At 10:52 PM 7/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>    Since there seems to be an excess of hot, summer  air south of the 49th
>parallel, some of you might be interested in a little  trick to provide
>some flow through ventilation when your Westfalia is **parked**.   I had a
>local machine shop construct a  kind-of-a-gizmo-whatcha-ma-call-it-thing
>(n.b. this is not a technical term)  that allows the rear hatch to be
>locked and propped open about two  inches.   It looks kinda-like a small
>wrench about four  inches long, with one end going slipping over the post
>(striker pin?) with a  quarter turn. The rear hatch or lid is then closed
>normally and clicks into the  other end of the gizmo. The hatch can then be
>locked into position allowing a  few inches (two inches in my case) gap.
>This provides g-r-e-a-t flow through  ventilation in the van with the
>skylight or the roof popped up with the screen  open.   Cost? About$45
>(four years  ago).

This sounds very nice while you're parked with the engine *off*; it's
really going to suck (literally) if you leave it open while driving.  Some
combnations of vents/vent windows being open *will* suck exhaust fumes into
the cabin (our Adventurewagen has an openable window just above the hatch;
it feels like a fan blowing on the back of my head while driving - not cool).

Austin