There are days when you sight see and experience amazing beauty…then there are days like today where you witness the kindness of another human.
I met Stuart on line less than a month ago. Outside of the bus and his interest in my purchase, we knew nothing about each other. Until last night, we had never met or spoke. Yet here I was this morning, camped out at his parents house and awaiting Stuart to come outside to begin our day.
We started off with some errands Stuart had to run and then we went out for breakfast at Chantrelle, a local bistro in town down by the waterfront. There we met the friendliest waitress who could not help but put a smile on everyone’s face as she listened to the patrons stories and greetings. On top of that, breakfast was really good!
Then our day began. I really didn’t know what was in store for me, but Stuart had a plan and I just followed along. First stop was at Bow-Wow (aka Autovice) for some VW parts. Stuart had noticed this morning that my campertop gasket was incorrect and not doing anything except allowing a lot of cold air into the bus. Sandy had also gotten a cracked headlight lens along the way and she was missing some boots for the clutch and gas pedals Bow Wow hooked us up with almost everything we needed. While I was inside shopping, Stuart was tearing Sandy’s fuse block apart to find out when she had now died on me twice. Stuart is a 21 yr old VW enthusiast and is in school to become a Certified Honda Mechanic. Today, he was taking out his enthusiasm on Sandy and helping me make her perfect.
Before I knew it, the fuse block was dismantled and Stuart was troubleshooting it right in the parking lot. And damn if he didn’t find the problem immediately. Someone had miswired the panel and accidentally ran the ignition through the fuses. This would cause the wires to overheat and blow the fuse. I was lucky that it only happened to me in parking lots and not on the highway. Before putting it back together, he cleaned all my contacts and upgraded my fuses for me.
Next up was the broken headlight so as I was obtaining one, Stuart took it upon himself to look at my heater issue and he found the nest. A huge nest stuck in the heater pipe right at the Y. He cleaned it out right there in the parking lot. Then onto the headlight. Once we were all done there it was time to head out of town to The Bus Company and meet up with Ken Madson to secure a used Splash Pan Sandy was missing and replace some broken parks with used parts from his huge inventory.
Any VW Bus owner could spend all day at Ken’s shop carousing through thousands and thousands of used parts Ken has acquired over the years.
Upon pulling up to Ken’s home I was floored by everything I saw there. Ken has a meticulous system for inventorying so many parts and its all done by hand.
I scored a Splash Pan, Rear Ash Tray,Vent Window Lock, brand new vent window gaskets, Brand New Rubber Boot for e-brake and some other odds and ends.
We returned to Stuarts house late int he afternoon and the real work began. First up, we replaced the incorrect Campertop seal with the new kit. Then installed the rekeyed locks we dropped off at the local locksmith earlier in the day, Then it was time to hook up the new Aux. Battery so I can run the refrigerator and accessories off a second battery as we were driving (a stock feature on theses buses, but few have it hooked up, let alone an actual working frig 😀 ) Stuart wired it right up like the pro he is and then gave me a quick run down of how it works and what is where.
After Stuart called it a night, I put the bus back together, cleaned up and restocked the bus with our provisions. Added some LED lights to the interior and here we are.
I could not have done this all myself. Stuart was instrumental in showing me where to find the parts and help me troubleshoot so much. I truly humbled to have met Stuart and have him work on my bus. He is a fine young example of Bus Owners. Seattle, you are really lucky to have so many great places to secure parts and to have folks like Stuart here in town to help you.
Tomorrow we are off for Victoria, B.C.
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Stuart is awesome his love for Vw’s is as strong ,and he likes helping people out .
And there is even a Yorkie in the story (we have 2) Hope tp meet you some day , Steve
It’s great to see you met up with two of the local VW nuts, Stuart and Ken, to make some of the needed repairs to Sandy.
How’s the heat now?
Geoff
He looks like he could be your son!!!
I can assure you, this is the first time I was ever in Seattle 😀