Ken - I agree whole heartedly with your conclusion. I replaced the top seals on
my Westy & went nuts fixing the luggage rack "HUM". When I first heard it, I
thought I'd been hit with a helicopter! Finally got some clear 1/2" soft plastic
tubing, cut several 1" pieces & inserted them over the front edge - noise gone. I
don't know what the variables are between the original ( non humming) edging &
the replacement - other than the use of aluminum for the clipping material -
possibly less rigidity? Anyhow, it was an experience that wasn't generally
reported by other users & I wondered what " I" had done wrong. Happy Trails - Max

83.5 Westy
93 EV GL

KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote:

> Well there was some debate about the luggage rack seals last week and I just
> thought I would throw in my observations.  I bought a full pop-top seal kit
> from Go Westy (Gary Smythe) and installed it in a customers Vanagon.  It is
> an excellent kit and comes with one long seal with the bulb on it for you to
> cut and install on the pop-top and luggage rack, along with the
> "over-the-top-seal", lock tight sealant for this seal, and step-by-step
> instructions.  Really nice kit for $79.95 (I sell these same kits for the
> same price FYI).  Any way at the time a List member was here who had gotten a
> pop-top seal kit from another list vendor (no names).  He mentioned to me
> that his seal kit had come with two separate seals, one for the pop-top and
> one for the luggage rack, and that the front seal had no bulb on it.  He
> thought that this would cause problems with water retension, and I considered
> his words.  I almost cut the bulb off of the seal, but then I decided to
> install it as-is and see what happened.
>
> I have had the oppurtunity to have this van here for about a month after we
> installed the new seals (my helper did this following the instructions and it
> took him 1 hr and it looks excellent).  We have had many, many rains here
> since then, including a major downpour last night.  I have repeatedly checked
> the luggage rack after these rains to see if there is any evidence of water
> being held back under the rack and even after last nights deluge there was
> none.  The canvas and everything under the pop-top was dry as a bone this
> morning (the ground was still wet).
>
> Having observed this, I called Gary at Go Westy to ask him exactly why he
> uses one seal for his kits instead of two seals (as someone suggested that
> the only reason to do this would be that you were unwilling to stock two
> different seals).  Gary said, initially he had sold the seal without the
> bulb.  But then he had gotten calls from several people that their luggage
> racks were whistling going down the road or rattling.  So he decided to test
> using the pop-top seal on the luggage rack.  After testing it for some time,
> he determined that it eliminated any chance of wind noise and rattling, and
> did not retain water at all.  That is why he sells the kits this way.  He
> said that actually the stock front luggage rack seal is cheaper and he has a
> bunch of it left over from when he used to sell it, but he refused to sell a
> product that his customers could have a problem with down the road.
>
> This is the experience I have had with my dealing with Go Westy all along.
> When I order something from them (as I do to help fill orders for camper
> parts), I never have to worry about getting something inferior.
>
> This post is not meant to slam anyone or suggest that another vendor's
> products are inferior.  It is merely to clear up a misconception that these
> seals are inferior to stock.  They have been proven to be superior and I will
> continue to sell and install these without any hesitation.
>
> Just FYI,
> Ken Wilford
> http://www.vanagain.com
> John 3:16
> Phone: (856)-765-1583
> Shop:   (856)-327-0027
> Fax:     (856)-327-2242