Rocinante Sunrader 88

Well, I took the plunge and am moving up to a Winnebago Rialta, ten years younger than my 21' Sunrader, putting Roncinante on Craigslist in SFBay Area. It's kinda scary, as I am a lot less confident about being able to find parts for the drivetrain compared to the trusty Toyo, but here we go... If you know anyone looking for a very decent 89 Sunrader point them this way... http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/rvs/5667575893.html

So if the shore power is not supposed to charge the chassis battery, I am wondering if I could just hook up a 110v relay in the engine compartment with a line from the electrical panel 110v circuit that would close to jump the two batteries whenever shore power was connected and then open again when shore power was disconnected. Has anyone tried that? BTW, I assume that the chargers in these things have a trickle function so that they won't screw up the battereis if you are hooked up to shore power long term. Is that correct?

Also, I am guessing that I would want to hook that up back by the fridge where the electrical panel is? Do I then have to run a separate set of heavy gauge wires to the second battery?

I am much more interested in the dual-output, isolated, marine type battery charger. What capacity do I need, and more or less what do they run? Also, I am assuming that for an 88 I need to run an exciter wire? Anything else specific that I need to know about hooking it up? Thanks a lot!

Always operated more or less on the level while I had it (5 years). I replaced the cooling unit and it now works just fine. Not a terrible job, though a bit time consuming.

I have an 88 Sunrader with what appears to be a solenoid-based isolator setup (little cylinder that looks like the old Ford starter solenoids, four wire). My problem is that when it sits for weeks not being used, plugged into shore power, the chassis battery will be dead and I will have to jump start the vehicle. When I check voltages, running the engine charges both chassis and house batteries, but shore power charges only the house battery. Is this how it is supposed to work? If so, is there a workaround so that shore power also charges truck battery while still maintaining isolation when disconnected? If this is not how it is supposed to work, any suggestions on troubleshooting? I should add that about two years ago I was having a problem with the chassis battery discharging overnight. I took it to an auto electric shop, which told me that my radio was discharging the battery, disconnected it, and told me that I needed a new isolator (identical in appearance to the solenoid-like one that I had had before.) The one that they sold me looked just like the old one and I hooked it up. I have since reconnected the radio and do not have the problem with the chassis battery discharging overnight, so I think that they were full of it on that, just finding the minimal current that keeps memory going in the radio. Long story short, I am pretty confident that the isolator, being pretty new, is not faulty, not to say that it is hooked up right.

FYI, It is nice to have the six lug front wheels also, means that you can actually have a working spare. Early models had five lug front and rear, then they started putting on six lug rear, then six lug front and rear.

I have an 88 gardner pacific Sunrader that has stick built overhead cabinets, fiberglass module bathroom. Lots of luck finding a replacement module, and I note that the 18' sunraders have a different module than the 21 footers.

For the screen bumpers if you can get a hunk of high density plastic (an old cutting board?) you could make them in ten minutes on a table saw.

The place to get replacement wraparound windows is Advantage RV in Vallejo. They have the molds, as the guy who runs (ran?) it used to work for Gardner Pacific, which made the Sunrader. Their number is 707-252-8188 and they make the windows on an as-needed basis.

If it drains into the Gulf or Atlantic it's east coast to me. Take that, Denver!

My mistake. httv://rvcoolingunit.com sells both new and rebuilt. This is a rebuilt cooling unit and they do not sell a new one for the Dometic RM 2401. Flipping the unit did no good, so I have orderd my rebuilt cooling unit. $530 counting shipping to CA, with a $100 rebate once I send the core back.

Can't hurt to try, have to take it out anyway and this way I can check it before ripping out my passenger seat. Never had ammonia smell. Dead sure. I think that it has always gurgled, even when working fine, but I could be making that up. If this does not work I am going to go for an Amish cooler unit, unless folks have better suggestions. Supposed to be brand new,$430 after I pay shipping and send back core. http://rvcoolingunit.com/RM2401-Dometic-Cooling-Unit-P10906.aspx

OK, got it out, have it laying on one side in the RV. Crossing my fingers.

Yeah, I just figured that out also. Looks like I need a new cooler or a new or used fridge. First I want to try pulling it out and setting it in different positions to see if that fixes it. Is there any particular trick to getting them out or should I just disconnect in the back and start pulling screws in the front? Also, is there a particular protocol for turning it around to see if that remixes stuff in the system? I was just going to put it on one side, upside down, then the other side for an hour or so in each position. Is that long enough? Should I do it multiple times? I'm guessing given the layout that it is a waste of time to put on front or back. Nothing too loose...

How high should the flame be in the high gas mode? I get a six legged blue flame that is about 3/16 tall with a fainter blue flame that rises an inch off of that. High or low?

This appears to have a single thermostat. How do I troubleshoot? If I just put 110v through the heater should that make it cool if the problem is thermostat? Linda, I texted the craigslist guy to see what size his is in case I can't fix. Do you have a smaller Sunrader? I think I may have met you at Pinto Lake Park in Watsonville a few years ago.

I think the (smaller number of) ones made in the Eastern US did not have the wraparound. The ones made in the West did. There is a guy in Nothern CA who still sells the wraparounds, used to work at the factory, kept the molds, last I heard still ran an RV place in vacaville, CA

Also...Can anyone tell me about cost, availability and complexity of self-replacing cooling unit on these?

I have a 3-way Dometic in my 21' 1988 Sunrader. It has run perfectly all these years, but now seems to be dying. It does minimal cooling if any, on 120v, 12v, propane. Flame is working. I am trying to decide if there is anything that I can do before just ripping it out and putting in a new one or replacing the cooling unit (nearly as expensive from what I hear.) I am assuming I have sediment built up and clogging a line. On that assumption I am considering hitting all of the lines with my massager to loosen stuff up (what the heck?) or pulling out the refrigerator and turning it upside down and shaking it. Alternate explanation is that there is a thermostat problem, Anyone know anything about how thermostats work in these old 3 ways? I'm probably screwed in any case, but am grasping at straws before starting to tear stuff out.

What are the dimensions? I have a dometic that just crapped out on me.

We have a couple of big dogs (40# Portugese Water Dog and 60# Golden Retriever - English Shepard mix) who love to travel in our 21' Sunrader. Our big concern at first was that they want to be right behind us, and if we hit something we don't want them going through the windshield, much less taking us with them. To make matters worse, the old one likes to curl up in the step down to the door right behind the drivers seat, making us constantly paranoid while driving that the door might open. Our solution: When we are driving, they each wear a harness, and we take a 14' rope with a clip on each end and tie it in the middle to one of the two metal posts which support the rear dinette then clip a dog to each end. The harness clip is on their back, so no one gets strangled. The post goes straight down into the floor, so it's hard to imagine anything that would make it give way.The bigger, older dog is totally happy lying under the table in her "den", while the young pup climbs up on the bench seat and looks out the window. When we stop and they need to be tied up outside the rope does double duty for that. We've had them on trips as long at 15 days and it works great. The other neat trick which we have found has to do with water while we are driving. We often go for long stretches and want to be sure that they have constant access to water. We have a big stainless water bowl, a medium size food bowl for the big dog, and a smaller food bowl for the small dog. While driving we nest all three of them and put water in the smallest, inner bowl. Anything that sloshes around pretty much stays in the outer bowls rather than getting on the floor.

The place is Advantage RV in Vallejo. They have the molds, as the guy who runs (ran?) it used to work for Gardner Pacific, which made the Sunrader. Their number is 707-252-8188 and they make the windows on an as-needed basis.

I have an 88 chassis (21' Sunrader) and the seats are painful after the first hour! Can you tell me which years of which Toyota models will bolt into this? Also, was the seven way seat just drivers side?

Since my honey backed my 21' Sunrader into a telephone pole last week, that flimsy back bumper is bent just enough that I can't fit the sewage hose into it. Gotta fix it, as it would be too embarrassing to go down the road with the hose tied onto my ladder! Probably easier to replace the bumper than to try and straighten it (it helps that I'm an OK welder) and since I'm going that far, I intend reinforce the rear frame extensions, to put on a hitch receiver for light towing of my sailboat and also fabricate a bike rack along the lines of some I have seen on this forum. I looked under the rig today and was struck by how much it had sagged on the sides. The floor is supported by the truck frame in the middle, with some outrigggers welded on to support the shell on the outside, but those outriggers long ago bent down, and the floor is seriously bowed. I notice this inside when I level, as when the rig is sitting level the counters on each side slope to the outside. As long as I'm doing all this work, I'm thinking about just jacking up the outside points to level the floor and then welding gussets on to keep it level. Has anyone tried this? It is acceptable now and I don't want to create a major problem while trying to fix a minor one.