I removed the propane tank today and noticed that it had sunburn... (first picture below) At least that's what it looks like ;D Does anybody know what this stuff is? It looks for all the world like a pealing clearcoat, or perhaps the clear plastic "skin" that covers the display that you need to peel off when you buy a new tech item of some sort. It is translucent or cloudy and peels just like dead skin after you are recovering from a sunburn. The white paint on the propane tank actually looks quite good underneath this stuff. It appears mostly just on the end caps of the tank, although there was some on the shroud as well. No big deal, just curious more than anything although it would be nice to have a clean looking propane tank when the job is all done. I can't imagine that they would use a clearcoat on something as utilitarian as a propane tank inside a compartment.
I took the propane tank out in preparation to attach the large 8 x 10' piece of remaining bottom skin. I did this for several reasons. 1). To lighten the weight in that compartment as I remove all of the supporting bolts into the compartment dividers from utility bay forward. 2). To clean the surfaces and re-caulk the seams in that compartment. 3). Clean the rust off the mounting supports of the propane tank and repaint (I hate rust!). 4). To give myself access to the rear mounting holes of the propane tank to use to help clamp the skin between the plywood platform below (along with the vertical compartment divider roloks and fuel tank mounting flange holes). To remove the deep sliding drawer that hangs from the ceiling of on the street side of the cargo compartment and move it to the propane compartment where it will just fit suspended from the ceiling above the propane tank. I considered trying to do that with the propane tank in place, and I concluded that that would be extremely difficult!
Observations: As I suspected, that propane tank is extremely heavy even without much propane in it! The propane tank hose and regulator hoses can use an little bit of hose management to tidy up the installation. The compartment was extremely dirty. Diesel soot? I had to clean it just so I could clean it ::) the picture below is after two cleanings...
Don