2 people to install the bolts. Please note, I also built a slider which allows the chair to move up to 25 inches forward or backward (the process will described in another entry). In the end, I decided not to use the slider as it added two inches to the height of the chair, which given my height, made the chair less comfortable.