Date:         Tue, 8 Jul 1997 18:16:21 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vwbus@netbiz.net
Subject:      PROPANE TANK, Group Purchase

I'm seeking a little interest here,  we all know that Bus/Vanagon 
propane tanks manufactured by the Machester Tank and Equipment 
Company are a sore spot as they age.  They suffer from a low quality 
paint job and from a maldesign in the fact that the welded on ID tag 
is not painted under and concentrates rust.  I have no idea what the 
wall thickness on these things is but on the 81's under the ID tag 
after sandblasting it became apparent that around 1/8" of tank was 
gone.  I'd guess wall thickness at 5/16" or so origionally.  Now late 
Bus tanks are also small, real small so for an acessory heater or 
added fridge you are pushing things, in fact even for the Vanagon a 
dual tank setup to run my new propane furnace is desireable, one for 
the fridge/stove, one for the Propex.  So anyway at work I'm looking 
at buying some pressure vessels and looking in the Tomcat Register I 
notice Manchester.  I give em a call.  Both the Bus and Vanagon tanks 
are still available (well they have none in stock so 6-8 week order 
time) but you have to go though distributor, yada, yada, yada.  I'm
looking into a direct group purchase but I'm playing phone tag.  So I 
call a local guy, he refers me to someone who distributes for 
Manchester.  The final word is this, for the Vanagon size tank, $230 
each, further 10% discount if we get 10 or more orders.  VW WANTS 
$600+ for the same tank folks, so if you are interested act now.  It 
gets better though this guy says they don't sell much Manchester 
stuff now and says if I give him specs he will look into having them 
made by his current supplier, he feels at least 15 to get them 
interested, but thinks the price might be better, PLUS they are a 
better tank.  This supplier powder coats the tanks AND welds the ID 
tag on at a slight stand-off distance such that it is well coated 
underneath.  I'm CADing up some sketches now to send him to 
get a quote.  At this point I can make some additions as well, such 
as bracketing matching BOTH the Bus and Vanagon installations, but 
with the larger Vanagon size, or maybe even a bit larger than that.  
I intend off hand to make no other changes unless someone could offer 
any improvements for convenience.  A problem I do see is that the 
FILL and VAPOR locations are opposite on the Van and Bus tank so in 
order to minimize repiping I will look into lowering/raising the FILL 
such that the valve and regulator can go off the VAPOR in either 
direction.  I note the above price is bare new tank only, no valve or 
regulator which will probably set you back another good $75 or so.
Anyway at this point I'm interested in who might buy the current 
Vanagon tank or who might buy the upgraded dual purpose replacement 
tank.  If any of you "commercial" entities out there want to get in 
on the act feel free.  I'd imagine storing away about 10 of these 
might be a good idea if one had a business, at VW's prices you could 
easily sell them for $400 and still make a customer happy.  Shipping 
costs will be a bit stiff on these too BTW, I'm not at all sure but 
would guess we are talking 30-50 lbs each.  I'm going to do the 
legwork on having them made by the other supplier, if I get a bunch 
of definite interest/orders I will coordinate the purchase and 
shipping them out.  I have no particular interest in making a profit, 
I've been on this list a long time and have saved people some 
money with some home brew solutions before, and in fact lost money as 
a rule on my only previous commercial venture of buying up and 
distributing the new late Westy fabric the Trim Shop had.
I'm hoping for a final price around $150-$200 from the other supplier 
going by the fact that it is a real simple tank (8" pipe with stock 
pressed steel ends) and the fact that your average BBQ style cylinder 
is under $50, but I make no promises time will tell.

John Anderson
vwbus@netbiz.net
(304)788-3704