Date:         Mon, 12 Aug 1996 07:30:24 -0700 (MST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vanbondo@primenet.com (Rusty VanBondo)
Subject:      '67 Westy FH Paneling followup (progress rpt.)

Thanks to gurus:
Claralw@aol.com, Bill Keating <willke@fullnet.net>, Roy Nicholl
<rnicholl@ASG.unb.ca>, tjparker@pacificnet.net (Tim Parker)

Hmmmm... Excepting Clara, the common ingredient within the thought process
was beer. Heh,heh,heh... Unfortunately, VanBondo is caught between paychecks
and had the audacity to pay all of the bills before buying the beer. =(
After the power went out on the entire west coast even ice cubes were in
question. ;-)

VanBondo's solution:
Two pieces, vertical grain, sleep at night (dreaming of beer after the next
paycheck).

Cut one piece 4' x 30.25" and cut a mirror image of the piece in the closet.
After a rough check of reference pictures taken at the SOTO meet (Ross
Harmon's 1HIPBUS) and installing the rear bench for a present time
reference, it was discovered that even if I cared at this point that only 4"
of the seam will be visible. The rear (forward facing) bench and the wood
support piece for the main deck table covers most of the seam. Also looks
like there is enough room behind the two pieces to glue a thin support piece
over the back side of the two pieces. The support piece will not start
exactly on the floor and will not go all the way to the top. It will be
glued into place *after* the wood is stained. I am still debating on using a
"Golden Oak" stain or just going natural and letting the sun yellow the varnish.



Overall progress:
12 hours in 115F Phoenix heat (Sunday)
-inside closed garage to avoid curious eyes of cleptomaniac trash apartment
"neighbors."
-inside closed garage to retain possesion of 13 year old snarky, overly
hyped, neurotic, blinding, hard of hearing, schnauzer, run-away dog,
"Neuroto". (No old boy, I really don't need you under my foot, NOW GO LAY
DOWN!!!!!!! ~again) <- repeat 1000 times a day.
-inside the westy with exposed pink panther insulation everywhere.

cutting and fitting all wooden paneling pieces for the bus. The wife
occasionally woke up from a 12 hour nap and crawled outside long enough to
tell me that I was sweaty/dusty and to ask why "It's taking so long?" I'm
just silly that way honey. (Grrrrr....) =)

BTW:
Main headliner piece appears to be 54 5/8" in front (FIF) and 55" in the
rear. The true 90 degree angles are on the passanger side. I triple checked
on two other old wood panels scavanged out of other campers. Getting the cut
around the rear part of the fresh air vent is a "special" treat that any
camper crafter ought to *really* look forward to. Copying the old panel
piece should work OK unless you desire a more custom/craftman fit. Mine we
pretty thrashed and added an element of excitement to each dimension.

Thanks again for the help!
VanBondo\