Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 19:48:35 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: Ideas for lifting water into the Westy water tank?
In-Reply-To: <462AC346.1010507@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Mike, in the last 20 years I have probably logged over 500,000 miles in
watercooled Vanagons. I'd guess 75,000 miles of that was while also
towing something behind it. If your vehicle is in such marginal shape
that an additional 100 pounds in additional weight puts it at risk of
not making it somewhere then you have no business taking it on such a
long trip.
In all that time and all those miles I never wished I had left 100
pounds behind, other than perhaps a passenger here and there who was too
much of a PITA. Many times I was glad I had extra water along. Several
times I was sorry I didn't have more water on board. Several times other
people who overheated on a major grade were glad I stopped and offered
some of my water.
With all the extra crap I and others carry along sometimes, carrying the
water I expect to later use hardly seems wicked. Most of my traveling is
done where water is precious.
Mark
Michael Elliott wrote:
> BA typed:
>
>> On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:43:49 -0700, you wrote:
>>
>>> I think you guys are nuts. At home before a trip I drain and then FILL
>>> the tank at a store with one of those purified water machines outside.
>>
>>
>>
>> And (with all due respect) we think y'er nutz. :-)
>>
>> Serously, the thing is that we're (in SoCal) generally moving water
>> from approximately 500' elev. possibly down to approx. 200' below sea
>> level and then as high as 7000' feet. That's our geography. And
>> water is heavy. So it's worthworthile to optimize water haulage.
>>
>> If we were still in the (relatively flat) midwest we probably would
>> pre-fill the water tank and not worry about where to get water.
>
>
> Yeah.
>
> Now using the reducto ad absurdum method, I think we -- flatlanders as
> well as those of us who have to deal with big elevation gains -- might
> all agree that plunking a two-ton weight in the van prior to climbing
> 5,000 feet in hot weather would likely result in some kind of failure in
> a 1.9L's engine or cooling system (setting aside handling, suspension
> and tire issues). And most might agree that a well-maintained,
> low-mileage 1.9L Vanagon with no additional weight would have a really
> good chance of making that climb. In betweently, it seems to me that
> there is some point where 51% -- a majority -- of Really Smart Vanagon
> Owners ("RSVO" -- someone like you, dear reader) might hesitate before
> adding an additional 100 lbs (45kg) of dead weight. No sense pushing the
> odds, after all.
>
> ...........
| 
