Date:         Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:39:17 -0400
Reply-To:     Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: Nevada- A/C or No A/C?
Comments: To: Matt Drew <t3vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I lived in Okinawa Japan for 3 years.  Now that was a separate island in the chain of islands that make up Japan, but I believe that was the hottest spot in Japan, 80 degrees/ 80 percent humidity/ 80 percent of the year.
  I later lived in Phoenix, AZ for 12 years, and only had 4 vehicles with functioning AC (one of which was a late-model 9-pass Vanagon).  I drove old VW's/ Porsches mainly, none of which had AC!  Yes, it is like driving in a blast furnace on a hot summer day, but when you work outdoors, you get acclimated to it after a few years.  Also, a swamp cooler works great out there, most of the year.  You get the same cooling effect when you drive past a farm field.  I drove past corn, broccoli, lettuce, cotton on my 30 mile commute from Phx to Buckeye, to work as an aircraft mechanic for Airline Training Center.  On a side note, I later heard that this was one of the Pilot training outfits that trained some of the 9/11 hijackers.  We had students from all over the world.  
  I now live back 'home' in Uxbridge, MA and miss the huge VW scene and warm temps of AZ.  I'd like to retrofit AC to my '87 Westy GL; I'd prefer one of those front Behr in dash units.  
  I was thinking about the radio relocation required for those front in-dash setups.  I'd mount it overhead on an old overhead AC console, modified for the application.  You could source one from another junkyard custom US van, but, as some else said previously, a Vanagon one is made for this van and they are out there in some pick-n-pull yards cheap for the taking.

Mike B.



Mike B.

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Matt Drew 
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
  Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 2:15 AM
  Subject: Re: Nevada- A/C or No A/C?


  This is a good point - but keep in mind that the OR high desert and Reno
  climate are much more hospitable than that of Southern NV/Vegas.

  That being said, having lived in the single hottest city in all of Japan
  during a particularly hot summer, I can tell you (aside from the Bikram yoga
  classes that I'm taking) that I have never been more uncomfortable from the
  heat in all of my life than at that time.

  To a degree, it's all relative and dependent on what YOU are comfortable
  with.

  Still, humidity or no, 110 flat out sucks with no AC after too long...
  :o)

  --
  Drew, Las Vegas
  '90 GL "Blackbeard"


  I just went the opposite way, moved for a year from the Oregon high desert
  > (similar climate to Reno, Nv.) to Washington D.C. Not looking forward to
  > this summer.........