Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 22:28:59 -0800
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Reality Check on New & Better VW Campers
In-Reply-To: <4cf06cba.0f8de50a.1dbb.6c3c@mx.google.com>
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Just spend some winter time around the US desert southwest...Yuma,
Phoenix, Tucson, Quartzite, Havasu....You will see where that type of
vehicle fits in. And they tend to have the 'bigger than thou' attitude. I
especially like the ones branded "ALPHA" that are about 45' long and 10'
tall with 4 slide out rooms. I saw one towing a Humvee. When you go into a
park full of those it is simply amazing.
You will see more spent income value in few acres of motor homes in
Quartzite than in my whole home town of Lyle, Washington...
I heard a lady complaining that her Prevost had too small a washer
drier...she wanted a bigger one..."Uhh, lady, I don't think they come any
bigger than a Prevost"
Oh well...It does kinda make me laugh when I see Mommie and Poppie sitting
like little toy poodles in the big glass windshields of their 40+' Alpha
with the Hummer in tow.... driving around California. I hear you aren't
even allowed a 2.5 liter Subaru motor swap to your vanagon because of
emissions, but it's ok to drive that rig?.... I bet their Onan generator
alone pollutes as much as the Vanagon...
Don Hanson
On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 6:27 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> 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
>
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