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Just curious what you all think about the degree of rust in the bottom tray of my Vendo 81 in terms of urgency for interior restoration?  I planning to have the interior refinished but leave the exterior as-is--just wondering how soon I should be getting to it.

Also, am I missing a bolt in the lower right hand corner of the bottle stack that you can see in the picture (there is one in each of the other 3 corners)?

Thanks very much!

The tub doesn't look bad at all to me, but the real answer to your question will be when you pull the tub out and see the condition of the bottom of the cabinet.  If the seal around the tub drain failed at all then the condensate would seep into the layer of insulation between the bottom of the tub and the cabinet.  That is what would lead to the dreaded beltline rust.  If you are going to redo the interior, then you will want to replace the insulation as well.  Look up through the compresor compartment and see if there are any rust holes through the bottom of the cabinet.  Hopefully you won't find much, but most seem to have some level of rust in that area.

Good to know—I’ll check that.

A few years ago the drain tube clogged with mineral deposits to the point that condensate collected in the pan.  I tried to clear it but finally ended up cutting off the gooseneck of the drain and hose clamped rubber tubing to it which leads to a drain pan.  Maybe not the best idea but this has remained functional.

Looks pretty normal to me .

If you can’t sleep you could burn a weekend and take the liner out and remove all the insultstion and treat the rust areas. A big chore which very few would do . If your on a budget and you don’t waht to restore it would pretty cheap!!!  Just takes time !

I had a similar instance where I had an 81 that I wanted to leave the outside as is but wanted to replace the insulation and clean the tub up. As other members stated you will more than likely find the belt line rust and likely some pin holes. Clean up the rust the best you can with either a wire brush or a rust remover. I then sealed mine with POR-15, it is expensive stuff but it will stop the rust dead in it's tracks for awhile. Then replace the insulation and powder coat the tub or just do a nice cleaning job on it. Sounds like you will have what I call a nice daily driver once your done.

Another place where you could get leaks are through the screw holes for the evaporator.  When I restore a machine, I replace all of the screws with stainless steel ones.  I coat the screws that go into the bottom of the tub with silver colored silicone before inserting them to provide a more watertight seal.

Thanks very much for the feedback!