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Date:         Sun, 21 Apr 1996 09:55:08 -0800 (AKDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Dyen Fred D." <fffdd@aurora.alaska.edu>
Subject:      Country Homes Poptop

Derek:

We have a 1984 Vanagon Wolfsburg (weekender) that I had the Country Homes Pop Top installed on in 1986. Country Homes has two options for the Vanagon. One is the poptop - takes them 4 hours to install. That gives a top that covers 75% of the roof and lifts straight up. It provides for an upper bunk that sleeps two. The canvas is double thick and insulated (a must for my family here in Alaska). Additionally it is openable in the front (with both a screen and access to the roof above the driver and front passenger area). Both sides open as well to screens providing considerably more ventilation than the Westy. You also can sleep in either direction.

I carry 6 bicycles (one a tamdem) when we travel as well as a tent, bicycle helmets, and a Burley (bicycle trailer) - all on the outside of the van. This would not be possible with a Westy - at least not over the Alcan or the thoroughfares that pass as roads here in Alaska, without destroying the top. With this setup, we can set up the van for sleeping without removing the bicycles.

A second option that Country Homes offers is a removable camping unit that slides in - in place of the middle seat. Takes about 20 minutes to switch from passenger mode to camping mode. This is one option I elected not to purchase.

Our vanagon is equipped to seat seven and sleep 6 (with a hammock over the front seats. While we have slept seven in the van, it works better with the eldest of our five kids off at college. For my family, the Country Homes poptop has worked out far better than a Westy ever could. It has survived -60 degrees below, numerous trips up and down the Alcan, and has been a daily driver in the far North since new.

We first found out about the Country Homes poptop from a Conneticutt family that was touring the contry and had been visiting Fairbanks. I followed their van around town for half hour or so until they stopped. Asked if they could show me the poptop and they had their 10-year old son give me the demonstration and sales pitch. That was all it took.

Fred 84 Vanagon


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