I blew a hose a couple weeks ago next to a Circle K.  O boy, I said to
myself, At least they'll have a couple rudimentary tools and such.  I bought
a couple stainless steel hose clamps, as you described.  I would have given
just about anything to have a couple of the good old spring types which go
on and off with a simple squeeze of a pair of Channellocks.  Both clamps
stripped.  I was unable to use either since I couldn't get the darned
screwdriver into a position to screw the clamp shut while holding onto the
clamp and the hose with my other hand with enough room to only put in one
hand.  Burning myself the whole time, I might add, since it all had to be
held together.  With the spring clamps, you never even need to touch the
hose!

Karl Wolz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Kay" <CTONLINE@WEBTV.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2001 8:48 PM
Subject: Spring Clamps,Harry Houdini, and The love of changing hoses.

> Hey all,
> Today I took it upon myself to change the upper and lower water pump
> hoses, on Delilah, and as I was contorting myself, much like Harry
> Houdidi, laying on my back, trying to wiggle the upper hose off, I
> started to laugh out loud, reflecting on the debate a few week's (?)
> ago, regarding the use of spring clamps.
>
> Yes sir, I love them !!!
>
> I loved them so much,I saivored the moment, as I flung them in the Waste
> Management depository, wondering who in the hell ever designed these
> pieces of garbage.
>
> Yep, they sure do hold on to them hoses.
>  And they also hold on to everything else that's even close to them,
> like the bottom side of the AC bracket, which prevented the top of the
> clamp to clear the hose.
> I had to cut the hose from under the clamp to remove it.
>
> Yea baby-----I can just visualize blowing a hose in the middle of the
> night, in Podunk, Nebraska, and playing Harry Houdini trying to get this
> hose off, with the sping camps in place.
>
> It woldn't happen
>
> It took me 20 minutes of adjectives, and laughing out loud, to get it
> off.
> If the hose had stainless, aircraft type screw clamps ( which I
> gleefully used, in leu of ) the job could have been done in 1/4 of the
> time, it took me to R&R those hoses.
>
> To the proponents of spring clamps---God bless you.
>
> Either you guys are into abuse, or you just haven't figured out how easy
> stainless clamps are to work with.
>
> Amen, it's done  !!!
>
>             ______________
>            |[  ] [  ] [ ]\
>            |    |    |    |
>      ~~~ ~||-(())----(())-|
>
> Terry--
> 74 Campmobile- (Clementine)
> 85 GL- (Delilah)
> 86 BMW 325 ES- (Eva)
>