nibs

Folks, just gotta weigh in on this one. We are headed out in a few days on a six month trip in our 18' Sunrader, we will be towing a small trailer so that we can take the stuff we want. We own a Yamaha 1000 watt generator, we wont be taking it. We put a 120 watt solar panel on the roof, added a second house batt and a 750 watt inverter. We will swap the inverter for a 1200 watt one (for the microwave) once we get into the US. On a recent 2 week trip, we pulled into campgrounds with elec hookups and didn't even bother to use them. Susan makes her coffee with a 110volt filter coffee maker. The only rational for a genset is if you live in the southern states and need air conditioning for summer use. People who start a genset just so they can sit inside and watch TV are one of the things that irritate neighbors. Tony. We also have a 7.5 kw kohler genset in our bus conversion, but try very hard to avoid using it.

There is a Chinook that looks kinda dead in Hope BC in a driveway. If you are interested PM me and I will tell you where it is. I dont have and actual address or name or phone # so it will be a bit of a shot in the dark. Tony

OUCH - If thats a Sunrader the fender surround is also available (if needed). If you live near the coast, a boat builder would be a good bet for the skills needed to fix the body. Tony

Bear, I got it all welded at a local shop for $125. If I was doing it again I would put the receiver tube above the flange of the 2X6 bumper but at the bottom. I am going to get a 4" drop ball carrier to level the trailer, its a bit nose high. Lowering the receiver a bit would have been better.

Hey Bear, welcome aboard. You take your tanks to a fill station. Most places certify people for filling tanks, unless you know what you are doing it can get very exciting. Propane is available in almost every town in North America. Be careful with the stuff, it is pretty safe but can go bang under the right circumstances.

Gotta watch that they dont come in under the hood and get in the heater ducts etc. I had some fiberglass resin and noticed the smell (even from the closed containers) I put it in the bays of the bus, while we were gone for two weeks, no mice. At this time of year thats pretty remarkable. Tony

Concyse, Dunno how close to Hope you are, but if you are close, go to the park in town, and on the side of the park, furthest from the river & next door to the coffee shop, there is what appears to be a dead Chinook on a Toyota. I looked at it a couple of days ago, dont think it will be fixed up, I didnt think to check the axle so who knows? Am in Kelowna so you are on your own. Tony

One of the most common causes for heater not lighting is corroded electrical terminals. Clean them, especially the ground wire. If you listen carefully, and can hear the gas light and still you get no heat, it could be the thermocouple which is fairly easy to replace, if it isnt working the gas will light (kinda a soft whoosh sound) but the flame will go out very soon.

We had a rat riding with us for a month in our converted bus, I got it shut out of the living quarters, then got it shut out of the storage bays. It was riding in the rear engine room, & I was feeding it rat bait for a week or so, then after a long days run (900 miles to get out of Texas) I put out a dish of anti freeze, he left. I dont think antifreeze was a good thing to do, but it was way better than the rat. I got it in a trap once, & it screamed bloody murder & got itself out before I could get to it, from then on it wouldnt go near the trap. We are leaving the bus in mouse country this winter while we go south in the Sunrader, will try the moth balls. Tony.

If its gonna be much below 20 deg F you should either drain or antifreeze your tanks and water lines. above that you can keep using them but you will have to be careful. Open any access/cupboard doors to let the heat from the cabin into ALL spaces where the plumbing hides. Put RV antifreeze into your holding tanks. Manufacturers say that the grey plastic plumbing isnt damaged by a bit of freezing, but I dont chance it. My winter camping days are over, we go to Mexico (leaving in a month). I posted the thread because we are taking our Toyota south and leaving our MCI in freezing Canada for the winter. Tony

All you folks know about freeze ups etc. But this one is a bit different. If we are going to leave our RV for any length of time summer or winter, we pour a good belt of cheap cooking oil into the drain p traps. It wont evaporate and let the smells of the netherworld up into the living area. It will turn to sludge as it freezes so wont damage the pipes. & a shot of hot water and a bit of detergent gets rid of it when you use the RV again. The oil helps the dump valves too. Tony

Try unscrewing the head of the shower, there is often a screen which gets plugged, or the holes in the head itself get plugged especially in hard water areas. If you take off the head, and turn on the shower, if you get a good flow you know where the problem is. Tony

Caint post pictures, having computer crash probs. Installed it looks just like the one on your front door. Took about 3 hrs to put in, went in pretty much the same as on a wood door, but put compression springs on the shaft that the key turns to hold the mechanism off center, that was probably the toughest part, cutting and fitting the springs. Then tried to mill the dead bolt so that it fit behind the aluminum door jamb, the bolt I used had a spring operated hardened metal component, this caught the milling cutter, there went $25 so ground the bolt down with a grinder. used RTV to keep out the water and Bobs yer uncle. Did much the same thing years ago on my MCI bus, only there had to make a striker plate, did it with a drill, grinder and file in a parking lot. Did the Sunrader at home with the tools much easier. Tony

Tired of having to reach in through the passenger door to open the Sunrader door, yesterday installed an ordinary dead bolt under the old latch. Had to fake it a bit and grind down the end of the bolt to get it to catch inside the aluminum frame jamb. Now we have to use a key to get in if we have been driving, the original catch is ok when parked. Much better than the sliding pin put in by the prev ownr, even took out some of the rattle.

Well, we just back from our first real camping trip, lightly loaded trailer (800# estimated) with extended tongue performed fine, 8% mountain grades 2nd gear in places going up, 3rd going down with a need to brake for corners. Weather was not hot so engine heat was not an issue. Didnt record the fuel burn, but it seemed a bit higher than when running without the trailer. Tony

Just before we left for our shake down cruise, I spent a bit of time fighting my rear brakes. I think a mechanic (doing an inspection) tightened one of my brakes to see if it worked or something. The drum was getting hot. Pulled the drum & found all looked good, still got hot. Had a mechanic adjust the rear brakes, now they both getting hot, (too hot to touch) I said to oooo withthem & started trying to back them off, didnt know that you have to hold the locking spring back before you can back off the 'star- wheel'. Once I was told about that, just backed them off a bit at a time untill they ran cool. Adjusted my rear proportioning valve up a bit, just ran 300 miles through the mountains towing our little trailer, Whoopee no problems. Tony

I suspect that the reason you arent getting any replies is because how you fix it depends on the structure and the nature and extent of the damage. If I was doing it, I would remove the steps and get underneath and replace what is broken. You may be able just to drop in a new piece of plywood, you may have to replace some of the support structure, it all depends on the damage. This group is great with a ton of knowledge which I tap into regularly. If you can get clear pictures especially from underneath I am sure you will get lots of help. Tony

Greg, Thank you for doc's page,will be going through that part of the world in Oct, There is another place similar on 5 around Grants Pass, next door to WRICO generators. Tony.

Marshal watch out for rot in the wood frame (assuming it is wood framed) any time a wood frame gets wet it may rot especially if it lives in the east and the south east or north west. you can repair any amount of rot, but boy its a ton of work. To find rot, look under the seats with an ice pick, if you can push the pick easily into the frame be carefull. We just bought a new to us Sunrader with a one piece fiberglass roof which had lived most of its life in the south west, some of the interior wood is/was rotted, but not too big a deal because it isnt structural. Personally (though others in this group are sure to disagree) I wouldnt touch a motor home, of any make, with visible signs of leaking. Tony

Don, you should be able to get a replacement door quite easily, dont know of a WA source but any rv recycler will have one, they are still used today so just about any rv dealer can get you a new one. Tony

We have never had an unreasonable provincial inspection, as long as the vehicle is safe to operate and has no obvious structural defects it will pass. These inspections are done at private service stations, I suspect that you picked a tech who wanted to make money for repairs on you. Before you get the inspection done, ask around to see who is reasonable. We have had two of the 6 inspections we needed done at canadian tire, they werent too bad, each found a couple of hundred $ worth of fixins. The others were done at small shops where we dealt and the results were similar. Tony

Any one been pulled over and been weighed by the law? Do they let the co-pilot get out while weighing? LOL

Yes, thats the little rascal (door lock), apparently unless I can find a used one someplace, a bargeman 300 L is the fix, requires mods to the door and frame, sigh. Will wait untill we are in So California to switch, just incase we can find the right one in our travels. Greg, we are in stasis, I keep asking Susan to make a screen like you describe, (need one for our MCI bus too) and she keeps asking me to make a screen door with a frame. Thank you for the assistance we are getting great group! Tony

Before you do anything else, you might try putting about a cup of alchohol (Methanol - methylated spirits - ethanol - gas line anti freeze but not vodka) into the tank & crank it over, the alchohol will bind with any water in the system and bring it into solution with the gasoline, the motor will burn it no problems. If you are really lucky that may fix it, otherwise see above. good luck, Tony

Mike, there is a set of pics on toyota-campers posted by garyjgerard aug 1 titled Sunrader lock mechanism, One of these days I'll figure out how to place pics. Since I posted the first note, I turned the shoulder of the nipple to bring the door in, and milled one of the claws in the door to make it grip tighter. twas a pig to get back together but we prevailed. the door still wont lock. Hopefully it will stay closed while driving. Tony