Jon Johanson RV seats

28 Feb 2004 Jon Johanson RV seats

I bought some of the famed Jon Johanson seats for my RV from a fellow in Florida that decided he didn’t want to use them. Since much of the cost of these seats is shipping from Australia where they are produced, I got a pretty good deal. Van’s included them in the box for my QB fuselage.

I put them in the plane today to start getting an idea of what I need to do to install them. Unfortunately the don’t come with any instructions. I guess Jon figures if you can’t install them, you don’t deserve to sit in their comfort. Just kidding!

Anyway, putting them in the fuselage brought up more questions than it answered, and I’m really not sure if I will end up using them. They are comfortable (yes, I did sit in the front seat and make airplane noises).

They look pretty cool, but I’m not sure I’m in love with the yellow color. We’ll have to see what Enrique comes up with as a paint scheme. I can always get them recovered, which will also solve the problem of the obnoxious Velo logo. Around here, people speak French, and velo in French means “bicycle”. Not cool in an airplane!

The front seat is taller than the back, but if I were buying new, I would recommend the smaller seat for both positions, since that will allow more visibility for the rear seat passenger.

These strange cuts in the seats kind of bother me. These are in the front, where the seat will sit on the spar. I guess this space is needed, but it seems a bit “artisinal”.

These cuts just behind the headrest are most bothersome. They seem to be made to allow more room for the bar just behind the front seat, but the cut is too low, so it’s kind of useless. Perhaps after I position the seats better it will get into the right place. Not sure. Hope so.

I have not yet figured out if I need to have the front seat back installed. Does not seem necessary, and in fact, seems like it will get in the way. I’m not yet at that point, so no hurry to decide. I’m waiting for more information from Australia about how to attach the seats, so hopefully when it comes all will work perfectly.

Update 20210918: I didn’t use these seats, I just used the normal seats that Van’s recommends. They work fine. These Velo seats are for sale if you want them!