Debbit

I got a really nice 86 sunrader for under $4000 that needed very little. I know I got lucky, but deals are out there. I'd not want that much work, unless it was a total give away

I'll try to find it, and give it a try. We live on a large lot in a desert subdivision. Sandy soil and not close neighbors. Forest service says it's ok to discharge grey water. Porta potties are so easy to dump in vault toilets at campgrounds. Most of the places we go don't have RV dumps, and I hate traveling with full tanks. This is why I'm thinking of removing toilet and going to porta pot. I don't know if I'm smelling black water venting, old overflow or black water into wood or what. Ugh!

I am sensitive to odors. Our Sunrader has some. I've read a lot of posts here about possible causes; vent, joints in vents, dried out p traps. My toy has the potential for all of the above. I try something, and think it is better, then it isn't. ? I've about decided to eliminate (no pun intended) the toilet and thus, the black water tank. I will use the shower and bathroom sink and the tank will essentially be grey water. Legal to release. I've decided I hate hauling around a cess pool tank anyway. Once the toilet is out, the hole in the floor will be covered by a plexiglass panel or nylon cutting board silicones down and a nice self contained porta potty. We did this on the dolphin, and it worked well, so I'm sure we will prefer it with the sunrader too

Yes, it does have iron roof beams. So the second hole there is an option... Thanks.

Ah, good to know. Went out today and took good look at it all. Guess I'll just leave it alone. If the AC ever quits, then we can make the decision!

I suppose I'd have to say the same. My husband thinks we should leave it. Hmm, maybe a second skylight would help brighten it up.

Hmmm...good point, my dog! Sometimes when visit our kids and have to take him, we use the air conditioned toy home as his quarters.

I've thought often about removing the AC from the top of our sunrader, and replacing with a fan/skylight like a fantastic fan. . Pros being, cleaner look, less weight on the roof, ability to move air on 12 volt. And LIGHT. In the dark, narrow kitchen area. We seldom use AC and I think for the few times we need AC, we could haul along one of those in room AC units that vent out the window. (We have an LG, I'm going to try it) Cons would be, resale value and convenience of AC already installed. So I would love to know if those who have removed AC have regrets, or are glad they did.

I have painted the interior of two toy homes. A dolphin and a sunrader. In both cases the "wood" was worn off and scratched. In both RVs I was in a hurry, hot summer and I wish I'd taken more time and done a better job. But even though I didn't do much prep, the paint has stuck. What I did was use edgers and masking tape and lightly sand the surfaces before painting. On the dolphin, I took the doors off and did a better job, and it looked better. But still I don't much like the brush marks. The better quality the paint and tools, the better it hold up and looks. I've painted the sunrader twice and still only partially happy with the way it looks. Now I'm thinking wallpaper on the long boring "wall". The sunrader is harder to like the painted surface because there is so much of it. Walking in the rv, you face a lot of wall. The bathroom door, a section of wall with a cabinet in it, the tall closet then the fridge. So a long, windowless, unbroken wall of paint. We put a mirror up, and that helps, and I tried some colored glaze to break up the look of it, but didn't like that either, so repainted it. I'd say the layout of the rv has a lot to do with how the paint looks. The dolphin had no long sections of walls, windows on both sides. I wallpapered the walls around the windows, and painted the upper and lower storage cabinets with a darker green, then the kitchen cabinets with a lighter color. Because the kitchen was at the back end of the rv, it really looked great. I'd say if the floor plan lends itself to looking better painted, do it right. Sand surfaces lightly. remove doors and use a sprayer outside. Use a sponge roller on the cabinets left inside. Home Depot sells a paint that has a "primer" added. It works well. I'm sure there are other good paints that would work too. Paint will scratch, scuff and chip though, so save some for touch ups. Good luck!

Wow, they look like the perfect small RV to me.

I haven't seen one in "person", but I want to. They look so cool in pictures. I'd be pretty tempted if I found one. They do seem scarce though.

Kind of like this? http://www.uptv.com/blog/uplifting-video-dog-sunroof-breeze At least the camera and wind part....... We had saved the other fridge from the dolphin, and dragged it out of the shed. Ah ha! The part that is missing on the sunrader is on the old dolphin fridge. So we have the part that hopefully will shield the flame. The other issue could be the new plastic vent door. Maybe the vents in the door are just at the wrong place. I suspect we will just live with the broken selector rod/dial. The fridge on the sunrader has so much of a rubbery calk/adhesive all over the seams of it, it looks like it is immovable.

Update on this: the selector is indeed broken somewhere inside. I took it to a local RV place and the guy there showed me the position of the valve that would select gas. This is on the outside. Fridge lights and gets cold, so this is a fix for when camping. It is inconvenient, and unless it involves taking the fridge out, I'd like to get it fixed. Our fridge usually blows out, so I'd like to be able to turn it to 12v before we drive. Also, I'm very nervous about parking it level while it is lit, so got to think of a few more ideas.

We did have a great time. Only hard part was heading home! Loved Grand Canyon.nplanning a trip back soon

Just got home from a really great trip! Went from las cruces to Mt.Graham Az, checked out several sites on the mountain over several days, (beautiful) then on across Az to a spooky little campground called Juan Miller for a night. Then up to lovely Alpine Az and camped at Luna Lake. Then to Grand Canyon for 4 nights. Then back to Luna Lake for the night and then home. We did a lot of exploring...plenty of rough roads. A lot of miles up a lot of steep grades. Got a little tired of 30 mph sometimes, but we made it up all the hills ok. Averaged 15 mpg pretty much the whole way. So 11 days with 2 adults and an old, big dog. It was fun...epic maybe. No mechanical issues at all, everything worked in the camper too. Pictures later.

Very green! I hope CA gets some rain too!! I've driven to LA to see my daughter several times and yes, it is dry! We need California to be green!

I tried, but couldn't find that color at Home Depot. Looked at all colors, but colors are so tricky! Settled on a color that I thought was very close, but looks much greener. It is ok though. Done with light wood look vinyl floors, and most of finish work. All appliances working perfectly (except oven and that's later). I am a happy camper!!

Great! We just got back from another wonderful Gila Wilderness trip. Continues to amaze. Went via I 25 off at Kingston through Hillsboro, up to Emory pass then spent the night at iron creek. Much evidence of very heavy rain and flas floods. Then to Sapillo campground for the night, next day to Roberts lake (boat ramp and dam under construction, the to Gila Cliff Dwellings for a day of fascinating, beautiful history. Home for a check on things, then back out tomorrow. Silver city, Glenwood (and catwalks) then on to Mt. Graham then later in week to Tucson to see son and family. We were going on to CA and some beaches, but probably will run out of wanderlust.

Thanks, but I have the manual, but the exploded view looks....well, complicated. Beyond me. In the light of day, we will look at the parts it shows. We have taken fridges out and I hate it. I just am wishing for a magic wand, I guess!

The knob on my fridge where you select between elect, gas and 12v used to be very hard to turn. Now it isn't, it almost feels like it is free turning in there somewhere. And the fridge won't light and it used to light first try. I suspect some connection broke and the knob isn't selecting gas. Waaaa We were just finally going to be going out on a long wandering camping trip :-(

One of my sunrader windows is warped in. The other is crazed and has a crack. It can leak a little if the rain is just right. I had a dolphin and it wasn't as well built or designed as my sunrader. But my dad just bought a dolphin and it is much better built and designed than the dolphin I owned. So there are different levels of coaches and different floor plans and layouts. I love my dad's dolphin, it has some super nice features. And yes, the way the toy home has been cared for is a big consideration. And some layouts are better for maintenance and repairs.

I love your ideas for rearranging things, looking forward to pictures. I think I'll try the mending job first, but if and when we decide to build a new cabinet, it is very helpful to know the floor supports the weight. And that it will be safe to drive short screws where existing screws were before. Glad to know one does not have to be a cabinet maker to do it. I suppose reusing the doors helps too.

Thank you so much for the great answers! I can see how just putting a ready made cabinet in there would not work at all. I have done some basic woodworking, in some ways it is a lot like sewing, which I am pretty good at, and in some ways very much more difficult. It is mainly the narrower section of particle board between the cabinet openings in the frames that is bowing out because of deterioration. Because of this, the countertop is sloped and the door sticks out. I'm sure glue and clamps with a sort of splint on the inside would fix things. I keep envisioning a new countertop with the newer style stovetop, maybe a new, smaller sink, with slightly less depth, giving a bit more room between closet/bathroom wall. We have the tools, maybe this would be a good winter project for DH and I. Looked at the blog you mentioned, very inspiring and a bit intimidating. I worry about attaching wood to fiberglass.

Has anyone used a ready made cabinet in their sunrader? I want to replace the base kitchen cabinet with something a bit narrower, and have no wood working skills. I probably wouldn't bother doing thus, but the original cabinet has some particle board type wood that is deteriorating and sort of buckling outwards. I'm not feeling up to a big job, removing the cabinet with it's sink, water lines and stove and gas line sounds daunting enough. I'd just like to find a ready made cabinet. May reuse stove and oven, may replace with newer cooktop. Probably keep sink, but open to other smaller sinks too. Visiting my daughter and have access to an ikea, maybe one of their units......

It has been so hot here this summer, I didn't think my fridge was working. Toy was plugged in and level and it took about 3 days to finally start to cool down. I called a rv store, because it was cooling, just not very well. Service guy said it was behaving perfectly normal for a rv fridge in 100+ temperatures. He said we shouldn't expect better than 40 degrees below outside temps. It might help to take bottom vent door off and shade the fridge side. I kept a thermometer in there and it didn't go below 55 during the day. Once we got up to the mountains to camp, I had to turn it down, it was around 37 by the morning. What we do is freeze everything possible. Containers of lemonade, all meats, and several bottles of water. Maybe freeze one or two rinsed out milk cartons with water. Running the fridge a few days first cools it off, but not much. Before leaving, we pack in all the cold and frozen food and turn the fridge on gas. I haven't had very good luck keeping the gas lit while underway, but it's been windy every trip and I've lost two refrigerator vent doors, so maybe the wind is doing it. It lights easily and we try to keep the fridge side in the shade.