Date:         Wed, 1 Nov 1995 16:08:17 -0300
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         johnny89 <johnny89@io.com>
Subject:      My Halloween Nightmare (sympathy story-long)

Greetings fellow enthusiasts!

I'm new to this subscription list (long time lurker of vw newsgroup, etc.)
I recently quit my job on Wall Street and moved to the wonderful world of
Austin, TX for some RnR, so I aqquired myself a '71 transporter from this
sweet girl I'm dating (cash on the barrelhead...never mix business with
pleasure!)

Anyway, what started as a "simple brake job" has turned into a "now I have
the steering column, windshield motor, air vents, front seats, fuse box,
dashboard, sunroof, etc. in my garage"...

BTW--I'm not a pro mechanic, I'm just stubborn and I love VWs...

Anyway, it never really rains down here in Texas...of course, it rains once
in a while.  And becuase the previous owner of this bus never took care of
it...I mean _never_ took care of it...I took the sunroof off some time ago
when it was clear and sunny...

Like I said, it never really rains in Texas, so the sunroof thing was never
a big deal.  One day it drizzled for ten minutes, so I had to get out the
wet/dry vac and vaccumm up the puddle in the cargo/pass area.  I then took
a large piece of cardboard and duct-taped it up there, just termporary
like, so I could go shopping for parts, etc.  It didn't rain since...and I
kept telling myself to "fix the damn roof, idiot...one day it's going to
rain HARD..."

Well, Halloween rolls around and the other night it had rains HARD.  There
was a large puddle in the cargo area and the cardboard roof patch was
soaked.  Not going to panic, I again got out the 3HP wet/dry vac and sucked
up all the water.  Unfortunately, all the rust I had treated was ruined, so
I would have to prime it for real when it got dry...my biggest worry was
those small holes in the floor...I didn't want water to seap into the big
pan under the bus and rust it out one day...but the damage was done...

It was going to continue to rain so I looked in the garage for some
plastic.  As luck would have it, my wilderness-type sister had a large
industrial-type tarp, which I immediately grabbed and draped over the
bus... a perfect fit! I sat in the bus with the tarp on (the bus) and it
was very cozy.  I knew she was now safe from water damage...or was she?  As
I sat in there with the rain dripping all around me, I noticed the window
was leaking into the door...and that the little windows in the cargo area
were leaking...damn rain...

I went inside for a moment, contemplating my next repair move, and when I
got back outside, the tarp had blown off the bus! Damn! I forgot to tie her
down!!
Quickly I got some bungee straps and some rope.  Unfortunately, when I
moved the tarp across the roof, a large puddle of water landed into the
cargo area...with a sigh I went to the garage and got the wet/dry vac...

The bus looked nice and snug so therefore I took off to a Halloween
party...thinking everything was fine...
We were out until one o'clock, and returning home there was a major, I mean
MAJOR thunderstorm.  It was a good night to be inside, 'cause you couldn't
see one foot in front of you with all the rain.  Dangerous, too.  And it
lasted a LONG TIME.  Boy, was I glad to get home...???

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! The wind had blown the tarp back again!  The rope I
used to tie the front down had come undone (a ghoulish prankster, perhaps?
I really tied that thing down, damn it!)  This time, the wet/dry vac was
out of the question.  I think I saw a school of Cod swimming around the
cargo area...anyway, it was late, it was still pouring, so I fixed the
problem the best I could with another bungee cord and a towel.  I don't
think the towel helped very much...

I haven't gone out to look at the damage yet... I'm afraid....I'm VERY afraid!!

The moral of this story kiddies...do it right the first time!!!

Happy Haloween everybody!!

Johnny