Oddly enough I was just doing this very thing last week- combing through the
archives looking for lists and suggestions to cobble together. I basically
included everything I found mentioned to start with along with a few things
of my own; I haven't had time to fiddle with it or think about it much
since. Feel free to comment, add to, criticize etc. Part numbers and
quantities would help for a start.

Supplies:

AAA+ (or preferable roadside service)

Atlas

Baggies

Battery pack/charger (jump type)

Bentley

Cash

Cell phone

Ceramic block sealer, Moroso

Duct tape

DVD player

Emergency food

Fire extinguisher(s)

First aid kit

Flashlight(s), spare batteries

Fluids: oil, tranny/ps, brake, antifreeze (mixed), liquid wrench or ?

Form-a-gasket/sealer

Foul weather clothes

Gas can

Gasket material

Glue: Gorilla, super, epoxy

Gojo/paper shop towels

Jack(s)

Jumper cables

Lists- VW dealers along route, Larry's shops, Rescue folks, etc.

Lug wrench

Matches/lighter

Rope

Shovel, camp type

Spare tire

Stop leak, various

Sunglasses, spare

Tarp

Tools: (What makes a basic all-purpose Vanagon tool kit?)

Tow strap/lights

TP/wipes

Water jug(s)

Wire, electrical

Work clothes

Zip ties

Spare parts:

Alternator/Alt. rebuild kit?

Asst. metric bolts, screws, washers

Belts

Bulbs/fuses/connectors

Circlips

Clamps/hoses/adapters

Coil

Distributor cap/rotor

Distributor O-Ring

Fuel filter(s)

Exhaust System Gaskets

Fuel pump

Fuel/vacuum lines (kit?)

Alternator Bracket, lower

Oil filter

O-rings, asst.

PVC (hose sizes)

Sensors?

Spark Plugs-1 set

Spark plug wires

Starter

T-stat

Water pump?

I note that those of you that have Westys already have the kitchen sink.

Cya,

Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Zoltan" <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 5:25 PM
Subject: Zoltan: Re: Halifax to Vancouver & back

> In my opinion, one keeps an eye on all things at all time.  For a very
> long
> trip one should take small items that if they go would immobilise the van.
> Mostly electrical, but I would include some hydraulic items too.  Even a
> water pump is not large and heavy.  You would have to go through in
> thought
> what those items are.  Here on the list I don't know if we have an
> accepted
> list that one should take for a long trip.  I think, we don't have a
> finally
> accepted list after all the lamentations and suggestions from all the
> members.
> Sometimes, I would like if there was a place in our website where we would
> have the best of all the suggestions on all the problems written down
> other
> than reading through all the postings through the ages.  This way we would
> know what the result of all the input was cristallising in the best
> answers.
> Finding the best solutions for the problems immediately without wasting
> all
> the time reading so many postings through years.
> In this case now we would have a small and a long list of items for
> constant
> keeping in the car and for the occasional long trips.  Mechanics all over
> the US are looking at a car they never seen before without admitting it
> and
> accepting your keys with all the confidence in the world without telling
> you
> that they don't have a clue to the problem.
> But they like the challenges and they will take the job on and they will
> charge you big time for all the time they spend learning your car.  In the
> process they can do great damage that can not be repared and they will not
> admit and blame you or VW.
> So, the best is to take some parts that will keep the car going and take
> all
> the tools you would need for all those jobs.  The tools should be in the
> car
> always anyway, I think.
> Together with some of those items that can give you a hard time anytime on
> the road and instead calling around and towing a the likes, you should fix
> it right there.
> That's all for today on this.
> Zoltan
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 3:29 PM
> Subject: Re: Halifax to Vancouver & back
>
>
>> Good luck on your journey.
>>
>> Zoltan is right. Though there are plenty of mechanics and shops around,
>> nobody is going gong to know your van like you do. So you are in a
>> sense, all alone. If you tended to every thing befor departurpe, chances
>> you will have a trouble free trip. Just do your routine maintenance as
>> you go and you should be ok.
>>
>> Longest trip for me so far  was the leg from Anchorage to Birmingham in
>> my old '85 GL - 4500 miles. NO problems at all on the journey until 60
>> miles out of Birmingham, and  the water pump went out. Had to be towed
>> that last 60 miles. Frustrating.
>>
>> But that pump had 200,000 miles on it so it all was forgiven.
>>
>> Good journey and fair weather to you.
>>
>> John Rodgers
>> 88 GL Driver
>>
>> Malcolm Stebbins wrote:
>>
>>>We leave tomorrow for an 9,000 or 10,000 mile trip across Canada and back
>>>through the northern US
>>>in our 91 Westy.  I've never made a trip of this length without some
>>>mechanical failure. So what
>>>will it be this time????  May the Vanagon gods watch over the van.
>>>Malcolm
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>