Re: The problem probably wasn't the software...
"The VAX format for floating point numbers, both single and double precision, differs from the now customary IEEE standard."
The VAX architecture was pretty well defined + documented in the manuals (including the FP formats) - and those documents still exist (in my bookshelf and likely bitsavers.org) - so I reckon that wouldn't be a barrier to someone who can bash bits around.
