Trip Report!

My wife (who has made it known that she does in fact have a name and shall hence forth be referred to by that name) Allison and I headed out to the beach on Friday night with a nice new oil change and a super clean van. The ride was great but I almost had to physically restrain myself to avoid letting on how concerned I was about having our two German Shorthairs around the newly recovered vinyl seats but I don't think Allison noticed. I'll also admit that I was a little nervous about how reliable the Vanagon actually is at this point. I replaced the fuel pump and filter back in late March but this is the first time that I've driven the van for any sort of considerable distance and I'm not at all convinced that my fuel pump is all there is to the story of that power loss that I had at the beginning of the year. Regardless, the van drove like a champ and I didn't hear so much as a hiccup from the engine during the entire trip.

Here are a few not so great pictures:




We thought we were getting a drive in campsite but it turns out that our site was walk in. Not exactly ideal but we just parked a few hundred yards from the ocean, hung out with our tent camping friends in the dunes, and then returned to the van to sleep. Not perfect but not terrible either. That is my dog "Bird" there to the side of the van.



I taught our foster dog "Luna" to drive the van this weekend. She actually did a pretty good job.



A nice closeup of the SewFine seats. I just love those things.



I was trying to show how you could see the dunes out our front window but the picture didn't really come out like I was hoping. Instead you can just see how bad the stove panel looks on the sink/stove cabinet. That will be a not so distant project so stay tuned.

Things I learned/remembered from this trip:

1. Vinyl is actually the way to go if you are actually going to use your Westy to camp. I have had serious doubts about my vinyl selection since I recovered the seats. They are hotter and they are less comfortable to sit on than a cloth would be over a long distance but all doubts will melt away the first time you see your muddy dog hop up into the seat. They hop down leaving a trail of mud, water, and fur all over the place and with a single swipe of a towel and you've got a nice clean place to sit once again. I may have doubted myself there for a bit but the clean factor seals the deal in favor of vinyl in my book.

2. Replacing the foam in the seats on both the top and the bottom may not be needed. Personally, I felt like it was a HUGE difference and worth every cent; however, Allison still felt like the seats weren't all that comfortable. She said that they were plenty padded but that the shape was just problematic for her. I didn't have the problems that she had and I was really happy with the upgrade. My point is that your milage may vary.

3. SewFine seats are awesome. The seat covers are really well made and aren't all that hard to install. I love that there is a company out there like SewFine.

4. The SewFine carpet kit is a little less thrilling. Yes the carpet is well made and the install was easy but I just don't feel like I've got factory carpet installed in the van anymore. The seams kind of bother me and I'd prefer a cut like they used in the factory. Still, it looks nice enough and the clean factor cannot be beaten.

5. They jury is still out on sound deadening. The galley and the rear of the van haven't been touched so the ride is still really loud in the van. I "believe" that it feels like the noise is all comming from behind me but I am not yet convinced that my sound deadening in the cab is actually doing all that much at this point. I do hope to be wrong about that though. Time will tell.

6. The rubber mats that I got from GoWesty are in fact awesome. The indentations in the mats may put you off at first because you are thinking that all they will do is trap dirt but then you should realize that they will also trap liquid. Maybe it is just me but I just spill all sorts of liquid in the van while camping and the mat keeps that problem localized. I am a fan and would buy them again.

7. Removing the fridge was brilliant! The space where the fridge used to be is HUGE and having it available for storage completely changed my van usage flow. I will not be putting the fridge back in. I would be tempted to put in a more modern fridge if I had the ability to keep it running 24/7 via solar but there is no way I would go back to the original fridge. It really doesn't work much better than a five day cooler for my usage and the cooler can be wheeled out to the campfire.

8. A coleman camp stove is as good or better than the Westy stove. I bought a double burner Coleman camping stove a few months ago instead of replacing the propane tank on my Westy and I am really really happy with the decision. I would rather cook out side of the van and I can do that with the camp stove - but if I am really in a pinch then I can just use the stove in the van with the windows open and top popped. Basically I'm not going to fix the stove at this point because the Coleman is plenty for my needs. I'm even tempted to remove the old stove entirely and replace it with a place to sit my coleman stove. Look for that as a future mod.

9. Maybe this is just me but I can't explain how so much dirt/mud/liquid gets into my van while I am camping in it. There is basically no possible way to fight it so you might as well prepare for it. Getting the mats plus the vinyl interior goes a really long way towards being able to keep clean but I'm thinking I need to take things a bit farther. The main thing needed is so way to make the entire galley area water-tight and not allow any moisture to get under the bench seat or kitchen cabinet. I'm thinking I want some sort of poored rubber floor now that will let me get a lip around the perimeter to seal liquids out completely. Rust makes me sad and dumping water behind the stove all the time really doesn't help me out.

10. I really want to get the water tank restored. I'm currently using big 5 gallon jugs to store drinking water. This works ok but I could really use that internal 13 gallon reservoir. I've got it pulled right now and I just need to get it cleaned up to make it really useful. Once I get it into some sort of reasonably clean state then I'd like to rethink my plumbing. The sink is nice and all but I'd really like a way to have a spicket on the side of the van that would let me easily do thinks like wash off feet, grab a glass of water, or fill a dog bowl. I'm thinking I'll just run a second faucet to the bench seat that will let me grab water from there as well.

11. Vanagons are in fact the greatest vehicle ever made.