Thanks for the reply!
That's my thoughts as well but as I plan on replacing the hose soon I was curious if it could be done with some clear from the steering cooler to the thermostat and used as a early warning.
I've often seen recommendations for a section of clear hose installed at the thermostat for the water intake to diagnose overheating. Can you leave it in the system permanently and if you can, what type or brand?
Regular maintenance is crucial on these guys so you need to get the back story on it's life. Soak up as much as you can from the knowledge base here. You will probably find that even if the hull structure is okay there will be a bunch of stuff needing attention.. good luck!
The truck spent half it's life in ga and the other half in east tn so no rust problem, the hardest thing was finding a level place to jack it up and the over tight lugs.. next on the list will be shocks..
You could also glass a couple of ribs to the hull and then just screw the bulkhead to them which would allow you to remove it in the future.. It never was designed to be structural but just a partition.
