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Westfalia Camper Roof Overview
Of all the clever German engineering features employed in the Volkswagen Westfalia Camper, the distinctive raised fiberglass roof is perhaps one of its most ingenious. Providing over eight feet of standing headroom, it allows for the comfortable changing of clothes, cooking and other kitchen tasks, and reveals the two-person upper sleeping bunk. Its canvas sides and screened front window aid in ventilation, and it provides a dry, safe refuge from the elements. Many a time have we pulled into a lakeside rest stop or a wayside during a pouring rainstorm, and quickly popped the top to prepare a hot meal while the rain pelts the roof, all while staying dry and cozy—not an easy option for those touring by pop-up travel trailer or tent. After lunch, the whole thing easily retracts to rack up more road miles.
If the devious previous owner of your Westy was anything like mine, your Westfalia Camper fiberglass pop-up roof is dingy, dirty, and sun-faded, with leaky seals that allow rain to get in and start rotting your canvas. Fortunately, it is a fairly simple matter to spiff it up again, and even to replace rusty hardware and frayed seals.
Depending on the general condition of your own pop-up, you may or may not need to perform the full refurbishment I outline here, so read ahead to determine whether you indeed require all the parts, tools, and other materials listed.
The following procedures involving washing/waxing, spray treatments, etc. are best done out of direct sunlight, to ensure even and uniform drying.
Parts
- Complete set of Rubber Pop-Up Seals: replaces camper pop-up, luggage rack, and flat seal in between. Also available individually. I bought the replacement rubber edge seals from the Bus Depot (see the Vanthology links page).
- Stainless Steel Hardware: mounting bolts & nuts for hinged pop-up roof and luggage rack, and tiedown cleats for luggage rack. My original hardware was rusted and badly repainted, so I opted to replace it entirely with stainless steel. The roof mounting bolts can be found at your local hardware store, while the luggage rack mounting bolts and tiedown cleats are available from VW-specific online vendors; mine came from GoWesty (see links page).
- Rubber washers, 1" in diameter with 1/4" holes (6), for luggage rack mounting bolts, optional.
- Screened garden hose washers (5), for protecting luggage rack drain holes, optional.
- "Westfalia" decal(s), available from online vendors, vary by year, optional.
Tools
- As with most Vanagon repair and maintenance procedures, the Bentley and other manuals will be indispensible.
- Phillips & Slotted Screwdrivers
- Assorted Combination wrenches
- Rubber Mallet, wood block, sidecutters, and knife; for replacing rubber edge seals.
- Credit-card burnishing tool, for applying decals. Use an old credit card or hotel room key to squeeze air bubbles and burnish vinyl decals onto surfaces. Also work great for gently but assertively scraping off stubborn bugs and tree sap, and smoothing gelcoat repair putty.
- Black & Decker ScumBuster rechargeable scrubber; there is something like 1/450th of an acre of fiberglass on the Vanagon Westy pop-up roof, and if one is to thoroughly clean, polish, and wax it … well, that's a lotta scrubbin'. The ScumBuster is a nifty tool that makes the task a little less formidable. Powered by rechargeable batteries, waterproof, with a variety of scrubbing brushes and pads, it'll save you a lot of elbow grease.
Materials
- Fiberglass Wash, Polish, and Wax. At my local West Marine store I found a bundled package of three fiberglass maintenance products in Meguiar's "Mirror Glaze" series. Included in the kit were their Boat & RV Wash, Oxidation Remover & Polish, and Pure Wax. These do a good job of cleaning and restoring the pop-up roof's original luster and sealing it from future deterioration.
- West Marine Quick Fix Gelcoat Patch, for filling in small nicks and cracks in the fiberglass roof, optional.
- RTV Silicone, for attaching the screened garden hose washers to the luggage rack drain holes, optional.
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