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Date:         Thu, 11 May 2000 11:54:43 -0400
Reply-To:     William Maxian <wmaxian@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         William Maxian <wmaxian@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject:      Re: Luggage Rack Seal- Report! (longish)
Comments: To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Ken - I agree whole heartedly with your conclusion. I replaced the top seals on my Westy & went nuts fixing the luggage rack "HUM". When I first heard it, I thought I'd been hit with a helicopter! Finally got some clear 1/2" soft plastic tubing, cut several 1" pieces & inserted them over the front edge - noise gone. I don't know what the variables are between the original ( non humming) edging & the replacement - other than the use of aluminum for the clipping material - possibly less rigidity? Anyhow, it was an experience that wasn't generally reported by other users & I wondered what " I" had done wrong. Happy Trails - Max

83.5 Westy 93 EV GL

KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote:

> Well there was some debate about the luggage rack seals last week and I just > thought I would throw in my observations. I bought a full pop-top seal kit > from Go Westy (Gary Smythe) and installed it in a customers Vanagon. It is > an excellent kit and comes with one long seal with the bulb on it for you to > cut and install on the pop-top and luggage rack, along with the > "over-the-top-seal", lock tight sealant for this seal, and step-by-step > instructions. Really nice kit for $79.95 (I sell these same kits for the > same price FYI). Any way at the time a List member was here who had gotten a > pop-top seal kit from another list vendor (no names). He mentioned to me > that his seal kit had come with two separate seals, one for the pop-top and > one for the luggage rack, and that the front seal had no bulb on it. He > thought that this would cause problems with water retension, and I considered > his words. I almost cut the bulb off of the seal, but then I decided to > install it as-is and see what happened. > > I have had the oppurtunity to have this van here for about a month after we > installed the new seals (my helper did this following the instructions and it > took him 1 hr and it looks excellent). We have had many, many rains here > since then, including a major downpour last night. I have repeatedly checked > the luggage rack after these rains to see if there is any evidence of water > being held back under the rack and even after last nights deluge there was > none. The canvas and everything under the pop-top was dry as a bone this > morning (the ground was still wet). > > Having observed this, I called Gary at Go Westy to ask him exactly why he > uses one seal for his kits instead of two seals (as someone suggested that > the only reason to do this would be that you were unwilling to stock two > different seals). Gary said, initially he had sold the seal without the > bulb. But then he had gotten calls from several people that their luggage > racks were whistling going down the road or rattling. So he decided to test > using the pop-top seal on the luggage rack. After testing it for some time, > he determined that it eliminated any chance of wind noise and rattling, and > did not retain water at all. That is why he sells the kits this way. He > said that actually the stock front luggage rack seal is cheaper and he has a > bunch of it left over from when he used to sell it, but he refused to sell a > product that his customers could have a problem with down the road. > > This is the experience I have had with my dealing with Go Westy all along. > When I order something from them (as I do to help fill orders for camper > parts), I never have to worry about getting something inferior. > > This post is not meant to slam anyone or suggest that another vendor's > products are inferior. It is merely to clear up a misconception that these > seals are inferior to stock. They have been proven to be superior and I will > continue to sell and install these without any hesitation. > > Just FYI, > Ken Wilford > http://www.vanagain.com > John 3:16 > Phone: (856)-765-1583 > Shop: (856)-327-0027 > Fax: (856)-327-2242


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