Hello World!

[hotdog]

Been obsessed with lurking this forum for about a month while we started looking at Toyota campers and we just bought ours last week! So I wanted to say hello to all you folks who have unknowingly helped us out.  I'm so excited to see an active forum; these things were my life 20 years ago. We're in TX and bought it back home in CO so we got a nice stopover in Amarillo while bringing it home. Found out real quick we wanted to get some curtains in there when the neighbors at Love's got a peek of my bra strap. 

 

We got a 1989 Dolphin, V6, 5 spd manual (perfect for me only because I'm the passenger princess), and the good 6-lug lol. 

 

It's in good condition overall, but ofc I'm looking forward to the interior design and my husband is looking forward to decking it out. 

 

So far our only real problem is this crazy squeal our up-front AC unit makes intermittently. It's much more subtle in the cab but horrifying from the outside. Would love any suggestions regarding that! 😭 

 

First mod, we added some stick-on bubble mirrors lol. Then new rubber stuff that goes all around the coach, trim maybe? And replacing the red and yellow lights because 3 fell off on the way home lmao. We're trying to install a massive AC unit tomorrow. Assuming we can find a way to get 100 lbs 10 ft up?! Then we have solar panels ready to go... 😬 Curtains going in tomorrow... cushion covers coming in this weekend. 

 

We'd love to repaint the outside. We were thinking about it already then saw someone post a beautiful fresh coat of white paint on theirs here and now it's 100% on the list. And new "Dolphin" decals and stripes once that's done! I love our wood floor, but my husband wants to redo it. Soooo... maybe. Would like to swap out the fridge and oven. Repaint the black shower floor so I can see when it's yucky lol. And the dinette table is due for an upgrade, so we'd like to do butcher block to match the counters. An awning would be lovely... but not in the budget for a minute after everything else lol. 

 

We're crazy dog people and so excited to be able to travel the country and show our dogs everything we can. We have two great pyrenees mixes both under 2 years old. Would love to hear any tips and tricks from other dog people!! We're getting a small fence that we can set up at campsite, and looking into finding a way to install a hammock hook that goes into a hitch (we don't have a hitch right now) so we can run a line for the dogs to run back and forth on.

 

Including the pics from when we bought it. I feel like we got it for a steal at 7k, considering everything is working and the coach is nice and clean, no leaks. And also including a couple pics of the dogs 😁 Once we have the back all styled-up I'll post some more. 

 

Would love to make friends with everyone here! 

[MaineJed]

Cool that it’s a stick, try tightening or replacing your AC belt that will take care of the squealing.

[linda s]

Wow the 5 speed is very rare. Will save you gas too. Massive AC is not what I would recommend even if hot areas. Pretty small space to cool and careful insulation helps a lot. Check BTU compared to start up amps. I'm sure some others here have some suggestions. 

Linda S 

[Scott iv]

Nice looking camper and looks very nice inside. Hadn't known manual transmission was an option for the 6 cyl. Very nice. I know you'd mentioned no leaks and it looks as such inside, I'd highly recommend getting on that roof and doing water sealing work. Maybe the previous owner told you the things they'd done to manage water intrusion. I'd get up there and inspect closely the previous work that had been done and address anything that looks questionable. Ask here if you see something on the roof you are unsure about. Prevention will keep you happy with your camper. Look closely around the windows for any sign of water intrusion as well. Close examination and doing the water sealing work will keep you happy for the long haul.  Keeping these units water tight is something we all attend to and yours (like all of ours) is up in years. Enjoy it!

[Scott iv]

p.s. I'm sure you will, but get a cover over that marker light on the front. Water will get through there and cause havoc. 

[hotdog]

7 hours ago, MaineJed said:

Cool that it’s a stick, try tightening or replacing your AC belt that will take care of the squealing.

That doesn’t sound too difficult! (Famous last words) Thanks Jed! 😃

 

 

6 hours ago, linda s said:

Wow the 5 speed is very rare. Will save you gas too. Massive AC is not what I would recommend even if hot areas. Pretty small space to cool and careful insulation helps a lot. Check BTU compared to start up amps. I'm sure some others here have some suggestions. 

Linda S 

Thanks Linda! Of all the ones we looked at, I think this was the only 5 spd manual we saw. We were lucky it was in our price range, in good shape, and a convenient trek to CO.
Oh no. 😭 I don’t know much (anything) about them but it definitely appears to be better suited for a much larger camper. 15,000 btu and it will barely fit on top (if at all) based on the measurements. If we’re able to return it still I’ll have to do some research and see if I can talk him into something else. It does heating and cooling, which would be really important for us, but I’m not sure if that’s a common feature or not. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Scott iv said:

Nice looking camper and looks very nice inside. Hadn't known manual transmission was an option for the 6 cyl. Very nice. I know you'd mentioned no leaks and it looks as such inside, I'd highly recommend getting on that roof and doing water sealing work. Maybe the previous owner told you the things they'd done to manage water intrusion. I'd get up there and inspect closely the previous work that had been done and address anything that looks questionable. Ask here if you see something on the roof you are unsure about. Prevention will keep you happy with your camper. Look closely around the windows for any sign of water intrusion as well. Close examination and doing the water sealing work will keep you happy for the long haul.  Keeping these units water tight is something we all attend to and yours (like all of ours) is up in years. Enjoy it!

Thank you Scott! The last owner only had it a few years but she and the previous owners kept a binder full of all the maintenance records and looks to us like they were good about getting preventative work done frequently and so far that matches what we see. We’ll give it another once over like you described to make sure tho. 😁

 

3 hours ago, Scott iv said:

p.s. I'm sure you will, but get a cover over that marker light on the front. Water will get through there and cause havoc. 

oh yea!! That’s the red and yellow lights I mentioned we replaced because more fell off on the way home. I just could not for the life of me remember the name. New markers all around and hubs put some kind of seal on there too so they can maybe stay on now. 🤪