Back together...
The hot, dry shed turned out to be just the place to get that bag dry out. The sun finally came out a little after noon and I went out to the shed, fully expecting to have to set the bag out in the sun but there was no need; it was bone dry, except for a tiny bit of almost black water in the emptor, which I was able to wipe out with a paper towel.
Once I got everything back together, I let the vacuum run for a minute or so without a filter bag and the fill tube hanging out, just to blow out any more water that might remain, but there was none.
The bag looks about as good as I could expect, given its age. There is some minor discoloration, which is most obvious down near the bottom, where it stayed folded up and protected from light (see second photo). The rest of the bag has a very slightly pinkish caste to it. Other than that, just some minor wear. I've seen worse on newer machines, so I'm not complaining.
The next part of the project will be to polish the metal but I'll need cooler weather to tackle that. I've also noticed the rubber 'tires' on the rear wheels are wearing kind of thin. I've got another set on a spare Tech Drive that may find their way onto the machine later on, probably after the polishing.
The funny thing is in the three weeks I've had this G3, I've been far more obsessed with fixing it up than I've been with the Sentria I bought last spring, which has been sitting untouched in the barn for almost five months. All it really needs is a good polishing, which would be an easy afternoon's work. The now not-so-dirty G3 is at the same point, more or less, but my gut tells me it will require a bit more elbow grease to put a shine on it. Right now, the G3 is sitting out on the deck I'm considering whether to bring in for a test run or just carry it back to the barn to continue slumbering and waiting for a crisp, fall day—or at least one that's not so dang muggy.
