foto of brunnhilde

What's up with the title choice? I get a lot of traffic worldwide coming from Google search. I always enjoy the search phrases that Google search direct to my blog posts. Some of my choices of title are made to humor those looking for something else. Brunnhilde doing something seems to attract a lot of traffic from Russia.

If you like modern architecture and astute design the choices of a auto camper (aka motorhome) would be rather limited unless you build your own. To make matter more difficult, I have owned a VW Vanagon camper in which the coach work (everything that has to do with camping; in the other words beyond the Vanagon chassis) is designed and made by Westfalia. To me there is no better quality motorhome coach builder than Westfalia.

the vw vanagon camper by westfalia - it is my milestone reference for which other campers are judged

Sure there are very expensive motor homes built on touring bus chassis costing $500k and more. In them you would find luxury material more suitable for McMansions cater to the sudden rich. If you have an eye for quality you would see past the bling bling , there is little attentions are paid to a well balance package.

I remember reading an excerpt of an interview of Charles Eames. He was asked what precipitates a good design. He said good design must have constrains. I try to keep this in my mind and time and again it proved true with projects with many seeming formidable constrains.

To me there is two choices, Westfalia or build my own. Anyway I won't digress more but to present the North American version of the 2005 Westfalia James Cook.

the marketing catalog

 specifications

the floor plan - Westfalia chose the shortest Sprinter Chassis for very good reasons; this would continue in the facelift version with the new NCV3 Sprinter Chassis

A observant reader would notice the many inconsistencies of the brandings. It is a rather complex story so I would just touch on the salient points:

• Westfalia is a German RV couch builder and it built this camper based on the Mercedes Benz Sprinter 316CDI cargo van chassis
• In the United States all Mercedes Sprinters were sold and service under either Dodge or Freightliner brands (remember the ill-conceived marriage of Chrysler and Mercedes Benz AG? before the financial crisis?), hence the Dodge Sprinter you see in this catalog
• Airstream collaborate with Westfalia to adapt the James Cook which was designed for Europe for the American market. The changes made include electrical, plumbing, and camping fuel system for the US specs and regulations. Other changes are creature comforts which many owners find ill-conceived and poorly executed for what was a very balanced design by Westfalia.

just 18.5 feet long but at a towering 11 feet tall; weighting 4 tons with the frontal area of the empire state building it constantly achieves 20 mpg

powered by a MB 5 cylinder in-line turbo charged diesel engine

it fits into a standard parking spot - even in the street of san francisco

it politely takes up one parking spot - note the RV with the slideout encroaching into adjacent spots

the center operable skylight and two side wing windows

the giant skylight open; the low profile rooftop AC is made by Kerstner; the high top has double layers for thermal insulation

side wing window can be open and locked in a range of angles with the twist-to-lock mechanism

built-in insect screen

built-in black-out curtain (it block most of the light even in direct sunlight)

 the back of the camper

the domestic water heater, AC-to-DC converter for the DC rooftop air conditioner

closet can be accessed from outside as well as inside; the storage pockets are built to maximize space utilization on space that would otherwise be wasted due to the curvature of the Sprinter side

the two red levers are safety shutoff for the propane supply to the appliances; the grey curtain covers the utility so the closet is neat and tidy

 snap-on connector for the outside shower - very slick leak-proof design

the shower head has an integral on/off so you can conserve precious water

the switch above it is the on/off for the water pump

 storage space under the bathroom (Germans call it wet cell)

 the storage tunnel can accommodate a few pairs of skies; note also the beefy towing hitch capable of towing 4 tons

storage on both rear doors

a suburban 4 gallon water heater - the european JC has a much nicer on-demand version without this ugly chassis cutout and the out-of-place cheap sheet metal door

the upper berth twin size bed - the ugly bed sheet i used to protect the mattress from the dirt and grits my sailboard equipment tracks in the grey leading edge with the orange label has a retractable safety net for the upper berth

the bed can be stowed away into the space above the driver seat (the cockpit area) - it is concealed by a fold-panel which doubles as a part of the bed support; note the stratospheric high ceiling of the central cabin

the high quality foam mattress is supported by these snazzy light weight springs

the two panels above the bench seat are the support for the upper berth - they can be stowed into the space above the cockpit; this leave almost 9 feet of headroom in the main cabin

 cup holders and stowable leaf table for drinks

 the lower berth twin size bed converted from the bench seat

the following series of photo shows converting the bed into a 3-person seat

erect the backrest

slide the bench seat along the floor track and lock it into the driving configuration

the levers for unlocking the bench seat from the floor tracks (so you can slide it along the track) and for the underseat storage

Something that Westfalia does better than the competitions is the convertibity of the seatings. The bench seat convertible steel structure is design to withstand collision with 3 passengers and you can see the heavy guage steel of the construction. The passengers on the bench seat is equiped with 3 seatbelt with shoulder belt. The steel member in which the shoulder belts anchored to is a part of the kitchen cabinet. From this I gether the cabinetries and the living compartments are designed to withstand certain collision criteria.
storage space under the bench seat

lot of leg room; the small black vent near the floor is the cabin diesel-powered forced air furnace warm air outlet

the dinning table is stored in a pocket above the cockpit - there is even a strap to pull it out

very cleaver foldable leg - the silver round button is a pull-to-release lock so the leg does not dislodge when you stow it away

 the leg is inserted into the floor track and locks securely to it

the passenger rotates about an offset pivoting point shifting it towards the driver seat - very clever design

the orange lever unlock the front seat so it swivels - note also the synthetic flooring in the cockpit

dinning for 5

 the 12V dc jack for electronics - it is power by 2 deep cycle coach batteries

view towards the compact but well appointed kitchen; note the cabinets has many curved contours; there is no hard corner for safety

never too many cooks in this kitchen as there is only standing room for one - propane detector and warm air vent near the floor; the two opening to the lower right are the built in steps to access the upper berth

 the black grip handle for accessing the upper berth

there is no shortage of lighting - at night it can illuminate like a lantern; one of my favorite view of Brunnhilde is looking from the outside with all galley halogen lights illuminating the modern interior design

kitchen upper cabinet with the rollaway door

under the upper cabinet is a fume extractor fan; to the right are the rocker switches for some lighting and a 15Vac outlet

sink and double burner propane range top

there is a small stainless steel dish drying tray right of the sink

under the drying tray is more storage, as well as the master shutoff switch for the coach batteries

cutlery drawer

the middle shelf had a microwave oven (NAFTA version only) but i ditched it and use the precious space for storing cooking pots and pans

the lower compartment houses a bank of AC breakers for the cabin utilities, as well as more storage

 under-sink storage

 

the counter space

the top door is more kitchen storage; the lower door is for access the storage space behind the bench seat

on the ceiling is a small air vent to keep the cabin air relative safe even if all the vehicle's fenestration is closed

under the kitchen floor is the other end of the storage tunnel - i affectionately call it my wine cellar; seriously there is enough room to store 2 cases of wine just in the narrow and long segment

two of these wine cartons fits nicely under the kitchen floor storage with a bit of modification; the beauty is they cost nothing and you can decide to have one or two

Speaking of wine. If you like red wine and carry plastic wine glasses in your camper,  I encourage you not to compromise but bring the real thing. Breaking a wine glass is the least of your problem because red wine can do terrible to the upholstery. I try to be very careful with my glass of wine. If accident strikes, the key is dilution. Rush to your sink with a cotton towel. Wet the towel with dish soap and water solution and use it to soak up the and naturalize the wine on the fabric before it work into it. Use another dry cotton towel to soak up the dilution. Do this a few time and it is the best emergency treatment. I spilled some once on the bench seat and that was what I did. The fabric is very good in resisting the stain. It must be treated (with something like Scotchgard) to resist common beverage stains.


chest refrigerator powered by 12V coach batteries; the operation of the refrigerator is controlled by an electronic panel in the cockpit (or wheelhouse if you prefer nautical reference)

the chest refrigerator makes a lot of sense for conservation of precious energy (12V battery charge) as the cold does not spill out like a conventional refrigerator; the compressor uses none other than the excellent Danfoss

 small storage under the refrigerator

storage behind the sliding troublesome horizontal rollaway door - there is a small steel lockbox for small valuables

Most would find it odd that the kitchen and bath is constructed on a raised platform, making the camper so tall that look top heavy. Westfalia engineers did this so the fresh and waste water storage are inside the vehicle chassis for freeze protection, as well as to provide some precious storage space. There is no concession made to compromise the head room.

a very compact and well appointed full bath

I would compare the coach cabinetry quality to luxury business jet in fit and finish. The wet cell and all the cabinetry are designed and manufactured specifically for this model year range.
note also the huge mirror cut to the sharp of the bath wall

in the bath is a openable skylight with built-in insect screen - there are 4 positions

fluorescent light fixture

 behind the small door is a retractable clothlines for drying washed clothes during the trip

clothlines deployed

next to the toilet is the warm air outlet from the furnace for the bath; european version as a more compact toilet with a removable sewer storage cassette so you can empty it in any toilet

note the high quality stainless steel door hardware as you may find only in high end yachts; by the way, all the cabinetry and partitions are built with lightweight European plywood faced with high tech veneers (there is no particle board)

the sink cabinet; the entire bath is constructed with Westfalia custom all panels in the most uncompromising design and execution - just think of the NRE (non-recurring engineering) cost

 the sink faucet doubles as the shower as well

 closet and linen storage access from inside

that is not the troublesome big bird; tv monitor on a stowable mount (NAFTA version only)

there is no shortage of lighting; there are 4 light fixtures in the upper berth - all can be independently controlled

cabin air conditioner vents; CO detector, and smoke detector; the ugly black panel is for the cabin air conditioner for the NAFTA version

more storage

the small electronic panel behind the halogen light indicates the level of the black water storage tank - alas it is defective by design (it is a NAFTA version unique feature)

this central electronic panel provides the status and control of a number of camper equipment including the coach batteries, refrigerator, and the forced air furnace

the cabin windows on this side are fixed - both has built in blackout roller blinds

this is the only openable double-glaze window in the lower cabin

it can be open and locked into a range of angles with the twist-to-lock mechanism

built-in insect screen and blackout roller blind

the tiny black square on the pillar is the temperature sensor for the cabin forced air furnace - an example of attention of detail of the Westfalia engineers in choosing the optimum location for it

note the space behind the front seats - not a cm of space is wasted

storage space in the front doors

the cabin floor is lined with this synthetic flooring - making cleaning on the road a snap without the need of a vacuum cleaner

under the mattress foam pad is the fresh water storage tank and 2 deep-cycle coach batteries; the black steel box beam is the super structure the passenger shoulder belts anchored to

the storage space under the lower berth

utility hookups; there is a built-in battery charger that charges both the coach batteries as well as the "starting" battery

 

lockable fresh water tank inlet

awning deployed for a mock streetfood themed ramen party

If you want to find out more about it this is a very long and detail video on Youtube posted by Colonial Airstream.

this video gives some sense of the James Cook fever in europe


To find out more about the current ranges of Westfalia motor homes here is the link to their website. You can choose the language setting. westfalia home