I have seen a number of pictures of Unicoaches without the fiberglass covers, exposing the aluminum fuel tanks underneath. Just wondering why... looks? Storage possibilities? Early warning of fuel leaks?
Don
On our coach, the curb end of the fuel tank is exposed aluminum. On the street side, the tank is behind a fiberglass cover.
On the street side, the house batteries are next to the fuel tank. There is a fiberglass wall separating them. The cover on the end of the tank connects to the wall. It appears that the coach was constructed that way. [SPECULATION] The fiberglass walls and tank cover may address a safety issue issue by providing some separation of the battery compartment and fuel compartments. [/SPECULATION]
On ours, both sides have the fiberglass cover. You have to remove the bottom horizontal piece along with the cover to get at the fuel lines and the fuel gauge. I thought about not replacing the cover as I like the look of that aluminum tank but ended up putting it back on. I think the covers are just there for looks.
jor
(hope the project is going well; enjoy every single post and photo!)
Our is similar to yours in that the house batteries are separated by a fiberglass steel framed divider wall and a fiberglass cover, but the otherside with the propane tank (which is aft of the fuel tank) is likewise separated by a similar divider wall with the fiberglass end cover.
Don
Thanks for the encouragement Jor! The reason this is coming up is that I felt it necessary to peel back more of the belly skin under the Joey bed (sort of rolling it up as I go) to check and treat the frame members just forward of the utility compartment. Turns out, that although not the issue there was with the utility compartment, there is some rust on the frame members in front of the wet bay. Long story short I saw along the curbside edge what looked like melted Styrofoam insulation. There was no sign of there ever having been a fire on the belly skin or in the interior of the compartment. Fortunately, none of the metal (once I cleaned off the rust tinted glue that was securing the belly skin) appears to be compromised structurally. I kept rolling it back and I found that the belly insulation on the curbside under the propane tank was basically gone. A little investigation reveals that diesel fuel can melt the Styrofoam insulation in a jiffy. It isn't an issue on the street side under the batteries or the other end of the fuel tank. My present theory is that over filling the fuel tank and flowing onto the floor of the compartment allowed the diesel to enter the space occupied by the insulation through the propane vent hole in the bottom of the compartment. Now, it might seem more likely that the generator fuel line is leaking, but when I took the cover off of the curbside end of the fuel tank, there doesn't seem to be any sign of extraneous diesel residue present. Of course discovering that there is yet more rust abatement to be done doesn't put a grin on my face, but after all of this work, I just want a solid coach!
Pics of the area may be forthcoming if I can stomach looking at them... :'(
Don
Edit to post pics;
The first shot is looking forward from street side towards the underside of the propane tank which is on the curbside. Here you can see the skin peeled back and rolled like a taquito. Notice the melted rigid styrofoam insulation. You can see the 3" or so hole where the propane compartment vent is.
The second shot is slightly inboard and shows the metal framework before clean up.
The 3rd shot is approximately the same angle and are as the second shot after preliminary wire wheel clean up. fortunately, the metal loos solid. There are just a few areas of minor pitting, but for the most part, the red primer used at the factory remains intact.