1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus

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I thought I was finally going to get a reprieve from coolant leaks but Fritz had other ideas. After the long spell of the Polar Vortex throwing minus 35 degrees C our way -- that translated to -15 in my garage -- Fritz decided he'd had enough:

The red arrow shows the offending piddle puddle which, thankfully, was forward of the engine and missed the normal catching capabilities of the cardboard pee pad I have set up as my emergency warning system.

Darting underneath in the freezing temperatures and reposing on a length of foam carpet underlay, I quickly spotted the drip zone but couldn't get to the area where I thought the green piddle was coming from: the coolant distribution tower.

A call to Tony's had me down to the shop for a quick inspection to see what was up. In no time flat Jesse had the van up on a lift and the only screw clamp on that tower tightened (at no cost I might add). Thanks guys!

Thinking that perhaps Fritz was fishing for a gift after running almost 1,200 miles trouble free, I tried to come up with something that would suit the both of us. Aha! How about some new bug screen "clothing"? Maybe that would calm things down.

Here's what he already had in his collection:

The rear screen came with the van. On first sight, I loved it. I still do. It works like a charm. To round the selection out some, I added the metal front window screens against both mosquitoes and unwelcome nighttime visitors of the two- or four-legged variety https://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C27%2DJ11738 :

I haven't used that rain-shedding heavy metal in the field yet but the screening didn't look like it would ward off mosquitoes let alone the smaller no-see-ums or sandflies etc. Nope, maybe Fritz was nudging me to increase the protection level and doll him up at the same time.

So I started looking for a solution or solutions that would address both the front windows (definitely needing no-see-um screening over top the metal screening) and the sliding door area that could get away with mosquito netting to ward off pesky flies, wasps, hornets and, yes, the legendary blood-sucking Canadian mosquito: https://www.roadsideattractions.ca/roadside/upsala . If the no-see-ums were that bad in an area, I wouldn't be hanging around long at any rate so mosquito netting was fine.

I needed a combo like this:

Dr Bjorn, however, only sells the custom made sliding door screen and not the front screens even though they're pictured: https://vanagonwestfaliaparts.com/products/vanagon-door-screens . $215 CDN was too rich for my liking and I really didn't need no-see-um netting for the slider. What I liked about his offering was the choice of using either velcro or snaps for attachment inside the van. I also liked the use of a magnetic center closure -- overlapping in this case -- instead of a zipper. If you have something in your hands to carry inside, or outside, a zipper is a pain in the rear-end. With automatic magnetic closure, you flow through and the opening self seals. I had a nice chat with Gabrielle, Dr Bjorn's bookkeeper, and she informed me that they offered white velcro as well as the standard black velcro for anyone who wanted that option in the interior.

Abel Longoria, of Texas Vanagons, obviously knew what he was doing but no longer made his creations http://texasvanagons.com/texasvanagons-bug-screens/ (the best description of Vanagon front window screens anywhere!):

I, like Abel, was looking to match my tinted windows with a simple, lightweight black no-see-um screening up front. As any screen manufacturer will tell you, black offers the best outward visibility. It was the main reason why I immediately turfed the white screen in my pop-top and replaced it with a black one after purchasing the van. I didn't want something complicated or heavy like this https://www.gowesty.com/product/made-in-usa/23551/front-door-window-screen- or light-colored like these https://campervanculture.com/shop/vw-t25-t3-vanagon-magnetic-cab-door-mosquito-screen-grey/ + https://www.busdepot.com/aw704g . No siree, sir, my internal exterior decorator was telling me it had to be all black to go with the rest of the tinted windows. And it had to be neat and tidy. I certainly didn't want something like this that had to be set up at every stop with a handful or two of loose magnets: https://www.vanchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2...sier-1.jpg .

Eventually, I fell upon the magnetic masterpiece creations of Kamz http://oldbluesblog.com/slidingdoorscreen.html :

Beautifully made, at a very reasonable price but, alas, like Abel's work, NLA!

Dang! I didn't have the sewing skills to match those of Kamz or Abel/Abel's mom.

While nosing through Kamz's camp gear list http://oldbluesblog.com/campgear.html , though, something else caught my eye: Comfort while sitting down and watching the world go by. Ah, yes! If Fritz was to get a new outfit, maybe I could splurge on something for myself and my wife?

More on that in a bit....
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

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After seeing a distracting entry by Kamz on comfy chairs my attention turned to them since I needed one in March for a planned trip back to God's Country. Kamz had an REI Flex Lite chair but upgraded to an ENO Lounger DL for the headrest among other things. I'd had a Trekology YIZI GO folding camping chair -- a knockoff of the Helinox Chair One -- sitting in my Amazon.ca cart for months but hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet: https://www.amazon.ca/Trekology-YIZI-Portable-Camping-Chair/dp/B07NT77GT8 . Why the YIZI GO? Because it was the Number 1 best-selling camping chair on the website, had great reviews, was lightweight and was cheap. But it didn't have as much back support and a headrest as I now needed.

Up to this point my wife and I had been using el cheapo, $9.98 Safeway camping chairs that I'd picked up decades ago. They were heavy, bulky and starting to show wear. Even so, when I took them down to the goat-herder's camp, I always found a dog or human hogging them when I got back from a day out with the goats. Everyone there loved them! Quite by accident, I stumbled across another Amazon.ca offering that looked suitable: an iDeep folding camping chair (a knockoff of the Helinox Sunset/Savanna chairs) https://www.amazon.ca/iDeep-Waterproof-Ultralight-Portable-Backpacking/dp/B076MP16D5?th=1 for the acceptable price of $69.99 CDN. SOLD! The Canadian Amazon reviewers with Helinox chairs seemed to like the knockoffs more than the originals. Eventually I would discover that Dave O'Bryan had beat me to the punch and bought the almost identical chair branded as "Marchway" on the U.S. Amazon site: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07239LY57/ref=twister_B06XXYTNPX . We obviously share the same good taste in camp furniture. And so did a certain Oz adventurer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx2_TuVzZRk . These videos are worth a look, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqo0hrQuVlc + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOWSKAtnSFk . More Aussie content! Note that the iDeep and Marchway versions do not come with side pockets. No deal breaker for us.

This is what my Safeway chair looks like compared to the iDeep:

Double the packed size and double the weight at 7.61lbs for the Safeway vs 3.53lbs for the iDeep. Although the Helinox chairs come with 5 yr warranties, I could buy three of the iDeep chairs for the same price as the more expensive original. The Aussie reviewer did point out one obvious difference: the Helinox had a thicker/stronger cross frame under the seat. The other thing against all the lightweights is the tiny footprint they have on sand, soft soil, mud or snow. Here's a comparison of the Safeway foot (roughly 2"X2") and the iDeep's 0.98" foot:

Helinox knew this was a weakness so they offer ball feet as well as sand mats for their line of chairs. For a chair the size of their Sunset or Savanna (iDeep territory) they had 55mm ball feet: https://www.altitude-sports.com/products/helinox-ball-feet-set-55mm-4pcs-llll-hlx-12784 + https://helinox.com/collections/ball-feet . Crikey! That's almost the price of an iDeep chair. No thanks! The canoeing community had a better/cheaper idea: tennis balls http://www.canoedog.ca/2013/07/helinox-camp-chair.html . That example showed the smaller Chair One but I was sure it would work on the iDeep, too.

So back to Amazon I went looking for some cheapo tennis balls. And I found some under Warehouse Deals for $16.98 CDN (less than half price) for a full set of 12: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01M0L6U3N/ref=twister_B00DTP4J00?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 . A cricket tennis ball? Never heard of 'em before. Ah well, with 12 balls I could do three chairs so they would average out to little more than five bucks a chair. Worked for me. When they finally arrived I soon realized these were tennis balls on steroids. There was no way that a utility knife could cut through them. Although the same dimensions as a regular tennis ball, they were double the weight i.e. tough with a capital T. I wasn't too keen on them being white and knew they'd be discolored quickly but beggars couldn't be choosers. Hmmmm...how to crack these eggs? Here's what I did:

The red star marks the entry point. A one-inch paddle drill bit was then set to work:

It's important to stop and clear the fuzz/hair off the drill bit before proceeding further. Repeat that cleaning with the next white layer. Then we get to the good stuff. The thick green rubber inside:

Again, take your time and ease off several times to ensure a smooth even cut. Otherwise, you might end up slicing through one side of the rubber circle and have to cut the rest out by hand -- and it's not an easy task (ask me how I know). Eventually, you hit the core:

Note the little rubber plug to the right. That'll fall into the ball and must be retrieved. If you're ham-fisted and can't get a finger in there, try using needle nose pliers to extract it. That green rubber and outside fuzz is a full half-inch thick!

To get the 66mm/2.6-inch-wide ball over the foot, twist it on don't push it straight. Same getting it off: use a twisting motion don't try to bully it off by pulling on it.

Believe it or not, that oversized rubber support in those balls allows a rocking motion of a quarter inch or more. Lovely! In a gusty wind, that extra weight in the feet may not be enough to keep the chairs from blowing away. Helinox sells a solution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPIuRM72WHo or you can make your own https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YijGxeVmEi4 . Otherwise, simply turn the chairs upside down until you get back.

The cream on top of the cushy pudding is the addition of neck pillows. The red chair -- my wife's -- features a decades-old pillow full of polyester that was placed against the van's window for a quick nap while en route somewhere. Being the only driver in the family, I never got near it. With the new chair I splurged on the cheapest quality neck pillow I could find for myself:

I picked that lifetime-guaranteed item off Amazon.ca for under $15 although it's now bounced back up into the stratosphere. Sail.ca currently has it for a similar price: https://www.sail.ca/en/eagle-creek-2-in-1-travel-pillow-215628 . Note that the Eagle Creek pillow is smaller than the older one. It still does the trick and stops your head from rolling to the side while snoozing. Watch the video included on the REI page or elsewhere: https://www.rei.com/product/115773/eagle-creek-2-in-1-travel-pillow .

The weight of each drilled-out ball foot is 3.8 oz = 14.2 oz per set (a normal tennis ball is a lightweight 2 oz for a total of 8 oz per set). That lifts the weight of the iDeep chair with feet to 4.4lbs. I can live with that. One caveat: the drilled cricket tennis balls have a rather off-putting smell. I doused the insides with baby powder after first letting the balls sit overnight in soapy water and drying them and am now "curing" them in the garage for a couple of months in the hopes of having that smell go away. If it doesn't, they go into ziploc bags for storage. If you find that one or more of the balls is binding a bit while being put on or taken off, simply file down the inside rubber edge.

So, by serendipity I discovered a new enhanced form of ball feet for camping chairs. Let's call them the VWWesty camp chair feet.

My next upgrade is a cut-to-fit ensolite pad layer to go into the chair for cold weather sitting since my next trip will be out to the golden eagle expressway in God's Country next month: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/eagle-count-peter-sherrington-25-year-anniversary-1.4032721 + https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/videos/galler.../forecasts . In the nature-based calendars of the local First Nations -- Blackfoot, Tsuu T'ina and Stoney Nakoda -- the month of February is deemed, respectively, Eagle Moon, White-headed Eagle Moon and Moon of the Returning Eagles. To avoid a crook neck -- a hazard of watching high-flying hawks and eagles -- I needed that upgrade to a chair with a headrest and pillow. Now I have one. Beauty! Thanks for leading me there Kamz.

More on the subject: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8185560 (which I should've consulted first not after buying the iDeep although it wouldn't have changed my mind on my final choice).
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[VdubVanner]

Okay, enough about stinky cricket ball feet! Let's get back to the more pleasurable subject of bug screens and blood-sucking insects. Oh yeah, better not forget about black widow spiders, scorpions and rattlesnakes:

Those B.C. folks missed squealing about Alberta ticks! Anyway, the ticks would be on them not bouncing against any type of screening so they'd be out of luck with Skeeter Beaters or anything else. More on Skeeter Beaters in a minute or two.

As I mentioned upthread I was looking for a front screen that looked just like Abel's of Texas Vanagons. Simple, light, magnetic no-see-um netting and black with a price tag of around 80 bucks which is what he was charging. How hard could it be to find? I knew shipping would be hefty to Canada because I tried buying a Texas Vanagon T-shirt from Abel months ago (so I'd likely have the only one in Canada since they're now sold out) but the shipping was more than the shirt by a long shot. No dice!

Here's what I finally came up with and I believe this ancient VW centric outfit churns out product for a lot of the well known vendors:

https://www.mtmfg.com/vw/3477/Volkswagen-Bus-Vanagon-Eurovan-Door-Screens-Mosquito-Nets

Did I pay that amount? Not a chance. At the time I ordered -- which was three weeks ago -- they were selling a pair of front magnetic screens for $84.95. That was close to Abel's old price. Shipping was another $31 which is the standard fee to Canada these days for the likes of even a single sheet of new (or used) Kleenex tissue. Crikey! I really had to suck it up to pay that out. In the end it cost me close to $150 CDN for what I wanted. Funny enough, though, two hours after I ordered those screens someone at M&T Mfg jacked the price up by $25 to what it shows currently. Yikes! Highway robbery.

Would I buy from them now? Nope. I'd hit on Volkswagen Skreenz https://www.skreenz.com/volkswagen-skreenz.php . Chuck developed those fronties -- and created his niche company -- after getting eaten alive in his Vanagon back in 1986: https://www.skreenz.com/how-skreenz-came-to-be.php . That old character knows his V-dub screening inside and out! If you're looking for cheaper, then Skeeter Beater is the place to go: https://theskeeterbeater.com/product/klondike/ . Check out the site video "How It Works". Only trouble with this screening is that it's a generic sizing and not made specifically for Vanagons so you'll end up folding it over for fit. The price is right though -- and you'll be supporting a U.S. company that works in partnership with a Missouri Sheltered Workshop (hence the cheaper price). As an oldtime wildlife photographer, I also like their offering of camo versions of the front screens:

Keep in mind that there's a price/quality continuum that runs the gamut from Bob Wells of CheapRVLiving ("King of Half Ass" -- his terminology not mine) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Vc77yV2H8 + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMAtgI8gt1s to the ultimate "More Money Than Brains" offerings from ROLEF, a Canadian outfit in Quebec https://www.rolef.ca/en/ : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRtH6R_Uq_Q + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2PAWAZWyuY . You should know roughly where you sit on that continuum and budget accordingly.

Now if you want to sidestep M&T Mfg and take a run for the end zone price-wise, I suggest looking for a soft spot in pricing with one of the vendors that buy from them. Exhibit A: Bus Depot. BD Has a set of screens that cover the front windows PLUS both sides for a grand total of $139.95: https://www.busdepot.com/aw704 . That's a helluva deal because M&T Mfg who likely made that set -- the product codes are the same -- sells them for $165 on its webpage linked above. If I'd had a better knowledge and overview of pricing a few weeks ago, I may have gone with the Bus Depot's (old?) stock which now appears under-priced. That even beats Abel's old pricing by quite a bit. You might spot something else in BD's inventory that looks good or at least better than the manufacturer is offering: https://www.busdepot.com/camper-parts-accessories/screens-and-rain-deflectors-for-doors-windows?p=1 . I did notice that Van Cafe appears to include ALL hardware in the zippered side door for the same price, though: https://www.vancafe.com/VCSLIDERSCREEN-p/vcsliderscreen.htm .

UPDATE FOR CHEAPSTERS: If you're only dealing with mossies in your area then these might do the trick at a substantial cost savings: https://wagan.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/easy-air-auto-screen?variant=32882216599655 (LARGE size = #6008 = stretch to 25" X 46") or, in Canada, maybe these https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00YQO4X4U/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1N8M1HF35D0SI&psc=1 . At that price, if they wear out after a few years of heavy use simply replace them for a fraction of the cost of the custom-made-for-a-Vanagon versions.

Like a growing number of van owners, I didn't want a zipper hampering my passage into or out of my domicile. I wanted a flow-through, automatic magnetic closure on any sliding door screening that I installed. With the amount of magnetic door screening products on Amazon, I was going to do the install myself and save enough to offset the hit I took on the front screens. Easy peasy? We'll see. I reckon the Wabi-Sabi Master is up for the challenge. (Even though they have the same general drift, doesn't Wabi-Sabi Master sound a whole lot better than King of Half-Ass?) I watched these to get some ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAuWjmdNMO8 + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-EzUkM7Nfo&feature=emb_logo . Lessons learned: It is a MUST to a) clean the surface with rubbing alcohol before applying velcro or anything else. Velcro? Yeah, that's the route I'm taking and other Vanagoners have gone before me: https://www.westfalia.org/threads/screen-mosquito-netting-for-sliding-door.32/ (go down to the post by Backcountry). Backcountry and the couple in that first video both made the same mistake -- they didn't use 3M 4941 tape to make sure that the velcro held. The second video highlighted that mistake so don't make it! That's b) Order some 3M 4941 1/2 inch tape https://www.amazon.com/3M-VHB-Double-Sided-Acrylic-Yards/dp/B004V40IUS . To avoid U.S. exchange etc, I went with this offering on Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08HZF5XY5/ref=twister_B08RCQNC94?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 (with the $3.00 coupon applied it was $17 something for 32 feet -- so I could double up if required).

That 3M tape sticks like a bugger but it takes time to fully set -- which is a good thing because you can move it around some in the first half hour for adjustment (VHB stands for Very High Bond -- once on for a day or three it doesn't want to come off):

I didn't choose the screen doors illustrated in the videos above. I went with a Yotache product that appeared to me to be superior in quality:

With shipping from the Amazon.com site the total came to $49.84 CDN (at the time of order the Canadian Amazon site wanted $73 CDN!) Kamz's top-notch sliding door screens were sized 48" X 58" just to give you an idea of the trimming involved. Of course, not more than a week later I stumbled across another Yotache variant that looked even better because it was adjustable to width:

A bit of trimming would put it exactly where you wanted it. But that item is like a phantom: it was listed as "Currently unavailable" when I first found it and seems to pop up and then disappear again. So I put an Amazon price tracker on it with an alert based on a high price and hoped I'd get a head's up if it showed up again. It did for a day or two -- and I snagged one.

This way I can choose between the two and send one back. But the advantage with the adjustable one is that you can trim some velcro off the top and/or sides and use it for hemming the bottom with additional weight. By hemming I mean gluing that spare velcro on with some BBs or similar weight added in between. Wabi-sabi yet again! That's the game plan. I should have the sliding door screens in my hands by mid-March and then be entertaining my neighbours in the alley again.

Another vendor with a stellar reputation for slider door bug screens is Sewfine Products, another VW specialist: https://sewfineproducts.com/Slider-Door-Bug-Screen . I'm not sure how much that outfit is asking for their zippered screens but they look mighty fine -- and lay out a route for those of us with velcro and 3M tape in hand:

The trim on the right side of the door looking out is black so running black velcro up that side will make it virtually invisible. Sticking it under the top of the door where Sewfine has their screen positioned gets it to the other side without too much ado -- and then down the left side of the door to the finish line. Since I have a cooler there, it'll effectively hide a good portion of that finishing touch as will some of the curtain above. Of course, there will have to be gaps up top to jump the door track.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. No pun intended.

I'll photograph the results once I get the screening installed up front and on the slider.

Stay tuned!

*** Important afterthought: High season for sewing/selling screens is May to August but with COVID-19 going on and everyone taking to the roads instead of the skies, the sewing machines are already zipping merrily along. Talking to a fellow over at M&T Mfg, he stated that they were already busy with work. That was in early February with snow on the ground. What's the old saying? "He/she who hesitates is lost." Don't delay. A lot of these items are custom made with a waiting time of two weeks or more.
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[VdubVanner]

Let's bounce back -- like a cricket tennis ball -- to the subject of camp chairs like the iDeep or the Marchway. The trouble with both of those Helinox Sunset/Savanna knockoffs is that they have mesh backs. When it's cold outside, your back is going to get chilled because whatever you have on for insulation will compress against the back of the chair. A freezing wind can also blast through unimpeded making it even worse.

Helinox's solution? A fancy dancy high-back seat warmer: https://helinox.com/collections/accessories-for-sa...6335587502 . Gulp, that's another $69.95 U.S. = $88.68 CDN. I wonder if there's a cheaper alternative out there? When I go out golden eagle watching in God's country later this month I might be sitting out there for hours in subzero temperatures. That mesh ain't gonna do me any good at all.

Let me dig into my hoard of camping supplies and see what I can come up with. Here we go...this is more like it:

That's an ensolite closed cell foam pad that I cut down to a length of 36 inches. the width is perfect at 20 inches so there's no need to adjust that. When you sit in it, it sinks right down into the pit of the chair and creases near the base so there's no need to make any further cuts. The top edges wrap right around your shoulders. Perfect! Just make sure to line the top of the pad up with the lower edge of the pillow before plopping down into it so it settles and covers the mesh back entirely:

I cut that and trialed it in my alley and had an assortment of neighbours stop for a look and laugh. They always get a kick out of me working on the van or associated gear out in the open. It was a cool afternoon with the wind blowing and I was ready to nod off I was so cozy. Grand cost? A thrift sale find at $2. But wait a minute -- I don't think I had another in that colour to match up my wife's chair. My internal exterior decorator was in an uproar. That just wouldn't do! So downstairs into my chaotic collection of crap and corruption I dived and emerged with another thrift store find that set me back another couple bucks:

Long! As in 72" divided by 2 would give me two 36" long seat pads. My internal fusspot suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. A matching pair. Now that's more like it. Another bonus: The colour would even match my grey Eagle Creek neck pillow. The old price tag on that roll was still attached and read $20.99 CDN. Deal! But it got even better. Looking it up to see if they were still making that old-fashioned clunker of a pad, I finally found it: https://www.thermarest.com/ca/sleeping-pads/trek-a...assic.html . Now that thrift store giveaway was being flaunted as a "classic" and was going for almost 40 bucks!

Gosh, even though I took a big hit for those front window no-see-um screens at least I didn't wait around long enough for them to elevate to the classic level and double in price. Wheww! (Can you tell when a cheapskate actually pays full price for something? It sears into their brain and soul. I hate doing it and suffer for days/weeks afterwards.)

Anyway, I put the VWWesty camp chair feet on again and thought about how I could protect them from both staining and water absorption. Bingo! Maybe I could slather a bit of the thin-running windshield "Greek Windex" on the bottom contact area? https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/permatex-flowable-silicone-sealant-65ar-42-g-0383709p.html That's a job for another day.

That blue pad that I first cut? Heck, nobody said I couldn't double up and put it under my "classic" pad if it was really cold out. Note also that here in the Great White North, our evening summer temperatures can be downright cool so a single pad is certainly worth carrying along. Adding the 7oz of a split pad to the chair, the total for the package still comes to under 5lbs. Not bad especially since I can use that seat pad to sit on a wet picnic table, beef up the insulation on top of my cooler while driving etc.

I reckon once the Greek Windex goes on in a day or two, the chairs will be complete and ready to go into action.

*** One last suggestion: It wouldn't hurt to punch a neat hole through a bottom corner and run a thin line of rope to the frame so the wind can't carry the lightweight pad a mile away while you're up for a minute doing chores or some such. Second thought: that velcro strap on the lower frame is actually just long enough to reach the front bottom of the pad. If a small patch of opposing velcro was attached to the foam pad (using 3M 4941 tape, for example), you might be able to get away with that alone. Just make sure that your unattended chair and pad are not too close to a campfire.
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[AtlasShrugged]

Hi Vdub. I have been following your medical-mechanical-Great white north travel adventure and may have missed how you are doing in all the topic pages.

How are you doing health wise?

How many GoWesty 2.3 engines did you go through? Last count I saw was three?

Are both you and the Vanagon in remission?

Travel well and be safe
_________________
'Let's Go Brandon'

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Okay, I've gotta get to Atlas's questions today. But first -- drum roll please -- I'd like to announce why today is a big day for me: March 3rd is officially World Wildlife Day https://www.wildlifeday.org/ . For a wildlife guy/nature bum (a term I coined back in the eighties for a photo feature in AMNH's Natural History magazine) it's rather nice to see some appreciation for wild critters. In fact, in honour of this date, I decided to add some new wildlife mojo to my van while subtracting one piece. We'll get to that in a bit.

First, let me deal with Atlas's three questions:

1) How am I doing health wise?

Hmmmm...not so good. I can't seem to shake this Stage 4 cancer although I'm trying to. If the cancer doesn't kill me, the side effects of the drugs I take to treat it likely will. All the blood tests I'm given monitor both the cancer markers and the weird things going on from the cancer drugs. Now the docs are trying to push me onto a thyroid drug because one of the cancer drugs is making my thyroid go whacky. If I take that, they'll have me on something else to treat the side effects of the thyroid drug. It never ends. (So far I've resisted.) On my end I take a host of supplements including Turkey Tail mushroom concoctions to do battle with micrometastasis -- cells that float around in the lymph and blood systems. Those are the little, undetectable cells that leave the original tumour to go looking for greener pastures elsewhere in your body to colonize. First pick for them are usually bones -- like the spine, ribs, pelvis etc -- but they can settle in comfortably pretty much anywhere including your brain. Even the best imaging can't pick them up because they're so small. By the time they are on images, you have another tumour growing. That's what they call metastatic disease ie "mets". I have mets in my spine. I have mets in my lymph nodes in my groin and pelvic area. I'd rather not know where else they planted themselves. The other thing the cancer drugs do is knock your immune system -- white blood cells -- down to low levels. A couple months back, a friend of mine in B.C. with bone cancer caught a simple common cold that put him in the hospital for a week. So far I've been careful -- or lucky -- and have avoided that. I get the occasional twinge of pain in my back but it usually comes in just for a second as a reminder not to overdo things.

I'm kidding a little here because really I feel good overall and can still walk miles. I go grocery shopping on foot and haul my food back home in my daypack and sturdy nylon bags, sometimes 30lbs worth in all. I've eaten rabbit food for so long I actually prefer it now. I've discovered that my body no longer likes normal cheesy pizza but I can scarf down a vegan Boston Pizza version no problem ($$ so only on special occasions). Every night when I go to bed I make a mental list of all the things that day that I was grateful for and I'm usually sound asleep before I finish the list it's so long. In other words, life is good and I enjoy and appreciate each and every day as it comes. Crikey, I could've had a fatal heart attack so this is easy going. If someone saw me walking home with my grocery load, they'd never dream I had terminal/incurable cancer.

2) How many GoWesty 2.3 engines have I gone through? Last count you saw there were three.

Atlas you better get your glasses cleaned. I'm still on the first GW engine although it might seem like three with all my constant whining and complaining about various other parts. I had piston slap which required a new set of pistons and liners under my Road Warrior warranty and Lucas and Jad at GoWesty helped me out with that. My mechanic at Tony's Auto, Jesse, popped those in and it turned out there was air coming across into the coolant from a loose head nut. That was fixed gratis under warranty. These things happen. Was I slightly frustrated and annoyed that things didn't go smoother. Sure, but my slant is that everything happens for a reason: maybe I was saved from getting in a serious accident because the van was down waiting for repairs and I couldn't drive it.

3) Are both the Vanagon and I in remission?

I can't speak for Fritz but as all Vanagon/Westy owners know, we're all waiting for the next breakdown or part failure. That comes with the territory. Is that remission? I guess so. Me? I'm going to have this cancer until I die but I'm hoping to make the environment inside of me so inhospitable that it takes a lot longer than the stats say I have. I go looking for "miracle men" -- guys who have lasted years longer than predicted or expected -- and try to figure out how they did it. A lot of it has to do with individual physiology or maybe just plain downright cussedness -- and I have plenty of that. Renowned evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, who was stricken with cancer, stated an optimistic way of looking at things in his "The Median Isn't the Message": https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c7c3/55f6d26c033e1f13df7d78b154aea0036cb1.pdf + https://www.bidmc.org/about-bidmc/blogs/living-with-cancer/2020/07/cancer-statistics .

Okay now back to my favourite subject, wildlife. I have to admit I fibbed upthread when I laid down a number of reasons why I travelled. Really the ONLY reason I've hopped in my vans and driven all over the country is to see spectacular wildlife or natural events. That's always been my priority and specialty. Not just to photograph them but to experience what's going on and let it sink into my soul. I've had the privilege of walking amongst harp seals out on the ice of the Gulf of St Lawrence, mingled with polar bears and beluga whales at Churchill MB, visited massive seabird colonies off Newfoundland, had 45 orcas cavorting on a rubbing beach in front of me off the B.C. coast, watched and listened to thousands of snow geese flying over me at dusk on the prairies, walked through the best mountain wildflower displays in the country, experienced one of the continent's greatest gatherings of sandhill cranes in a lonely Saskatchewan river valley etc etc etc. I've been one blessed and lucky S.O.B.

One thing dealing with the cancer and cancer drug side effects has taught me is that I have to pull in my horns when planning trips nowadays. The days of cross country adventures are over. No biggie. Been there done that plenty of times. I now have much reduced mental and physical reserves for long distance travel. I hate to admit that but that's the honest truth. So my travelling theme song has changed to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDV6rD7UCg8 . I'm a westerner by birth and will stay within that region that I know and love.

Having decided that, I needed to add a few new wildlife mojos to up my success rate on the viewing scene. Yes, the white cowboy hat -- a true western symbol -- was good but I had to have better if I'm drifting around my own well-stocked backyard. So here's what I added to the dash:

If I'm going to roam where the buffalo are, I need some serious bison mojo and this one is perfect. It even grunts when squeezed. How cool is that? https://shop.wildrepublic.com/products/wild-calls-bison-8?variant=20244863582267 . I'm giving that talisman the name of "Iinii" which is Blackfoot for buffalo (pronounced Ee-KNEE). That's on the driver's side. On the passenger side, we have "Aapi-si" (pronounced Ah-pee-see) which is Blackfoot for coyote aka God's dog or the Song Dog. Out in the middle of the prairies at night, that canine provides soul-stirring evening entertainment. Beauty! Yup, squeeze it and it yaps with a real soundtrack recorded by the Cornell University's sound lab https://shop.wildrepublic.com/products/wild-calls-coyote-8?variant=20244863713339 :

Last but certainly not least, I added my favourite colourful bird in this part of Canada: the western tanager. The males are absolutely breathtaking when seen in breeding plumage: https://shop.wildrepublic.com/products/audubon-ii-...8304726075 . Accordingly, I demoted the cardinal I had in the van -- that gorgeous red bird only roams the East -- and gave its cherished position to the tanager which is also in the Cardinal family:

The cardinal will now be retired since I likely won't be visiting its territory any more and hearing its sweet "Purdy, purdy, purdy...". The range of the western tanager will now be my main range, too, with that question mark on the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border applying to both of us:

The brown section is breeding territory while the yellow is added migration range. Works for me as Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, the Yukon and the NWT have some of the finest wildlife and scenery on earth.

Enjoy the rest of World Wildlife Day and give thanks for the critters and natural treasures we all share in North America. We are all truly blessed.

*** Almost forgot about my last piece of wildlife mojo (it hasn't arrived yet), the golden eagle known as piitaa ("Pee-tah") to the Blackfoot:

At a whopping one cent, the price was certainly right! (Shipping was $5.99.) I'm hoping that arrives before the main peak of the golden eagle migration. I haven't decided where I'll put that ring on/in the van yet but I'm sure it'll fit in somewhere prominent. BTW Did anyone notice that my neck pillow was made by Eagle Creek? That was no accident. I'll take mojo wherever I can get it.
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[AtlasShrugged]

Thanks Vdub...God Bless and safe travels. I had my stage 3 cancer fight in 2018-2019 and it has knocked me down quite a bit. I do my own mechanical work and my Vanagon did not get driven much for a while. Thankfully it has been very reliable.

Your positive attitude is a blessing..enjoy many, many more sunsets.

_________________
'Let's Go Brandon'

[VdubVanner]

Nice sunset, Atlas. But I prefer to watch a colourful sunrise instead. It means I made it another day into my life's journey.

All the best to you and I hope you keep on vanning. I'm already planning my trips for this year.
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[VdubVanner]

Okay, it was almost like Christmas around here yesterday. Not only did my golden eagle mojo come in weeks early but my magnetic adjustable side screen door beat the other one in.

Hmmmm...where to put the eagle mojo? I put it on the dash vent and it didn't seem right -- plus it would be loose and likely go flying off (pun intended) with the first fast cornering I did:

No, I decided to go with the location that first came to mind when I bought it:

Pile the Greek Windex into the curled in wings and it wouldn't go anywhere. This would be an active experiment to see how it weathered out front and in the open air:

Next up was the Yotache adjustable magnetic screen door for the slider:

I laid the screen door out on a tarp in the garage just to have a look at it and see if there were any flaws. I didn't spot any:

The extra velcro would come in handy for the bottom hemming and I decided to use pea gravel from my alley approach to weigh it down between the added bottom layers:

Then I got to the tape work after wiping everything down with the isopropyl alcohol a couple of times. I cut short sections for the top so they'd fit between the nylon caps up there. The bottom tape shown under the scissors is the hooked velcro with its white backing:

I slowly peeled that back and applied the 3M 4941 along half of it:

Since I had lots of the 3M tape, I decided to go whole hog and do the full width:

At this point I took my time and massaged the two adhesives on the velcro and 3M tape together making sure they were adequately bonded. The sections up top were gingerly placed between the nylon caps and then rubbed on with some force using the nylon scissor grip and my gloved hand.

I wanted to make sure that the contact was firm before the 3M tape fully set. There was only one problem area that didn't seem to like that tape:

To solve that problem, I used the same gooey yellow Permatex "Super Weatherstrip Adhesive" https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/permatex-weatherstrip-adhesive-yellow-80br-59-ml-0383746p.html that went under the engine hatch seal. A couple caveats with that: first, clean up any escaping goo immediately while it's still pliable and, second, the stuff reeks like chemicals so don't plan to lay down at night with your head next to it in the coming week or three. It will need to off-gas for awhile. My wife and daughter are like bloodhounds when it comes to chemical stink so hopefully the smell fully dissipates in the near future. If it doesn't, I'm going to be in deep doo-doo. Another approach would be to move over slightly to the seat bench edge and apply the 3M tape there.

The arrows in the pic above, show where I continued the line of weatherstrip adhesive to the bottom. I checked it today and it was attached firmly. So as not to mess anything up, I'm not attaching the screening for a full three days to give the 3M tape plenty of time to cure properly. Since the temperatures both inside and outside the garage are still on the cool side, I backed the van up into the alley and ran the heaters full blast until the interior hit 20 degrees C, then ran Fritz back into the garage and closed the doors. That'll help things set nicely.

More to come in a couple of days once the 3M tape is fully cured...
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[VdubVanner]

Alrightee, then, let's get at the bugscreenery!

A day or two back I couldn't help myself and tested the netting pull on removal to see if any of the glued on hook sections came loose. A couple did so I fixed those with little dabs of the smelly yellow weatherstripping goo. For the first time ever, I actually backed the van into the garage so I'd have some morning sun shining on the work area = the sliding door and interior as I drove it out. Odd sight for me, Fritz staring out at the alley (note the new mojo including the white cowboy hat, Aapi-si, Iinii and Piitaa):

A neighbour I haven't seen in years -- walking his dog down the uncrowded, COVID-safe alley -- stopped for a chat about Westies after spying Fritz and confessed that he once had an '81 but sold it. He congratulated me on keeping my van in good nick.

Okay, hop aboard and I'll show you how I set the velcro up. Note how the screen door magnets can be stuck to the side of the van for easy entry if required. Try that with a zipper.

At that point I was in the trial phase and hadn't done any hemming. The provided hook roll of the velcro with the white backing was a single width unlike the adjustable loops on the screen door that were three-wide on the top and sides. I laid several smaller sections of the single width hook velcro down each of the sliding door sides and next to the curtain railing up top as well as a long single stretch above the curtain rail for vertical grab. That latter stretch is best done in one unbroken length or it'll look a bit sloppy. You can get away with putting the others on in sections (I did that since it was my first time using the 3M tape and velcro and I was a bit nervous of the outcome):

I added a little extra piece where the curtain was gathered for better grab after testing:

The rest went down to the floor, in this case it'll be behind the Engel cooler:

When putting the long single stretch up over the curtain rail be sure to spend some time smoothing down the grey 3M tape edge under the velcro (shown with the arrows) with a leather-gloved thumb or equivalent otherwise it won't lay flat. I gave that area a massage for 15 minutes or more so it wouldn't pop up and look "rippled" along the edge. It needs time to set and a little convincing while doing so. That's the only edge that your eye catches looking into the van so make it good:

Another trick: use a black Sharpie to hide the yellow weatherstripping glue residue and joints in the velcro sections. The arrow shows an almost invisible joint where I had to touch a lifted area up with the gooey stuff:

I ran the Sharpie down the entire length of that right side trim to hide the grey of the underlying 3M tape. If that tape was on a grey or light-coloured background I left well enough alone.

At this point I should add that the presence of the velcro strips doesn't bother me in the least and I'm a rather fussy interior decorator. The right side runs down the black trim along the door and is virtually invisible. The curtain rail sections are upside down and difficult to see. About the only sections of velcro that stand out are the long stretch above the curtain rail and the section behind the passenger seat (some of which is hidden by my cooler). My van interior is grey with black trim all over the place so even the long stretch above the door doesn't exactly jump out as out of place or over the top. I hardly notice it. Others may disagree and demand a snap arrangement with zippers or magnets all around. To each their own.

Now it was time to drag the untrimmed bugscreenery into the van and figure out what needed to be trimmed:

Crikey, there was a lot hanging out the door -- and plenty of extra on the right side, above the door and on the left side (all areas where the adjustable three-width loop velcro was situated):

I knew that the bunched curtain area was going to be tricky and took my time, starting the trim with a hesitant cut to allow the velcro to lay flat(ter):

I finally took the whole thing into the garage and laid it out to trim the bottom, top and sides (DO NOT discard the cut sections):

The left top eventually looked like this with a very small section of three-width velcro left to grab onto the two hooked pieces when it was jammed underneath in front of the bunched curtain area:

It fit like this:

The arrow shows a potential infiltration spot. This is as seen from the outside of the van looking in. The slider track hollow could be filled with a rag or leftover mosquito netting if so inclined. I'm leaving mine as is for the time being.

Up top I left two widths of velcro so it could latch onto, first, the curtain rail sections, and, second, on the long velcro section above it. The left side was left with two velcro widths for adjustment and the right side of the door with a single width of velcro. I left some extra double width up on the right hand side of the door to use as a "yank" handle to more easily tear the bugscreenery down for removal and storage. There was no matching/catching velcro underneath that handle to impede the yank:

To know exactly where dead center was when setting the outfit up again, I marked the van and velcro:

That way I could start at the center and work either direction when reinstalling it. By this time I'd taken out a Bic lighter and seared the edges of the nylon velcro where it had been cut so it wouldn't fray.

More to come...
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[joetiger]

I'm sorry to read about your ongoing battles, that just sucks. Thank you for sharing your story; it's inspirational and positive and while all I can do is send good vibes, I appreciate it. And I'm sending them.

The attention to detail on your screen door is impressive! I have the same one, which I haphazardly affix with strong magnets around the edges of the door opening.

In Glacier a couple of summers ago, I put it up and allowed the weighted bottom section to sit on the ground. BIG MISTAKE. It created an ant superhighway into the van. Lesson learned.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[jlrftype7]

[dobryan]

I am very late in saying THANK YOU for these wonderful and inspirational reports.
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[bryanarchy]

Vdub, you've made me smile a dozen times in the last two pages of this thread. Thank you!

[Walty87]

Just wanted to chime in and say that i love your animals and their symbolism! So cool!

[VdubVanner]

Gosh, thanks for all those kind comments. I really appreciate them.

To Joe: Good vibes are always welcome. Ants aren't! At the risk of boring you I have even more details on that screen door coming up in a minute. Steady yourself.

To jlrftype7: Good luck with the surgery. I pray that it goes well. I reckon the big thing with the Big C is attitude. It's all in how you deal with what life throws your way. A classic tome on the subject is this one by Victor Frankl: https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/mans-search-for-meaning.pdf . That's why he survived the concentration camps during the Holocaust while many so-called tough guys didn't.

To Dave O: You're welcome, Dave. You know what they say: "Better late than never."

To Bryan: A dozen smiles over the last two pages of this thread? Heck, imagine how many more you'd get if you read the entire thread.

To Walty: Yeah, they are cool aren't they? I sure hope they lure in whatever critters that I'm out looking for on one of my trips -- and maybe something I'm not expecting. Surprises are always good.

Again, my thanks and appreciation for the uplifting words.

Now, let's get back to the subject at hand: bugscreenery as applied to the sliding side door. Next up to bat is hemming the bottom of the screen door. Before touching that topic, I should mention that the length of the screen door after trimming was in the neighbourhood of 56" of screen showing with a length of about 58" with the two inches of velcro up top added. When cutting ALWAYS cut less off than you think you need to. It's far better to have too much material to work with than come up short by an inch or two. With luck, I found a break in the series of center magnets right where I wanted to cut off the extraneous bottom material.

BTW If you're the frugal type, I might point out that there should be enough material left over that you could cobble together a bug screen for one of your front windows using black duct tape as edging with small magnets inside of that edging.

I should also mention that to prep the glued down single-width hook velcro further before really messing with the screen and yanking on it, I took Fritz out over two days and ran him long enough in town -- with both heaters blazing -- to get the temperature inside up to 35 degree C. That would help with the curing of the 3M tape plus the velcro over it. Crikey, it even drove some of the yellow goo smell away. Bonus! Once cooking hot, I left Fritz to simmer in the garage overnight.

There are three ways to go about hemming:

1) Ignore it and leave the cut raw and nasty:

There's nothing wrong with that path. In fact, in the video I linked above which highlighted the use of the 3M tape and recommended using it, that's exactly what the van owners did. Simple. Easy. Worked for them. But I'm not following in their footsteps. A hem helps protect the bottom edge no matter how tough that fiberglass netting is. I did immediately sew a couple of hand stitches in at the bottom of the magnetic center pieces to keep the smaller magnets from falling out.

2) Go through the screen door discard pile and grab the two-width velcro lengths that were cut off. Folding over the bottom edges, they could pass for a very tough hem. Although ultimately I didn't choose that route, I'll illustrate how it could be done:

After laying the netting into the top half of the velcro "sandwich", use tiny squares of the leftover hook velcro to pin the netting in place. Yup, you got that right: those hooks will go right through the netting and attach themselves to the loop velcro underneath. I thought it would work and it did! Next, fold the bottom velcro over and glue the sandwich together. I illustrate the method using staples because I wanted to test the concept before going off the high diving board with it.

Here's how that concept worked in the van:

If that curling under looks familiar it's because the folks at Sewfine use it (see their photos upthread with the brown van interior). I like it for a couple of reasons, the first being that it keeps the bottom edge away from any mud below the door entrance and, two, in a quick getaway scenario most of the screen is inside the sliding door already. All that needs to be done is to pull away the screening near the bunched curtain area where the slider closes and away you go.

3) BUT -- and there's always a but with a good idea -- that dang velcro material is too tough, especially when doubled up into a sandwich, and doesn't like to be folded when storing the screen door away. So out the door -- through the bug screen -- that idea went. I happened across this article and liked a couple of things mentioned in it: https://www.vantasticmedia.com/vanbuild-posts/2018/5/26/bug-screen . Their straightforward I-can't-sew idea was to simply reuse the existing bottom edge by opening it up and creating another sandwich for the netting. Then join the whole works together using fabric glue. Pure genius! Okay, maybe the velcro's tougher but the lighter weight material folds perfectly for storage. I reckon that by adding the glue at the bottom edge any further weighting -- say, using pea gravel or BBs or whatever -- might be avoided. If you prefer the hanging-out-the door screen style vs the Sewfine curl under screen style, a little fine trimming and adjustments will have to be made. I may go for the hanging style but will make that momentous decision at the time.

I'm now awaiting my Amazon.ca order of Aleene's Fabric Fusion https://www.amazon.ca/Aleenes-25042-Fabric-Adhesiv...P&th=1 . I bought the 8oz size only because it was cheaper than buying the 4oz size. Of course, I lumped it in with other items to get the free shipping. Should be here by Friday so I'll have the screen door completed over the warmer weekend. I've already taken the original bottom hemming apart to prepare for the final phase of the operation.

One other important observation: I don't know if it was me or the way the van is constructed but I never did get that magnetic center of the door to automatically close fully. Even though it took all of three seconds to help it along, it didn't seem to align properly as it would on a normal door frame or a Sprinter door. That likely has to do with the curve embedded in our sliders which is why many of the commercially sold Westy screen doors using magnets OVERLAP. I don't mind spending three seconds to help the magnets jump at each other but you might.
_________________
"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[VdubVanner]

Photo credit: My fantastic Westy-owning neighbour W2

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RQxD4Ff7dY

Okay, I confess: I'm a humbug who doesn't like bugs! But you know what? I was wrong about the method of hemming. Scratch #3 above and go back to the good idea I had in #2 illustrated in the last post. After folding that screen door numerous times to make a final decision, it dawned on me that the doubled-over velcro hem is not the limiting factor when folding the bug screen up. The series of magnets running down the center-line entry are. They're completely rigid and won't fold up at all:

Yippeee! That meant I could keep to my original design and simply add glue and then clamp the velcro hem together until it set up on each side. I was also going to take the closure clasp from the bottom of the extra netting and use it higher up on the new version. Lastly, I'd pillage some magnets from the same cutoff discard pile and put them to work along the bottom of the hem. I had another choice to make: should I leave the hem curled inward like Sewfine's example or let it hang outside the door freely? I decided the latter route was the best way to go since it would likely make a cleaner closure both coming and going.

So, a little cutting was in order on both sides of the door to get the netting to hang outside:

Then I scrounged two magnets out of the discard pile (simply cut them out of the center-line hem) and applied them in each corner of the door entry to more strongly hold the hem down. Each of them went into a double-wide velcro strip that was sandwiched and glued:

I used the yellow stinky goo again since I knew it was tough stuff and I needed that to hold the magnets. The magnets were each strategically placed in that sandwich so they'd stick to metal along the door bottom.

I then cut out another couple of magnets of the same size and applied them vertically along the hem to see how well they'd stick. Perfect! The red arrow below shows the magnet location at the corner and the blue arrows show where I placed short sections of the thin brown magnets (seen in the last post under #2 method -- I shortened each side to about 4 or 5 inches).

I reckoned that with all that weight plus the glue between the doubled-over velcro that would be plenty to anchor the bug screen in a wind. I tucked the vertical magnets in some of the discarded netting hem that I'd taken apart and glued it into the velcro hem:

I cut the two opposing pieces of the bottom clasp from the discard pile and glued them on the INSIDE of the screen just below magnets (twisted here to the outside so you can see them better):

The idea here was to keep the magnetized center-line hem closure outside looking neat and tidy. No additives necessary to get good closing and opening action. Both clasps would be located inside the van.

Things were coming right along. I only needed to glue the hem together:

Now I rolled the dice and decided to try out the Fabric Fusion glue in the doubled-over velcro. The instructions said to clamp it while setting so that's what I did:

That was the biggest mistake I made and I cringed when the stuff started oozing out the top of the hem. It's made for lightweight jobs not something thick and rugged like looped velcro. No, I would have been much smarter to stick with the smellier yellow weatherstripping adhesive (using black nitrile gloves in the open air). It stuck better without the need for clamps and left little residue near the top edge. A comparison of the yellow goo on the left and the fabric glue on the right being clamped:

I had to wait until the worst of it had dried overnight and then applied my masking black Sharpie permanent marker:

Still, it didn't turn out too bad and the bottom hem would surely attract dust or dirt anyway. I found the easiest way to close the screen was a gentle downward tug at the bottom of the hem on both sides of the centre-line and/or drawing the screen outward about halfway down. Takes all of a second. You'll find what works for you if you follow the same path. I HIGHLY recommend the adjustable magnetic screen door over the normal variety because you have a lot of extra velcro material that can be put to use and get a finer fit.

Each morning over several warm days I ran the van out of the garage and let the sun bake off the stinky smell from the yellow glue. It does dissipate but takes time. Of course, while watching Fritz in the alley so no one could pilfer anything, I used my upgraded chair. Here we have The VWWESTY Sliding Door Bugscreenery Kit and VWWESTY Camping Chair Kit. Beauty!

One last thing: I invited a buzzing blowfly aka "green bottle fly'' that was hovering around the alley to come down for a, um, screen test. I should mention that these pesky flies develop in manure or dead animal carcasses and really fancy a good time in dog doo-doo or rotting, rank-smelling garbage. Just the kind of visitor you don't want walking all over your fresh sandwich or rabbit food inside the van.

I wasn't sure what that green bottle fly was hotly buzzing about but I could've sworn it was giving me the finger:

Success!

I reckon that sliding door bug screen will work out just fine.
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"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[ALIKA T3]

This is a rad screen build!

I had ordered the simple screen months ago online, I`ll have to follow your path now!

Aloha!
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Silicone Steering Boots and 930 Cv boots for sale in the classifieds.
Syncro transmission upgrade parts in the Classifieds.
Subaru EJ22+UN1 5 speed transmission
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=416343
Syncro http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...num+gadget

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