Love the way she turned out....
I bought this Sunline from a neighbor who had bought it from the original owner. The original owner took amazing care of it- the roof was impeccable. Unfortunately, my neighbor lived in the camper for 6 months and moved it around his brother's yard several times. In the process he busted the gray water tank on a rock, tore out a stack pipe and moved the camper while still plugged into the electric. :( He also decided to paint part of the inside with black trim and doodled on the kitchen backsplash with white.
Only 1 exterior light worked on the entire camper. It took two days for me to figure out how the light circuits was configured, but once I did--I was rocking and rolling right through them! She looks so much better with clean, functioning lights!
The front door........ uggh. It was a horrible mess. My husband and I rebuilt the door and it looks amazing. Definitely a project I never want to do again for this camper. I had rebuilt a door for my 66 and it was so much easier than this one! (Exterior of door is shower stall lining Home Depot)
Typical for Sunline's the front door had leaked and rotted the floor; luckily it was all recent and had not gone past the door. The hatches had never been flipped so the gaps in the hatches allowed water in, I had to replace the rotted floor there also. The hot water heater was leaking and also damaged the floor it was sitting on.
None of the walls had any moisture (moisture meter) and they were all solid on the ice pic test! When I removed the broken ceiling vent cover I was pleased to see absolutely no water had ever come either of the two vents (kitchen & bathroom).
I removed the hot water heater and found a hatch online that I could put in it's place. I had to modify the hole slightly. The new hatch will house and A/C unit that can be pulled out to use and pushed back in when not in use. I bought a small A/C that fits perfect.
After tearing out all of the wet floor at the door, hatch, water heater- I built boxes out of wood and sister joiced them together with the existing wood. Prior to building my boxes I hardened the wood with a wood hardener product. Luckily the damage was minimal since the walls, windows, and ceiling had never leaked and it was easily repaired.
All of the plumbing and propane lines were removed. A new propane line directly to the stove was installed and a new water intake was installed directly to the sink. Having one direct line to the sink means not having to worry about water damage in the rest of the camper.
Since I could not remove the paint from the black painted cabinets, the decision was made to paint the camper. I did take a video before painting showing every inch of the amazing ceiling to show the roof had never leaked. People on the internet always warn about buying painted campers saying that they are "hiding" something... well NO, not everyone is hiding something. Sometimes you have to paint because the previous owner screwed up the walls!
The shower/toilet were removed and I built a toilet stoop that I laminated to match the kitchen counter and table that I made. I used yellow penny tiles for the floor ( I still have to trim out the camper). I bought a Thetford Curve and it is an amazing porta potti. Flushing toilet action and no smell! Very easy to use.
At this point I installed the new flooring- not fun. The snap-lock tongue and groove is not the easiest to use because when you get to the back wall you have no way to snap it in.
The kitchen counter top was 3 pieces which I made into one counter top out of 3/4 inch wood and covered with yellow boomerang laminate. The table was pressed board and had been dropped at some point causing the corners to curl up. I used the table as a template and cut my own out of 3/4 wood and laminated to match. The silver edge trim is gorgeous(Home Depot)! I am still working on finishing the edge trim! The backsplash is the same gorgeous yellow penny tiles (Floor & Tile Direct) with flexible grout.
All the hatches, vents, awning rails, etc. have new butyl, I scraped and sealed the roof (never doing that again - I will pay someone gladly as it is too hard on my arthritis)
The inside is so bright and cheery, I do prefer the original wood, but I had to go with the flow for this camper!
She is a great camper with a TON of storage. We camped for 5 days a few weeks ago and had a ton of extra space. I did not take the 'Bunks' out as many do to put knick knacks on display because we used them. We stored our pillows, blankets, duffle bags, camera etc out of site on those shelves. I say take a camper out and use it before you make a choice that might alter the usability!
Still to do:
- Awning (oh it is gorgeous too! check back)
- Have bumper fabricated
- Have spot on front hitch welded
- Find hubcaps or moons
- Build a screen door (this weekend)
- Put door interior threshold back in place
- Trim out the inside
- finish the pull out bed portion for the banquette bed
- ........ put her up for sale?
Thanks for reading!
** I am a woman that uses power tools! My husband helped on some of the projects.. but 90% of the work was done by me.
- Propane line professionally installed and tested
- Electric terminated to breaker and inverter by professional
