Van feng shui (your interior)

[dhaavers]

^^^ Jack: info on your seat covers, plz?
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[atomatom]

we travel with kids too. we bring a real potty. if i was a small person, i'd be afraid of falling into the pit toilet too.

the thing that winds me up is car seats. they take up too much room. we wedge one in the drivers seat and one in between the front seats.

i hate doing the stuff shuffle when we stop. having bags you can easily move around makes that easier. right now we are at 5 bags, 1 rubbermaid, 1 cooler, 2 car seats. would love to cut that down.

[jackbombay]

[jacklndn]

jackbombay:

And what's the bar running under the table in your photo? It looks like a custom table.

Thanks.
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1986 Westy GL 4 spd

[jackbombay]

Yep, custom table, our van came with no table so I made this one, good for food prep too,


Link

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Gas struts to pop your top easily!
Pop Top strut kits now available for late Bay window Westies

Samba ad here.


DIY artificial rain gutters (ARGs)

[jacklndn]

[jackbombay]

[madspaniard]

I have two of these mesh storage pockets

http://www.busdepot.com/interior/interior-accessories/j12155

have not installed them yet, still thinking about best location, probably rear bench kick panel and cabinet doors
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1991 Westy auto w/ Peloquin TBD

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad” - Salvador Dali

[DAIZEE]

Picture of fridge front organizer and "elegant" head cover in my gallery (you have to get my sense of humor to get the elegance or perhaps I should say posh).

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'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[an86carrera]

DAIZEE:
[img][/img] is correct with your file location in the middle.
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Len
Current Vehicles
'84 Westy '95 2.2 Subaru
'08 Dodge 2500 diesel
'75 914

[photogdave]

Just copy and paste the forum code from your gallery.
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89 Syncro GL Westfalia 2.1 WBX/WBXaustSS

My Westy Movies:
photogdave On Vimeo
photogdave On YouTube

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[DAIZEE]

thanks for your help. sometimes brain farts just too much to deal with
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'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[j8]

Hey, those seat covers are cool. We use them. They require a cut alongside if you don't want to mess around with your armrests. You can get them at jcwhitney - i don't receive kickbacks - here. Or head to jcwhitney and search on X-Bound.

The storage is very handy.
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Julia
'89 2WD Westy (No end to names...)

[dubbified]

That is a bear bomb if I'm not mistaken on the fridge.. what a great use of space, and handy too!

Nice lookin pics on this thread!

[DAIZEE]

Yep a bear bomb, whistle hangs inside the slider.
_________________
'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[SpudlyHotPotato]

Our Engel fridge acts as a stool when inside the van. And our backseat table is permanently lifted, providing access to two temporary shelves all the time instead of just the tabletop. We don't use the closet for much other than storing a foldable table and a couple huge heavy coats, which helps. We have a couple places like this in the van, where we just store stuff that only comes in and out at the beginning and end of the trip, so that if access is blocked to that door otherwise, no big deal.

One real feng-shuier for the interior was the rooftop pod. It holds two camper recliner chairs, a small ladder and a bag-toss game, etc, freeing up space inside the van during the drive. While we were capable of hauling these things around before the pod, it ruined the interior feng shui considerably while underway. If the brakes were hit hard, stuff in the back seat would go flying and making noise. The foldable table is the blue tabletop below, the big recliner chair is one of the two that goes up in the pod.

For small stuff, Eddie Bauer was having a sale and I grabbed a cool toiletries container that zips up fully, but when unzipped open, has a metal hook that folds out of it. You can see it zipped up in the first above pic in the center, the little army green bag above the stove area. We hook that on the pop-top support bar while the top is popped. It provides quick access to things like deodorant, soap, toothbrush, sunscreen, tylenol, inhaler, whatever. It can be grabbed and taken to a shower and it doesn't take up any surface area. We also hang a little hammock full of tomatoes, oranges and avocados from that support bar - they get ripe and are easy to grab without getting smooshed by anything.

I also picked up some matching dark green duffel bags that zip up into themselves all tiny when not in use. One is dedicated to all dirty clothes, which keeps the interior organized and the clean clothes staying clean. We tend to roll the bedding up taco-like behind the rear seat when not being slept in, and use the top bunk for storage.

Underneath my plaid bag in the above pic is our folded portapotty. It's a snazzy thing from REI that's just a toilet seat with folding legs and a handle. You could use a white garbage bag with it but we have yet to do that. When in need, dig a hole, bury it and carry the toilet seat back. It folds up compactly and you don't have to carry back an unpleasant load.

We also bring a spare big sheet and lots of those super strong metal clamps from Home Depot. Too much sun or need for privacy? Hang the sheet from the awning with clamps. Need a new place to hang something from? Use a clamp like a hook, you can hang a damp towel off of it, a big floppy hat, whatever.

Limo tint for the whole backseat area is nice. Temperature control plus I can see out all day but no one can see in. You can just shut the door to change instead of hassling with closing and reopening all the drapes. I picked up a couple shower curtains that matched the van somewhat and hand-sewed in some large rare earth magnets. They work really well and provide snap-on general privacy screens for the whole back of the van if the hatch needs to be popped open for air flow.

It's not possible everywhere, but I think a main key to better feng shui was that awning and mad mats outdoor rugs. They fold up small and fit under the rear seat and effectively extend the living space to outside the slider door. Being able to walk barefoot all around the underside of the awning outside the van and skipping shoes altogether unless actually walking away opened up the space a lot. Shoes are big and it pushes their clutter outside the van. Shoes at the edge of the mat, not cluttering up the van interior, makes a difference. The interior floor never gets muddy or dirty. Ours is wood with a big brown shaggy bathroom rug on top of it. We can shake it off if it gets dirty, and no matter if it gets wet since it's a bath rug. The inside of our old tent from tent-camping days would get really dirty at levels that just don't happen anymore with this set-up. Though if you're in the sand, all bets are off. Someone in a thread here mentioned keeping all the family's shoes in a big plastic tub they slid underneath the van outside the slider. That sounds clever.

I first thought I'd change the upholstery from the flower powery stuff that was there when we bought it, but then it grew on me. So now when buying sheets, towels, plates or containers for the van, I just try to only buy matching colors or neutrals: dark reds, army greens, browns or tans. Even when there's tons of crap everywhere, it looks less cluttered if all the clutter is color-coordinated, I think.

At a camping store, I picked up this wheel shaped spice container, where the whole wheel is filled with different spices partitioned off around the circle. It takes some time to clean and refill that every so often but its nice to have a variety of spices in one. Always just one thing to grab and one thing to put back instead of a ton of spice jars everywhere. Also have a Cutco spatula spreader (I sold these in college) which has a cutting edge on one side, in the top drawer. Spreads PB&J, mayo, mustard and slices tomatoes and avocados with a very sharp edge. Gotta have a great knife. I'm fond of all-in-one types of kitchen tools.

While driving, the ash tray holds a smart phone nicely. Not a bad location if you're following a maps program or your speedometer breaks and you want to use a speedometer app to see how fast you're going.

We're lacking good cup holders and Recaro seats. I'm sure a Propex in the winter would count as good feng shui, and a portable mister system for the summer. Over the top maybe, but I would try it.

[childofthewind]

[climberjohn]

deleted . . .
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'86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often.

[syncromike]