Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 01:25:44 -0500
Reply-To: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Subject: Re: Worst thing you ever did to your Vanagon?
In-Reply-To: <p06002027bf2334d050d1@[192.168.1.107]>
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Four things come to mind and I'll let you folk decide which is the
worst(none of them touch Otmar or the roll, however)
1. Had 23 sheets of 3/4" OSB(blandex, etc.) on my semi bullet proof
roof ack and drove it 4 miles home. Very carefully, I ,might add.
2. Not as heavy, but drove home from one paddling event with a total
of 16 kayaks loaded on top of the roof rack(8), under the roof
rack(2), and inside the van(6). Got a photo of it somewhere, just
not a digital. Drove it 50 miles home that way. No incidents.
3. Drove the Vanagon in two full Iowa winters after it had 13
Arkansas winters under it's belt. 13 AR winters, no seam rust, 2 IA
winters....you guessed it.
4. Put the van in gear and engaged the starter to get it to roll the
last 1/2 block to a gas station due to me running it out of
gas. Coulda fried an egg on top of that starter if I'd had
one. Funny though, my old 71 bus loved that abuse(higher 1st gear
and final drive and less GVW, I guess). I ran out of gas on I-24 in
Chattannooga TN at 2AM back in 1982 on the way to a kayak race in
North Carolina.,My buddy was sleeping and didn't want to wake him, so
once it sputtered out of its last drop, I put it in 1st and climbed a
fairly steep 3 block long hill, crested the hill and rolled down that
3 black hill to an awaiting 24 hour Exxon station. That was one of
those "Thank You Jesus, Thank you Lord" moments for sure. Battery
showed no signs of wearing down and that starter lasted another 3
years. I ihad no idea whether there would be a gas station over
that hill or not. Come to think of it, 24 gas stations in 1982
weren't all that common either.
At 12:33 AM 8/13/2005, Otmar wrote:
>>RE: Worst Thing....
>>Rolled the damn thing,
>
>Ouch! That tops it! Sorry for your loss. :(
>
>
>Not nearly as bad, but I do have a tendency to overload mine a bit.
>http://www.evcl.com/vw/Trips/images/StretchAnd914sm.JPG
>
>In this picture the total weight is over 10,500 lbs. It topped 12,200
>lbs. on the return trip. I drove it 1500 miles that way over the
>passes in Oregon. Poor thing, I'm giving it a Porsche transmission
>now as penance. (and hoping that will last longer than 20K miles)
>
>--
> -Otmar-
>82/86 Stretch Vanagon Westfalia GTI. "Power of two" Soon to be TDI.
>http://www.evcl.com/vw
>1 914 EV, 1 Insight Hybrid
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