Anyone renting vans on Big Island Hawaii?

J Charlton

There seem to be rental operations on the other islands but I don't seem to be able to find any active vanagon/westy rental operation on Big Island - Hawaii
Anyone have any ideas or information?
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Future availability TBD : Springfield Mass. Staunton Va, Florida, Colorado, Grand Junction Co., SLC probably late 2024

ThankYouJerry · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:48 pm Post subject:

There was a guy selling his Big Island Westy rental biz several months ago here on TS. He had a fleet of 9-10 Westies. Not sure if he: sold the biz, kept it, or what. Let us know if you find out. In the meantime...

How about these guys: http://www.imua-tour.com
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kaalualu · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 8:02 pm Post subject:

Happy Campers on the Big Island sold his fleet. Check craigslist/vanagon, someones renting, not Westy, but set up for camping, it appears.

kaalualu · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 8:15 pm Post subject:

Just checked out that link above. Never heard of these guys and I've been here over 30 years. I'll drive by and check it out and get back to you.

Honuak · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 11:15 pm Post subject: Imua

I rented from Imua twice, around 98' or so. At the time the guy running it was a Berg, as in Gene Berg. He was the son I think. Great guy. Vans were pretty nice, I had one alternator problem that was fixed easily. No cockroach problems or really dirty vans like I've read the Maui ones were/are. The big island was a great place for a westy. I heard that the rates for camping at places like Spencer Beach and Hapuna just went up to something like $20/nite recently which seems like a lot. There should still be lots of out of the way places to camp, for free. The big island is arguably the best island for westy-living.
If you go get the ultimate guide to Hawaii. It has a satellite pic of the island on the cover. Some great info and will get you on the right track as far as places to adventure and maybe camp.
PM me if you want and I'll tell you what I know but its been a long time so...
Aloha

davevickery · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:48 am Post subject:

I did not enjoy car camping in Hawaii. Beach parks have become homeless shelters with the ubiquitous noisy roosters and ferrel cats. We did not find out of the way locations on the water that you sometimes see camping pictures of. Definitely not something I would do again. Maybe it jusit takes local knowledge to find the nice spots. When I lived on Maui, I knew a lot of places. Maybe the rental company has good suggestions, but I think a lot of places are not technically legit, so I wonder what they are recommending.

BTW, Kaui is worse than I remember it and Big Island is much better. Kaui has more local anger and drugs meanwhile Big Island has grownn and become somewhat more progressive with a green focus.

A live aboard dive trip sounds good to me. A boat rental of some sort circling the island and camping in unpopulated areas might be cool.

Just my 2 cents.
Dave

insyncro · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:02 am Post subject:

Spezialist · Banned Joined: July 01, 2005 Posts: 1941

rockerarm · Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:36 pm Post subject:

A member here on thesamba, Gary Berg, had the company for this on one of the islands. But, he has been back over here in SoCal for at least a few years. You can get his contact info from the memberlist.
Hope this helps, Bill

campism · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 6:51 pm Post subject:

We just returned from a stay on the big island and, while we were driving a rental Chevrolet, I was looking at the place with the eyes of a Westy owner. From Hilo we drove west along the Hamakua Coast and back, then to Volcanoes National Park by way of the east coast, then to South Point and up along the west coast to Hawi in the north and back to Hilo. I have to say I did not see many spots where you'd be likely to camp safely/legally. Maybe at Laupahoehoe Point on that first coast. Maybe near the lighthouse near Kapaho on the east point. Maybe at South Point if you do not get hassled. These would all be dry camping or boondocking. I did not ask anyone for suggestions, but relied on my own eye and gut to detect and identify reasonably likely places.

There is a remote campground in the Volcanoes Park but it's for walk-in tent camping from the small parking lot. Your vehicle won't be adjacent to your spot. All others in the park are hike-in.

I also did not find many spots inland from the coast that seemed likely. In a place the size of Connecticut I would have expected better camping access but I did not cover every square mile. In truth, we did not see many police but I do not know what is patrolled or when so you might be able to get away with something, or you might not. There are people sleeping in cars in Hilo but they probably have no other place to sleep.

I met a fellow Vanagon owner in Hilo who is considering taking up the rental camper biz and if he does so should probably map out and suggest to his customers any spots he knows to be good for car camping. Knowing how my wife and I travel, if we'd rented a Westy on the island and taken off expecting to be able to stop as the spirit moved us it probably would have endangered our marriage and this trip was to celebrate our 30th anniversary.
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kaalualu · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 8:38 pm Post subject:

That was I you spoke to and yes there is limited camping spots for such a large island, but there are many more than you mentioned/saw.

VNP has two drive up camp sites, both in upper elevations. No fee, just entry into the park. Never crowded and cool temps.

There are enough legal camping areas spread around the island to provide, and more privately owned areas are opening up.

This is one of the benefits of living here for 32 years, knowing that which cannot easily be seen.
The plan is to keep it limited, and offer a high quality experience. Low key is key.
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airsweden · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 1:33 am Post subject:

Yup. I live on Oahu but shipped my Westy to BI for 10 days last year and had a great time. Lots of cool, legal spots to spend the night. Likewise, Oahu offers quite a few nice options as well... considering how small the island is.
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campism · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 4:45 am Post subject:

kaalualu · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 10:48 am Post subject:

Interesting meeting we had, as I was on my way to work had a rental (tourist) rubbernecking in front, pulled over to allow passage, then stopped behind me when I had to take a call from work. You couldn't resist a conversation with a Vanagonite.
_________________
'84 Transporter 16" CLK's/LED's/ AT's/Mansi injectors
'86 Wolfey Weekender Westfalia AT's/otherwise stock
Sold-'82 TinTop Diesel

campism · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:24 am Post subject:

Guilty as charged. Did you see all the Vanagon pix from that trip I posted in the "Have you SEEN ONE, lately" thread? Yours was the first. I must admit the bride became cross once or twice.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=286487&start=1980 Scroll down.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

Sodo · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 1:02 pm Post subject:

kaalualu · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:31 pm Post subject:

You misread that. It was Imua Campers that I never heard of, Happy Campers was well established until closing.
Ho'okena has changed. Community run, minimal security issues.
Kiholo is reservations now, no more residents.
_________________
'84 Transporter 16" CLK's/LED's/ AT's/Mansi injectors
'86 Wolfey Weekender Westfalia AT's/otherwise stock
Sold-'82 TinTop Diesel

DenverB · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 4:07 pm Post subject:

Big Island was a blast when I did it through happy campers in 2011. They have since sold the business - he called us to try and sell off some of his vans he was shipping from Hawaii to Seattle back in March or May.

despite what others say, Big Island was a great place to camp and I had no issues over the 16 days I spent there in a van. We spent a few nights (two or three) at paid sites and parking in the lots of hostels, but otherwise had some amazing beachside spots.
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J Charlton · Last edited by J Charlton on Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:59 pm; edited 1 time in total

The response and further posts to this topic provided the impetus for the latest venture of North American High Tops.
In partnership with a Big Island Samba member, we are going to have a small fleet of rental vans available on Hawaii - starting with this van

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Its a Subaru powered automatic. The hightop conversion was done by Justin Hall in Vancouver Wa.

More details about the van etc at http://canadianhightops.ca/hawaiihightops.html
_________________
NAHT hightop availability May 18 2023 -
Bend Oregon - for Oregon, California- (7 tot , 3 available), Kennewick Wa (6 tot, 1 available), Small Car Performance Fife Wa. (7 tot 4 avail ), Fairbanks Alaska (1 tot 0 avail)
Future availability TBD : Springfield Mass. Staunton Va, Florida, Colorado, Grand Junction Co., SLC probably late 2024

Sodo

Big Island westy rental outfit will do much better if 3 or 4 private camping spaces (spread out around the island like a circuit) can be organized. As it is now, the rental company can't really tell you where to 'westy-camp" all they can do is tell you the "legal places", of which there aren't many, and no guarantee theres space.

I think a Westy rental outfit could thrive if they can guarantee several sites around the island. We were able to do it by local knowledge. Many westy owners are well-schooled in westy camping, but I bet most of their customers have a hard time not knowing (in advance) where they are going to sleep. What a westy rental outfit needs, is satisfied customers who saved much $$ over the hotel room+car option.

If a westy rental outfit were to secure/rent/contract some locations around the island, and partner with an internet-based campsite reservation system (something like https://www.hipcamp.com/discover#lat=19.7297222&lng=-155.09000000000003) where a private page served their clients….. It would be a cool experience. There is a new startup (by some Seattle guys) doing the "last minute, private campsite reservation gig" too but I can't remember the name.

In the beginning the spots would be ho-hum, I bet, but over time there could be some cool campspots arranged. Also you can't have 4 sites all in Puna, they have to be spread out so a client can stay in Hamakua, Kalopa, Puna, Volcano, South Point, Hawi, Kona, Puako, Kohala. I wonder if all you need is a porta-potty at these sites to be legal? Maybe chamber of commerce can help.

Got me dreaming of another Hawaiian vacation…..
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Anyone renting vans on Big Island Hawaii?
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