Safety first

[Nick]

When welding the petrol tank underneath your vehicle, make sure you put a chock under a wheel so it doesn't turn :)

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

[Dave]

Well as you say the wood prop are a dead giveaway . However welding a petrol tank (in situ or not) is a dodgy task. AFAIK it's even more dangerous when the tank is empty - as it's the petrol vapour that's explosive. I think the tank should be filled with water - again afaik. Amazing pic anyway.

[Nick]

I'd also be worried about a passing car knocking away that big prop. And was he using an RCD on that cable?

Talking of which, I prefer using a cordless drill when drilling in wet conditions. What do you think?

's good that he is wearing eye protection :)

[Andy Burns]

I thought it was advisable to purge the tank thoroughly with a steam hose before welding on it, certainly my father recalls having done so without any issue, how many people have access to steam on tap now though?

[Guy King]

The message from Dave contains these words:

ITYM giveway.

[Guy King]

The message from Dave contains these words:

No - you can't weld to it when it's full of water. For one thing there'll be water leaking out of the hole you're trying to weld up and even if it weren't, on such thin sheet it'd be a bugger to weld to something chilled by the water.

The trick is to empty the tank, fill it with water then empty it again.

[nightjar]

It should be purged with nitrogen and left full of nitrogen while welding.

Colin Bignell

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ive seen repairs like that carried out all over rural africa.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

He's arc welding.

[meow2222]

Theres always the chance it might have been taken before the general availbaility of codless drills - though I bet its more recent! And from America :)

NT

[Lobster]

Actually, if I'd had a camera with me this afternoon I could have provided a photo to rival this one.

I was watching this guy a few doors up, who was trying to climb onto the roof for some reason. All he had was an ordinary extension ladder. He stood the extending half of the ladder on top of a single-story flat roof, from where it *just* reached the gutter (plastic, natch) at second-story level. He climbs up carrying the bottom half of the ladder, which he's evidentlly going to try using as a roofing ladder, but as is - he just lays it down on the tiles with the two little brackets which normally retain the ladder extension hanging over the apex of the roof, like a roofing ladder but with just 1" prongs...

Of course, the bottom end of this ladder was about 4'-5' from the bottom of the roof, and he couldn't reach it. So he removes a couple of tiles above the guttering, to create a foothold he could stand on, in order to bridge the gap between the gutter and his "roofing ladder".

At this point - with the bloke standing with one foot on the very top rung of his access ladder and the other on the roof tiles, I had to leave so I can't report on the outcome. But hopefully I won't need to submit the story to

David

[Andrew Gabriel]

[Guy King]

The message from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

Not just Africa that does things like that....

even a school bus... even a whole page of 'em...