87 Westy Weekender Propex Installation

[slownsteady]

With winter fast approaching I recently completed my Propex installation. Happily it works exactly as advertised and is a pleasant addition to my Westy. Below is how I did the installation and hopefully others will find the ideas useful & relevant to their decisions of where and how to locate the components of the Propex heater.

My Westy is an 87 Weekender. As such it did not come stock with a propane tank however it does have the jump seat with base. After first deciding I wanted a Propex heater I then had to decide exactly where to fit it. I scoured previous posts looking at the options - under the van, behind the passenger seat (building an enclosure) or under the rear bench (either in place of the rear heater or next to it) all seamed to be the options most have chosen for their installations. As a Weekender doesn't have the sink cabinets, mounting the Propex there wasn't an option for me. Ultimately, the above options weren't right for me and I chose to mount the Propex inside my jump seat base. It fit like a charm, is unobtrusive, left plenty of room for storage and the heated air enters in a central location in the interior.

For the installation parts of the interior needed to be removed - jump seat, floor & carpet and rear bench seat front panel. This was necessary as drilling into the floor is required (Propex Intake, Exhaust, Propane line and the two additional mounting holes for the Propane Tank). In total - 5 holes. Its critical to measure, measure and remeasure before drilling as you can only get it right once. I went as far as to sit the Propane tank inside to ensure the mounting holes were located correctly. I also checked both the inside and underside to ensure I had taken everything into consideration. Then, after measuring, marking, and center punching the locations, I started with a pilot hole and progressively went to the size hole I needed. Below are some pics as I progressed -

Propane Tank Mockup after interior removal

This was to ensure the 2 holes needing to be drilled aligned properly with the propane tank supports.

All of the Propane tank support bolts were installed and the propane tank was then fitted to the underside and secured.

The Floor board and Carpet were reinstalled with the Propex Intake / Exhaust / Propane Gas lines mocked up

Inside photo -

Underside photo -

Note - I drilled the holes in the bare floor for the intake / exhaust / propane lines before reinstalling the floorboard, then reinstalled the floorboard and from the underside,drilled through the floorboard / carpet. This ensured the holes were exactly aligned.

The next step I needed to do was prepare the location where the Propex would actually be mounted in the jump seat enclosure. First I needed to mock up with installation before drilling -

Once I was satisfied everything would fit (heated air plumbing, propane line, and the intake and exhaust lines), I drilled into the jump seat base making a hole large enough to fit the heated air duct.

As you can see in the photos below, the underside of the Propex is a little snug, but it works and importantly, the exhaust line stay's off the floor -

Next on the agenda was the control unit. I looked around at the different options of where to mount it and decided I liked the look of it next to the table just behind the jump seat cup holder. I was careful and drilled a pilot hole and progressively went larger until the hole size allowed for the cable connector to be fished through. The cable was fished from the bottom right of the panel where a small hole was cut. The cable disappears behind the jump seat at the wall and a hole was drilled into the metal side of the jump seat base. This allows the control cable to go from the control unit across the panel through the jump seat base and to the Propex heater itself. Here are some pics -

Hole in the panel for the controller cable :

Lower hole in the panel for the controller cable :

Lower hole in the jump seat base for the controller cable :

Completed Controller installation :

Completed Propex Intake Exhaust and Gas Line Installation photos:

And finally the distance photo of the jump seat and controller :

Lastly, all is not perfect and one minor hiccup :

The seat doesn't quite clear the controller. It's not a big deal for me and with the seat strap adjusted correctly, the seat can be set to not open enough to rub the controller knob and yet still be vertical allowing full access to the base and it's contents.

Lastly, I installed a battery operated smoke and CO2 detector to the ceiling above the rear bench seat (the floor of the upper bed) as an added safety measure.

It wasn't hard to install the heater, though it did take some time. I had the opportunity to use it recently in 30 degree temps and couldn't be more pleased. Hopefully this post will help others make their own decisions as to how and where to mount their heaters.

[Yondermtn]

Nice write-up. How's it work?
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1977 Westfalia 2.0FI 4spd
1990 Multivan 2.1 Auto

[Fuzzyip]

It looks like you used the externally mounted model but put it in the interior? any particular reasons why you didnt use the interior 2000 model? thanks for the detailed writeup!

[slownsteady]

Thanks for the comments. The Propex HS2211 works great and heats up nicely. The reason I choose this model is it's the latest generation and has a few improvements over the older ones, not to mention it's a little quieter due the internal insulation. All told, I'm happy I added it to my Westy.

[joetiger]

Nice work!

I'm about to pull the trigger on Propex in my Weekender, but was thinking I'd mount the tank on the passenger side and the heater underneath on the driver's side.

Thanks for the write up, it definitely makes me ponder how I want to set it up.
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Joe T.

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[danfromsyr]

tank on the passanger side is much more convenient for turning the tank valve on/off. so you'll do it more often.. and grumble less when you forget and want heat after you're in pajamas
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