Doesn't "bumper" imply the ability to bump?   Fiberglass would crack and
bust if you bumped into anything...or if some one bumped into you....like
they do parking in the cities....

  Back in The Day...when I was driving a 1957 splitty I made my bumpers
from a 2x6...but the other drivers in California broke a couple of those so
I 'upgraded' to a log..That lasted till it got really cold one winter and
we ran out of firewood in Wyoming....   I have to say the newest
ABS/plastic that is used on most modern vehicles now instead of an actual
external bumper....that is pretty amazing stuff....but I think that
material is beyond the DIY realm...has to be heat-formed and vacuum-bagged,
I think.

On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 8:39 PM, Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:

> I can see that working, especially on the front because of the bumper
> substructure. On the rear there is no backing between the attachment points
> so the plastic would have to be strong enough to survive a few nudges.
>
> Alistair
>
>
>
> > On Apr 3, 2014, at 2:34 PM, Zeitgeist <gruengeist@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > That's actually not a half bad idea
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 10:37 AM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >> I think you could have a mold made and make some out of plastic.  Sell
> them
> >> for $200-$250 to those who just want a pretty bumper and don't need the
> >> load
> >> carrying capacity (like me).  When it breaks (but it won't dent!) I'd
> just
> >> get another one, like I do with the cheapo aftermarket bumpers available
> >> now.  Of course, you'll have to do the front bumper too!
> >>
> >> Stuart
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> >> Alistair Bell
> >> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 9:57 AM
> >> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >> Subject: Re: Another bumper built update
> >>
> >> That was part of my, if I can use a cliche, design brief. I don't like
> the
> >> heavy big bumper look. But you know, when you have the bumper made you
> >> start
> >> to see things you would change. I could have made the end caps slimmer,
> I
> >> could have afforded a little bit bigger horizontal top surface.
> >>
> >> Oh well.
> >>
> >> Alistair
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Casey
>