Date:         Mon, 5 Dec 1994 09:14:23 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         tauxejd@ornl.gov (John Tauxe)
Subject:      freezing

>I have a 77 campmobile.  Its lots of fun as long as the temp is over 40.  
>Anybody got some suggestions on how to heat this thing.  Most of the 
>heater parts are new.
>george McCabe

Yes.  I have a 76 camper.  My solution was to hang a curtain of thick
plastic behind the front seats, in effect isolating the cab from the rest of
the van.  At first, I used a plastic painter's tarp, but it was hard to see
throuth.  The best plastic is this really heavy (almost 1mm thick) very
clear stuff that a restauranteur friend used to cover tables with.  It comes
in a 4' wide roll.  I cut two panels from it, and installed snaps (get a
snap tool from you local boat shop or fabric store or good hardware store)
in overhead where there was a series of small screws marching right across
the roof, and matched them in the plastic.  One panel hangs behind the
driver's seat, and the other overlaps by several centimeters and extends
over to the sliding door.  It hangs down far enough that I tuck it under the
carpet.  The only tricky part was the 'dart' I had to make to get it around
the passenger seat headrest.  
In addition, I sealed off the vent which feeds the back of the van in the
floor just behind the fronts seats.  
It still takes a while to warm up, but then it gets quite toasty.  
Good luck.
 - JT
   John Tauxe     tauxejd@ornl.gov     Oak Ridge National Laboratory