My American Clipper burnt up!!

[<Ruben>]

For the last 20 years I've dream of owning an American Clipper ever since my neighbor bought one and last month, February the 16th to be exact I bought one I found on the RVTrader on line. It was a fixer upper, but I did not care I only paid $2650.00 for it. Anyway I paid cash for it and is I was driving it home less than 10 miles from where I bought it on the 805 free way in San Diego I smelled smoke, pull over to the side of the road and in less than 10 minutes my dream motorhome was gone. It turns out that the valve on the propane tank leaked fuel over the exoust pipe. Now I'm waiting for the insurance company to pay me so I can start looking again for another Amercan Clipper.
If anybody knows of any good deals on an American Clipper in southern California please let me know.
My email address is rcampos@socal.rr.com

Ruben

[bigray]

Ruben,

Sorry to hear about your loss. I'm glad there wasn't an explosion.

At any rate, I bought my clipper in November and I smelled propane when I turned the value on. I pulled out the old soapy water and paint brush to see if I had a leak. I checked around the regulator, as they tend to be the first place of a leak, and the all the joints but I couldn't find a leak but smell the odor close to the tank.

I took a break and went inside to "scratch my head" and something told me to check the value. I did and that was the source of my leak. I had it changed at a local propane dealer and it cost $50.

In January my wife and son drove the Clipper to Atlanta, which is about 12 hours from Houston. All the while I had the propane on to power the refrigerator. What a hazard.

Even moreso after reading some other post on this site about the dangers of riding with propane on. On my 1979 the gas line goes right in front of the rear wheels. If one of those wheels were to blow out and rupture that line with that propane running through it, there could be a major explosion. I plan to reroute the line real soon so that  even with the propane off there will be less hazard.

Well you've lost your Clipper so that is water under the bridge; however, I hope the new owners or owners-to-be are careful about riding with the propane on.

I hope you find a replacement.