Boulevard Installation Help

[littledreambox]

I just bought the Britax Boulevard today and had a lot of difficulties installing the carseat. I have the following questions and I would appreciate any advice you wonderful ladies could offer.
1) It seems kind of awkward to slide the seat belt through the rear facing slot because of the metal bar blocking the way. Is that supposed to be like that? I have a lapshoulder seat belt and am planning to bring it on the plane which have lap seat belt and so how do I install differently between the two types of belts?

2) I followed the instructions and make the harness slack before adjusting the knob... but after that, I had so much difficulties tightening the harness... until I remove the whole car seat from the car and then it slides nicely. What am i doing wrong?

3) How do you recline the car seat? I read the booklet and there is supposed to be a recline adjuster handle or something like that but i cannot find it on my carseat (which can't be right) and I would like to make the car seat a little bit more recline for my one year old.. or should I not?

Thansks for your inputs. It was so frustrating trying to install this carseat today.

Charlene

[Joolsplus2]

Join the club, it's a PAIN to learn to install this seat :P. You know what...I have my Marathon (same seat, basically) out of the car right now, let me go see if I can get any of this process on camera...maybe it'll help.

If you're in the eastern time zone, just go to bed, you'll need your rest for this! LOL, just kidding!

:)
(I'm running out to install now...be right back!)

Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Joolsplus2]

Ok, let me see what I got...sorry if this page is huge, I don't have a photobucket account!

This is a fairly upright recline, but fine for a 1 yo, even...you can see the unhooked tether...all I would do to get it more reclined is hook up the tether and give it a tug. See that red line? (Yours might be black, it's the FF belt lockoff) that should be NO MORE than 45 degrees, which would be a perfect diagonal line between forefinger and thumb. And yes, this picture was really awkward to take, lol.
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Joolsplus2]

Ok, let me see what I got...sorry if this page is huge, I don't have a photobucket account!

This is a fairly upright recline, but fine for a 1 yo, even...you can see the unhooked tether...all I would do to get it more reclined is hook up the tether and give it a tug. See that red line? (Yours might be black, it's the FF belt lockoff) that should be NO MORE than 45 degrees, which would be a perfect diagonal line between forefinger and thumb. And yes, this picture was really awkward to take, lol.
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Joolsplus2]

It was taking so long I hit post twice :P

[Blue Jeans Mama]

Look on the back of the seat and make sure nothing is jammed. This happened to me the other day. I let the harness VERY loose and then when I went to pull it got jammed.

Before you install the seat look at the bottom front of the seat. You'll see there is like a handle there you get your hand into and kind of press on it. The seat would recline. You have to make sure the seat is on the full recline before you try to install it RF.

At first I found it hard to get the belt throught the RF route So I took the cover off from that front area to get a better look at it. That might help you see where you are going thought.

Once you get it buckle I found that it was better to push down at the very front of the seat and pull on the belt and then close the locking clip. The manual says to use the locking clip on the oposite side of where you buckle so for us that was the locking clip closer to the door. We installed our seat in a captain chair so I had the chair reclined a little while I got the seat in and locked and then I got the chair back up. That helped a lot to get it very secured. After that I used the tether strap to help with the angle .

HTH

I am sure Julie's picture are going to REALLY help

Cathy (cathy Adrian Julian) (Who can't find the way to change her screen name)

[Joolsplus2]

gads, what a mess...took less time to open the photobucket account! lol

ok...here's three photos...the belt path, the install from a distance with the belts in the RF lockoff, and a recline that's good for an older baby, but could be tugged down with the tether a smidgen more and still be fine.
http://photobucket.com/albums/y255/joolstag/

Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Joolsplus2]

Cathy, you're my savior! You got all the details I forgot...let me even go add the picture I took of the recline handle, lol.

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Blue Jeans Mama]

Julie Does it matter if the Belt is over that dark grey padding or do you have to move it up?

We had it like yours but then changed it and is now over the padding (not the cover). Does it matter?

BTW GREAT pictures but aren't you supposed to be packing LOL You are so dedicated.

Cathy

[Blue Jeans Mama]

Ah The book.

Let me tell you I almost went CRAZY looking for ours LOL It took me a good 20 minutes to find it and THEN Dh cut it LOL VERY Smart LOL

[Joolsplus2]

Well, if it's OVER the padding, then it crushes the padding down flat, so it's less padded. Probably doesn't matter too much, but hey, any little extra bit of comfort is good, right?

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[littledreambox]

Hello,
Thanks so much for your responses and the awesome pictures!! I will go try the suggestions that you gave.
I don't have anywhere to attached the tether strap. Does that matter?
The booklet said to use the locking clip furthest away from the buckle, could I use both?

THanks so much!!

Charlene

[Joolsplus2]

This page shows how to tether more http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/isakswings/ratetherrf.html You should really make a huge effort to tether, because they really highly recommend it be done (sometimes it's impossible, but 95% of the time there IS something acceptable to tie the D-ring to, you just have to get on your knees, push your front seats forward, and really feel around down there).
And yup, you can use the lockoff closest to your buckle, if you want...you can really do one or both, whichever one closes the easiest.

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx