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Sunrader Floor Repair, Gut and Rebuild


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I am finding the weight of the factory appliances to be VERY heavy. By removing them you give yourself the opportunity to have better finish 

and ER savings through insulation.

you inspire me...

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I don't know what he kept but the weight of all the appliances, stove, fridge. water heater and furnace all come to less than 200 lbs. Well used weight as far as I'm concerned. Jaysam did you weigh your rig before the redo. I really would like to know the weight now if you get the chance

Linda S

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The tank based water heater is next on the chopping block for me. we use one camping that weighs in at 4 lbs and is all you can heat until your propane is gone but only turns on when used and its form factor footprint is literally the size of a box of cereal..

I am stink eyeballing the fridge also but if anything stays that would be it because propane fridges are the way.

Edited by Totem
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  • 1 year later...
On 1/21/2020 at 9:55 PM, Ctgriffi said:

Just a friendly suggestion: I’ve done a lot of peel-n-stick floors, with many good results, but I would never do it again for an RV: wide temp changes cause that stuff to lift, buckle, and spread apart. Vinyl sheet or click-lock plank would be my preference, in hindsight. 

Okay after 7 years and 150,000 miles my peel and stick vinyl flooring is wearing out here's a picture.

16591080985438082678236043019893.jpg.c057b183e6b8203686d9a4228a5014a8.jpg

But I can pull up all the old ones and use them as a pattern so it'll be easy to replace with peel and stick again.

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7 minutes ago, ednelson100 said:

Okay after 7 years and 150,000 miles my peel and stick vinyl flooring is wearing out here's a picture.

Yes and it happens with carpet too. My solution and I might be a redneck one but I get that cheap carpet from Home Depot, you know the hallway type rugs on the rollers where you cut them to size? I cut a 10' length and for $15 I have a new floor, plus some extra insulation.  When it wears out just pitch the old one and go cut a new one. 😁

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  • 7 months later...

Ok well it's been quite awhile since I've posted any updates so here we go. Long story short I've now got a new motor, radiator and I swapped out the rear end to 4.88's. It drives like a completely different vehicle now, and by that I mean it almost drives like a regular truck. I can use all of my gears now including overdrive, and the motor seems to work much less and is much happier overall. I'm just getting past the first 500 miles on the motor so still have some time to break it in and everything but so far I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

 

I weighed it a few weeks ago dry and it came in at 4670lbs. The door sticker says 5500 so if that was accurate I've managed to drop over 800lbs out of this thing. Of course the bathroom and other appliances were probably a good portion of that but I also worked hard to try to not overbuild inside and keep a mind towards weight which I think has paid off. I also relocated most of the weight from the rear of the camper to sit over the axle instead; the water tanks and fridge are located directly over the axle, the furnace moved in front of it and just the battery and propane tanks sit behind it. Moving a lot of the weight from the very back of the rig to sit directly over the axle has really improved the handling and drivability of the camper as well. 

 

Inside I've managed to get most of the major things done; I still need to finish off a few things and put the hardwood floor back down but I would say a good 80% of it is completed. I still have plans for new cubbies, shelves and cabinets for the sink area and on top of the counter next to the bed but the major stuff is built and installed. 

 

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it has turned out and the rig I now have for some sweet adventures but it's certainly been a long road. When I purchased it back in 2019 my intention was to buy something I could just use and enjoy, I never intended to rebuild an RV from front to back top to bottom. But here I am a few years later and I'm glad I've stuck with the project and made it to the other side of it. 

 

Thank you to everyone on this site for the information, suggestions and tips for rebuilding these things and all the knowledge and expertise everyone has provided, it's been a huge help throughout this process and its hard to imagine trying to wade through the rebuild of one of these things without it. Thanks again to everyone who contributes and shares their knowledge and experience.

CamperF2B.jpg

CamperB2F.jpg

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5500lbs is your gross vehicle weight so you're supposed to be less than that. My Sunrader with all the original stuff comes in at about 5000lbs, maybe a hundred lbs less if I removed the generator. Still you did well with lowering your weight and it looks beautiful. Great job

Linda S

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  • 3 months later...

I bought a dilapidated 1980 18' Sunrader in the summer of 2022, and have FINALLY finished restoring the droopy, springy floor.  This post by JaySam was a good springboard for me.  I followed much of what JaySam did, but went a bit further with the support structure between the composite floor and the frame of the truck.  I also replaced all of the insulation and almost all of the plywood, leaving a flange around the outside that was epoxied to the fiberglass coachwork.   I managed to do this by raising the coachwork about an inch up off the chassis, and doing most of the work from the inside.

The result?  The new floor is solid and nearly flat.  It is only 7/16" higher than before and has 1" of insulation rather than 3/4".  The coach and cab rides 1/4" higher on the chassis than when new.  The droop is gone and I don't think it will return any time soon.

 

This is an old thread, but comes up if one googles "Sunrader floor repair".  If there is significant interest, I'll post pictures and a description of my process.

PXL_20230702_185321553.jpg

Edited by yestertech
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Yestertech,

 

Yes - very interested.  Since your info *sounds* like it's focused on the floor restoration, you might consider starting a thread with that name.  I am gathering info to restore my Sunrader 21 and am well into a separate project I need to finish before turning to the Sunrader around the end of summer.  

 

I'm very interested in how you accomplished this.  Thanks.

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