Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:40:51 -0400
Reply-To: "kenneth wilford (Van-Again)" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "kenneth wilford (Van-Again)" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Kens trip & can Westys climb mountains?
In-Reply-To: <062701cdabd7$aea2de00$0be89a00$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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
On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 3:51 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>wrote:
> I guess that's why Rocky Mountain Motors is there! Does everyone run a
> Subaru? The WBX can't breathe at sea level very well either.
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Robert Stevens
> Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 12:15 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Kens trip & can Westys climb mountains?
>
> "Those guys in Colorado don't have anything over us in the NW! I took my
> worn out '85 up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park this summer.
> That's a 5200 foot climb from sea level in 17 miles."
>
> Not much of a comparison between starting at sea level and going only to 1
> mile high, vs starting at over 8000' and going to over 14000'.
> Ask your engine what it's like to try and breathe at altitude. It's where
> the power is lost due to the loss of molecular density.
>
> There are not many places in the NW that compare in altitude to what is
> everywhere, anywhere in the 3000 mile stretch of the Rocky Mountains, with
> a
> high elevation of 14,400'. McKinley is over 14K but you can't drive to that
> elevation. There are roads all over CO that reach elevations between 7500'
> and 14K' (about 49 at last count), and that low CO elevation is the
> topping-out elevation of 99% of all the high passes in the PNW.
>
> Length and steepness of grade is quite different when climbing between sea
> level to 5K, 6K feet, as compared to starting at 8k' and topping out at
> 14K'.
>
> I've driven a lot of miles in both environments (lived in PDX for 6 years
> and have been back many times), and have been in the Rockies since '79, and
> there is just no comparison.
>
> Horse power makes a big difference.
>
> Bob
>
| 
