Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 20:18:31 -0700
Reply-To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Cat-Gard(tm)
In-Reply-To: <4d1b79350808011908i1ac47c2bh4ea3dd991da5f23@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Wouldn't it be easier to just flip the wipers out when you park? :)
On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 7:08 PM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't know if I'm the only person in the Vanagon world with this problem,
> but I'm betting not.
> My cats--particularly my biggest, heaviest cat--LOVE to regard the world
> from the Westy luggage rack, and that's fine. Many's the time I've seen a
> furry streak come across my windshield as I accelerate down my street. The
> trouble is how they get up there. They know they can jump to the wipers and
> scramble up from there. Coming down, the wipers also make a convenient
> stop.
>
> Needless to say, the Vanagon wipers were made to put up with a few
> raindrops
> and a little windshield drag, not the inertia of an obese, mindless cat
> going about its daily routine. My wipers all sag from time to time and my
> windshields are commonly streaked with muddy foot-pad prints. I have
> repaired a snapped wiper stud before, an act I would not care to repeat.
> The
> weight and velocity of the cats spell trouble for the little teeth on the
> conical stud that mounts the wiper arm base. This sort of thing can't go on
> indefinitely; something has to give. Cat-Gard(tm) puts the give on the
> cats,
> not the cars.
>
> The Vanagon's unique shape contributes the the problem by being what would
> be legally known as an Attractive Nuisance, like a swimming pool is to
> kids.
> Other cars do not require cats to use the wipers to get to the car's roof.
> The Vanagon cannot be scaled without the wipers, if you are a cat.
>
> My solution is Cat-Gard(tm): An apron of blue tarp cut to cover from the
> grille top to a few inches above the wipers and from A pillar to A pillar.
> I
> taped a strong magnet to each corner so that the Cat-Gard(tm) can be
> snapped
> into place easily.
>
> The Cat-Gard(tm) depends on the Cat Law of Uncertainly, kind of like our
> Heisenburg Principal of Uncertainty but having to to do with cats. In fact,
> the two are very similar in that you can know either the velocity of a cat,
> or the position of a cat, but not both. But I digress. Cats will not jump
> onto something they are unsure of, and the section of blue tarp makes the
> wipers invisible to cats--and they will not take the change of missing the
> wipers.
>
> So far, so good.
>
> Jim
>
--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
Crescent Beach, BC
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
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