Vanagon Blogging is Slow

Once again I've gone over a month without updating the site. This is mostly because I've gone over a month without updating the Vanagon. Lately I've been spending my available funding on other projects so not a lot has been happening with the old van. I have however been using it a fair amount and learned a few more things along the way. I was thinking I'd upgrade the seats but my wife and I decided to try out a new budget starting November 1st so I decided to put the seats on the back burner. Its still something I think is worth spending some money on but I think I'm going to wait a few months before I actually do anything about it.

One of the most interesting things that I've done with the van recently is began to understand how it does in the colder weather. My wife and I took the van camping up in the Catskills in mid-November where the weather was in the 30s during the day. I quickly realized that the first problem is that the heater doesn't work while I'm driving down the highway. The reason for this is that the engine temperature barely registers when I'm cruising along at 65mph in the cold. I'm hoping its just a thermostat problem but I haven't really gotten the chance to look into it. Regardless, this made living out of the van for a weekend of camping a little more challenging. I'm not going to lie, it was cold.

Another thing I learned on that trip was that when it is around 20 outside it is cold sleeping in the van as well. We just spent one night out but the dog's water bowl was frozen solid by morning. My wife and I weren't too cold because we had good sleeping bags but the poor pup was shivering all night since he isn't completely sold on the idea of being covering in blankets. I think it will be worth considering some sort of heating solution while camping. I don't think I spend enough time in the cold to justify a furnace type solution but it would be nice to add some sort of heating element. My main concern is with saftey though. I'll have to look through some of the Vanagon list archives and see if I can find some suggestions. I'm leaning towards an electric camping heater that would be safe for usage in an unventilated area.

The only other exciting thing I've done on the van recently was change the oil. That may not sound all that exciting but the filter was completely stuck and refused to come off without a fight. I bought and tried two different oil filter wrenches and all I had to show for it was a sheared filter that was dripping oil all over me. Luckily my Dad came through with a plan that worked perfectly. He told me to get a big bad screw driver and drive it through the filter so I could use it for leverage. It took driving that screw driver through the filter twice and using all my weight to get the thing started but the filter did eventually come off. So if you find yourself with an oil filter stuck on your engine, just drive a big screwdriver through it and wrench that thing right off.

Next up for the Vanagon is its longest trip yet. I'm heading down to Alabama this Friday and I'm looking at 800 miles each way. My Dad is going to help me fix a few things on the van while I'm down there so hopefully I'll have something more substancial to report after the New Year.

Happy Holidays!