[BusNit]

No worries Richard! I have welded since I was 14 and although not a pro, welds do get proper penetration and look half ass decent. I used synthetic gate slats which fit perfectly as a space filler and primarily over where bolts protrude through the tank supports to alleviate crushing the new steel. Galvanized steel is my specialty. With proper ventilation, it will be a repair I will never have to address again. Sold a skoolie that I used galvanized sheet on a roof raise. Built a shell and sold it for 40k to buy this coach. That said, I always used a large industrial fan to blow the weld fumes away. Also I never weld galvanized in an enclosed space such as a garage.   I have a Millermatic 210 and a newer inverter 215 which I love. They can handle long passes at 25% capacity. Much more flexibility on wire speed and metal thickness power.  Haven't had it go into cooldown mode in my 2 years of owning the 215. I do/did small stitch welds as it isn't necessary to get a full perimeter weld. As I mentioned on the FB Newell group, this coach is not economically feasible to remove the entire contents of the water bay for this type of repair. I will never get any returns on investment for this repair as it was cosmetic and not structurally deficient. I have $340 in materials not including my labor so far. My wife misses me on weekends since I am always outside doing something with this coach. Haven't looked on the water heater side or under the additional house battery compartment yet. Newell puts a rubber liner over the steel in the generator blower fan area which leads to rot. I escaped that debacle with only pitted steel. (No more rubber liner) Same with the basement A/C area. Removed the rubber liner. I do have window foam to finish this off and then seam seal the unstitched edges finalized with Por15 and ridgid polyiso board.