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Date:         Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:12:20 -0700
Reply-To:     Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Kens trip & can Westys climb mountains?
In-Reply-To:  <17838444.215445.1350485923121.JavaMail.root@vznit170176>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Dennis H. has warned about over-loading campers for years. Common mistake for most vehicles. Then drivers expect their shocks, brakes and steering to save them when they take corners too fast or cannot stop in time. People expect way too much of physics....

Steven J. 91 Westy

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 7:58 AM, David Bjorkman <ddbjorkman@verizon.net>wrote:

> I have to agree with Ken. When I took my roadtrip this past June, with > a new inline 4 from FAS, I packed to the gills. About 5000 lbs, and the > max is 5500. I should have left most of those canned goods home and went > shopping more. Weight absolutely makes a major difference in performance, > as does altitude. > > Dave B. > > > On 10/16/12, kenneth wilford (Van-Again)<kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET> wrote: > > We actually sold an 88 Westy that we had for several years, and then used > the money to buy a 34ft 95 Fleetwood Bounder motor home. This is because > we have four kids that are medium sized and we were going on a month long > trip. I knew that there was no way we could fit all of our stuff and six > people into a Westy camper and not try to kill each other over the course > of a month. We needed some elbow room and the Bounder gave us that. It > wasn't the biggest, baddest MH out there as at has no slide outs, and wasnt > the size of a tour bus. Actually Dennis Haynes recommended for me to get > the Class A motor home and I followed his advice. I used our Vanagon > camper for shorter trips that were just my wife and I. If I were doing > this trip in the future with just the two of us I think we would be fine in > a Westy. However because we had the extra people, we needed the extra room. > > As far as taking those mountains in a Westy is concerned, I can chime in > because I have done a similar trip to this one in a Westy with three > people. The biggest problem most westy owners have is treating their Westy > like a much larger RV. They want to take all of their toys along and also > max it out on people. I have customers coming in here that want me to > install center two person bench seats in their Westy so they can seat six. > They load every single cabinet up with stuff and then put stuff on the top > on racks, and then tow a trailer behind. This isn't a very good plan. If > you are going to take a nice trip in your van, less is more. You need to > evaluate exactly what you need and then try to take the bare minimum of > that. You want your Westy to be safe and part of that is being below the > Max Gross Vehicle Weight. Most Westy owners never look at that sticker, > they never think of it, but if they ever actually weighed their vans fully > loaded they would be pretty shocked. I have had them come in here loaded > down to the point that you can actually see the van sagging down under the > weight, packed full to the point were there is only enough room inside to > sit but not actually move around. > > So don't overload your Westy, I would say four people is the max I would > take on a trip longer than a few hours or one or two overnights, and you > will enjoy your van much more. Maxing it out is going to make it that much > slower, and wear out that much faster. You could even have problems > stopping going down the long downhills that always follow the long up > hills. Read the owners manual, believe what is says, follow it, and you > should have a better experience. Just my two cents. > > Ken Wilford > John 3:16 > www.vanagain.com > > > > >


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