Date:         Wed, 2 Nov 1994 05:05:45 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ray landers <rayl@netcom.com>
Subject:      Re:gimmie some opinions


On Tue, 1 Nov 1994 moran@cs.utk.edu wrote:

> First, let me say to all the helpful people on this list 'thank you' for 
> all of your information.  Second let me say........
> 
> I GOT IT---I GOT IT

CONGRADULATIONS!!!! 

> 
> Yes ladies and gentlemen, you are talking ,er--um-- reading the message of
> the proud owner of a 79 Westfalia.  I got the guy to give her to me for
> $2700 (after lots of haggling) and she is worth more pennies than I paid

sounds like you made a good deal, i'm glad to hear it.

> for her.  (BTW. why is she/it a her?) So now my job is a sanding and a
> priming and a painting.  The overall plan is to have it painted like a
> huge dive flag, but I am not sure If I will yet--kinda leary of the jeers
> I may get.  Oh as the the location stats add me in there somewhere.  I
> believe that makes 2 or three from tennessee....Maybe we could break that
> down into cities :). Someone had mentioned having instructions on
> patching/recontitioning the canvas camper top, it has been a while and I
> nolonger have the post so could I get some mail from that kind person. 
> Here is a question....  The propane tank on the camper has never ever been
> filled..... does it need some kind of inspection like a scuba tank would
> or is it ok? 

DON'T put compressed air in it. i know you probebly didn't need to be 
warned about that, but i wanted to be safe.

look the tank over real well. looking for rust, or other indications of 
questionable integrity, like dents.

if there are any things about it that raise doubts in your mind, go to a 
person that would make a profit by selling you a new one and tell them 
something like, "if this needs to be replaced i want to know how much it 
will cost. your the first place i have checked with and if it DOES need 
to be replaced i have agreeed with my wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/(whatever 
fits here) that i will get 10 bids before i buy. even if i have to drive 
a couple hundred miles to collect all of the bids."

the important part is to let them know that you will be asking others how 
much it will cost to replace it.

if you decide to replace it be sure to get SEVERAL different prices for 
the job, and you want to know how long it will take along with EACH bid.

if he says it's O.K. have him fill it up. and tell him it's to test it. 
if he's reluctant, or sudenly dosen't have "the right fitting" or 
whatever, i'd say get another opinion.

my own experiance with propane takes of the USED flavor has been that 
light rust, that can be removed completly with steal wool, is not a 
problem. i just clen them up and repaint them with a few coats of GOOD paint.

any light scratches are not going to cause me alot of concerne, either.

but dents, deep scratches, thick rust, or anything else that looks like 
it has damadged the structural integrity of the metal, means that it is 
not worth what MIGHT happen if a dented seam on the tank lets go.

i've never had a tank do this to me, and years ago i used to travel 
around in a bus alot and would meet people that needed some way to cook, 
and so would end up giveing what ever tank and stove i had to somebody 
else and then would go buy another for myself.

so i have personaly owned about 20 propane tanks, and only one of them 
was bought new. i have also helped buy at least that many. 

i have bought them in flea markets in arizona, L.A., montana, st. louis,
and all over the S.F. bay area, and some people's opinion of how bad a
tank is rusted and dented, and is still safe to use is amazeing. 

these are also people that have tales to tell about how lucky they are to 
be alive after their last tank split open and dumped propane all over the 
place, and then caught on fire.

one guy would fill in the rust and scratches with bondo and then sand it 
down and paint it, and sell it to someone else.
he would do this while sitting and talking to people looking at the tanks 
he had for sale in a flea market in phoenix. he didn't try to hide it, 
even though i'm sure that he knew that what he was doing was illegle.

so if you decide to buy a used tank, be sure to tap on it to see if it 
has been "patched" in this way.

but if this tank looks pretty good, they are pretty tough. and you can 
always take it off the rig to fill it the first time.

you might want to do that anyway to look at it and re-paint it.

on the over-all, the tanks are built strong in the first place and if 
something is going to make it dangerous, it will almost certainly be 
something that is obviuosly visible to anything close to a carful 
inspection. 

and if you buy a used tank, don't buy it from a skiny little guy with a 
well-weathered face, who also brags about how he likes to eat rattlesnake 
meat.

> 
> And again thanks for all of the information.
> Rick.
> P.S.  I am in the process of writing a gif to txt converter, this may 
>       help me out in the ascii art department as I am horrible.
> 
>  _
> |_| <- this is the best pict of my bus I could get on short notice. :)
> ' ' 
> 

hmmmmm. is that rust i see around the window there?

ray
                                             rayl@netcom.com
 From one of the "HEAD KOOKS" at      ftp violet's ansi art from
   Rhinoceros Kitchen   Ray           ftp.netcom.com    pub\rayl
                                      check the README file there
    ______          .(((()            
   |      |         (_ '\)            
   |      |       __/  \()!
 .-|______|. ____(|___/  |!
 :__|____|__|____| :     |!
 :|_____________| _;_/\__|!
 :|             |/   ____)!
 :|             |   \!""""!
 :|  _________  |\__/)____!
 #|_|         |_|  (/!    !
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''