Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:27:28 -0500
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Re: Canvas Replacement
In-Reply-To: <44260917.8050806@kookymathteacher.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> Can anyone steer me in the right direction to the best canvas
> source. There is alot out there and would love your opinion.
Actually there are very few out there, but sold by a number of people.
Virtually every retailer besides us sells the identical poptop canvas, made
by a U.S. company who has been doing these repro's for a number of years. So
nearly anywhere you buy, from big retailers or small, you will actually
receive the identical canvas. We are the exception. We import virtually
all of our poptop canvas from Europe (some of it from the original supplier
to Westfalia), so it's a totally different product.
The U.S. repros are decent quality, but particularly stock looking. The make
them in cotton or acrylic ("Sunbrella"). Their cotton version is a rough
textured material that is sturdy but nowhere near stock looking. Their
Sunbrella canvas is much pricier due to the cost of the material.
Sunbrella's main market is boating applications, where their claim to fame
is that if you leave it exposed to extreme direct and reflected sunlight
over a long time (such as on a boat in the water) it won't fade. While the
Sunbrella looks closer to stock than the cotton, and is certainly excellent
quality material, I think it is unneccessarily expensive for use as a poptop
canvas. The no-fade feature (which accounts for much of Sunbrella's cost) is
not so important on a Westy, whose top will not be exposed to constant
sunlight all day every day as on a boat. Also this material is a bit
stiffer, making it harder to fold the canvas when closing the top. (Note, I
believe there is also a hemp blended version but I can't comment on that
having never seen it.)
As for fit, the U.S. supplier supposedly used original canvas as their
template. I have heard this verified by other sources as well. But oddly, I
have also seen with my own eyes that the canvas is just slightly small,
causing it to be taut in places. As an example, I have a wholesale customer
who restores Busses, and when he used to use the U.S. made canvas, he would
buy Vanagon canvas to use on his '74-79 Busses, because he said the Bus
canvas was a bit too tight and the Vanagon canvas fit it better. If the
canvas were properly sized, a Vanagon canvas should have been much too big
for a Bus. One advantage that the U.S. repro has is that they added side
windows with screens, which VW should have done in the first place, to add
additional ventilation.
A number of years ago, I embarked on a search for a better poptop canvas.
Not that the U.S. repro was bad, mind you, but I thought I could do better
for the price. After about a year's worth of effort, I ended up with two
different alternatives.
First I started carrying canvas from the original supplier to Westfalia in
Germany. They had already been making replacement Vanagon canvas, but only
in the stock one-window configuration. I wanted the original fit/finish,
but liked the 3 window idea, so I had the factory add side windows to their
original canvas, and started importing it. This canvas looks, fits, and
lasts better than anything else you can buy; after all, it is OEM. I have it
in both tan and gray.
I then went a step further and sent a sample of the OEM canvas to an
aftermarket company in Europe, asking for a quote on a good quality
reproduction. What I got back was susprisingly close to the original, in
both look and fit. Slightly different shade of tan, and the side windows
are a tad smaller, but other than that you'd be hard pressed to tell them
apart unless you saw them side by side. They still look far closer to stock
than the U.S. one, they fit better, and they are much cheaper. I have these
available in both a 3-window version and an original one-window version for
the budget conscious (just $179). I have been selling these for years now
and not had a single complaint about quality, fit, or finish.
With these alternatives available, I saw no reason to carry the more
expensive U.S. canvas anymore, so now I sell it only as a special order
(i.e. custom colors or if someone must have Sunbrella). For the vast
majority of people, the European canvas is by far the better bet. The
European aftermarket one is cheaper than the cotton U.S. repro, fits better,
and looks closer to stock than even the U.S. made Sunbrella one. The OEM
one is simply the best you can buy at any price, and is priced comparably to
the aftermarket Sunbrella canvas.
You can find info on our exclusive poptop canvas and seals at:
http://busdepot.com/details/canvas.jsp
And a complete listing of Vanagon poptop canvas options and pricing at:
<http://busdepot.com/view.jsp?model=43&category=40&group=94&prodgroup=909>
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
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