[VAL] Replacement gas lines

[David Josephson <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another question for the experts, a sidebar of the water tank 
replacement project in my 1971 Tradewind.

When I took the water tank out, I noticed that the copper gas lines 
running across the belly to the stove and heater were pretty badly 
battered. Where they were anchored to the trailer with Adel clamps, the 
copper was visibly worn. I am a little wary of all this after 
discovering a crack in the aluminum gas line running to the oven that 
would have resulted in a burned-down trailer if I hadn't caught it in 
time. Looking at the new RV parts catalogs, I see most of the gas lines 
are rubber. The regulator needs to be replaced anyway (the plastic 
handle to switch from one tank to the other is broken) so I figured I 
would do it all at once.

What's the consensus on copper vs rubber? Should I stick with copper 
flared fittings or use something else? Anything else I should be looking 
at when doing this fix? I assume that the reason the gas lines are 
outside is so that any leaks won't fill up the trailer, but shouldn't 
they be better protected?

Thanks

David Josephson
Santa Cruz CA