Delica Meet 2008

[Thomas Porter]

Any Deli owners play instruments? I play guitar, harmonica and I like drumming a bit too - dejembe and NAFN hand drum. My wife plays flute a bit too.
I'd like to have a bonfire or two during the 2008 trip, ringed by Delicas with some campfire tunes playing on the six string.
Shepherd plays banjo and the new Deli owner here in P.A.
(Dave - hasn't singed on to the site yet) plays guitar too.
All we need is a washboard, a tub string bass and a jug will have a real orchestra! (Is my red neck showing again?)
Looking forward to seeing who else is interested in DeliMeet 2008!
Thomas Porter
P.S. I'll be offering flyfishing and nature photography lessons for those interested. Not good enough to teach music - hoping someone else can help me with that.

[Erebus]

I'm a newbie on this forum, don't even have my deli yet, but would love to meet some others. Kananaskis works for me, since I'm so close by.

Don' t have any specific dates in mind.

Going back to Porsche sub-thread, should shoehorn a 928 engine into a deli, then see about top speed. Might need some suspension work though

[Muzikmasaker]

I play too Guitar , Bass , DRums, ALWAYS wanted to start a jug band / neo indie counrty band
Thomas havnt seen you around town since i got my deli ...

[mararmeisto]

My wife and I are most definitely ready to attend a proposed DelicaMeet in '08. In fact, we'd rather do this than going on a cruise to Alaska with family. Now we've got a reason to explain why we haven't yet booked cabins on the ship!

We like the April-May time-frame. That way it's not too hot, but it's not the dead of winter, either. And Jasper is perfect - we drove up there last year in our Ford Windstar (I know, I'm so ashamed), and have been itching to get back there ever since. Now we have an excuse!

Concur on Banff: too commercial. However, the drive from Jasper down to Banff is wonderful (forgot the highway number) and it would look soooo cool if a string of Delicas were to stop and get a shot alongside the glaciers. If you want some awesome pictures, well that would be the place to do it.

As to the distance, well, we do live in a pretty big country (did you know that BC, all by itself as a province, is bigger than ANY European country? or that Quebec is three times larger than France?), so unless you live in Jasper it's going to be a bit of a drive. Sorry, but that's the reality of the size of the Canada. Besides, other than meeting other Delica drivers, isn't the drive going to be part of the fun?

Anyway, will keep watching this thread for more planning data.

[Erebus]

If it is the week after Easter, or after the end of June, then I can make more than the weekend. Otherwise, weekend only. Love Jasper. Banff is just a tourist trap. But Kananaskis Country is great. Another possibility is just off the Forestry Trunk Road somewhere north of Calgary. Little harder to get to, no services, but spectacular scenery.

I don't play any instruments, for which everyone is grateful.

Concur on Banff: too commercial. However, the drive from Jasper down to Banff is wonderful (forgot the highway number) and it would look soooo cool if a string of Delicas were to stop and get a shot alongside the glaciers. If you want some awesome pictures, well that would be the place to do it.

Highway 93, or Icefields Parkway. Wonderful drive, used to be "forced" to do it for work. My (silent) question always was, "what is a fair pay rate for driving from Banff to Jasper at sunset with a full moon rising?"

As to the distance, well, we do live in a pretty big country.

For an idea of Europe versus Canada, check the map on this page: http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/site/a ... _2_2_e.asp. My personal favourite comparison is Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic. About the same size as the island of Great Britain, but has only 2 settlements with a total population of under 2000. Yes, two thousand! Europeans just can't comprehend. Canada has 243,792 kilometres of coastline, France has 4,668, the UK has 12,429. So the UK and France combined have 7% of Canada's coastline. Just makes me laugh. Only the Aussies and Russians can really understand.

Okay, I'll shut up now. Can you tell I'm a geographer?

[coaxial]

The girlfriend and I are looking to drive across Canada and back next summer in our Delica (vancouver or tofino -> st. johns and back) maybe we could time it so we stop at the meet on the way.

Kananaskis or anywhere in that region would be sweet.. I spent the last 5 years hiking and exploring kananaskis before moving to Van this year .. love it there

[knight]

Maybe I missed it but is a date set yet? I live in Kimberley BC, used to live in Calgary, and am picking up a Delica in Campbell river on the Nov 13. So I can let you know what the fuel will be. As for the scenery and time of year, I have riden a bicycle Jasper to Banff a few times its beautiful. But anywhere around there is pretty good. The 93 highway (Jasper-Banff section) has some of the most raw and jagged mountains I have come across over the years. Kanaskis and the Forrestry Trunk road (most of it at least. It very long gravel road) are more Hills, trees and mountains more Panoramic.

As for the Crowsnest Pass route from Calgary to the Kootenays (kimberley) the Route through Banff is much faster. Higher average speed limit, and more passing opportunities. Look forward to meeting everyone.


Trevor

[Adrock]

hey knight, i lived in kimberley last winter, and this summer, and I will most definitely be coordinating a trip to kimberley around this meet if I can make it. You a kimberley transplant or born and raised? I'd say i'm a bit of both considering how much family I have and how many holidays i've spent there. Not quite a vacationing albertan at least. I'm sure some people will think i'm back in town if you start driving one around. I'm sure you know some of my family... if you've taken a cab theres a good bet you've at least met my cousin or her husband. I love small towns... can't wait to get back. Be sure to take your van out to st marys in the snow, I made it to the grey creek bridge no problem, then things got hairy. definitely fun though. Enjoy it.

[knight]

No im a second generation Calgarian. Moved here 5 years ago to help manage a bike and ski shop. While I was living here I meet a second generation Kimberlite living in Calgary. Moved back to Calgary to join the Fire Department. But after a couple of years doing that we decided that we missed Kimberly to much and I quite my job and moved back. I love it here. I remeber seeing your van a few a times. We had been talking about buying one for almost 4 years, just didnt want one while living in a big city. Then about a month ago I decided to sell my 2002 F350 diesel, as I had only put 3500km on it in 8 months (2 trips to calgary for friends), and get a smaller truck. Couldnt find what I thought was a good deal so decied to bite the buller and buy a Deli now. Let me know when you are coming back through and we can arrange a Kimberley meet LOL.

As for the fuel for the eastcoasters. I drove back the Trans canada route and found at bewtween 90-110 these things are pretty good on fuel. I filled up every 400k and always had atleast a 1/4 tank left. How big are the tanks anyways?

[marsgal42]

As for the fuel for the eastcoasters. I drove back the Trans canada route and found at bewtween 90-110 these things are pretty good on fuel. I filled up every 400k and always had atleast a 1/4 tank left. How big are the tanks anyways?

75 litres. On my longest road trip I got 10.1 litres/100 km on the highway. I generally refuel when I'm down to 1/4 tank.

...laura

[mararmeisto]

Maybe I missed it but is a date set yet?

Getting back to knight's question - has a date or a month been generally agreed to for this Meet? Earlier in the thread there was talk of a June/July-ish time frame, just wondering if that still holds?

As to the fuel economy, The Moon Machine started off around 8.8km/litre, but it has been increasing steadily (now around 9.2km/litre). We do mostly city driving, so I don't expect it will get much better than that, but it does seem to do better on the highway at steady RPM.

We've just started putting a 5% biodiesel available from Columbia Fuels here in Victoria, and I've seen a bit of an increase in the economy. There's been less smokiness at first startup, also (more white, less black and soot).

[Erebus]

As to the fuel economy, The Moon Machine started off around 8.8km/litre, but it has been increasing steadily (now around 9.2km/litre).

I'm wondering about people's reports on fuel economy. Your's converts to 11.4 L/100km and 10.9 L/100km whereas I'm getting an average of 12.4 over the 5400 km I've had my Delica. That's a rather significant difference. I know my speedometer and odometer read 1.5% higher than actual, which isn't compensated for in my fuel economy numbers.

Stock tires will give you up to 10% error. I'm running 235R75/15, significantly larger than stock and yet still the odometer is off.

Does anyone know how accurate their odometer is? Have you adjusted your fuel economy to correct for inaccurate odometer?

Just wondering.

[mararmeisto]

Not sure how different the tires are I have on the Moon Machine, and I haven't gone down a section of road that has the distance markers to check one's odometer/speedometer, but given my driving habits and those on the road around me I would have to say that my guages are pretty accurate (I don't seem to be going ridiculously faster than those around me in the 60km/h zones, and most everyone passes me on the highway).

As for the fuel economy, it would seem the Moon Machine is pretty much bang-on for what I've read for these on the 'Net: it should get about 20mpg. I don't know if it's actually an industry standard, but I heard once that a vehicle is supposed to get about 500km to a tank of fuel. Most of my fuel-ups are at the 400-450km point, which makes for about a 50+ litre fill, and considering the tank is 62 litres that figures pretty close to what it should.

Barring all that, I'm blissfully ignorant of what it does or should do and just enjoy the hell out of driving it!

[marsgal42]

I've compared my Delica's speedometer to GPS, and the speed numbers are pretty well spot-on. 235/75R15 tires. 10 litres/100 kilometers highway, 15 city.

This is in sharp contrast to my Jetta whose speedometer over-reads by about 10%. This is the result of swapping a GTI transaxle (what they had at the junkyard when I needed a replacement), but not replacing the speedometer drive gear. Some day...

...laura

[JMK]

Just a reminder about booking the venue. In Banff, Jasper and K-Country the Warden Service (in the first 2, except the RCMP are doing their LE tasks for now), and CO's, (in the latter), have a fairly unflexible interpretation of the no noise after 11 PM rule in the public campgrounds which are always extremely crowded to overflowing in the summer months. Which means that even well behaved large groups have trouble keeping normal campfire discussions below the noise threshold after 11 and the enevitable conflicts arise over whose interpretation of the noise level should prevail, which end up spoiling it for everyone. Therefore a group would enjoy a venue where they have a larger degree of freedom. In Banff there used to be a remote Group Camping area near Castle Junction that is now closed. Not sure if Jasper still has a group camp area, if they do, it would be more suitable. Other spots may include somehere that rents group camping areas privately, or perhaps one of the Provincial Camping spots in areas like the Ghost Wilderness. Although they have recently imposed tighter off-road restrictions in that area, there still should be reasonable access to many routes in that area. Somewhere like the Ghost or perhaps Wilmore, or further west around McBride may offer more suitable venues. There is also a large provincial campground on the west shore of Spray Lakes above Canmore that may work out. It is accessed by crossing the dam at the west end of Spray Lake off the Smith Dorian road.