Date:         Thu, 2 Mar 2006 12:22:47 -0500
Reply-To:     Michael Garcia <mjgarcia7@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Michael Garcia <mjgarcia7@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: vermont in winter

I lived in Vermont until recently with a '91 2wd GL converted to a camper
interior.  It can get crazy cold in the winter up there.  Winter camping
is always an adventure.

I have Nokian RS1's on 16" Go Westy rims.  They're great for the road
conditions up there.  Good in deep snow, great on the icy stuff, and
better stability all around.  I concur with one of the other posts I read
about beefing up the suspension system.

I put in a Plat Cat heater along with insulating every square inch of the
interior and it made quite a bit of difference when it got wicked cold.
My plan was eventually to put in a Webasto preheater to make it easier
starting the engine at -25F.  Instead, I moved to Phoenix.  Problem
solved!  Now, about the air conditioning....

Michael

On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 12:43:49 EST, Rob Infante <RobInfante@AOL.COM> wrote:

>I spent the past two weekends ice diving in vermont, and sleeping in the
>syncro westy afterwards.  It was brilliant!  I loved not worrying  about
a hotel,
>and the 4wd worked great on the snowy slippery hill we  parked on next to
the
>water, especially last Saturday when it snowed 4" or  so.  I had my -25F
down
>bag with me, even with the temps below zero every  night I was toasty as
can
>be.
>
>Given that degree of cold, would a propane heater really do much to heat
>things up?  I usually would just sit in the sleeping bag and stow all the
>curtains, then out for diving.  It would have been nice to crank up the
heat before
>getting up, but if it was going to take more than 5 or 10 minutes to  warm
>the bus it would have been wasted.
>
>Another question I have is about driving in high winds.  The second
weekend
>was better than the first, as I had another person and their gear with
me,
>but I was still being buffeted all over the place.  I had thought about
putting
>15" or 16" tires on, but would that make it even more unstable?   Its
pretty
>unpleasant.  Would more power have any effect? I was watching a  dodge
sprint
>package truck sail along while I felt the rooster on top of a barn,  and
>wondering why he could be so stable, narrow and taller as he is.  Any
ideas?
>
>regards
>rob infante
>'87 syncro westy
>boonton nj
>
>btw, last month I had written about my hesitation issues, and the general
>recommendation was to change the O2 sensor.  I did to no effect, and
finally
>had my mechanic sort it out.  He found the catalytic converter  clogged
solid,
>and changed it out.  It has never driven so well in the 10  months I've
had it,
>it goes up the steepest hills doing 50 and has great takeoff  and
>acceleration.