[semlin]

Mike, if you will carry 6 people why is it so important to sleep two in the truck?? I recommend option 2 below with the tailgate open but you need to go look at an 80 to understand the advice you are getting:

1. the middle seats fold twice. First the backs flip down flat against the seats, then you can also pivot the whole seat forward on the front mounts at which point it tucks down into the foot well right against the back of front seats.

2. If you do both, you have a big cargo area but the middle seats tucked in against the front seats cost you about 10" of potential headroom. One person can sleep diagonally if they are under 6' and you can put a kid or two on either side. Optionally, two people can sleep comfortably if you fold the lower tail gate down and yse a tarp or mosquito netting with the closed upper tailgate (depending on your climate). A hosepipe test has shown that you can pinch a tarp in the upper tailgate and close it and drape the tarp over the open lower tailgate and you will not get wet inside if it rains. bungee cords will keep the tarp in place. This will work with the third row seats in place and preserves the 8 passenger capacity of the 91-94 80 and the 7 pax of the 95-97 (3rd row centre belt removed).

3. if you just fold the seats flat, you can build up the area behind the middle seats with a plywood shelf the same height as the flattened but not tucked middle seats. You can then sleep 2 people comfortably without opening the tailgate. If you want, you can also add drawers underneath this platform for storage and an extension piece that slides over the folded down seats to make the bed more level, but you don't have to do this just to sleep. You can buy the platform retail from Slee or make it yourself out of plywood. Adding drawers will significantly increase your cargo capacity. Note however, that if you add a platform you cannot use the third row seats so you become a 5 seater.

4. You can also remove the middle seats completely and store them (easy to do) and use only the third row seats like a VW van. This way you do not lose the headroom taken up by the tucked in middle seats. This will make you a 5 seater (you'll have to buy a middle rear seatbelt if you get a 95 or later) but you can easily sleep two folks in the back with no modifications at all.

5. You can add a rooftop tent/roofrack combo.

6. You can pack a tent.