Folks, We have a 1989 Westfalia Camper GL that we bought in October, 2000. I've been using the information from the Vanagon Mail List since before we made the purchase - it's made owning a Westy possible for us. Thanks so much to all of you who have contributed to this incredible resource! We've been working to fix and improve our camper since the day we picked it up, but since we were such beginners, it was always easy projects. However, in the last year, we've added a Propex heater and a second battery. Of course, I got all the information on how to go about doing it from posts to the list, so there really isn't anything new in what we did. However, there is one aspect of our setup that is a bit different, so I thought I would share it in case it was of interest. Two years ago, we removed the Dometic propane refrigerator and replaced it with a set of shelves. The fridge worked, but I just didn't really take to it, and since it wasn't large enough to hold everything, I still needed a cooler. We found that one of the things we wanted most in the Westy was a place to store odds and ends, books, maps and so forth. So, the fridge came out and the shelves went in and all we use now is the cooler. We installed the Propex heater under the rear seat last fall, and by not having the fridge, we could just connect the propane line directly to the fridge propane line, which simplified things a little. Likewise, when we installed the second battery this spring, we removed the fridge relay and connected the wires to a new relay, which also made it easier. This made it quite similar to how the auxiliary battery works in Weekender version of the camper. I've been slowly adding information about the work we've done on the Westy to a web site (even the easy stuff). I have pictures and details of the Propex heater install here: http://www.gmavt.net/~clarkson/projects04.htm and the auxiliary battery install here: http://www.gmavt.net/~clarkson/projects05.htm These were definitely projects that we took on as amateurs. We may find that modifications are needed in the future, especially with the auxiliary battery setup. However, everything is working, and I did take a bunch of pictures of the heater installation, so I thought it might be helpful to other folks like us who are still trying to get through Westy maintenance 101! Brenda Clarkson |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.