On the theme of distracting the bears, why not keep a bunch of
squirrels with strips of bacon tied to their waist? Put them in a cage
with a remotely operated latch just outside your Westy. When a bear
approaches release the latch and scream, "RUN like Forrest to the
forest, Rocky. RUN!" ;-)

And on the subject of the Westy as a  hardside camper: I've gotten as
close to bears as I ever want to be through the TV. I was watching a
program where this bear tore off the doors in this car to get at food
stored inside. Last time I checked, Westies and even hardtop Vanagons
are not much different from regular cars. They have glass windows. The
bear probably sees a Vanagon like a deli case. Goodies can be viewed
from outside. Break the glass, then pry door off through the opening.
"Look BooBoo. It's just like a picky-nic basket."

I'll stick with my first plan

BenT

Sent from my bacon wrapped squirrel
;-)

On Jun 27, 2010, at 1:36 PM, Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA> wrote:
>  up the van. BTW at those times
> the bears seem to take very little notice of us camping, so much
> other food around.
>
> cheers
>
> alistair