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I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine. ~ Caskie Stinnett
Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey ~ Babs Hoffman
Around the Next Turn is Where Our Adventure Begins - Pat Bonish '07
"Thousands of
tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out
that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity;
that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of
timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey ~ Babs Hoffman
Camping, At No Time In the History of My Life, Have I Enjoyed So Much To Be A Wife - Cindy Bonish 12/07
If
you Poison The Environment, the Environment will Poison You
Get rid of anything that isn’t Useful, Beautiful or Joyful
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When you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there ~ Anonymous
Tool Kit List - We've had a bunch of emails asking what tools and items first timers should bring, so I went ahead and made a list of what we bring with us. By no means is this gospel, but it's a good start. Feel free to copy it and add or delete anything you need. Solar Tips, Fact's and Trick's we've learned while on the road. Fell free to send any tips or tricks of your own that might help us along. Camper Check List - A list of things we do before leaving camp. Again, this isn't gospel, but its a good start for those who might not already have a list made up.
Lucky for us, I’m the type that likes to do my research and compare every available option. We went to many different RV shows and wasted many a salesman’s time with questions while walking through floor model after floor model. If there is one word of advice I can give to a new buyer looking to buy their first RV, "Go to as many RV shows as possible!" and like the old saying goes, a little more money will take you a long way.
You get what you pay for, and no amount of fancy gimmicks will
make up for shoddy craftsmanship. Make sure to
ask questions like "Does this manufacturer pay their employees on a
number of unit completed basis?" "What kind of warranty does this
RV come with?" "Will the builder custom make things for me or can
I only buy what's on the lot?" "Does the builder offer
factory tours of their manufacturing facility?" These are all
questions that will show you if the builder isn't afraid to let people
in to see their type of craftsmanship. We had originally thought we wanted to travel as light as possible after reading and following along with the Turtle Expedition trips since I was a kid. We were looking at truck campers that slide in the bed similar to what Gary and Monika had started with in the early days of their journeys. After walking through a few models at different shows, we decided they are just way too small to live in for a few years straight and decided we needed to go with a little larger model. This would sacrifice a little bit of our back country freedom of movement, but making the day-to-day life much more livable would be a trade off we would have to live with. After studying the different vehicles Gary & Monika used, I hold a much deeper respect for them to be able to live in such a confined space in such extreme conditions while traveling the Globe like they have and still do, for the past few decades. Maybe an extended trip up to a month or two would work for such a small living space like the slide-in bed campers, but not for a multi-year trip like we had planned; so we started looking at bigger models. We really liked the Earthroamer but with the cost being up in the $150,000 range, was much too steep for our thin wallet.
I didn’t even want to get that idea in my head. A larger RV limits you to main roads and larger full-service RV parks, which just isn’t our cup of tea. See, we like to travel on back roads and tend to turn around quite a bit in order to take pictures or make a side trip down some two-track trail to get into the back country. By no means is there anything wrong with RV Campgrounds and this type of travel, but we enjoy the seclusion of back country travel and hiding out in the great outdoors surrounded by the quiet of nature, not in a crowded campground surrounded by fellow campers. There are quite a few RV’s on the market that allow you to bring the comforts of the RV world into the back country, but we couldn’t find any that met our long checklist of needed options and ground clearance. UPDATE - June 2007: Since we've been on the road for 6 months now, we both have agreed that our 25' Travel Trailer is still too large for how many times we like to turn around. We have taken it down some roads that we probably shouldn't have, and we both are thankful that we added the lift kit as we would have been stuck without it. We both agree, for how little time we spend in the coach, as long as we had a good size comfortable bed to sleep in and a full size kitchen, then the rest is just overkill. ***** When we walked into General RV in Wixom Michigan back in September of 2006, we had already done countless hours of research and had our choices narrowed down to a few selections. After a quick walk-through, with many helpful comments from the General Manager, Wade Stufft, we had made our decision on a 25’ Sunline Travel Trailer. The 2499TT was one of Sunline’s best sellers and I said “WAS”, because in mid-November the company that had been around for over 40 years and was one of the staples in the RV industry, closed their doors and rolled over to play dead?!?!? Luckily for us, General RV said they felt comfortable enough with the build quality of the Sunline and they would honor Sunline’s industry high warranty of 2 full years! I guess it pays off to go to the states largest RV dealer. General RV has come through for us more than once when we needed something done fast, or needed guidance with a certain problem over the phone!!
After our purchase, my wife and I went to Denver Pennsylvania to see the unit roll off the assembly line and take a Factory Tour. The Sunline Factory Tour photos of the tour can be viewed on the Sunline’s Owners Club website which is a wealth of knowledge for anyone who owns a Sunline or is looking at a used model. We're so glad we did this when we did, as unbeknownst to us, the company closed it's doors the following month!?!
This is the floor plan of our Sunline 2499 Solaris Travel Trailer. We liked the fact that you could walk around the bed, and that the bathroom separated the living space from the bedroom. With a full stand-up shower, the bathroom is plenty big enough for our needs. With a full size queen bed, we didn't have to worry about sacrificing any creature comforts and if we are to ever have guests, the sofa can always fold out into a double bed. The bedroom also has it's own entrance. This has it's pro's and con's depending on who you're asking. Cindy loves it for when we're coming home to the dogs, we can enter through the bedroom and not have to worry about them jumping outside before we get their leashes on them. When we leave, they usually stay in the living room side of the camper where they've made their home under the dining table. I don't really care for it as that's my side of the bed, so it always has to remain spotless since it's used as a walkway. Added Options and Upgrades One of our reasons for choosing a Sunline was because of their ability to change anything we wanted. I was put in touch with Carl Kern, who was in charge of this job of customizing customer’s campers. After many hours of phone conversations with Carl, where I learned some valuable information on RVing and travel trailers in general, we decided to install a 4” lift kit which would give us the needed ground clearance to find those secluded sites we longed to be camping at. They moved a few of the items on the underside of the trailer around to make sure that nothing was hanging below the frame rails and added a better suspension package which will allow the wheels to move independently and adjust for uneven ground or rough terrain.
Since being on the road, we have thanked ourselves
too many times for having this option. Of all the options we have,
I'd say this has to be one of the most important. There are plenty
of options to lift your stock trailer, from axle flips to lift kits.
We had ours done while still at the factory, so I really cant talk of
which aftermarket kit we used. I do know that I would recommend
this to anyone who does much traveling with a camper. If you're
looking to buy a new model, make sure it has plenty of ground clearance. **** Fully Supported Roof We had the roof fully supported so when we added solar panels or waterproof storage bins for needed items that won’t be used daily, we would have a secure structure to attach the items to. The fully supported roof also allows you to walk up top when cleaning or working on anything located on the roof. This isn't anything that you can do to an aftermarket camper without spending way too much money, but something that should be standard when ordering a new model. This is something you need to have done at the factory, and another reason we chose a Sunline Coach. If you're having the manufacturer build your coach, ask them if this an available option. You'll be glad you did when it comes time to clean or do maintenance on the roof and not have to worry about falling through.
The only option we
would have added to this package was to delete the standard Rubber Roof
and have an Aluminum Roof installed. No maintenance and no need to
worry when driving under low hanging branches. **** Custom Hitch Assembly & Motorcycle Carrier
We haul a Suzuki 400 DRZ-SM so we won’t have to un-hook the trailer if we just need to run into town for a small item or for getting down some narrow roads or trails that a truck might not be able to fit in. The Suzuki is very light and only weighs a few hundred pounds. With the added weight of our 4 6-Volt AGM batteries mounted on the front of the camper, the two additions cancel themselves out almost perfectly. With the high price of fuel these days, the motorcycle, with its great fuel mileage is a much Greener way of transportation.
By making a custom hitch out of 2” square stock metal and welding it quite a ways under the back of the coach, the rear hitch can now support up to 500lbs. of material. This will help incase we want to add a generator at a later date. General RV even added a 7 Pin trailer wiring harness incase I want to add lights to the rear of the custom rack. I found a small LED light set-up at a local hardware store that is supposed to plug into a 7 pin harness and attach on the back of something being towed. I mounted this on the back of the basket for some added security and visibility of our tail end at night.
For only a few hundred dollars worth of metal, these two skilled welders were able to make a bike carrier that has stopped many people passing by to ask where I got it and how it works. After a few months on the road, we noticed the bike carrier was bouncing quite a bit due to it being so far off the back of the Camper. Asking questions on a few different RV forums, one guy who had made a similar custom rack said to weld some tabs on the hitch and the rack, and put two Turnbuckles between the two. Doing this, I was
Now we can forget the straps loosening due to the carrier moving and are both comfortable with not being able to see the bike back there.
We had so many emails asking us for detailed pictures of the rack, so we put an entire page of just the motorcycle carrier and custom made rack on the site. Click Here to see that page. One thing I would have had made different if I could redo it, would be to have a hitch made like this. We saw this while in the Porcupine Mountains on another RV. It would have eliminated any rocking or sway that the rack has in it and would have just been easier in the long run....But you live and learn.
**** Norcold 10 Cubic Foot Refrigerator Another thing we’ve had upgraded was the refrigerator. After just a few weekend trips to shake out the kinks of the new trailer, we decided the stock 8 cubic foot fridge was just way too small. The freezer could barely hold anything and you’d be lucky to get a few days of food in there, we couldn’t imagine living out of such a small icebox for multiple years! In stepped Norcold.
The freezer is HUGE and the fridge itself is so much bigger, that it would be stupid for anyone who does more than just the few weekends a year to not spend a little extra money for the added space it gives you. I’m so glad we did this now and didn’t wait till we were on the road and have some place do it where we don’t know their quality of work. It was quite a bit of a job for General RV to get it in because they had to remove the rear picture window to get this monster inside the coach. Again, once the work was done, you would think it came from the factory and except for the new refrigerator being stainless steel, rather than the stock pine colored wood, it looks flawless!!
I bet you never thought you’d see a grown man get so excited about a new
refrigerator….HA! HA! Thanks to the people over at
Norcold who thought up a way to add 2 full feet of cubic space to
roughly the same size footprint and keep it looking so beautiful.
We'll keep you in check with the performance and maintenance of this
unit and let you know if it was worth the added expense.
**** Refrigerator Door Keeper
This is not what you want to walk into when you first pull into camp. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with this little ingenious idea. It was simple, under $10 and was finished in under 10 minutes. I started with some Heavy Duty Ring Hangers that I had found in the picture hanging section of the hardware store. They have multiple sizes to choose from, I just grabbed two packages of the biggest ones they had on the shelf. They came two per pack. I screwed one ring hanger on each side of the freezer and refrigerator doors. I centered them to the straps would hold the middle of the doors when they're strapped in.
Now that I had the Velcro cut, I fed it through the ring hangers and tested it to make sure I had enough strap. Once I knew everything worked properly, I can leave the Velcro straps hanging on the hinge side of the refrigerator and not have to worry about storing them or even putting them away. When we're ready to drive off, I can strap the fridge closed and never have to worry about the doors opening up and losing any of our precious food. **** Solar Fridge Fan
Cindy and I were camped in
Death Valley where the temperatures reached records of 117°!!
I know, not too smart considering our Sunline has wheels and can be
moved.
This is all you see once the install is finished. This tiny solar panel sits on top of the fridge vent and when the sun it out, the fan is exhausting the hot air out of the refrigerator cavity. There are no switches and nothing to worry about. I dont need to worry about leaving the fan on or it draining my batteries. Not bad for $60
****
Solar Panels
& 6-Volt
Batteries In order to Boondock (RVing off grid and not being tied to anything for extended periods or also known as Dry-Camping) and be able to be self supportive, we needed a solar system that would allow us to charge our batteries and not have to worry about finding a campground with shore power every night. I’ll say right now that living in Michigan and trying to find anyone knowledgeable on solar power is like finding someone who knows about ice-skating in Mexico. Again, I was doing hours of research on the internet and finally found a site where they knew what they were doing. AM Solar actually makes solar panels specifically for the RV industry and tests all their own equipment in the real world environment of RVing themselves. I’ll also say that AM Solar has one of the friendliest and knowledgeable staffs I spoke with in my research, I called a few different times and each time was treated like a good friend by Kathy, who was busy with her end of the year inventory. Their panels at AM Solar are smaller and lighter than most of the competitions and their kits come with everything needed to get you on your way to self sustaining renewable power. I’m not too much of the handy man type and know nothing about electrical wiring, so I made an appointment to have the guys at General RV install the system for us.
One thing to remember with any battery box, is to drill some holes in the bottom as they will fill up with water after a good rain. They all have vents on the top to allow the gasses to escape the boxes, but this also allows water to come in during a heavy rain. I drilled a few holes on each side and haven't had a problem with water accumulation since.
Carl, the master electrician over at General RV does some of the best work I’ve seen in years, and I can’t say enough about how professional the instillation looks. Dave and Chris who are the service shop and service managers, bent over backwards to make sure our coach was in and out in record time. We’ve only had the system installed for a few weeks now and I’ll keep you posted on how long the batteries are lasting without having to be plugged in. I'm hoping this should be all we need to be self sufficient. Carl explained to us with the batteries fully charged, he was able to run the Air Conditioner without blowing a fuse!! I cant wait to get out on the road and test this stuff out. UPDATE - March 2007: So far, after 4 months on the road, our system is working flawlessly. The longest we have been able to run for is 5 full days, and the only reason we had to find a campground was to empty our grey/black tanks. As long as we have somewhat sunny conditions, we have no worries about losing power or skimping on any amenities. We would recommend Solar to anyone full-timing and looking to extend their stay or not have to stay at campgrounds nightly. Update - October 2007: Things we've learned in 10 months with Solar If you're thinking of installing a full solar set-up and planning on camping like you do when you're plugged into shore power, then save your money. There are many things you need to learn with Solar and for us, all of them seem fully justifiable. Learning to conserve our power consumption is something that really made us think about how much energy we normally wasted in the real world. You cant just turn on the A/C when it gets hot. If you want a cup of coffee, you have to wait for the percolator to brew it rather then have instant coffee. You don't always have the ability to crank the Television up and watch a DVD or run the vacuum cleaner whenever you want. But having the ability to camp where ever we stop, and not worry about finding a campground when some are way over priced is worth the sacrifice. We've also learned to conserve in almost everything we do. During the daytime while we're traveling, we charge all our camera batteries or cell phones off the 400 watt inverter that's hardwired in the truck. We've learned to use a smaller 400 watt inverter inside the camper when we are just working on the computers and not have to fire up the larger 2000 watt inverter. The only time we longed for a generator, was during the record breaking heat wave this past summer when the temperatures hung in the high 90's and the humidity was so thick you could cut it with a knife for a month straight. Our answer was to find a campground that provided 30 amp service and hide out in the coach with the A/C running non-stop, something we cant do with solar. Another thing we've learned, was the solar panels on the roof actually shield a bit of the sun from heating up the camper, and our bedroom tends to stay a little cooler being under the panels footprint. What I'm trying to get at is if you only camp a few weekends a year, then I don't think the switch to solar is worth the added cost at this point. If more people were to dabble with the technology which would bring the high price down, then this would be a different story. If manufacturers were to start building RV's with solar panels standard, or RV's set-up for Boondocking in the first place, I think this would really help this type of traveling become mainstream. Until that day, I'm glad we built ours the way we did, and I look forward to learning better ways to conserve our consumption habits. You can also check out our Solar Tips and Tricks page here. Great reading for those who would like to understand Deep-Cycle Batteries
****
****
Custom Cabinet for Living Room
It was designed to hold a standard TV
on the top and left quite a bit of wasted
space. I'm sure the guys that designed these
trailer hadn't thought about the invention of Flat Screen Televisions
becoming the norm as the space was left available for larger tube
Televisions. Anyone who's spent time inside a Travel Trailer knows every
square inch of space is needed. Lucky for me, I have a
Brother-In-Law that knows his way around when it comes to building
things with wood. I called him up one day and asked if I could
borrow him for a few hours. This is harder than you think
considering he and my sister have 5
rambunctious kids to take care of!!
The 23"
Plasma is mounted to the wall behind it and swivels around so many ways,
you could be sitting outside and watch the Television (NO LIE!) The
Plasma also acts as the monitor for the CPU. The middle cabinet that
used to always be open and I'm assuming would be a
junk collector, we made a door for it, with
hinges so it can swing down
and hide all that clutter. That space also
houses the wireless keyboard and mouse for the
CPU and anything else that goes along with the computer.
It only took us
a few days of tinkering to complete everything. I think the longest part
was matching up the stain and driving back and fourth
to the liquor store :). A skilled carpenter could finish the wood
working part of it in an afternoon. Since I'm a music nut, I love to hear my music played over quality speakers and usually louder then normal. I think I have over 50,000 songs in my MP3 file on my CPU or roughly 120gig of space, and Cindy and I enjoy music of every Genre.
Of course I had made a few measurements before hand, and
was very excited that the speaker fit almost perfectly. If you don't
want to use Klipsch, there are plenty of other speaker companies that
make speakers this size that could be hidden in these compartments. All I could think of was Cindy bludgeoning me with the speaker for cutting into the panel before figuring this out. Then upon further inspection, I noticed that the volume controls just slide off the bottom of the speaker and I could mount them under the cabinet in the next storage compartment below!! Once everything was put back together, someone walking into the coach for the first time would think they're stock. The sound coming from these little speakers is fantastic and well worth the hour it took me to install them. When Cindy and I watch movies on the DVD player, these speakers really add to the sound and make you feel as though you're at home with a larger speaker system.
Here is what the cabinet looked like
stock With the Powered Subwoofer hidden below the speakers and stock radio, everything is kept hidden and almost stock looking.
Gutter Extensions &
This isn't good if one was to blow off and hit a passing car windshield or worse yet, a motorcyclist. How do I fix this? This was easily accomplished with a $10 item from General RV.
One day I crawled up on the roof to see what the problem was and see if I could figure out a way to solve this annoying habit.
If you've never looked in your gutters of
your camper, you'd be amazed how much junk can accumulate in there over
a short period of time. One time while camping under a particular
messy tree, it took me an hour to clean the gutters out. That was
until I figured out this trick!
By crawling along the edge of the roof with the rubber
tubing scrapping the gutter, I was able to remove any gunk that was
lodged in the gutter, which was quite a bit! The bottoms of the gutter
itself were also soiled black, which is what I'm sure causes those nasty
black streaks on the sides of the camper that we normally used our
Thetford Black Streak Remover for. **** Clear Screen Door Slide With me being so short in height, it always bothered me when I was sitting on the couch inside and was trying to see out the screen door. For some reason the Screen Door Slide section was a white piece of plastic. This drove me nuts, because I'd have to get up off my butt if I wanted to see what was going on. It seemed like what ever I was trying to see was always right in that section of my line of view.
Here's a picture of what it looked like originally. This is what my view was while trying to look out the door. You can see that the white plastic slide section is right where I want to see. Now with the Clear one in, I can see outside perfectly!! This is another one of those items that should come standard on all RV's!
Insulating the Cord Compartment
On our Sunline 2499, The cord storage
compartment was a concern for me. Camping all last winter in some below
zero temperatures, we used to fight over who had to sit on the couch.
There always felt like a cold draft was blowing across your feet.
Pat - "If you still get cold air
through, another option you could try would be to convert your power
cord from an attached cord to a detachable cord. This way you would have
a sealed, water tight power connection instead of the hole. They sell
conversion kits that you can convert your attached cord to a
detachable cord, using the same cord. **** Screen Door Closer
One of my pet peeve's is the screen door
being left open. There is nothing worse then having a camper filled
with mosquito's, fly's or any other insects. **** Adding Extra Scissor Jacks
I was getting peeved by the amount of
sway in the coach when the scissor jacks were down and we were set up
for camp. **** Mountain Bike Carrier One of the things that was driving me crazy was our mountain bikes. Cindy and I really enjoy riding bikes and knew we had to bring them along, but we had no place to store them. For our first six months, we were carrying them in the back of the truck, but this meant we had to take off the front tires and lay them on their sides. Doesn't sound like that big of a deal, till you want to get to something underneath them. Numerous times I would just need to get to a storage bin that was in the bed of the tow vehicle and it would take a half hour to move the bikes, and then put them back. We had looked at the Top Rails type of bike carrier, but with our bank of 6-volt batteries, that rack couldn't be mounted on our frame. Like everything else we've done, I just decided to have one made that was similar. I found a welder while we were in Michigan, and explained what I needed. Sean Campbell said he could have it welded up in an afternoon and I just needed to bring the camper over so he could use it to build the rack exactly how we needed it.
This shows how the rack is bolted onto the main frame. I used Grade 8 Bolts so hopefully it'll last the many miles we log on the Sunline.
Sean added a little piece of angle so the vertical bars would be straight.
Here is the way it looks with the bikes loaded and rolling down the road. We still have access to the propane bottles and the bikes can be pulled down quick if we want to go for a ride. So far they have stayed put and don't even wobble while we're driving. UPDATE: If you build, or buy a bike rack like this and fulltime in an RV, then spend the money and get a good bike cover. When I went to the RV Store to try and find a bike cover, my cheap spending habits said "$50 for a nylon bike cover, come on!" Now that we've had the bikes on the rack, exposed to the sun for almost a year straight, they are taking a beating from the elements. The tires and leather seats are dry rotting and at $25 per tire, the $50 cover would have saved us money in the long run. Like many other lessons learned the hard way, sometimes you have to spend money to save money. I've also realized that I way over built the rack. For two bikes, this size of metal was overkill. I probably could have shaved off a few pounds by using lighter metal or even aluminum, but again, another lesson learned. **** Mr. Heater Propane Heater One thing that kills our bank of batteries faster then anything is running the campers heater. I'm not sure why the RV industry is so far behind in this department, because the Marine Industry has had non-electric propane heaters for years. Dickinson is a name that comes to mind and if you were going to be doing any extended camping in cold climates, they would be the company to contact. For us, we try and follow that perfect 65-70° range year round, so we try and run our heater as little as possible. What we found to compensate for this is the Mr. Heater portable heater. This small heater uses the little 1lb propane bottles and gives off 9000 BTU's of heat. For around $100 dollars, this little guy should save us from cold nights and too much battery consumption. When we first bought the Mr. Heater, it stated on the box that it would run for 220 hours on a 1lb bottle of propane. Our first test only gave us about 10 hours on a 1lb propane bottle? We usually only run it in the mornings when we first wake up to take the chill out of the camper and then only when it's in the 50's outside, or sometimes just before going to bed to warm the camper up nicely. After multiple bottles in a months time, I was in a outdoor store and grabbed one still in a box to see if it really said that 220 hour statement or was ours just broken? The box says (in fine print) it will run for 220 hours off of a normal sized propane tank which needs a separate 12' Hose Adapter to make the heater work. No big deal, for the little time we use it, it's really saves our battery usage and keeps us warm when we need it. If we were to hit a nasty storm, I bought the hose adapter kit and could run it for longer periods off of our 30lb tanks on the tongue of the camper. Word of Caution!: You should NEVER run the heater in an enclosed space without proper ventilation. We always crack one of the roof top vents when the heater is running. We also have a carbon monoxide detector in the camper, so we feel a bit safer knowing if there was any danger, it would alert us. NEVER Leave any heater running while you're not there, and NEVER, ever, leave any heater running while you are sleeping. There is too great a danger that something could go wrong and you might never wake up. We'd hate to see anyone have any damages caused because they used a heater we recommended and burned their camper down.
We got this nice email from a
concerned reader: As I read your reply, I was reminded of
many other such things that you might mention, along with the the
propane heater. People turn their stove top on for heat. Or, even their
oven, if they have one. You may have readers who, like me, dream of
traveling like you, but aren't there yet. They may even be using a tent.
Tenters are even more apt to use something like the heater and because
the tent is so much smaller, they are at greater risk. A kerosene
lantern left on over night, as a nightlight, can either kill you or give
you a monstrously terrible headache and nauseous stomach. Tenters have
used charcoal and never awoke again. (One of those occurred right here
in Mason County.) **** Window Covers Making the mistake on not getting dual-pane windows on our camper has really bothered me. In the summer time the heat these single pane windows allow in the camper is awful. What I wanted were some window awnings to block the sun from coming in our two big windows in the back of the camper. But once we had the windows measured, we found out that with the ladder on the back of the coach, the awning mechanism was too wide to be mounted.
These are simply a fabric that allows you to see through during the daytime, but blocks 99% of the heat coming in the window. It's amazing what a huge difference these window covers make on keeping the inside of the camper cool. The best part is, we got both covers made for the cost of one awning! How's that for a good deal. Best RV Inc. measures the windows and custom sews the covers for each order. Normally they'll come to your location (in California) and install them for you, but for us not having any specific location, we decided to come to them. When they were finished sewing the covers, they installed some stainless steel mounting tabs on the side of the coach, so within a few minutes time, we can have the covers on, or take them down if we needed to. We really don't need to since our installer said they're built strong enough to leave on while we drive.
We think we're going to get a few more made for the rest of the windows on the camper now that we know how good our first two worked. Best RV said that we can call them with our window measurements, and they can make more covers, then just ship them to us and we can install the mounting tabs ourselves. Each tab is just two stainless steel screws.
Sewer Hose Holder Mounted to Frame Rails I was sick of always walking to the back of the Camper to retrieve my sewer hose while at the dump station. On the Sunline 2499 model camper, the sewer connection is in front of the tires and the only place to store a sewer hose is in the back bumper. I know, that 20' is a lo | ||
How
do you decide on your house when you’re going to be towing it around the
country for the next few years behind your Tow Vehicle
365
days a year, we really didn't look at the cost, we more or less wanted
to make sure the coach would last the 2-5 years non-stop without too
many repairs. That simple feature right there eliminated 90% of
the travel trailers on most RV lots. Most RV's these days just
aren't built for the Full-Timing crowd.
Getting
back to our Travel Trailer (TT), we choose Sunline because of
their build quality. They are one of the only companies that 
We had
The stock bumper on the back of the
trailer is only rated for 100lbs. and isn’t safe for supporting anything
but a spare tire. 
I'd
like to say a huge "Thank You" to my good friends John Kielian and Brian
Kimmel who helped me with actually welding and fabricating my ideas
which were originally just drawn on a bar napkin. 
able
to tighten up the slack that was allowing the carrier to wobble while
driving down the road. Since having the nice woman drop what she was
doing and weld the tabs on at
This
is the final look. The bike sits right behind the bumper and
behind the rack is a carry-all rack. The carry-all rack holds our hoses, the
.JPG)
This company
In
the past 50,000 miles we've traveled, many of those roads were along
back roads, dirt roads and roads that looked like a blind grader
operator had finished them. On a few occasions, we've had the
doors on the refrigerator or freezer come open which allowed the
contents to spill out all over the camper floor. 
Once
I had the ring hangers screwed in - This took all of one minute each,
and there was four total, I measured and cut some Velcro strap material
so I would have enough to go around each ring hanger and still have
plenty of Velcro to get a good bite on itself. 
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Once
I got the vent cover off, had to cut through the screening that normally
covers the opening. I plan to mount some new screen back on once I find
a small sheet of it. I screwed the fan to the side of the opening where
I felt most of the heat rising off the coils. .JPG)
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Since
we plan on Boondocking more then the average Camper, we've had .JPG)
After
a few months on the road, one thing we found that helped us out quite a
bit was a
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slung
across the living room. This was a big argument when one of us would be
working on the Lap Top and the other would be trying to move around in
our 200 square foot of living space.%20(Small).JPG)
The Sunline 2499 came from the factory with a basic cabinet in the
living room. .JPG)
We took the original counter top off and moved it to the top of the new
cabinet so it maintained the look of the kitchen counter top and the
dining table. By doing this, we gained so much usable space that I cant
believe anyone wouldn't go through the work it involved.
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I
owned a set of
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I
decided that I could pop out both of the panels that were just there for
cosmetics, and hide the speakers in the wasted space of the cabinet. By
removing the speaker stand that was mounted to the bottom of the small
speaker, I was able to
hide the speaker in the slot and mount it with some metal strapping
material screwed to the base of the cabinet..JPG)
At
one point I thought I had made a huge mistake when I realized the volume
controls made one of the speakers too tall to fit. I about Crapped my
pants when I discovered this, because all along, I had been doing all
the measurements with the smaller speaker. .JPG)
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The
Looking
through the Camping World catalog, which is like Porn for me...LOL
I noticed that they made a
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The
package came with two springs in it. I thought one spring would be
strong enough to close the door, but it wasn't. With both springs
attached, it slams the screen door, so be careful. With the screen door
attached to the main door, it pulls it to the door frame, but isn't
strong enough to close it all the way. No biggie, as long as it pulls
the screen door closed, that's my main concern. 
So
while talking with 
I'd
recommend these window covers to anyone who has single pane windows and
wants an inexpensive way to keep the inside of the camper cool.
