I’ve been making lots of rough sketches, trying to figure out where to put everything for practical, aesthetic, and weight-distribution reasons. I really like the bed in the middle with cabinets to either side, but those cabinets would be only about 7″ wide so it’s probably not the most usable plan: A more careful measurement shows that there would be 9+ inches on either side, so this looks like the plan! Here’s a quickie photoshop visualization of what the bed area would be like with this plan (the right-foreground area would have a stove, not another sliding door. I was too lazy to photoshop out the ugly speaker arrangement from the donor photo): The other prime candidate is a partial mirroring of the usual westy layout, with bedside cabinetry running along the passenger side, the idea being to balance out the weight of the kitchen on drivers’ side. Picture the bed and bedside cabinets switched in this pic: Whichever way I go, cabinets will only go up to window level, to keep the excellent visibility and make the camper feel more open (except behind driver/passenger seats, where I can go a little higher without losing my view of other cars) Now you know why I’m a programmer, not a designer :-p

Jalousie window for the sliding door:

This one is not under serious consideration, but it’s fun playing with the plate configurator on the NY State DMV website:

My dog and her toys, chilling inside my toy.

The front left marker light/turn signal wasn’t working, so I grabbed a spare bulb and opened it up. Somehow, water was getting in there; the orange plastic lens let a few ounces out when I tilted it. There doesn’t seem to be a gasket between it and the body, will have to go hunt that down. Here’s what I found inside: Ewww! A $5 socket from the auto parts store brings me tantalizingly close to inspectable…I’m not anxious to tackle the horn, but it must happen soon…

Greyhound package express is totally the way to go for shipping big, unwieldy stuff. One and a half days to get a big package from Alabama to Brooklyn, and at a pretty reasonable price. Here’s the hardware and wood for the bed. The laminate on the visible part (with the door) is mostly good. There’s one big chip, so that’s where the heat vent will go. Only the bottom board is bad, but I just need that as a template for mounting the hardware; putting this bed in the Vanagon will require a totally custom bottom. The sides will probably only serve as templates too.
Preliminary fitting (ie, holding one part of the bed against the engine firewall and fantasizing about camping trips) suggests that the height will match up pretty well with the rear deck. (EDIT – HA! It’s actually a couple of inches high and I’ll have to build a short platform in the back, but that will make a nice storage space for the solar panel and other flat objects)
Not sure if the rear cushion will fit, it comes tomorrow, but overall the bed area should fold out to about 75″x46″. New covers will have to be made immediately; the 37 year old mucous-colored vinyl is not to my taste. Westy!

After owning two bays, it’s quite novel to have the good Vanagon heat. The rear heaters are prone to leaks after 20 years, however, which can create a nasty mess. Around my rear heater, the floor padding was moist and icky, and you could see the steam pouring up if you turned it on. (washer fluid has nothing to do with the heater) I found a reliably rebuilt rear heater pretty cheaply. When I’ve done the swap, I’ll assess my current one and maybe rebuild it and throw it up on ebay. I’ll also need to add some ductwork to use the heater under my “new” ’68 Westy Z-bed.

The rearmost seat turned out to be worse than I thought; someone had cut the metal frame apart and made their own wooden thing, which was primitive and coming apart. I harvested fabric for future repairs to the front and middle seats and took ‘em out. The backrest of the rearmost seat hinged on two studs into the wall. I removed the trim panel and tried to get a grip on the nut I expected to find on the other side. I could feel it, but it wouldn’t budge. Felt around again and realised it’s welded onto the frame. Removing the seat was easily accomplished by turning the studs with a pliers (click photo for larger version)

My antenna was snapped off at the base, and at $50 a proper OEM replacement is not at the top of my list. The solution? A fourteen-inch $12 flexi antenna from the local Strauss Auto. The base that came with this went into my “interesting parts for something” box, leaving the antenna with a protruding bolt on the bottom which screwed neatly into the stub of the old mast. I am trying to avoid bothering with “for now” repairs on this one, but you can’t drive in NYC without traffic reports from 1010 WINS. AM and FM reception is wonderful now.

Saturday was warm and dry – finally got something done! The previous owner had lost the door keys, and I suspect that’s why the left sliding window had no lock on it; that’s probably fine in rural Pennsylvania, but not in Brooklyn. The stupid little threaded pin thing that was missing of course cost $15, but it’s worth it to not have an unlocked car overnight. Parts:

Latch handle (original was intact):

Latch pin ($14.95 at gowesty.com)

Spring:

Dry fit the handle over the little hasp that protrudes from the window and move it into the down position. Window should slide freely. Try sliding it up when it’s over one of the little notches in the frame, and it should lock in. Move it to the front one, for the closed position, and see how well it fits. If you loosen (careful, they’re short) the screws holding the hasp to the window, you have a little play to adjust the positionfor a snug close. If your fit is fine, check those screws for tightness and make sure the gasket’s ok. To assemble the thing, you put the handle over the little hasp that protrudes from the window, fit a spring into the recess on top of the pin, insert the pin through the hole in the bottom of the handle…and then hold it in place for a minute wondering how you’ll ever turn the screw, which is now up inside the handle. You have about 1″ of space between the opening and a prodtruding bit of car interior, so it’s necessary to run off and fetch one of those screwdrivers with a 90 degree bend near the tip. You’ll want one as close to 1″ as possible, to clear the body yet go far enough up to seat the pin. Then have fun turning a flathead screw when you’re restricted to 180 degrees of movement, and that only if you press the tool into the fragile side panel or remove it. Brilliant but somewhat sadistic engineers they’ve got in Deutchland.