GypsyWindTraveler

so I love my dolphin Dearly, my partner and I and our kitty lived out of it for almost 2 years. but now we have to part our ways and need to find ourselves with a good pickup truck (so I can do farm/garden work in OR) and a cabover so we can still travel/camp... does toyota make any cabovers? or is this just a whole new ballgame that im stepping into? am currious on how to decide what to trade it for, or if I sell the RV, then what to buy lol

I steped onto my Dolphin today to clean it out for a Renisaunce festival my partner and I are doing this weekend, and what do I find? Grass sprouting from between the boards and under the bed... I havnt left the RV alone for that long, Its been in the driveway for about 2 months now. And the 10 months or so that I lived in it, I didnt once ever find anything sprouting, I got a good laugh out of it beacuse it coinsides with the differnt herbs that I am sprouting on my balcony. Has anyone else ever came into there RV after leaving it alone for a bit and found something growing?

looking beautiful my friend! truly amazing what you have done to that old girl.... I passed along the photos to adam so he could take a look, hope all is well and keep up the good work

So we found out that all of our windows and vents have small leaks in them. they havnt been to bad but I want to get to them before real wood damage sets in. and we live in our RV full time with our cat so its been a rough few weeks during this last rainstorm. The one Vent above our bed is pretty bad and I already had to tear out teh sealing and replace the interior thin wood. I took a look at the old vents  from the roof and they have sealent and paint covered up over the metal framing and ontop of the bolts and everything... so I can really unscrew any of the vents to re-seal them, my question was, is there something to remove the sealent from the bolts? I could cut the seal between the vent facing and the roof but im worried im going to have to chisal away at each bolt to get it all off. We have 3 vents that need to be resealed. I put in a new small 14" vent where our broken air conditioner was and that sealed up well with no leaks. And We have been unscrewing and taking out one window a day and scraping off the old putty and putting new clear sealant on. I would love anyones sugestions on how to do this as well =) any information will be greatly apreciated. I have a few more days before the next rain and then hopefully a few weeks before the next hope everyone is doing well and having fun with there RV's!!!

The interior looks Beautiful!! You did an amazing job =) we might have to get our two Rv's together for a gypsy gathering some time hehe

I took out one of the small lights in the rear of the Cab, and put it in over the bed, replacing the origonal light there. I made sure there are no exposed wires anywhere tho. oi... this is all so confuseing, I wish I knew the basics for electronics. Maybe I did something wrong with the solar panals as well? altho im still getting a charge on the battery. The RV starts up fine and we can charge our laptops and phone. We just cant turn on the lights anymore.

Does anyone know how to figure out why a Fuze keeps blowing? I really dont know what the fuzes do, or how they work, or anything.. but 2 of our fuzes keep blowing which means we have no lights in the RV as me and my partner Live and work out of our RV full time, this is very bad, even for a night. I have put about 10 new fuzes back in place and all of them have blown. there are no lights on, and I really am at a loss as to why they are blowing, any help would be greatly greatly apreciated! Thank you

Thank you both! I dont have the propane conected at all and am not planning on useing them, so do I still need to cap the ends? We dont use the Refridge or the stove, We are almost never level, and cant really level the RV in the areas we park, (as we move the RV several times a day) we also have a cat that lives full time on the RV with us, and we could never aford to have a leak somewhere, and I use the back area as a tool shop and need small open flames sometimes, Iv been back and forth considering useing the fridge and stove, I just dont think I have full understandings of them to trust living with them full time *shrugs* sometimes I feel like im making everything a bit harder then it needs to be. but we are trying to find a way to switch over to a solar system, hopefully a solar fridge by next year, and a solar oven in the next few months, and hopefully some small single burner we can mount in the RV... Thank you both for the help tho!

I have a 21ft toyota dolphin and I would like to remove the Stove/Oven (we do not use propane on the RV as we live in it full time) I was told by the previous owner that the Water heater, Fridge, Stove/oven all run off of the propane and all work well. Since we dont use any of them I want to remove them, (starting with the stove/oven as first project) and use the space they take up for more seating and storage. Im kind of hesitant at removeing it beacuse I cant find my manual anywhere. And I would like to remove it in one piece so that I could sell/give it away to someone else who might need a working one. If anyone here is in So.Cal and wants the fridge or stove/oven and knows how to remove it let me know!! or if anyone might have some helpfull hints on how to remove it without damageing it. much apreciated, hope everyone is having a good day! ~~~Eli

So our RV got invaded overnight while we where parked at a Pirate Festival at a lake in California. Woke up in the morning to find over a weeks worth of our food eaten and a huge huge bag of our cat food swarmed with thousands and thousands of ants... They ate everything and got everywhere... and we have now beeen shareing a living area with them for almost 2 weeks... All of our food is stored in ziplock bags, and we have to take the cat outside to feed her now. We tried several differnt types of ant traps and a industrial shop vacume. We got alot of them but I noticed a trail coming out of the bathroom and when I followed it, fliped up the toilet lid and looked down they came pouring out... I think they are in our pipes! Has anyone else been invaded or know of a good way to deal with them? Much Thanks.... I cant wait to take a nap or fall asleep without ants crawling on me again!!!!

Anyone Else from California living in there Rv 's full time? either traveling up and down the coast, or stationary somewhere...? My girlfriend, my cat and I live in our 21ft dolphin full time traveling all up and down the california coast, and we are looking to meet some new people and make some new friends out there... we thought It would be nice too make some other friends who live in RV's as well. Maybe plan a camping trip.... or gathering of some sort? Or what about a california toy in? are there any out here? Hope everyone is doing well today!

looks like ill try to take it through the passenger side door .... My back window with emergency exit has had a large board for shelving put over it... and since im not useing any propane tanks... then all is left is to disconect the battery power somehow?

It looks like its the original dometic fridge,... where do I disconect the battery power from the fridge? I dont use the propane tank at all so I guess I dont have to worry about that leaking and whatnot ... unless i then later want too use the stove... I think im either going to put a mini fridge/cooler in place and run it off of solar panels... or wait a bit and get a solar powered fridge unit when they go done more in price....

I finally took the huge broken AC off the roof of my Dolphin and put in a new 14" vent there insted, now I want to move onto the broken stinky fridge, Â .... how do I go about removing this and all its hookups?.... I really apreciate all the advice I read on here in my travels, makes living out of an RV much easier when I have somewhere to shoot questions and bounce around ideas! -=^..^=-

not sure really why we have been seeing sparks, or why it blew a fuze, I dont really know anything about the electronics aspect of these RV's. Thanks for the info tho! Ill check tonight and see if I can find the fuzes,

Does anyone know how many gallons the tank on the Dolphin holds? 20 gal? 40 gal? and is it safe to fill it up and drink straight from the faucet? or should we get a filter for over the faucet? is there a way to test? thanks!

so I think I blew a fuze.... and altho this should be easy to replace and be done with... iv never done it before. Never blown a fuze on any of my vehicals... the other night... all the interior lights went out. My girlfriend said she saw a white spark fly out aroudn the light and then it just didnt click on. and now none of the lights are on. I also saw a white spark where the rear cigarett lighter/adapter looking thing is. Its up high close to the celing in the rear dinett model. Has anyone else has sparks like these? or know if I have just blown a fuze, and if so how I go about finding where to replace the fuze. any help would be apreicated. our days have just been cut in half with no lights at night. or next to none, we have a few flashlights, but makes doing real work in the RV harder. hope everyones summers going a little more smoothly! ~~Eli

Hello everyone! We are on what seams to be a really tough search for a large vent covering. We where traveling through the Avenue of the Giants about a week ago while fleeping the many hundred of fires up north... It was old and sun brittle and we had been trying to find a replacement for a while, but then it just fell off.. we looked around but couldnt find any of the pieces anywhere, i guess it finally just turned to dust.... so we started stoping by all the rv parts places we could find... none of them have the large roof vent coverings... is this a common problem? We still havnt been able to find one, and we have to head back up north in about a week to where the smoke is, would be good to find one to keep the smoke out.. and the rain if it comes, we have a temprapudic right below the large vent. It also has been getting pretty cold some nights without the vent while we are back down here in santa barbara. I think its 17x24 is what iv been told. if anyone has an extra one or knows some secret place online to order just the vent coverings please let me know! hope everyones summer has been as fun and exciting as ours so far, hehe ~~~~Eli

Thank you for the info hehe, I like the lounge look in that photo, and ill definitly put some more photos up in Aug when we get back to a place with internet, Im going to be hopefulyl covering the interior this summer while up on the mountain! hope you have a good summer!

Would love too see a photo of one of the rolling trays if you have one hehe, im taking this one and drilling holes in it and attaching a leather/pillow type thing under it, so it can rest level anywhere. I make mostly leather items, leather roses, leather bags, hip belts, bamboo/leather pipes, braclets, neckleaces, bracers, arm guards, alot fo Renisaunce themed stuff as well, we travel mostly to Renisaunce festivals and sustainable music festivals, My partner makes really awsome nome hoods, dreadie caps, winter hats, ski caps, etc etc theres a photo here of one of my leather roses and one of her hoodlike caps. Life on the road is hard, but o so fun! and being a Gypsy i dont really know another way too live ~~~Eli

I borrowed a camera and shot a few extra images of the interior of our RV. Changed the bathroom into a storage area and cat/litterbox area, Put up magnetic storage jars and fruit nets, Got a nice bubblegum machine on our counter too =) Changed the back area from rear dinett to a storage/workshop area, Theres an image of where I did the celing paneling, not the best job but i only had enough $ for that type of wood so the colors didnt match *shrugs* we are covering the interior with fabrics so its all good.

I Wish I could!!! I was sitting in my hamock by a pond on the mountain a week ago playing my flute, and there where these beautiful dragon flys all around... I went into the rig to look for my camera and realized that I left my camera in storage and compleatly forgot to grab it on this adventure!!!! was so sad.... ill ask around the house im at today and see if anyone can lend me one, hope all is well!

My 83 dolphin had 33,000 on it a few months ago, but now has about 39,000 hehe... its been a good 2 months of traveling... our 82 sunrader's oddometer broke at 128,000 and it has about 200,000 on it. just now realizing how hard it is too sell a high milage sunrader with a broken Oddometer,,... its very hard!!! lol

ohhh I love it! wish I had place to put another small RV hehe... that would be a great weekend vehical!

Perfect Choice in the Model!... We have the same 1983 model, I am a photographer as well(mainly travel photography)  Me my partner and our kitten all live in our 83 dolphin,... Was very excited to see how much storage space there is inside... we redid our interior as well. and will continue to re-touchup the interior as long as we live in it =) Now I have a small workshop where the rear dineing area used to be. Would love too see more photos once you have done more work on it! mayhap well have to stop by and say hi when we are out in Boulder! Hope all is well! and good luck on your new adventure!!! ~~~Eli