Boomerang Art's POLIVAN is Pau now!

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Here, I'll give a little history of this particular 1987 Plymouth Voyager:

It was the end of August 2000 and I had just returned to Kaua'i from the Cook Islands and Australia. A friend knew that I wanted to buy a van or stationwagon when I got back and he had spotted one off the road between Kekaha and Waimea, under a tree, with an old "For Sale" sign still on it. The van had been used by the rancher's wife to shop and haul kids to and from school until it developed the beginning of its front-end problems.

The back seatswere taken out of it by ranch workers so it could be used to haul various farm equipment parts, oil, etc. around the ranch. I could see dirt and big oil spots on the floor. I measured the "usable" width and length of the back. Yes, I could fit a 6-1/2 X 4 foot, 3/4 inch sheet of plywood in there about 11 inches off the floor supported by heavy blocks of wood. This could be my primary storage space and my futon and sleeping space would be on top of it. It would work...and enough room for my mosquito net when needed. I could camp out of it. So, I bought it.

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The sleeping platform takes form.

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After I got the plywood trimmed to the proper size, I had a huge,thick, quilted bedspread which I folded to the size of the platform then stapled-gunned it to the platform. Other than moving in my camping gear, futon and bedding, that was about the extent of my camperizing.

I dreamed up a lot of improvements and fixing-up that I could do. I never got around to doing most of those because I knew the van was "just another temporary vehicle." One of my not-carried-out plans was to replace the upholstery (held up with staples and thumb tacks) using inexpensive beach mats. They would be fitted nicely and stapled to the ceiling then covered with several coats of polyurethane. It would look good, I think, and would be easy to clean. Yet another use for beach mats.

Another idea was to paint the interior plastic with acrylics. I want to keep the exterior relatively low-profile, not hippie-style like these "Kombis" at Rainbow Retreat in Nimbin, Australia:

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The Kombi Village

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This is a great use for broken Kombis, but the Polivan will be the only van at its spot.

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Now, the plan is to make the Polivan a Polihale art project rather than sell it for parts or junking it. The Polivan's resurrection would be sort of a communal art project. The couchsurfers who use it will be added to the Polivan's website registry along with photos of the surfer's contribution to the Polivan's collection.

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So you can get an unbiased perspective of Polihale Beach from travelers from the Geocaching network who had reason to go to Polihale, read some of the descriptions toward the bottom of the page HERE.

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Back to September 2000:

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Egrets hanging out seen on the way out to Polihale four days later on September 6, 2000.

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On that same day, I setup in one of Polihale State Park's camping area parking lots to test the works. This parking lot has restrooms and showers next to it. Check out photos of it and the van that day:

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