RE:

> So I reckon that if I find myself with a discharged starter battery and a
> charged house battery and hope the start the engine I'll jump the two
> batteries together with a jumper cable, sit and watch the hills for a few
> minutes, then crank 'er over.
>

In fact BTDT last January coming out of Borego Springs when the brushes in
my alternator gave up the ghost. Even though it took a couple of minutes at
the side of the I-8 freeway (had to move 'stuff' to get to the house battery
under the rear bunk/seat and dig out the jumper cables from the back) with
the jumper cables in place between the house and starter battery I started
right back up and drove another 30+ miles to my brother in laws place in
Chula Vista, put in the spare regulator/brush pack, and was back in
business. Since then I've thought about doing what would be needed to just
throw a switch to accomplish the same thing but given how often such a setup
would be needed I think I'll keep it elegant and simple instead of
complicated and wonderful.
BTW, I use Anderson Powerpole connectors for anything that I wire up and
needs to be able to be 'unwired' at some point.  And they are also 'elegant
and simple'.  The big ones can handle most anything you'll ever be able to
plug into them when dealing with a Vanagon and it's needs.

>