Ideas for finding an inexpensive or secondhand bathtub?

[DonJuane]

A good person to have a chat with if you can't find anyone with "tub experience" might be Rick Zuniga who owns Casa Zuniga. He maintains probably the most elaborate water system in town and he should know what to expect and how to master the limitations. He has a massive pool and solar water heating system, at least by GTO standards and even if you don't get a good answer from him, he's someone quite interesting to have a conversation with. Still he wouldn't need a massive amount of water once the pool gets full, so I don't know how much of a match that would be. Otherwise I've known 3 Gringos who love the tub and who gave up using their tubs after only a few initial attempts, 2 were in San Miguel de Allende and one in San Cristobal de las Casas. I have experience with only renting for 2 months in San Miguel a house with a tub and while excited about it initially, the water heater would only heat enough water for a quarter full and the gas tank went down too rapidly. The water cooled in the concrete and tile tub before the water heater could cycle again, which was about every 30 minutes so I never could produce a whole tub of hot water.

Otherwise I've said enough, not being negative but not a stranger to disappointment, I hate for people to experience it when it doesn't have to happen. So at minimum I'd try to find someone in town with a tub and see how it is working out before investing a whole lot of money. Maybe someone who has one working well can prove me wrong because there's nothing I miss more from the US than a hot bath, H-Mart and Tex-Mex.

**** P.S. All tubs I've seen in Mexico were sculpted out of concrete. (Maybe that's why the water would not stay hot ;-) )