VAL Digest V2 #73

VAL Digest          Sunday, November 21 2004          Volume 02 : Number 073




-----------------------------------------------------------------
When replying to a message, please delete all unnecessary Digest text

To unsubscribe or change to an e-mail format, please go to
http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html

Topics in Today's Digest:

Re: [VAL] Moving Trailer from Texas to Washington
RE: [VAL] Toilet gasket.
Re: [VAL] Toilet gasket.
[VAL] Enterprise Truck Leasing
Re: [VAL] Enterprise Truck Leasing

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 01:58:22 -0600
From: "Dr. Gerald Johnson" <geraldj@xxxxxxxxxx.com>
Subject: Re: [VAL] Moving Trailer from Texas to Washington

A Caravel isn't that heavy a trailer to tow. You could keep it light by not 
hauling water and provisions. My dad hauled his (now mine) Caravel with a 
Ford Ranger with the small v-6 and a manual transmission. It was hard on it at 
times he admitted, and sometimes he had to pop the clutch and spin the 
tires to get it to move, slipping the clutch wouldn't get it up some local 
grades. An S-10 has more guts than a Ford Ranger and a Dodge Dakota more 
yet.

With Texas trucks (away from the sea shore at Galveston) not seeing road salt 
to rust out the bodies, there is market in the north and north west for Texas 
trucks that might be aged, but aren't rusty. I saw an F-150 advertised on the 
bulletin board of the grocery store today for $4k. 4x4, new clutch, new brakes, 
130k miles. But its in central Iowa. Going older and smaller can cut the cost 
below that of rental miles and you'd have a truck for future trips.

I know an S-10 can pull, one winter I got my F-350 dually stuck in snow (8 inches 
I think it was) in the driveway. The mailman drove up in his S-10 (4x4) and asked 
if I had a chain, and pulled me out to the road. That was moving about 6000 
pounds of truck in snow.

With the smaller trucks you might not get better fuel mileage than the bigger 
more equipped trucks, the ride sure won't be as luxurious or as fast, but they 
can do the towing job for a Caravel. A good brake controller and probably 
sway control in the hitch along with proper load equalizers will be essential to 
a safe trip. Avoiding the northern Rockies and other mountain passes would 
be a bit prudent also.

One of the costs of Airstreaming is a tow vehicle. There simply isn't any free 
lunch when the Airstream isn't where you wish it to be.

One other idea. Some local retired gather a bit of cash delivering motor 
homes. If some of the snow birds have a tow vehicle they might be interested 
in a side trip to Washington after they've flown south (as it were).

Gerald J.

- -- 
Entire content copyright Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer.
Reproduction by permission only.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 08:47:26 -0500
From: "eemerick" <eemerick@xxxxxxxxxx.rr.com>
Subject: RE: [VAL] Toilet gasket.

Hello,
Not to sound too much like a "Safety Guy" But one should never use a
fork lift as a ladder, scaffold etc, I have seen some very bad things
happen when you do this. I would recommend you find another way to get
above the trailer.
Ed
WBCCI/VAC 4425
68 Sovereign
59 Traveler

- -----Original Message-----
From: valist-admin@xxxxxxxxxx.com
[mailto:valist-admin@xxxxxxxxxx.com] On Behalf Of Sharon Chaytor
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 8:31 PM
To: valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com
Subject: Re: [VAL] Toilet gasket.


Hah! Something that I might actually know!

I had to put the toilet back in my trailer (1967), and I used a wax
ring. 
One for household toilets. The thing hasn't leaked, so it worked! Rather

fun to play with too. Just like forming a bagel (I am a baker, so I tend
to 
think of food...) Anyway, I took the wax ring out of the box, molded it 
into the shape that I wanted, and squeezed it onto the toilet base. Then

carefully positioned the pot on the bolts (that took a bit of doing!)
did 
the contortion act tightening up the bolts, and then sat on it.

Sharon, in BC, where we actually have the trailer in the shop, and once
the 
thing has a chance to dry out, we are going to use the forklift to
levitate 
on of us into the air and over the trailer so that we can plug the
blinkin 
holes. Since we are considering going to Vancouver Island for January, 
stopping the leaks is very high on the list of priorities!

At 02:41 PM 19/11/2004, you wrote:
>     All,
>
>     I have my vintage Thetford Aqua-Magic Model #70 on the workbench 
>and am going through it.
>
>     The 35-year old rubber seal that joins the bottom of it to the 
>hole in the floor is pretty much shot.  It appears to be a form of 
>black, closed cell foam, 7" in diameter with a 3 3/4" hole in the 
>center and two 1/4" holes for the bronze mounting bolts.  A call to 
>Thetford resulted in zip. The woman there didn't even know what I was 
>talking about.
>
>     Is this a standard item that I might find at a large RV supplier 
>or am I going to have to improvise?  All ideas and suggestions are 
>welcome.
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Glyn
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>When replying to a message. please delete all unnecessary original text
>
>To unsubscribe or change to a digest format, please go to 
>http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
When replying to a message. please delete all unnecessary original text

To unsubscribe or change to a digest format, please go to
http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 07:28:29 -0800
From: Glyn Judson <glynjudson@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
Subject: Re: [VAL] Toilet gasket.

    Ed,

    Not to diminish your concern for safety, but it was a common practice
where I used to work to use a fork lift fitted with what they called a
diving board for technicians to enter or get above the spacecraft we built
at Hughes Space & Communication here in SoCal.

    It was a two man operation with the driver never leaving the controls.
The techs would lie on the diving board and reach below the board to do
their work.  

    The diving board was probably 24-30" wide and about seven or eight feet
long and covered with several layers of closed cell foam.  Of course, the
tech had to be wearing a safety harness before going up.

    I think if a team were to work together, it might be safe enough with an
improvised diving board and harness and a fork lift on level ground to
repair roof leaks.  What do you think given the above measures?

    Glyn

      

> From: "eemerick" <eemerick@xxxxxxxxxx.rr.com>
> Reply-To: valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com
> Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 08:47:26 -0500
> To: <valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com>
> Subject: RE: [VAL] Toilet gasket.
> 
> Hello,
> Not to sound too much like a "Safety Guy" But one should never use a
> fork lift as a ladder, scaffold etc, I have seen some very bad things
> happen when you do this. I would recommend you find another way to get
> above the trailer.
> Ed
> WBCCI/VAC 4425
> 68 Sovereign
> 59 Traveler
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: valist-admin@xxxxxxxxxx.com
> [mailto:valist-admin@xxxxxxxxxx.com] On Behalf Of Sharon Chaytor
> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 8:31 PM
> To: valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com
> Subject: Re: [VAL] Toilet gasket.
> 
> 
> Hah! Something that I might actually know!
> 
> I had to put the toilet back in my trailer (1967), and I used a wax
> ring. 
> One for household toilets. The thing hasn't leaked, so it worked! Rather
> 
> fun to play with too. Just like forming a bagel (I am a baker, so I tend
> to 
> think of food...) Anyway, I took the wax ring out of the box, molded it
> into the shape that I wanted, and squeezed it onto the toilet base. Then
> 
> carefully positioned the pot on the bolts (that took a bit of doing!)
> did 
> the contortion act tightening up the bolts, and then sat on it.
> 
> Sharon, in BC, where we actually have the trailer in the shop, and once
> the 
> thing has a chance to dry out, we are going to use the forklift to
> levitate 
> on of us into the air and over the trailer so that we can plug the
> blinkin 
> holes. Since we are considering going to Vancouver Island for January,
> stopping the leaks is very high on the list of priorities!
> 
> At 02:41 PM 19/11/2004, you wrote:
>> All,
>> 
>> I have my vintage Thetford Aqua-Magic Model #70 on the workbench
>> and am going through it.
>> 
>> The 35-year old rubber seal that joins the bottom of it to the
>> hole in the floor is pretty much shot.  It appears to be a form of
>> black, closed cell foam, 7" in diameter with a 3 3/4" hole in the
>> center and two 1/4" holes for the bronze mounting bolts.  A call to
>> Thetford resulted in zip. The woman there didn't even know what I was
>> talking about.
>> 
>> Is this a standard item that I might find at a large RV supplier
>> or am I going to have to improvise?  All ideas and suggestions are
>> welcome.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Glyn
>> 
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> When replying to a message. please delete all unnecessary original text
>> 
>> To unsubscribe or change to a digest format, please go to
>> http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> When replying to a message. please delete all unnecessary original text
> 
> To unsubscribe or change to a digest format, please go to
> http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> When replying to a message. please delete all unnecessary original text
> 
> To unsubscribe or change to a digest format, please go to
> http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:39:01 -0600
From: "Brian Jenkins" <jenkins1924@xxxxxxxxxx.com>
Subject: [VAL] Enterprise Truck Leasing

I'm not suprised that at a truck leasing place in California they'd make you 
own a business, supply a bond, adopt and house a homeless person, or 
anything else. It's the Kingdom of Rules. Here in Dallas, I've rented F250's 
from Interstate Truck Rental several times to go and pick up Spartan 
trailers that I've bought in other parts of the country. I think they have 
several offices. All you need is your car insurance. Usually, you pay based 
on the number of days you need the truck and are given a very reasonable 
amount of mileage to use. If you go over on the mileage, you pay extra. I 
haven't found any beer cans and all the trucks have windshield wipers. The 
number in Dallas is 972-254-3400.

Brian Jenkins

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:18:23 -0800
From: Joann Wheatley <jwheatle@xxxxxxxxxx.edu>
Subject: Re: [VAL] Enterprise Truck Leasing

Hi Brian:
    You got that right! The Kingdom of Rules....indeed. And hey, we even 
have our own EPA, just in case the folk in Washington, D.C. need help 
making rules. I think our Governator might save a few million just by 
eliminating that.
We have our very own vehicle rules so that the manufacturers have to 
make "CA vehicles" with lots of extra anti-pollution(?) stuff on them, 
etc....I'm sure there are some vehicle specs that are not so great in 
CA as in the other 49 states as well.
Jo Ann

> I'm not suprised that at a truck leasing place in California they'd 
> make you
> own a business, supply a bond, adopt and house a homeless person, or
> anything else. It's the Kingdom of Rules....  I haven't found any beer 
> cans and all the trucks have windshield wipers.
> Brian Jenkins

------------------------------

End of VAL Digest V2 #73
************************


-----------------------------------------------------------------
When replying to a message, please delete all unnecessary Digest text

To unsubscribe or change to an e-mail format, please go to
http://www.tompatterson.com/VAC/VAList/listoffice.html