Terry,

>If I took an aluminum plate, and laid it flat on a peice of steel,your
>telling me the aluminum would corrode, after a period of time?

Might take a (long) while if it was inside, low humidity, etc.  Stick it
outside on the roof of the Westy, throw in road grime (salt?) rain,
atmospheric pollutants, vibration - bingo!

I deal with this problem on an ongoing basis with my airplane, '76 model
(not a whole lot older than a Vanagon) where the Piper engineers have used
steel bracing in the aluminium frame.  Works fine until the paint
deteriorates on the steel, then the steel rusts and the aluminium oxidises.
And this is INSIDE the airplane.

>And a simple solution to this hypothetical problem, would simply
>insulate the rivet from the cleat---dip the rivet into a bit of
>silicone, prior to installing it into the stainless cleat---or bolt a
>sacrificial lead annode on the luggage rack--yea that's it----and
>nothing will happen----

The silicone would be squeezed out between the critical mating surfaces.

>Ok, one more thing---please tell me the source for the stainless pop
>rivets, that I never have seen---

We use monel rivets, not sure if you have them over there, or what they
might be called.

Andrew
Australia

'76 Piper Lance (Aircooled, Horizontally Opposed 6 cyl, 540 cu in, 300 HP,
Mech FI)
'92 Transporter Kombi Syncro
'95 Audi 80 Quattro

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry K." <CTONLINE@WEBTV.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 7:27 PM
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: Want to paint camper roof

<snip>