Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 21:27:40 -0500
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Reality Check on New & Better VW Campers
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimVBEjetcy3f1MMP0W3KNQVgZcCSGKQAtNJJ7nN@mail.gmail.c om>
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At 01:25 PM 11/26/2010 -0800, Loren Busch wrote:
>Mega Millions or Power Ball you can expect to see me in a 40' Land Yacht,
You can use some of those millions to hire someone to read the
manuals for you...my brother's 35' "diesel pusher" came with a custom
ballistic nylon briefcase twelve inches thick, filled with twelve
solid inches of manuals. Aside from knowing how to run things,
there's a maintenance schedule for the Allison six-speed automatic
transmission, there's a maintenance schedule for the Onan 12 kW
generator, there's an extremely stringent maintenance schedule for
the Caterpillar engine, there's a maintenance schedule for the
Freightliner chassis...he's been to Winnebago school, Freightliner school...
It's a very very serious piece of equipment. The cabin slides are
hydraulic, and they're *strong.* The leveling feet carry seven
thousand pounds plus each, and I've seen one punch a hole six inches
deep through an asphalt parking pad in a state park. It's about
twelve feet high IIRC, and just washing the windshield is a job. The
systems control panel is maybe eight inches wide and taller than a
man, and it's not full of empty panel space. That's for the
generator, inverter, furnace, air conditioners, engine-heated hot
water, electric-heated hot water, fresh water, gray water, black
water. And you have to (or at least he does) worry constantly about
tank capacity, pumpouts etc.
The interior furnishings are built with the expectation that it's
going to be driven on tip-toe, which he's only very gradually
realizing. I was on board when he tore the bathroom apart (somewhat)
going around a traffic circle. He's never ridden in the back, so he
has no idea what the passengers experience driving down the Skyline
Drive at five over the limit...
It has Corian countertops -- and barely enough excess load capacity
for passengers and some baggage. I bet its usable load capacity
isn't a great deal bigger than a Vanagon's.
It has acres of custom metallic gold-beige paint on acres of custom
panels that cost the earth if you dent one.
It gets around 5 mpg from a hundred-gallon tank of diesel that also
fuels the Onan. If you're not plugged into fifty-amp service
(including running down the road) you have to run the generator to
power the air conditioning.
With all four slides open it's enormous, and with them closed for
travel it's cramped. To level the thing and open the all four slides
when you stop takes possibly close to ten minutes. To close it all
up and pull up the feet somewhat less. The whole thing is as
discreet and inconspicuous as a Greyhound bus.
I admire the heck out of the thing, and you couldn't pay me enough to
own it or be responsible for it. For that much aggravation I'd have
a large sailboat instead, and I'd much rather have a smaller
sailboat. Similar length but a quarter or less as much space and
*much* simpler systems. And an engine a lot closer to 35 hp than 350...
Riding in it through the city I was very grateful for the smoked
glass -- I felt like a bloated plutocrat with the peasants outside
staring in in envious wonder.
Yours,
David
