Ya gotta see Kim's van in person if you get a chance. I gave it my (highly
informal) Ubervan award  for the weekend. Super clean, subie-powered,
Racaro seats, oh-SewFine interior, a really nice machine... and I didn't
even know about the upgraded brakes. Beautiful machine... thought I should
move my trusty-rusty-nearly stock '85 down a few sites when he pulled in
next to me.

Tim

At 12:15 AM 10/17/2006 -0400, Kim Brennan wrote:
>As Joy noted, I've got a couple of extra air springs (gas struts) on
>the poptop to offset the weight of the Pak-a-Sport cargo carrier and
>it's contents (carrier weighs about 110 pounds empty).
>
>The trailer is a 6x10 trailer with a Vee bump out in front. Weighs
>about 1500 pounds empty. I did have a pinball machine in it by the
>time of the camp out (circa 300 pounds), plus a slider and front
>passenger door, and a couple of misc things, for an additional 200
>pounds of weight. On Sunday the doors came out and another pinball
>machine went in.
>
>The trailer sits up about 7 feet high (interior is about 5 1/2 feet).
>About the same height as my Westy without the Pak-a-Sport on it.
>
>And it's not just the upgraded engine, I've got big brakes up front
>and rear disc brakes for added stopping power.
>
>
>On Oct 16, 2006, at 11:23 PM, Joy Hecht wrote:
>
>>Eh, he cheats!  He's got struts that help push the poptop up with that
>>100-lb carrier plus whatever he's stuffed inside of it!
>>
>>Not enough assistance for me to be able to get his poptop up - but
>>almost.
>>So that kind of struts should enable me to pop the top of my van
>>with a
>>47-lb kayak!  I've got to put struts on my poptop before I return
>>to life on
>>the road...
>>
>>But Kim was also towing a really huge trailer - eight or ten feet
>>high,
>>maybe?  It was mostly empty this weekend, but if it if were full,
>>that would
>>be some serious weight!  Of course he's not driving with a waterboxer
>>engine, either...