The leaf catching section of the rear hatch is above the gasket.

Open your hatch and look.

Jim

> On Nov 15, 2016, at 7:54 PM, David McNeely <davmcneely40@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Looks like you need a new gasket for the hatch opening.
>
> On Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 7:37 PM, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all.
>>
>> This is likely obvious to most Vanagon owners but.....
>>
>> 3 months ago, I moved to a residence with a lot of evergreen trees;
>> parking "full time" in this type of surroundings is new to me. While
>> working on my Westy today, with the rear hatch open, I saw a twig or
>> two sticking up out of the trough at the top of the opening. To my
>> surprise, there was a LOT of twigs, sediment, muck etc. in that
>> trough. And it was totally wet. (I now live on the Sunshine Coast, but
>> that name is somewhat of a misnomer; it rains a fair amount up here.
>>
>> It would probably take some time for that material to rust out that
>> area but why wait? I cleaned it out and sprayed on some Rust Check
>> fluid.
>>
>> Neil.
>>
>> --
>> Neil n
>>
>> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>>
>> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>>
>> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>>
>> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
>>