Bob,
You are not the first, sure not the last to "improve aerodynamics"
of Vanagon.I once drove from camp with poptop up and noticed big
reduction in power, wandering if engine lost power aftr camping.
Some passing drivers looked amazed at my Westy.Finaly i noticed top
was up behind
Cheer up,
no big deal
Leon

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 20:38:58 -0600, Bob Stevens <mtbiker62@HOTMAIL.COM>
wrote:

> ... Forest Gump's mom was right ;>)
>
> I did a really bonehead thing and didn't properly latch my pop top. Got
> on
> the freeway, tooling along at 65 or so and I heard this "thunk" .... and
> lotsa breeze inside the van all of a sudden. Looking back and up I was
> startled to see the top fully raised.
>
> This question/thread has been raised in the past so I thought I'd
> publicly
> humiliate myself and let those who've been curious know: no, the top does
> not shear off or flip over backward, ripping the canvas off; no, the top
> does not keep from going all the way up due to wind resistance against
> the
> canvas .... at least not in my case.
>
> It's a 3-window from GoWesty, the cotton canvas type, not the acrylic
> canvas
> or Hemp. Interesting: the front screen window was unzipped maybe 6", and
> when the top went up it unzipped almost all the way. That's what caused
> all
> the interior breeze and may be why there was no damage to any of it. Very
> robust stuff.
>
> Conclusion: I need 2 cups of coffee before breaking camp, not one.
>
> Side note and probably the most important part: I drove from Park City
> over
> Guardsmen Pass to Heber Valley last night. A nifty "shortcut" and all, or
> almost all dirt road and peaks out at around 9500 or so. I came across a
> big
> black bull Moose on the way. Stopped and watched it for maybe 15 minutes.
> Everything is so lush and green everywhere, there is lots of browse.
> Even in
> Salt Lake there have been 5 moose and a cougar spotted in residential
> areas.
>
> bob
>

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