Actually, the firebox repairs were pretty well done. They were ugly, but upon disassembly, they were done correctly. There were various scattered thin areas but nothing to prevent us from doing a hydro. On the 1.25 hydro only two flues failed and the bolts tapped up well.
The overall impression I took away from the boiler was how experienced shop people on a shoestring budget cut corners compared with some of the corners I see cut in today's environment. Those guys seemed to know what they were doing with the boiler. Keeping the thing on the track must have been under another department.