Yes, Westies are vented, and vents are good, but corrosion (rust) never
sleeps.
A battery mat is not a bad idea, but regular preventative maintenance of the
battery box is the only sure bet against eventual rust through of the sheet
metal.

The '82 Westy I'm dismantling had just as much cauliflower crud in the
vented battery box bottom as my non-Westy non-vented '87 Syncro. I'm
guessing the Westy venting was a nod to preventing the possibility of too
much battery gassing (after a long drive) and then the propane refrigerator
gets lit.

It still gets down to doing what you can to maintain the vehicle integrity.

Dave

On 7/3/06, Roger Sisler <rogersisler2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Yes, the battery under the passenger seat is vented. You can see this
> vent .It is a  little black tube that attaches to the battery and exits
> out
> the bottom of the battery box.The driver side battery box does not have
> this. However, why not add one.I am sure a passenger side vent from a
> junked vanagon will fit the driver side.
>