thanks for your good words.
I just see rust occurring on vanagons ..
and it is so easy to stop ..
just a shame to let it persist. 

'it's just metal' ..
in other words, metal is a very workable, treatable material. 

Scott 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Pat Sloan 
  To: 'Scott Daniel - Turbovans' ; 'Don Hanson' ; 'vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM' 
  Cc: 'WetWesties' 
  Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2010 3:50 PM
  Subject: RE: [WetWesties] Early Fri. Element pop top little vangaon content.

    
  Makes sense. So I guess all that iron or whatever is a long way from just
  crystallizing and ending up as a pile of metal dust on the side of the road.
  Thanks for the insight, Scott.

  _____ 

  From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans [mailto:scottdaniel@turbovans.com] 
  Sent: November-25-10 1:22 PM
  To: 'Don Hanson'; 'vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM'; Pat Sloan
  Cc: 'WetWesties'
  Subject: Re: [WetWesties] Early Fri. Element pop top little vangaon content.

  hi ..

  as a corrosion prevention and treatment Nut ..

  I view vanagons like one might a small aircraft.

  For those who don't know..

  legally maintained aircraft, which is almost all aircraft in this part of
  the world, 

  are inspected annually ..

  and not one spot of rust, not one tiny crack in any metal...etc is allowed.

  no frayed wires. 

  look at some say 1970 Cessna sometime..

  if it's legal, it's basically pristine.

  There are 75 year old aircraft in perfect condition, mechanically and
  electrically.

  I view a vanagon body/chassis about the same way ..

  as long as you Prevent and Treat rust and corrosion ..

  and don't bend it badly ..

  they can last very well.

  There are many 1970 cars on the road yet ..

  often semi-restored and collectible ..

  and those cars are all 40 years old now. 

  any 1960 car is half a century old ..

  and there many examples of not 'wasted and gone' 1960 cars. 

  So if we take really good care of them..

  the aftermarket world keeps supplying parts when VW doesn't ..

  we can do fine. 

  The circumstances in which you keep a car or van matters a lot.

  Outdoors full time in a damp or cold climate is sure a major challenge. or
  course.

  The other end of that spectrum is indoors, in a temperature and humidity
  controlled environment ..

  And only some vanagon owners have that luxury ..

  but you can work on it ...airing things out ...

  stopping and treating all corrosion ..and a few hundred other little
  details..

  but they do not have to be driven into the ground or neglected ..

  if someone cares and has the time. And it's not expensive to really take
  care of something like a Vanagon either. 

  I'm not talking about shocks, or brake jobs or clutch jobs or new engines
  ...

  just myriad tiny details of taking care of it like ...like you would your
  teeth or hair ...it takes some attention on a regular basis, but it's not
  hard to do. 

  I never use the top bunk. A stock Westy is clearly designed for a couple
  with two children ..

  and for them to cook, eat, and sleep in it ..

  kids go upstairs I figure. I just find it too exposed feeling up there
  ...the mats are thin, etc. 

  you're right ..

  there hardly is any substitute for the vanagon and VW camper community ..

  There are other useful vehicles..

  but often not in the same configuration ..

  a portable living room/kitchen/bedroom. 

  They rock, there's no way around that .

  and thus they are very worth caring for. 

  most of the vans I see ...

  there are so many things on them that are so simple to take care of ..

  just a bit of lube and adjustment now and then ...

  and they last forever, like say, shift linkage..

  'just driven' however ....that simple system gets trashed eventually, and SO
  unnecessarily. 

  'sorry' I just think it's much more fun, and so easy to take care of
  something...rather than 'just use it' ..and use it up ...especially when
  there is no ready replacement . 

  Scott

  www.turbovans.com 

  anyway ..they're great, and let's take care of 'em. 

  and besides, if you had a 2011 version of a VW Camper ..

  you couldn't work on it yourself even, or not much anyway. 

  ----- Original Message ----- 

  From: Pat Sloan <mailto:pmsloan@shaw.ca> 

  To: 'Don Hanson' <mailto:dhanson928@gmail.com> ;
  'vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM' 

  Cc: 'WetWesties' <mailto:wetwesties@yahoogroups.com> 

  Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2010 9:44 AM

  Subject: RE: [WetWesties] Early Fri. Element pop top little vangaon content.

  I think that this does have vanagon content, since we are all driving our
  beautiful vans into the ground. One day the aging metal is just going to
  breakdown, no matter how much we've loved and cared for them. So, since
  Volkswagen doesn't seem to see the need to produce a new model, it's timely
  for us to consider alternatives. Personally, I've been looking at and liking
  the conversions done by GTRV http://www.gtrv.com/ which include an updated
  but still Westy-style interior. There's no way I'm ever climbing up into the
  top bunk again, as is required by the Ursa Minor.

  The greatest drawback (HUGE!) is that it still wouldn't be a Westy and you
  would lose this fabulous community. Don't have any ideas on how to deal with
  that.

  Cheers, Pat

  _____ 

  From: wetwesties@yahoogroups.com <mailto:wetwesties%40yahoogroups.com>
  [mailto:wetwesties@yahoogroups.com <mailto:wetwesties%40yahoogroups.com> ]
  On
  Behalf Of Don Hanson
  Sent: November-25-10 7:12 AM
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <mailto:vanagon%40GERRY.VANAGON.COM> 
  Cc: WetWesties
  Subject: [WetWesties] Early Fri. Element pop top little vangaon content.

  The link to this Honda Element pop-top camper kit contains no Vanagon
  content. (Sorry for an Early Friday post, but we will be away for Friday, so
  ) It is a subject that often comes up on Vanagon list, though....The wish
  that there was a more modern vehicle that's similar to the Vangaon Westies
  available somewhere. This Element kit looks like it is sort of along those
  lines...

  For what it is worth, we have a friend, older gal, who is a frequent and
  adventuresome traveler/camper. She had a Bay window Westie for years and
  finally grew weary of it's frequent and unpredictable breakdowns, even
  though she always used professional mechanics and replaced major components
  frequently without 'cheaping-out' at all on maintainence or repairs...

  She sold the Westie and got an Element..has been camping in/from that for a
  couple of years now. She really misses her VW...But she likes the
  dependability of the Honda and also likes it's AWD...... she teaches skiing
  and lives in Jackson Hole. She says her Element gets crummy gas mileage
  and is expensive to have repaired, but it's one of those 'modern vehicles'
  that doesn't require a second thought, you just gas it and drive it, no
  fuss.

  Looking at this kit in the link, it seems well thought out and executed.
  Might make that Honda Element a little more utilitarian for extended
  adventure camping.

  http://www.ursaminorvehicles.com/

  Don Hanson

  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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