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Date:         Fri, 29 Aug 2003 07:23:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Jeffrey Earl <jefferrata@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeffrey Earl <jefferrata@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Full Westy vs "Weekender" Pop-Top Westy
Comments: cc: mart1nez@PACBELL.NET
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

As the satisfied owner of a 1983 full-package Westfalia, I guess you could call me a happy camper. Like the original owner, we use ours strictly for travelling and camping, and cook perhaps 2/3 of our meals in it (the rest being in local diners and restaurants). Pancakes or omelets with Spam (mmm-m) in the morning, soup and sandwiches for lunch, and stew or rice/pasta dishes in the evening, often accompanied by a small chilled bottle of pinot noir or a fine malted beverage.

Unless it's buggy or rainy, we usually adjourn to the picnic table for dining alfresco, then do all our post-meal cleanup at the Westy sink. Once all the dishes are washed and neatly stowed away, the interior quickly becomes our living room, with some music and ample reading lights. Ahh, life is good ...

Analyse your own camping needs/desires, and choose accordingly. Without the stove, sink, and fridge, how will you achieve the same level of comfort? Some prefer to cook on a campfire or Coleman 2-burner stove, wash their dishes at the squeaky hand-pump, and keep their food in cardboard boxes and stadium coolers. But by the time you pack all this cargo into the spacious Weekender, it soon becomes more cluttered and less spacious. Not to mention the perpetual packing and unpacking, fiddling with the stove and fuel, fetching more water for cooking and cleaning, and heroically rescuing your block of cheese from the deadly tropical waters of your cooler.

By comparison, the full-Westy offers a well-designed interior much like that of a good sailboat, with snug latched cabinets, stove and fresh water each available at the turn of a knob, and a fridge that will perpetually STAY cold for weeks at a time. Then it all stows tidily away to hit the road. After a couple nights backpacking or paddle-camping, I find returning to the Westy is positively luxurious.

Personally, without the camper package, I see little purpose for a Vanagon.

"Mr. Sulu, set flame-deflector shields to maximum power!"

Jeffrey Earl 1983 diesel Westfalia "Vanasazi"

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