I've been floating around the past few days on this subject. It looks
easy but the gas has me a bit worried. It seems that all I need to do
is a bit of pipe work and the thing should be ok. The vent looks
tough. The current on really doesn't slope up much if at all, and I've
read it should go up an inch every four feet.

The new heaters all seem to be a bit taller than the old one, so it
will be even worse without major work venting it higher through the
wall. I guess I need to find a water heater that is the same height or
a bit lower. That seems to be tough so far.

And gas does scare me just a wee bit.