[Richard]

Monday.

We return to Richfield. I raid the NAPA, Home Depot, and ACE for the parts for four potential solutions.

We return to the coach around noon. Now, I know it’s the Utah desert but it POURS rain for three hours. I can’ complain, farmers like Derek need the rain. Maybe it was his karma for stopping to help us.

The puzzle is complicated. I have to find an airtight and secure way to attach a fill tube to the existing elbow. I have to find some sort of fill tube solution that will bend around a 4 inch radius to go into the tank but straighten enough to reach the bottom of the tank. Everything below the elbow has to fit through a 3/4 inch NPT hole.

I won’t go into all the possibilities since the first one worked.

I used a 3/8 NPT tap and tapped threads on the inside of the elbow. I threaded a long nipple into the inside of the elbow. I used the yellow corrugated tubing commonly used to hook up gas appliances. I cobbled some fittings to get it all to mate. But the fittings were slightly too large to go through the hole. I used a side grinder to reduce the size of the fittings. By using the easily bendable tubing I could snake it around the radius to clear the ceiling, but straighten the last inch going into the tank to try to have a reasonably straight tube.



After a dry fit, I seal all the connections with Rectorseal, and then for insurance, I liberally apply some JBWeld quick to the fittings that could potentially unscrew or leak.

Put it all together, prime the fuel filter., and VROOM !!

Oh my, five days of high anxiety are over. We head down the mountain towards civilization just to make sure. In 25 miles we reach a truck fuel stop where we fill with fuel and water. Back towards Grand Junction and we overnite at the Salt Wash Overlook. It’s an absolutely gorgeous mountaintop rest area looking over the colorful Utah mountain desert.