Dolphinite no longer here

Ann, I want to second Karen's tip on Evergreen RV. I've been there several times in the last 20 years and they are very good and helpful. By the way, take the coast road, you'll love it. And the route 15 mentioned is actually Interstate 5, a boring road with several long hill climbs between California and Seattllle. John

Re-coated the roof with the white goo stuff and went over the window caulking. Plumbing is up and working with no leaks. Installed a new roof vent in the bathroom. Washed and polished the cab part of the RV. All ready for the "Hardtimes Bluegrass Festival" in Hamilton, Montana! John

What does your electric blanket have to do with your refrigerator?

Starbrightsteve, You don't have to gut the interior of your RV to just replace the carpet. Many Toyhomes were built the way yours is with the carpet laid down first and then everything built right on top of the carpet. A much easier way to replace carpet, or put down wood flooring, (I've done my '85 Dolphin twice this way and am about ready to do it a third time) is to use a utility knife with a new, sharp blade in it. Carefully cut along the edges of the cabinets, dinette, walls, etc. with the knife. If you have a table with metal bases for the legs, remove those first. Pull the carpet up after all the cutting is done, clean up and lay down the new stuff. The leftover carpet under the cabinets, sofa, etc. is usually in much better shape than the main area of carpet. Leave it there after a good vacuuming. It will help to keep noise down and help to keep things that are stored there from sliding around. Piece a' cake... John.

That is one cool generator! John

darrell, That's a great looking cabinet! Nice work! John

If painting the fiberglas interior is what you want to do, I'd say go for it. There are several brands of coatings made just for fiberglas. You can get them at boat yards or marine supply stores or on line. I've had good results with regular old house paint, actually. You do have to wipe down the fiberglas surface before you paint it to remove the surface oil. I've used acetone and a soft rag. Just don't saturate the rag with the stuff because it'll mar almost any surface it lands on and dissolve some! Absolutely, positively wear gloves made for solvent use! John

I didn't actually walk up to the motorhome today, but I thought about how I'll go about cleaning it in preparation for this Summer's bluegrass camp-outs. John

If you're handy with fiberglass and wood, this isn't a really technical job. Just measure twice and do accurate cuts. Use epoxy instead of polyester resin and give the front piece a bit of a slope back to help reduce the wind resistance. Put a little bit of camber in the roof , too, if you can. A good drawing before starting work will make the job clearer and help to avoid waste. John

Cat, one last thing to firmly hammer this subject into the ground...Put a slight crown in the roof beams (rafters, whatever you call them) - 1/2" is plenty - before you lay down the plywood. If you also cut the 1/2" crown on the underside of the roof beams, you'll gain a little headroom. John

Cat, I'm pretty sure that you can use EPDM right on plywood but you might need to apply some kind of a binder goo before the EPDM goes down. Definitely check with a roofer who has experience with this stuff! Another item before you get started: make an accurate map of where everything is, both on top of the roof and inside on the ceiling. Before laying down plywood and whatever roofing you choose, framing has to be installed and its much easier to run wiring and re-attach overhead lights, vents and whatever if you provide solid wood as attachment points for all those goodies. Also, you can save a good chunk of money if you leave the interior unfinished and do it yourself. Good Luck, John

Cat, Sounds like replacing the roof could be a good choice. My advice, (and this is just me), would be to not use rubber roofing. Full width aluminum, one piece, roofing is available for replacing your roof. It comes in any length, but isn't cheap. It does make a one piece roof, though with no seams. The "rafters" are just common lumber and the first thing to put down over them is a single layer of 3/8" plywood and then the aluminum sheet goes over that. If the roof is built this way, a 200# person can walk all over the roof anywhere. This way of building does add some weight, but not very much. Your Toyhome can easily handle it. Another thing, if you do rip off the old roof, remove the side moldings very carefully, particularly the curved pieces. The straight pieces are available, I think, but the curved pieces are not available. They were custom bent on a special machine. The moldings may look like junk but they clean up very nicely. Save them! John

I've removed my Dometic fridge from my '85 Dolphin a couple of times. There are four screws, two on each side on the front of the unit. The screws are covered with small, rubber plugs in the frame of the front of the fridge. You have to remove the door first to see the plugs. Also, there are two screws holding the bottom of the frame to the floor in the back. They are hard to see and are hard to access with a screwdriver. Open the outside door and you should see them. This is, of course on a Dometic. Yours may be a little different. John

Jdemaris, Seems like you're not afraid to tackle even the toughest jobs John

Today I went out to the Dolphin and noticed several dead flies on the hood, so I brushed them off. John

Zach, I was wondering just what the difference is between banjo playing and a howling dog...? John

Zach I've had two Toyota RVs, a '78 and my present '85 and both had problems with the ground. On both of the rigs the ground wire came out of the back of the left rear tail light and was attached to the frame a few inches away. I just removed the wire from its screw, cleaned off the frame surface where the wire was attached, the wire end itself and reattached it with a new screw. Simple job and you get to lay on your back doin' the "Toyota Polka" for a while... John

Karen, I've been to Dusty Strings many times. Its a dangerous place to go if you have money in your pocket! I heard my brother in law, Jack Lawrence, play there years ago. He was Doc Watson's partner for many years and is one incredible guitar player. When I worked on the Schooner Zodiac, we often made it to The Center For Wooden Boats for the 4th of July and enjoyed the fireworks from the deck of the ship. Zach, if you get into Seattle early enough, you'll be able to boondock on Terry St, or in the parking lot adjacent. But you'd have to get there and be planted by late on the 2nd of July. The place is within walking distance of pubs and other stores and, of course, The Center For Wooden Boats, a place you shouldn't miss. John

Jdemaris, My guess is that 1" will fit but, of course, I don't know for sure. Buy a foot of the one inch and a foot of the 3/4"- one of them will fit. My '85 Dolphin looked like it would only take the 3/4" but the local RV supply place only had 1". I had to pinch it, widthwise, a little but it went in just fine. The only problem I found was that the stuff shrank up a bit, exposing about 1 1/2" at the ends. The solution is to make sure a screw goes through the trim at each end when you're putting on the little end caps. John

Zach, I've been to that bluegrass festival in Hamilton that you're talking about. This one is different. It is put on by Mike and Tari Conroy. I think this is the fifth year for Hard Times. A nice feature of their festival is the fact that every year, along with lots of regional acts, they feature some "old timers" who have been involved in Montana bluegrass for decades. Mike and Tari are very old school, traditional bluegrass musicians (Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers, etc.) and the people they attract to the festival tend to be the same, although the jamming around the grounds will feature just about everything country/bluegrass. Anyway, if you make it there, look for the Dolphin... John

Zach, If you'll be in the area this July, Hard Times Bluegrass Festival will be held on the 25th through the 27th. The site is south of Hamilton a ways on a farm. It'll be my first trip of any length in the Dolphin this year. (No, I haven't sold it, yet.) Google the festival for directions. John

jdemaris, When I lived in Southeast Alaska, I used to dream of building something similar to this little gem. At the boat yard where I worked, we called these little craft "shantyboats". There were quite a few of them anchored in little coves and inlets in Southeast Alaska in the Summer. Some people Wintered over in them, too, although I don't think they had it very easy. I'd still like to build a simple one. John

I looked through a catalog of RV supplies today and found several items I'm thinking of planning on getting. John

Comfy, homey looking rig you've got there, Zach. Wish I was on the road, too but Montana is just starting to get nice. Some rain today washed away all the dust and the woods and hills are so green that everything looks like an Irish postcard! John

Well, I was thinking of washing off Old Man Winter's grime and then putting a coat of wax on the Toyhome but its supposed to rain next week so I put that project on hold. I did start the engine and checked the cab heater, though. John