Date:         Fri, 29 May 1998 14:21:43 EDT
Reply-To:     Ssittservl@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Cup holders
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

>  From:        ghamburg@VOM.COM (ghamburg)
>
>  Any suggestions for a cup holder for an 84 westy?

For my '88 Westfalia, I ordered 4 folding cup holders
from Camping World (www.campingworld.com) for
about $5 each.  They look a lot like the cup holders
I've seen in non-Westfalia Vanagons.  They attach
to a vertical surface.  When folded, they're about 3
inches square by 3/4 inch deep.  To use them, the
front folds down (forming a little "floor"), and a pair
of adjustable arm folds up (to hold the cup).  They'll
hold about any size cup.

Using double-stick tape, I attached one on each side
of the automatic transmission shifter housing up front,
one to the right side wall just rearward of the sliding
door, and one on the left sidewall just over the rear
table but below the window.  They have worked out well.

The backs of the cup holders really don't have a good flat
spot for the double stick tape, so I used multiple layers.
If I had it to do over again, I'd skip the tape that's included
with the cup holders, and use the extra-heavy-duty 3M
double stick tape that says it's for "permenant" mounting.
The cup holder on the right wall fell off once, and using the
extra-heavy-duty tape seems to have fixed it.  The ones on
the shifter housing look a bit precarious, but they've held up
fine - possibly because they're attached to nice hard plastic
rather than the softer wall material.  The one on the left wall
is unlikely to fall, because it actually sits on the table when open.

I've seen very similar but somewhat less expensive cup holders
at K-mart, but the backs of those are even less flat and
might be even harder to attach double stick tape to.  Of course,
probably the smart thing is to just screw or bolt the things into
the walls, but I just didn't feel like making holes in my walls.

I've seen Vanagons with a pair of these cup holders attached
the left side of the "box" that the passenger seat sits on.
They block the aisle a bit when open, but if you don't mind
that then that seems like a good location, too.  You could
also stick them to the front doors, but I couldn't find a good
spot - the cup holders always got in the way of the window
crank, or the arm rest, or something.

                                              -Steven