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Date:         Thu, 2 Sep 2004 10:44:27 -0700
Reply-To:     Tobin Copley <tcopley@SFU.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tobin Copley <tcopley@SFU.CA>
Subject:      MICE: points of ingress in cab area?
Comments: To: wetwesties@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Hi everyone,

I have a problem with mice getting into my diesel westy when camping at certain spots here on the wet coast. There *are* a lot of mice in the woods these days, and I suspect that as soon as they hear my westy come clattering along, they all look up with envy and want to stow away hoping for a run down the coast to a beach in Mexico or something. Or maybe they are just after the food.

At any rate, it seems my camper is one big mouse collecting machine. Last time camping on the coast, we caught 4 mice before we went to bed, and 5 more in the night. There were still mice left uncaught. They have the run of the place, and even run right over us while we are lying in bed. It's quite something. They only seem to come in at night. They do not stay in the camper, as we don't have any left in the vehicle when we get home.

They are getting in somewhere in the cab area. It's obviously a pretty easy route for them, because if we pull into a spot in the evening, we have a mouse inside within a half house of dusk every time. I see them popping out into the interior around the "accelerator" pedal, the far forward part of the centre console covering on the floor, and the shifter boot. There may be other spots they pop in and out, but I haven't been able to see.

So: where are they getting in? Obviously, I'd like to block off the entry points. Spots I can think of include:

1) The hole through the floor under the accelerator pedal. There's a little plastic cover screwed in on the underside of the floor to try to seal it off, but it's missing a couple of screws, and perhaps they are squeezing in there.

2) The shift linkage box under the floor under the shift lever. I don't know how to seal that off, or what kind of covering were stock from the factory.

3) The hole in the very far forward right hand side of the cab where the wiring loom that runs underneath the bus from the engine compartment enters the cab near the floor. Perhaps there is a rubber grommet or something missing there?

Anywhere else I should look? I'm looking for basically any through-the-floor (through-hull) fittings in the forward portion of the vehicle. At this point I seriously doubt they are getting in near the rear of the vehicle, but I *could* be wrong.

I'd bring a cat with me when camping in mouse country, but I can't stand cats. Then again, the mice are getting pretty annoying too...

Thanks for any help with this,

T.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Tobin Copley Vancouver, BC, Canada 49deg 23'N-123deg 19'W

'82 Westfalia 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky") '97 son Russell ============= '99 daughter Margaret /_| |_L| |__|:| clatter SPEED KILLS! [. = .| clatter! Drive a Vanagon diesel ~-()-==----()-~ ~ ~


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