Back East Don

I took what some think is the extreme option which is to cover the entire roof in liquid EPDM rubber. The only thing that complicated doing that job was the petroleum solvent based roof products that were done previously. If I had a roof that was just the painted aluminum, I could have completed mine in a few days. One day to clean then remove all the old lap sealant. do any minor repairs and replace any vents as needed. Second day would be tape the edges then prime. Last day is coat with EPDM. The last two days would only be a partial days work. I compounded the problem by not dealing with it correctly and adding more of what didn't work. You'll likely get a couple season out of it especially if you've gone heavy around the seams. The issue I see is that these little Toyota's flex and shift quite a bit and the roof sealants often dries too hard to flex with it. I've received a number of private inquiries regarding the EPDM. Cost is often used as a reason for going with household products even after protracted dialogs about longevity. 6 tubes of lap sealant, replacement plumbing & refrigerator vents plus base and two gallons of EPDM and a quart of primer should run you just over $300. Anyone who has an untouched roof that reads this and thinks it is too much money or bother is only hurting themselves in the long run. Would not hesitate for a second to use this on the next RV I get if compatible. The problem is that like many of us, we buy these with what ever baggage the previous owner left us with. I had probably as extreme a case as you will find and simply made a bad situation worse. Removing the old roof sealant was a pain but the primer is intended to seal the asphalt based products so in theory I could just prime and cover over any of it. I sealed mine up and I've been bone dry for two season now. I wash the top a few times during the season and inspect the top to see how everything is holding up. The road grime washes right off and it looks great.

Sounds to me like the DC side is working pretty hard. What is the condition of the battery? What are you running on DC. If you perhaps have an inverter connected and on or are running the fridge on DC, you might be working the converter to its limit. That is where I would start to look as it doesn't sound to me like anything on the AC side is the problem.

A note about MPG. One thing that seems to get over reported by people selling Toyota RV's is the gas mileage and claims can vary wildly. The reaction to your statement is simply from that and not directed at you personally. I am not MPG obsessed but I did keep track of it the first year I owned it. Unless you are curious or care about it, I would not worry about it so long as you are find trips to the gas pump tolerable. I bought mine because it was small not for the gas mileage. Safety too is a personal choice. Even good statistics are little comfort when it's your kids and as a society we tend to be far more protective than when I was a kid. I've known parents that would not fly together when they went on vacations without their kids so that in the event of a crash, the kids would not be left without parents. Others wouldn't ride motorcycles anymore once they had kids. I will just say that life does come with a number of risks. Many we often don't ever think about. My childhood instilled a spirit of adventure that I've tried to pass on to my children. They are now far more at ease with with travel in their twenties than even I was at their age. Good luck to you and welcome to this little community.

There are days where google is an incredible time suck. Not that it was the most comprehensive I found either. There was another paper that was longer and far harder to read. I got tired a few pages in and just decided to give up. We have reached the saturation point where almost any topic can be found online at any given level of discussion. If artificial intelligence can progress enough to be able to gather and then create a synopsis on demand, we will have arrived at a Star Trek level of just ask the computer a question and get an answer. Right now all my phone does is read wikipedia articles to me when I ask it something substantial.

For those who may want to dive in deep here is a PDF on Leaf spring Design and Calculation

I miss the days of old where we had a couple of spring shops and even a good radiator repair place. All the old timers retired and those kinds of businesses are no longer common place.

I have the same aluminum ones but am on the lookout for the small surplus army jeep jack from WWII.

I am of the opinion that aluminum roof rot will become far more common place. The roof is a thin painted skin and that paint is by now old and faded. Add to this the lack of care the roof gets, as in, out of sight, out of mind. Most attempt to deal with it only after water has already done a great deal of damage. Get moisture trapped in the skin of an RV, I think it will do far more damage from underneath than from the outer surface to the metal. I had tons of rot and resultant pin holes. Some were pretty large especially under where the AC was. The previous owner did what you are doing. Mine had house roofing products all around the vents and seams. Not knowing any better, I attempted to repair all the cracked seams from the previous work done and while it took care of most of the infiltration, I still had lingering water getting into the corners of the berth. At first I thought it must be the windows. I took them out and resealed them and yup, still had water coming in. Spent a few years working at it and thinking I had it only to once again have albeit small bits of water getting in. I do hope this works out for you but will also say, I did not like the performance of home roof products and don't think they are suitable for an RV. There is a decent amount of flex and movement the RV has. Products that dry and don't remain pliable are more likely to fail as a result. Just my opinion. Perhaps others will have a counter experience.

Did you at least have a good time? Come on, one out of two at least.

A stab in the dark but would it be a power train order? Engine, transmission then differential as the drive shaft is passive?

Fortunately modern boats and engines fair better. At a mere 17 ft that is abysmal even at full throttle. I asked my wife wouldn't she prefer the leisurely lifestyle of sailing. I know how to sail. Her response was the question, do they make good fishing boats. Sailing is out it seems.

Both Erik and I have the same 19 footer, just one year apart. I know what his is because I found it for him. His an 86, mine an 87. I have only one trip left that is scheduled for this year. It is a trip to the Cape with travel occurring on Friday after my wife is done work. It will surely mean traffic especially at the Bourne Bridge to get over the canal. I could log this trip if you want and see where I end up. I've no dog in this. I travel only within 200 miles from home. If gas was $20 a gallon and I only got 10 miles per gallon, I could still afford to go. I am starting to see that with boats that come in at 3-4 nautical miles per gallon or worse. After this trip, the cooling system gets torn down along with tune up and a look at the valve adjustment. I've not figured out the fall fishing yet but we are leaning more towards boat fishing which would not involve the camper.

I very much hesitated writing that response almost knowing you would question it. I only initially kept track of this the first year as a curiosity. In the longer highway only trips it was common for the math to work out to 16 point something. So no combined figures here. I would fill up at a station just before getting on the highway and log the miles till the next fill up. That year we camped ocean side and stayed put so even with shorter trips, fill up would again be prior to getting back on the highway. In these trips the ratio of city driving was pretty small. The Itasca 19RB is about 5k lbs. The loaded to the max weight came in at 5460 with the wife and I. It has been a number of years since I last busted out the calculator for this. When some time back there was a post about weight, this seemed at least some reason for possibly why. Erik is stating 16-17. I've done that as well. Automatic, reasonably attempting to follow along with traffic with the exception roads with 70 mph speed limits. I could easily push it hard and watch the mileage drop. Besides taking it easy, the only thing I do is engage and disengage OD load permitting. You are familiar with New England. Roads have roller coaster ups and downs in places. Gain speed before a hill and if it is a long grade, settle in at a low speed till you crest. Edit: I misread Erik's mileage. He states 17-18. I've certainly peaked close to 17 but don't ever recall 18. Account for the shore community driving and then maybe, perhaps. I'm sticking with an average of 16 point something average.

Subtlety a poor choice on the intractable. What is that word again for someone who blames the victim? With vigor and some sense of pride about it too.

Well said. I will only note that the Itasca 19RB is rather light in comparison to many. I too have gotten similar mileage on my trips around New England and other than the steeper grades, manage to keep pretty close to highway speeds.

I have of late taken to poking at you perhaps a bit too much. Perhaps in your mind, you are simply provoking and are unaware that you at times come across as mean spirited. You are certainly indifferent to it at the least.

I fit this statement perfectly with everything except stainless with TIG. Easiest welding there is.

Let me be the first to say it. Post some pictures! That and have a great time.

I find it strange that I ended up here at all. The story of our Toyota RV is odd in that I wasn't interested in camping in the first place. I was pretty caught up with my career. My wife had watched some DIY show where someone bought an old RV and fixed it up. She talked about it for a number of years. It stuck and became a dream of hers. I pacified the idea of it but did nothing to engage it in reality. Being a guy who ended up with a RV because of their wife was often a joke around the office. I've known many guys who ended up with pop ups this way. My stubbornness was because I understood what "we'll" work on it meant. I held it off till she actually found one she wanted me to look at. I looked at nothing but the mechanical truck side and as it was just a couple grand, I caved in. Once I got it home, I quickly came to realize all was not well with the house side. The effort to get it done began in earnest but the pressure to get it done so we could go camping that summer was intense. I call this the summer of my discontent. I finally put my foot down and was just about ready to send it to the motorhome scrap heap. I declared that I needed a break from it and would decide what to do the next spring. I did finish it. It is solid, dry and everything works now. Yet I am still working on it 6 years in. Part of our transition into the next phases of our lives has been owning this RV. Change is however a constant in life and we are still discussing and trying to figure out the next steps. The possible outcomes are many. Right now my wife is far more interested in being on the water than being near the water, which means boats. We've been community shopping along the shoreline including this weekend. We start at the local marina. This week I asked her about motorhomes. Seems in her mind, travel outside the northeast coast to see other parts of the country is on the back burner. This all certainly pokes holes in what I thought was the direction we were heading in. It doesn't surprise me and with a bit of reflection, I'm not that far off in her thinking. Summer is winding down and we will see if winter changes the thinking in this. What is starting to seem clearer is that the Toyota will get swapped out for something larger regardless if this is or isn't another motorhome. I too like this forum. My main interest is in the new people who post here. Anything I can do to help someone avoid the troubles I had is good for my karma.

There are lots of regional differences in pricing but most of what you'll likely find as nearly a rule, is not going to be the cream of the crop. I've been on the search for a specific floor plan Sunrader in my area for two years now and they just are not very common here. I'm not even looking for one in perfect condition. This brings up a very important point. How much work do you want to get into? These are seldom turn key and owning one means constantly chasing its decline. Who knows, some have gotten lucky and found great deals in their neighborhoods. So lets say you are good on the work involved. My advice is hit Craigslist and figure out how to do an extended area search to include as large a circle of your area as possible. Then do that search at least three or four times a day. I recently helped someone find theirs by doing this. Your best chance with one that is at least worth fixing up, is to get first in line. They can go really fast and the cheaper it is, the more the seller is swamped with calls. Be prepared for some driving and disappointment. It is sometimes just part of the process. If you've money to burn and can fly in somewhere, Ebay will have listings along with Craigslist for reportedly "perfect" examples all over the country. I'd still be pretty wary. Someone in Maine is listing such a Sunrader for the low low price of $18k. My wife would insist on me getting my head examined if I even were to suggest it. Smart lady. Before buying, the important thing is to learn what to look for. First on the list is water damage. The front berth being the most common issue and the roof condition is super important. Be sure to bring a ladder and really look up top. All the water problems are a top down issue. Second. Everything should work. The three most expensive items are going to be the fridge, roof AC and truck AC. (add generator if it has one). Don't take anyone's word that they work. Have them demonstrate it. If they tell you it just needs the refrigerant recharged, it needs to be replaced. Mine, the fridge sort of worked. Replacement cost nearly a grand. So welcome to the forum. Please feel free to ask any questions you have. .

All right, I'll ask before Totem does. Who are you really coming here and pretending to be some guy named Mark? I said you've already won if it works for you. Good thing this isn't Totems post so his rules don't apply here. Won't stop him however. If that is all it takes, I'm just going to start my own posts and make up my own rules from now on. Should get interesting.

The up and over via the headliner from the front drivers side kickpanel up to the rear view mirror was only because I wanted to mount the 7" monitor for the back up camera. The wire runs back are pretty easy on ours. You could run wires from the front of the cab all the way around the drivers side, across the back, through the bottom of the closet all the way up to that accessory cabinet next to the house door without much trouble at all. The part under the furnace and then through the underside of the shower pan being the hardest part. Some tie wraps to keep things out of the way. Plus on mine there was an access panel to get under the shower pan. Don't know if your is the same but it should be really close as mine is only a year apart. How did the tires work out?

It would be the last thing I would ever be critical of anyone for. My father dropped out of school at 15 when his older brother died and he then had to take over the family farm. Add to that English wasn't his first language. I married an extremely intelligent woman who's first language is also not English. So she is a little grammar and spelling challenged. Just another one of those things people don't take into consideration when dealing with people online. It doesn't take away anything away from who you are. Always happy to hear from you. Don't ever let something as trivial as this stop you from posting here.

Fair enough. I'll put you down for 0 altruism points but A+ for effort.

Respectfully, the response misses the point. You always seem genuinely interested in the people who come to this site with their problems and go out of your way to be helpful. What motivates you in that?