Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 11:29:08 -0800
Reply-To: Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Subject: Re: Westy height ? Garage door openings
In-Reply-To: <001801c087c4$f2c96ac0$68056c84@mastec>
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At 1:22 PM -0500 1/26/01, Tim Hannink wrote:
>I have had mine in parking ramps that say they are 6'8", but I don't try it
>unless I don't have any choice. Most of them usually have a sign hanging at
>the entrance at the minimum height. I drive very slowly, watch my antenna
>and park in the closest spot I can find.
Friday fun with westies and vehicle height:
Realistically, my experience has been that a westy is just a titch
under 6'8". That's certainly been the case for my '76 westy
standard, '76 westy deluxe, and also my '82 diesel westy.
Overall vehicle height is an important issue where I live, which is
on an island accessible only by ferry. BC Ferries charges
"overheight" (a substantial additional cost in the ferry fare) for
any vehicle over 6'8" on the Bowen Island run. They have a little
electric eye thingy at the toll booth you drive by (and *under*,
hopefully), just a few feet before the point you pay. It's set at
exactly 6'8"--if any part of your vehicle is above 6'8", it trips the
electric eye switch and alerts the toll booth person, who then
charges you a whole lotta extra money.
There are a lot of westies here on the island (which is funny, given
that only about 2,500 live on the whole island), and all of then are
underheight. Even syncros, although they have taken care to keep the
ride height down. Even a low strap-on roof rack or low box in the
luggage rack will put you above 6'8".
I will take my westy into parking garages marked 6'8" without too
much trepidation. I'll even go 6'7" or 6'6" if there's a way for me
to bail if it's too low. Usually, the overheight sign at parking
garages is a tad conservative, or refers to only one particularly low
part of the lot, so if you watch the roof and avoid the lowest parts
of the garage's ceiling you'll be okay. I am tall enough that I can
drive (slowly) with my upper body sticking out of the window (butt on
window sill), and actually steer and watch the entire roof for
clearance problems. Watch it, though: since the top of my head then
becomes the highest part of the rig, I've been clocked in the head a
few times by low hanging pipes or cement work. That's none too
comfy, and rather embarrassing since driving a bus while sitting on
the window sill can attract some attention... :-/
I've yet to bump my roof in a low clearance place. Oh, don't go up
ramps when the clearance is really tight--the nose of the bus lifts
when the engine pulls or the clutch engages hard, and that could make
you tap the roof. It's also *really* difficult to control the foot
work in that kind of crazy driving position.
Funny Bowen ferry story:
------------------------
I remember once being behind a full-sized american van at the toll booth.
Ouch #1: Suddenly the driver angrily leapt out of his van, climbed up
his front door onto the roof, stomped towards the rear, grabbed his
roof vent with both hands, and physically *tore* the vent right off.
With his bare hands.
Ouch #2: In the rain.
Ouch #3: His vent had put him just an inch overheight.
Ouch #4: While docking on the other side on the same trip, the piece
of plywood he'd placed on the top of his van to keep the monsoon out
of his interior blew off, hit my bus, and broke my windshield wiper
clean off (obVanagon).
Ouch #5: He paid more for the wiper arm and blade than the overheight
charge would have been.
Ouch #6: The 6'8" figure is an historic artifact that BC ferries
still uses on our run to boost revenue. Our current ferry has over
14' of vertical clearance throughout the entire car deck. The old
ferry--in which all but one lane really is 6'8"--hasn't been on our
run for five or six years, at least!
T.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley Bowen Island, BC, Canada 49deg 23'N-123deg 19'W
'82 Westfalia 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell =============
'99 daughter Margaret /_| |_L| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi {. .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT 7,400 km ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/
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