Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia

[Wasted youth]

Fuel line... I use Gates Barricade Fuel Injection hose that is rated for ethanol blends. I get that from OReilly’s Auto. The FI hose from Autozone is absolute crap.

The difficulty in starting where you put two batteries in parallel (I hope) indicates to me that your wiring from battery to ignition switch then back to start solenoid is questionable. Some people eliminate this common problem with a “hot start relay” but both times I have experienced this, I fixed the problem by cutting back the wires enough to crimp on new quality lugs at all points. Verify also that your transmission ground strap is clean and tight.

[Spike0180]

Awesome trip. I hope to make a trip similar to this in my bus sometime in the near future. Ideally with my wife. We would drive to Toronto-NY-Maryland-Maine (for Lobster and a sunrise, which is the purpose of the trip)-back to New Hampshire-NY-Niagra-back to Detroit. I'm hoping it will be next year or the year after. But I have to finish the interior and finish up some little things on the bus first. I like your engine RPM's at highway speeds much better than mine, I might have to look into a freeway flyer. Or maybe just bigger tires.

Anyway, enough rambling, Awesome trip! Way to get out there and thank you for sharing. Those of us that don't have the resources (time and or money) currently thank you.
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[TomWesty]

[static]

I get quite weary reading non-stop posts about repairs and modifications written by the Tech-Weenie crowd. I am thrilled to see your photos and read about your trip.
It was great to read about someone using their Westy for what it was designed for.

Thanks for all the time and energy that it took to let the rest of us live vicariously thru your travels.

[Tcash]

[Abscate]

[Spike0180]

[justcruzin]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I enjoyed it and it reminded me of my favorite trip in my 70 bus when hubby and I went from Sacramento CA to Anderson Island WA, then to Whidbey Island WA, back to Sac. We went along the coast to Florence OR, then cut over to 5 to go to WA. Then back 5 to Sac. Loved that trip.

I love you box for your luggage rack and the way you access it. Can you take close up's of it? Would love to try to talk hubby into making something similar for my bus.
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Kim
Sacramento, CA

1964 Split Window Bus
1966 Beetle Build Thread= http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=472933
1969 Delivery Van= http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=566282
1970 Westy Build Thread= http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=479538
1971 Squareback Build Thread = http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6652459#6652459
1970 Single Cab, Samson = http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8022609#8022609

[Abscate]

[22manybugs]

Thank you everyone for the ideas and suggestions on the starting issue. I have to make some time to go through it methodically, these give me some places to start.

[Tcash]

I would suggest that when you are ready to tackle the Starting issue. You start a new Thread on that subject.
GD
Tcash

[vwwestyman]

Thanks for sharing your trip!

It's looking like a trip I had hoped to join in on won't likely work out for me this year, so I have to live vicariously through others!

I like both types of threads.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[sodbuster]

I blew the motor on my 71 a week after getting home from BBB. That was January. I humped through the rebuild and all the other stuff I did when I had it apart. I took pics and posted my work here on the samba. Then I dropped off the map. Why? because I was out using that sucker like it should be used. I went camping several times. went to Featherly park and Blackstar too! getting out to the eastern sierras next month to get a line wet and catch trout.

Why have I said all this? simply put I am going to vow here and now to post more of my travels in my bus. She's no "trailer queen" and I should document that fact more.
Thanks for posting up the great travel recap. I did a very similar trip in my bus back in 2005. The Columbia gorge was a big highlight. We drove the road down the southern shore to Portland. Great trip that year.

{In the California redwoods 2005.}

And funny thing also, I was in Yosemite with the family last week myself. We stayed at the Wawona hotel so the bus stayed home that trip. Love that place. My wife and I were married there and we go back every five years for our anniversary.

[Tcash]

Please do post your travels.
It seams all we ever here about is the breakdowns and I know there's Busses out there taking their owners on worry free adventures.
I don't get out much, but when I do I seem to forget to snap some pics.
I will commit to doing the same.
Safe travels
Tcash

[Abscate]

Across all Fora, the thread updates that make my day are sunnydogs family Bay, the Toaster, and Sanchius and Tuna. I enjoyed Emma and her trip, too.

I hope a Samba keeps attracting Both trips and experts on these vehicles.
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.ssS!

[22manybugs]

Ohmygosh, I almost forgot:

I never name any of my vehicles. But this bus introduces herself by name to everyone she meets. Check out the license plate in the photos.

Of course... her name is "Kora". It's greek origin meaning "maiden".

I think that's a pretty cool name.
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Lon

1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper

[22manybugs]

Some details of the cargo box. The box is 3 ft x 3 ft x 12 inches tall.

The frame is 3/4" x 1-1/2" wood. The surfaces are 1/8" plywood. I doubled-up the plywood for the top (1/4") to be more rigid.

The hardest part was making the 30-degree angle to the lid and keeping it rigid. I added several support pieces at the bend to support it, with lots of screws to hold everything together.

This photo shows the main hinge for the top (from Home Depot). The top has a lip all around to help block rain, and a hollow "D" plastic seal between the box and top to keep water out. The brackets to tie down the box to the top of the bus are called "footman loops" (available at Home Depot).

The three spring-loaded supports are supposed to keep the lid up, but they don't. The springs must not support the rated weight, I'm sure I calculated the load correctly. The springs just keep the lid from crashing down as hard. I added the latching hinge to hold up the lid, but it is difficult to reach and latch when the box is on top of the bus. I'm planning on replacing all this hardware with some inexpensive air struts I just found on Amazon that should keep the lid up.

The straps to tie down the box to the top. (from Home Depot). They come with several feet of strapping attached to a clamp, but I needed less than a foot of material for each strap.

I used leftover straps to make the lid clamps using plastic releasable catches (also from Home Depot).

_________________
Lon

1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper

[22manybugs]

I finished another big camping trip a few weeks ago. I haven't had time to post since I got back because I had to catch-up on work that blew-up while I was gone. Here are some photos from the recent trip.

My dog copilot passed away last year. The entire family was very upset, so we ended up getting a puppy not too long after that.

Say hello to Summer, she's my new copilot, she was 11 months old when she went with me on this trip. Just me 'n the dog on this trip!

She did good on her first camping trip. She didn't know what to make of the first couple nights, but she was a pro by the end. She still has to work on not eating everything on the ground, especially sticks with lichen/mold/fungus on them that she thinks are quite tasty!

This trip I had to change plans a lot due to cold/rainy/snowy weather. I had a few night reserved at Yosemite, that's where we started. It was raining most of the way to Yosemite, then stopped just as we arrived. This was arriving into the valley:

We got to the campground, I went to the bathroom, and when I came back there were three deer in our campsite! This was within a few minutes of arriving.

Summer didn't know what to make of the deer. She just wanted to go play, but the deer were watching her VERY carefully.

The next day started sunny but very cold.

The weather forecast was for clouds coming in at about 1 pm, rain starting about 3, then snow starting at midnight and continuing straight through at least 9 am the next day. That's as far as the near-term forecast went. Right on time, the clouds came in at 1. I decided to get out before the weather turned bad, I did not want to deal with a young dog in the snow and nowhere to go but sit in the bus, or trying to drive out in snow. This was the middle of May, there isn't supposed to be snow!

We headed north and drove to Black Butte Lake to camp. By the time I got there, it was nighttime and pitch black. I was driving very slow looking for the turnoff to the campground, maybe 20 MPH, I noticed movement in the driver side rearview mirror, looked over and there were two deer running beside me! They were running mostly parallel, but at an angle approaching the bus. About the time I was thinking "they MUST see me, how can you not see a bus?"... BOOM! they ran into the side of the bus. Stupid deer!

When we got to the campground, nobody was there. There were big warning signs at the ranger station to there was a lot of rattlesnakes and coyote activity, so be careful. The campground looked completely deserted, it was pitch black except for a light near the bathroom, and I couldn't even tell where the campsites were marked. Great. So I get out with my flashlight looking for markings, all the while expecting rattlesnakes, coyotes or renegade deer to sneak up on me at any moment! It's funny now, but it wasn't funny after just having deer run into the bus 5 minutes earlier.

When the sun came up, then I had a chance to actually see the lake. It was a very nice campground with the lake all around.

It turns out there were a few people camped, but the campground was so large that there was nobody anywhere around me and it felt completely alone. I noticed, though, that every spot was reserved for the next weekend (Memorial weekend). It was going to fill up in the next couple days.

Next we headed to Fowler's campground about half-way between Lake Shasta and the Oregon border. It was drizzly/rainy most of the time, so I don't have many pictures. The awning that I bought for shade worked great in the rain also, it's waterproof, I just had to lower the posts so the rain wouldn't collect on it. There were often deer going through camp. Here's Summer modeling her raincoat and not being too happy about it:

I finally pulled the hood down and she was happier, even though she was getting more wet.

A couple pictures from Bend, Oregon.

In amongst the clouds are snowy mountains. I think these are the Three Sisters, but could be mixed up - there were a lot of snowy mountain peaks.

Now I was at Memorial weekend and campground reservations were not available. I started heading west into the mountains, I had a few campgrounds on mind that had no-reservation spots, but then found out all the mountain roads (except the main highways) were snowed in, so all the campgrounds were inaccessible. I ended up at Delta campground off highway 126 that had some no-reservation spots. It was a nice campground, really felt deep in the woods even though it was right off 126. The weather continued to be dreary, but it wasn't raining.

Continuing west on 126, there was a covered bridge. There was constant traffic through the bridge, a couple cars had to wait while I ran out to take the picture, but they didn't seem upset. They probably get people taking photos all the time.

_________________
Lon

1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper

[Abscate]

Hello Summer. Let your owner know his last dog is fine in Dog Heaven by saying ...woof woof

Sorry for your loss, 22manybugs
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.ssS!

[Spike0180]

Sounds like an awesome trip, the pup looks like it will be a trusty companion. Thanks for posting, I enjoy reading of your travels
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"