Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:47:22 -0700
Reply-To: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Speaking of custom interiors...
In-Reply-To: <6bc66ccf0906291925u24c6108cm1fd99646aa78ee44@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
There are simple things you can do to keep a vanagon interior from getting
destroyed!Mind you My westy, wasn't always a westy....
but the donor van I used was in actually just about perfect shape, interior
wise. One of the things I do to keep it that way is store a few sheets of
cardboard under the rear cushion (I have the PERFECt sized boxes for this).
When I lay something down on the interior that may touch the kitchen
cabinets..... out comes the cardboard. If your putting a bunch of stuff in
the back behind the seat, take the cushion out and lay it up against the
kitchen unit, it fits perfectly.
The best thing i've done for durability though.....is my pergo floors!
I have hauled several tons of gravel in my bus (not all at once) and my
floors still clean up nicely. The Important thing I think I found is that
trying to keep the floors into a showroom shape is illogical....it's a
floor! Once you get past that and put a few scratches in it..... you'll
start using and finding just how durable it really is. Furthermore, it hides
the scratches very nicely (light colored pergo).
You don't "HAVE" to trash your interior just by using it!
: )
-Craig
'85GL turned WESTY
BOSTIG in the back
On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 7:25 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
> We did an exquisite and ultra-light interior in a custom 46' racing
> sailboat that the owner of the yacht yard, where I was lucky enough to work
> for a few seasons, built for himself (He was an owner of Albertsons,
> so money was not a factor) We did the bulkheads (partitions, for a house
> term) from Coremat, which is a hard but very light foam. Bonded some
> off-white formica to those bulkheads. Cabinets from the same materials with
> Lexan sliding doors. Fridge from hard foam, again covered with the
> formica.. Built the other 'furnishings' from various foams but we surfaced
> them with 1/8" baltic birch ply on which we ordered honduras mahogany
> veneers and edge all the door openings with Honduras mahogany as well. The
> 'headliner ' (called an "overhead" in a boat) we did with 1/8" closed cell
> foam on which we bonded some vinyl and held it in place with some alaskan
> yellow cedar 'celings', which is what you call the interior 'siding' of a
> boat.. The yellow cedar is nice and hard, quite light colored and pretty
> light-weight. Smells nice, too.
> We finished all the wood with a couple of base coats of Epoxy resin and
> about 4 coats over the top of that of marine satin varnish.
> That interior stood up very well to the total abuse that a race boat takes
> on long offshore races...14 guys living inside with dozens of wet sails,
> sea
> boots being tossed around, everything being 'shaken and stirred by huge
> seas
> and the walls sometimes becoming the floor...
> That kinda interior would be easy to build into a Vanagon...It only takes
> money..
> Don Hanson
> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 12:41 PM, Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@yahoo.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Something like this perhaps:
> >
> > http://www.vanagon.com/info/vehicles/lightweight_syncro_16.html
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM>
> >
> > If you're going to re-do the interior, what about using materials
> > that would stand up to the kind of abuse our vans get, something
> > lighter too? Granted, it would probably be cost-prohibitive, but what
> > about building the cabinets out of something like carbon fiber?
> > Thinner, lighter, stronger (more expensive) . . . You could
> > conceivably gain slightly more space and lighten the van
> > significantly, yah? Sure, it's kind of a crazy idea, but why not run
> > with the idea and see where it takes us? What about other materials?
> > Any materials scientists on this list? Other cabinet makers/craftsman
> > who have worked with unusual materials? Is fiberglass too tacky, too
> > damageable?
> >
> > Marc
> >
>
|