bajadulce

You'd think that eventually a modern lightweight compact RV would hit NAmerica? The demand "seems" like it's there? The rest of the world has been building small lightweight RVs for the past 25 years. We're still in the dark ages and Toy motorhomes continue to fetch absorbant $$ for what they are.

Agree w/ Linda this Sunrader is without doubt one of the nicest stock ones around. The p/o obviously took fantastic care of it and it shows. It's prob "$ worth $" whatever it is their asking. Some toyota motorhome enthusiast will eventually snatch it up and you can be certain it will fetch a decent coin. They will become part of the toyota motorhome family and talk about their wonderful little RV. That being said, I also agree with David in that these motorhomes are WAY over priced for what you actually get. Buyers are either "blinded by hype", have money to burn, or both. The sunrader has one great feature = fiberglass on 3 sides, but that's about it... which is quite a bit actually.

That stove looks pretty comfy there Tim... and quality installation job too. Might have already commented on that in a previous post. Fun stuff. Agree with runfromturts, that an "open flame" inside RV doesn't spell disaster if done right. How much wood does a stove like that consume? I imagine they're pretty damn efficient. You definitely have to be more creative in how things are stored and/or put away if your camp is constantly moved daily as opposed to guys like me that tend to "park" it in one spot for weeks at a time. @ Possible more solar gain: You don't have much room ontop of your rig for additional solar, but always entertained the idea to make some sort of awning out of solar panels. At night or when traveling, it could fold down and cover the windows. Panels aren't the lightest thing (glass), but sure would be a fun concept. Or maybe technology has advanced to the point that the awning cloth itself can be the solar PV capable of rolling up? Seems like solar panels providing shade would be a win combo. I admire you cold weather guys btw!

Kevin: Thnx. The interior was finished for the most part last year. Tho recently I built a new table out of ABS pipe that swings under the back window when not in use. Someday hope to be able to respond to your "Real world MPG's figures wanted" thread over at Expo's hardsided campers. I doubt this rig will get the #'s some of those full size diesel trucks get, but hoping for the high teens! The truck without the shell gets about 23ish highway which seems decent for full size 4x4 truck... tho I do drive like a grandma. Terry: Ya thnx I really enjoy the 2 tone green. I did add a black pin stripe to match the black cab as you suggested. Did I read somewhere that you've bought a 2nd motorhome (Class C 30' ish?) Sounds luxurious. David: Thnx, the project is definitely custom and homebuilt. You, Andy (Flatspin), Stephen, and of course Shandamac are the artistic bunch on here and enjoy checking out your personal touches. Wish I had just a little of that creative flair you guys have. Don't know how to classify my customizations... definitley not "artistic".

That's really slick and comfy lookin interior David. You should go on one of those DIY fixer upper shows.... like tradings spaces or whatever. Show up some of those designers.

2 members have inquired about the latch/lock mechanism and so uploaded a few pictures. The deadlock and latching mechanism fit into a door frame just like a standard door w/ a recess etc. I believe the door was made a tad wider as well. Sorry all of this was so long ago. These pics aren't the best, but hope gives an idea. Ended up buying one of those glow-in-the-dark scissor ladders as suggested by Randy for use when camper is on the truck. It's mounted in a way that it can fold under the truck when not in use. Here's a picture of the mounting system finally came up with as well. A heavy gauge piece of aluminum L bracket is bolted to the backside of the perimeter floor joists. This bracket is then bolted to some angle iron that is welded to the flatbed. Alignment is relatively easy as the camper can shimmy a bit when freely supported by jacks. Added some more paint for fun as I really like Terry's (WME) 2 toned rig. Camper doesn't look so tall (9'6"" to solar panels) with the two tones or so it seems to me. Nothing really new to add these past few months other than just tightening things down on the interior for road use as well as gathering up all the camping gear and finding the best place to store things.

Sounds fun. I'm there right now. BTW. If you see a small red number in the "Chat" tab, that represents how many ppl are in that room if any.

Those guys look like they did a great job. You must be pretty floored. Gluck w/ your ECU etc. Do you need a functioning CEL for smog referee? You'll have a new sticker for your door here soon!

Damn.. I'm married now otherwise probably would be lured in by those sirens! Like Linda, I was under impression that Arcata was a "smart people" town too. Interesting info you're describing. I think you might have the right recipe tho by hitting the road to meet more like minded ppl. You'll meet more people interested in RV'in (or any other activity) when you're doing it. I think the internet/globalization etc has made the world a much smaller place with all the information sharing... AND women, seem to at least, be more adventurous than they were 20 years ago (at least according to the internet). I see blogs all the time of women bicycling through Africa, motorcyling to South America, or surfing gnarly Indonesian waves etc. Just seems there are more girls out there doing these kinds of crazy adventurous things which is nice to see. So prob not too far fetched to actually find a "Girls RV website/link" that your "safe browser" settings will let you check out too. Ya agree with Linda, Santa Cruz isn't the same town it was even 10 years ago. Would have like to have been here in the 70's that's for sure.

Love those custom notched drawers Lance! That lighting looks like a lot of fun too. Can't say I have been in any homebuilt campers with toe kicks. Holy crap, that equates to a 3" sheet of plywood! Those are some strong cabinets!@Kelly and transferring a Chinook onto a Tacoma: Again not to sound like a bummer, but a Tacoma is not a Tundra. All Tundra's/T100's were longbeds. Single cab Tacomas are short frames (and if they do make a longbed single cab it will be very difficult to find - I've never seen one). The axle to cab dimensions will need modification either via stretch frame, move axle, shell, or all. I'd be willing to bet your axle to cab dimensions are much shorter than Lance's. Not saying it can't be done, but it isn't as simple as it would be with the proper cab-to-axle starting base frame.

Apparently Linda was so captivated, she's speechless. ^^ hmmm.. maybe one of the more interesting questions ever posted here? I'm sure they're out there... tho they might not have immediate access to the internet. So it might be awhile before you get a response. Keep the optimism alive tho.

oh wow that is quite a bit of HP. I think toyota's KZTE is around 130ish HP and those things are used all over Australia for mini campers. I really had no idea how many different toyota diesel motors were actually out there until I started reading some of the Australian forums. Pretty much any size to fit a small car to a full size work truck. I think in NAmerica, only the 2L/T, and possibly the 3L/T were sold back in the 80's? And then the cord was pulled.

Agree the motor seems a bit heavy for a toyota pickup. There have been a few guys that have managed to put those 5cyl 300D motors into a small pickup as olddiesel mentioned, but with considerable headaches from what I've read. The one older LandCruiser I have seen on youtube with the motor does look pretty sweet tho. There's a forum at 4btswaps.com that deals specifically with the 0M617 swaps and has a few toyotas. So something you might get a kick out of browsing if you haven't already. Not sure if the 4x4Labs was still selling their adapters? Am still interested in putting something into my 66 F250, but have too many projects atm. A cheap 0M617 would make for a fun little beach cruiser I suppose but prob is a bit underpowered for such a big truck (especially if ever wanted to throw the Sunrader shell on it). The Isuzu 4bd (NPR trucks) sounded like a great alternative to that common tractor motor everyone uses (cummins 4bt). Have read a bit here and there about the TDI and ya sounds like a good one. I don't think it would have enough power for a mini motorhome tho? Maybe transferring a toyota motorhome to a full size diesel truck would be the easiest route in the end for those looking to go that route. Lots of them out there and really easy to find. GVWR wouldn't be as much as an issue that's for sure.

The extra flashing would definitely help keep water out of the seam and I like the plan. Little confused as to where the screws are going? If the roof metal is folded back over the wall as it originally was and the screws go through the folded roof section and then flashing, all would seem good. I wouldn't however use any screws on the "roof" part of the roof if that makes any sense.

Those peltier coolers are a great deal less expensive that's for sure. Do you use yours as an auxiliary fridge to your propane one or just for road trips in your car/truck for snacks/drinks? The 52qt Kooltron sounds like a great deal and would definitely do great for keeping beer and soda nice and cold (the important stuff right!). Not sure if I like the idea of chicken or milk sitting for a few days in 45 degrees (85-40). The amp draw looks about equivalent to a compressor driven fridge as well? Derek, would I need a key to get to the key if it resided inside the compartment door? You can't latch or unlatch the door without a key.

Those combo locks are expensive! Your JBWeld comment actually shed some light on a really simple and cheap solution; we will just make a few spares and leave them in a drawer inside the coach. Looking at some different online 12v coolers. Any suggestions? I see my local Home Depot actually sells a brand called Whynter online for about $500 bucks that fits the above criteria. Anyone have any experience with this brand? EDIT: found this article at Expo A little short on details, but I do like that drain plug!

The Sunrader's walls are pretty strong at the corners as well as the transitional roof areas by nature. Just like a large sheet of glass tho, the Sunrader's wall is weak towards the middle of the sheet where it will suffer the most flex. And yes, a gutted Sunrader wall is pretty flimsy towards the middle and can wobble quite a bit if you push on it. But as Linda pointed out, it is still plenty strong enough for its intended application. Once all the windows, cabinets, and bench seats are reinstalled, walls sorta magically gain some rigidity. If you ever remodel your interior and find yourself with bare walls, it prob wouldn't hurt to add a single vertical stud somewhere close to the middle to help battle these wobbles (you'd glue/glass the stud to the wall). I think the older Sunraders had a larger passenger side window? So I wasn't able to do this in my own setup, but wished would have ran something from the window sill down to the floor to straighten out the slight concavity in my passenger side exterior wall. Best? Framed (Aluminum tubing) no doubt offers a lot of strength while allowing for a really thin exterior skin. For whatever reason, all the aluminum framed RV's I have seen/read about have used a thick skin made of plywood laminates? Seems to defeat the purpose. Shot/Chopped molded fiberglass such as used with the Sunrader/Chinook etc, while really strong, extremely durable, and easy to produce, is a bit heavy and a tad outdated. Those fancy Earthroamers still use this same shot mold technique, but composite foam core panel construction (Nida core etc) seems to outshine all other techniques and you will probably see more manufacturers using this type of construction as standard practice. The bottom line is as long as the camper is water tight, the wall's composition shouldn't be an issue if it does what it needs to. From what I've seen/read, most RV's have poor roof-to-wall or wall-to-wall seams. Or holes drilled into the roof for luggage racks, AC units, ladders, vents, etc. And so water damaged RV's are a common theme. And while even an aluminum framed RV that gets soaked will still need the walls torn apart, at least the framing will be reusable and new walls can be scabbed back in fairly easily. The roof in my project happens to be "wood framed" with some 1x's, but am not too concerned about them rotting. No water will ever get to them. My floor is a bit different as it stands alone without a truck frame. So a honeycomb frame made of redwood 1x's joists were used in this area instead as it is somewhat exposed (for now). Fiberglass tubing probably would have been a better choice. The floor is of course shielded from road debris/water by the flatbed deck, but it still is exposed to moisture especially when it sits close to the ground. Luckily I can paint, dry out, and maintain the underside easily when the shell is off the truck. The Sunrader floor is notoriously weak because of the large distances (lack of floor joists) the composite structure must span. When the composites are all held nicely together, things are dandy and the floor is in essence over an 1-1/2" thick, but when the laminates separate (unglue), you now have individual materials spanning huge distances. 1/2 plywood doesn't do well spanning 3 feet! Adding some additional wood atop the floor is a simple solution and will do the trick more than adequately. Obviously if you have a gutted rig, it would be wise to cut out the floor and add some joists. @ Women living longer than men: Ya, no doubt women are without debate much smarter than us buffoons. I always feel so much better when boarding a plane to discover the pilot is a woman! Just hope she doesn't text her friends about how cute the male flight attendant's butt is while flying! To be fair, that picture doesn't do the scaffolding justice. That extension ladder is for instance resting on the camper's floor and wedged against the driver's side interior wall. That extra 3' boost sure makes a difference on that flimsy ladder btw! Also the scaffolding has some posts/braces running down to the floor and is actually a lot wider than it looks and liberally screwed together (that sounds odd << ) as well as screwed to the rear fiberglass roof section if I remember. The 8' step ladder is resting against a rib screwed to the scaffolding. Ladders are scary tho that's no kidding and ya lots of men/women in construction get hurt/die while using a ladder. One of the most dangerous tools on the job to be sure. EDIT: ^^ Wow mini novel. I didn't write all of this reply btw.. some gnome got on my computer and typed that short story of a reply while I was in the bathroom. Honest.

That looks pretty ugly. Sorry to hear. Can't really tell a whole lot from picture and am not familiar with that rig, but looks like you need to pull off some more stuff both on the inside and outside such as that white piece of trim. The wall needs to be put back into place so you can refasten the roof. You might be able to use a strap and pull the wall from the inside using your overhead cab cutout as an anchor or maybe push it back into place from the outside using a brace of sorts. Looks like the roof was stapled at one time judging by those rusty looking slots. You'll prob want to use something else such as flathead screws and some construction adhesive. Question is do you have anything to fasten to? You might have to tear into the wall a bit to rebuild some framework, possibly add some sort of block or maybe even use some galvanized sheet metal brackets commonly used in framing. After all that, you might investigate into some of the metacrylic tape they use on mobil home roofs to wrap that seam before putting the trim back on. definitely get some more pics up so others can chime in.

Seeing that the truck you are planning to use already is without a bed, I might suggest you do something similar and build a small lightweight flatbed with the scrap metal you describe. From there you might be able to find a small lightweight slide in camper shell that you can modify to fit on your flatbed (doesn't necessarily need to be a cabover). Both of the flatbeds I built used 3 pieces of 1/8" 2x2 and 2 pieces of 1x2 down the sides. Not a lot of metal. The dplate deck would be nice if you have enough material. Not the lightest route, but damn solid base. If you were to build a box from scratch, those ultra light weight composite core panels that simply "glue" together at the seams look pretty hassle free and are the standard today. For the DIY home builder this seems like a slam dunk. Skinning a frame would seem way too labor intensive, heavier, and prob in the end more expensive. The end result prob won't look as clean as a composite core panel box as well. Just my 2 cents from what I've read from the DIY camper builders at the various sites over the years. ~have fun

Just got through checking out the pictures on the VanSpecialties site and must say they did a very clean and professional job rebuilding your toy. I imagine you're pretty pleased with the end result. I like the special touches like the stainless steel shower pan, the really clean paneling and just the overall attention to details like the black trim. That is one monster roof rack too! Obviously some $ was spent on the customization. Everything said, looks like a really fun rig and something you'll get a lot of worry-free use out of. Whatever it costs (60k prob at least if not more) will be all worth it in the end. Was the shell removed from the rig at any point (maybe to rebuild the notorious weak Sunrader floor)? And is there anyplace on the web where more of the reconstruction was documented other than these pictures? Am always fascinated with the process more than the end result. Curious of some general specs: 1) Motor & Trans? 2) Weight? 3) Departure angle? Fun rig! Thnx for sharing

Randy, those scissor steps look like they would work out... and the glowing tape would be fun. thnx for the link. JBWeld is a good one! I guess more expensive compartment doors have latches that can close with or without a key. I just don't want critters trying to paw open my doors and bending them all out of shape should I leave one side unlatched.

Nice looking dogs... all of em!

Compartment doors from Ebay arrived and the wheel wells have been hacked out and boxed in with some leftover redwood 1x' fencing. Am really loving the newly acquired usable floor space especially on the passenger side. Wish you didn't need a key to latch the doors. Prob some kind of mod for that? Looking to build 2 aluminum boxes for under the flatbed rails. Need ideas for collapsible steps to be incorporated into the passenger box. Maybe on a drawer?

Nice looking rigs. Sounds like others are willing to pay as much as double for either... so you prob wouldn't lose any money! Too bad the 18' doesn't have the 22re. You might look into a full size Class C that has decent power, GVWR, and prob equivalent or even better gas mileage for a full family and all the gear. 22' on a Toyota pickup seems a bit pushing it and almost to defeat the purpose of having a compact truck. The V6 will be EFI which is nice. Both are stick? I've never been a fan of automatics. Agree with the others that the newer, shorter, more expensive camper is prob the better of the 2. More surfboards will fit into the 22 footer tho! Might be a good selling point if you're trying to convince your husband on the bigger one.

Wow that's shocking. I was under impression there were all sorts of things happening with all the components. The ECU for instance has so many pins? Good to know if a mouse chewed up my wiring, there's a decent chance to be able to makeshift some sort of harness to get the thing going? Or is it more complicated than that? I should learn those 8 wires.I see you are from Anaheim, CA. What do you need to do @ the DMV now just curious. what is that TRD component in the packaging/box btw?