If it is limited security you seek, have a cabinet maker or yourself
install locking cabinet latches on all the relevant doors in the westy
furnishings.  Then add a hasp and shackle so you can lock the rear
seat with a conventional padlock.  Remembering of course that most
disreputables will simply steal the whole car.  Professionals have no
qualms about using lithium battery powered saber saws to enter
whatever they want.

If you carry, then most states require that your article be secured in
a locked area not available to the driver.  If you are camped then the
vehicle is your domicile by law and home protection laws apply.

The locking latches are worth the trouble.  Just don't forget the key
or your plastikey to get in yourself.  If the obnoxious audio
annunciator that is connected to the alarm system and blasts the world
with 130db annoyances to which none of us including the gendarmerie
ever respond, works better if you consider putting the loudmaker
inside the vehicle.   Doesn't annoy the neighbors and one is unlikely
to be able to concentrate on pilferage without some serious ear
protection.

An NRA cap, an open box of cartridges and a Bible conspicuously
displayed on the dash can be a "try the next van" deterrent whether or
not you belong, believe, or carry.  It does make a statement even to
those for whom English is not the dominant paradigm.

Signage to the effect :

 Warning! occupants may be armed, drunk, crazy, naked, cranky,
sleeping or any combination of the above.  Have a nice day, elsewhere.

(c) 1998

may be effective.

Or visit less threatening places.

If visited by the gendarmes, they MUST produce compelling evidence at
the time to search you or your domicile. Should they ask, politely
decline, ask if you are a suspect in a crime and bid them on their
way.  Oh,yeah don't drive with the cap and cartridges on the dash,
such a display is probable cause.

Oh yeah (2) check the laws of the states through which you pass and
keep a printed copy of the relevant camping regulations with you for
reference.

Pensionerd.  now back under my sunny rock.

On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Mike <collum@myfairpoint.net> wrote:
> The secret compartment I was referring to when I said to cut a bit from
> the upper front of the seat base has nothing to do with the battery
> compartments.  I have batteries under both front seats of my '85 westy
> and I did the secret compartment mod, too.
>
> Mike
>
> On 8/30/2013 6:28 PM, Mills Crosland wrote:
>>
>> Re: "Secret compartment"--Unfortunately (or fortunately) I have battery
>> under each seat; anybody have other suggestions/experience with creating a
>> "secret" or secure compartment elsewhere in their Vanagon? (mine is a Westy,
>> BTW)
>> --Mills
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>>> To: Recipients of vanagon digests <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>>> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 12:00 AM
>>> Subject: vanagon Digest - 29 Aug 2013 (#2013-395)
>>>
>>>
>>> There is one message totalling 36 lines in this issue.
>>>
>>> Topics of the day:
>>>
>>>    1. how to access the area under the front seats
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Date:    Thu, 29 Aug 2013 23:04:18 -0400
>>> From:    Mike <collum@MYFAIRPOINT.NET>
>>> Subject: Re: how to access the area under the front seats
>>>
>>> Hi Eric,
>>>
>>> First ... the swivel plate on a Westy is welded over the tracks used by
>>> 7 passenger type buses.  You can't get there without cutting and
>>> grinding.
>>>
>>> Now, with that said, what I did on my '85 Westy is I pulled down the
>>> carpet on the front of the box that the seat sits on and I cut through
>>> the metal at the front of the box ... but just down to where the floor
>>> of the box is ... (it's pretty high up).  Removing that few inches of
>>> metal gives access under the seat and with the carpet put back in place,
>>> it provides a "Secret" compartment.
>>>
>>> Mike
>>>
>>> On 8/29/2013 10:19 PM, Eric Caron wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi listers,
>>>>
>>>>            Under the driver's seat of my bus is a space with wires
>>>> leading to the empty compartment for the second battery.  Is there a way to
>>>> access that space by removing the front seat?  I would like to more easily
>>>> reach that area for sound proofing.  I can easily take the seat out by
>>>> removing the 4 nuts on the swivel but then I'm not sure if there is a way to
>>>> remove the next panel.  Perhaps it is welded in place but if removable that
>>>> would be helpful.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Eric Caron
>>>> 85 Westfalia GL auto
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> End of vanagon Digest - 29 Aug 2013 (#2013-395)
>>> ***********************************************
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>