Why did you buy your Sunline TT?

[GKLarson]

We stumbled upon our Sunline

After tent camping for many yrs, (decades, she says) I honored my dear wife's wishes & bought a 15 ft "91 Fleetwood Wilderness trailer 5 yrs ago. We wintered in it for 3 yrs in FL then 1 yr in SW but she then decided an upgrade was in order. We searched online for something better but then a local consignment dealor told us about a "beautiful trailer" for sale locally. One look & we were both sold despite it being WAY above the price range we were considering. No regrets whatsoever. It was obvious the Sunline was many steps above the standard, made to be camped in 3 weekends/yr trailer. What a palace it is. We're VERY pleased

[Sunline Fan]

For me, it stems back to a time way before I had any idea what quality was. As I recall, my parents went looking for a pop up and once my mom saw the prospect of a full kitchen and bathroom, she was sold. We were shown travel trailers, and picked the one that seemed built the best and had the highest quality.

Now, for me, it has almost nothing to do with the quality, the Amish craftsmanship, the use of better appliances and supplies, or the great customer service. It's strictly about sentimental value, an addiction, the fact that it was our first trailer, and a whole lot of great memories. But, keep in mind, after six of them, if they were pieces of s**t, chances are I would have never made it to six. All those things I just listed are just some great benefits.

I'm just having to take y'all's word on the great customer service part. I had such an abnormal relationship with them that it's hard for me to really get a feel of how great they were. I was just a little kid that wouldn't take no for an answer to my really unusual and frequent questions

It's hard to say if it weren't Sunline in the picture and it were something like a Nomad (which were popular at the time too) that I wouldn't have stuck with it for this long too.

[DianeScraps]

We bought our Sunline used. We had been through tons of other units, and my husband grew up with RVs so we had a pretty good idea of what we didn't want, but nothing sold me on actually getting a trailer till I was in our Sunline. I could feel the better quality in the furniture, drawers, everything. I LOVE our floor plan - sooooo perfect with 2 kids to not have to pull out/ fold down beds in order to go to sleep at night.

And.... being a no where close to skinny person- the bathroom didn't make me feel like I was in a torture chamber!

We are beyond thrilled with our trailer, and don't see getting rid of it anytime in the near future!

[joe8grouse]

We were't looking for a new used trailer in 2009, but was cruising the web and stumbled upon a T-2251. It was a 1994 model and upgraded us 18 years in age. When we were dealing on this trailer the owners indicated that if we weren't going to buy that there was someone from NY state that was interested. Well being in MI, we thought they were just giving us the old salesman line. We ultimately purchased the unit because we felt it was a nice upgrade and if was in great condition. Only while camping and using this TT did we come to understand what a Sunline was all about. Earlier this summer, I made the "mistake" of taking my wife to look at a T-2363. She fell in love with the floor plan and 36 hours later she had hunted one down on CL and we had a down payment placed. We were able to sell the "old" T-2251 with in 24 hours once placed on CL. Quality and great space management are the trademarks of the Sunline brand. It is cool to travel around the state and try to spot one on the road. We know that who ever is towing a Sunline has the best out there, and maybe, a little "better" than everyone else! Happy Camping!!

[Sunline Fan]

Joe, while the NY state thing does sound a little suspicious (there's a lot more Sunlines in NY), I did have a couple different people interested in one of mine who were from the St. Louis area. I guess the Sunline name has a reputation down there too (apparently it isn't too far west) and they were both willing to drive to MI to get one. I ended up selling it locally though.

[quaddriver]

When I got back in the RVing biz a year ago, my goal was something to exceed the fully loaded jayco popup I was using, yet be fairly light.

previously, in the 90's I had an 86 Prowler (fleetwood corp) 29R that while very nice as they oft were, was very HEAVY. over 5400lb empty. In the 80's and 90's this was a concern for the tow capacities of the half ton trucks at the time.

the sunny I found (24' satellite' was basically 3550 empty. 1900lbs is 1900lbs for 5 feet. since I was using a 6 cyl F100 (modified yes, but still a 6 cyl truck with a stick) i didnt want it to weigh a lot.

researching the coaches here and elsewhere as I paid my $$ and started my mods, sunline gave owners a lot of bang for the buck without being cheap. our 24'er had everything you would want for a weekend of boondocking.

could I buy something nicer? yes
could I pay a lot more? yes
could it weigh a lot more? yes

Oh, ignore my sig line. sunny is gone and recently the f100 sold (for my asking price!) to a high school kid who truly wanted a restored old school ford truck.

[chilliwack]

It's all quality. Nothing else compares to a Sunline and they all seem so full of light and have an airy feel inside. The only thing we would like to change are the art-deco mirrors on some of the cabinet faces but I can't figure out how to get the mirrors out. I'd also like to get the frames off the wall and replace the (dubious) art with our own photographs of the grandkids but they seem glued on and I'd hate to wreck the wall. Any suggestions?

[clueless campers]

Originally Posted by chilliwack

The only thing we would like to change are the art-deco mirrors on some of the cabinet faces but I can't figure out how to get the mirrors out. I'd also like to get the frames off the wall and replace the (dubious) art with our own photographs of the grandkids but they seem glued on and I'd hate to wreck the wall. Any suggestions?

You might want to read these threads:

Removing Factory Pictures from Wall

Removing mirrors from walls

JohnB's wife isn't impressed with all the mirrors Sunline used so she covers them with quilt panels that she makes. Here is the link showing how to attach them: Dear Wife Mods - T2499 and T310SR- Lot's of pic's Somewhere, I saw a fabric panel that had openings for photos. If you can't find it, maybe you could make one.

When hanging things on the walls, 3M Command Strips and Hooks work well and won't cause damage if removed properly.

[JohnB]

Hi rrwayne

You have some really good replies to this thread. I enjoyed reading them. If you haven’t bought yet or even if you have I’ll add my experience for future readers.

We where in the Pop up world and then started looking into travel trailers. We where out growing the setup deal and wet canvas. Really didn’t know a lot about TT's at the start and I never even heard of Sunline. We toured thru 22 different brands before we found out about Sunline. One of those dealers along the way told me, if your looking for that high end quality look at Nash or Sunline. Then I found RV.net as Sunline Club did not exist back then. RV.net has changed a lot since back then, but I have a number of good camper friends from there. It has grown so big that there is a quantity of negatives you do not get on the smaller brand specific forums. In fact if it was not for RV.net I would not of known about SOC. Goodole Bob pointed me over here and well that was a few posts ago....

I used RV.net as sort of a search engine. There is one thing camper folks do and that is talk about their campers. The good and the bad. Just type in the brand name and read. You will get all kinds of hits on good and bad. Sunline constantly kept pop’ing up as positive. There was only 1 negative post, someone has issues with an axle and let out with it. But the good reviews where really good. It was like Sunlines rolled on water… So after reading over 80 posts of Sunline is great I had to find one and see. At the time Sunline was still in business and there was a stocking dealer 350 miles north in MI. They had just about 1 of every 7,000# GVWR Sunline on the lot. In fact they where trying to clear them as they had a number of 2004’s and had a lot of 2005’s already. So we went for a look.

We 1st walked into a 2004 T2499 and WOW!!!! The inside of the camper just jumped out at us. OMG this is different. Well we looked at all the 7,000# class units they had. The dealer was good enough to not pester us and we spent over 5 hours walking back and forth between the models. The dealer said, I just love selling these. Every one of them have the same quality just the floor plan is different so folks find what is right for them.

In my search this is what I found. I’m going to compare the 2004 Solaris line as that was the only one I knew of to the other brands. I’ll leave Nash out of this as I never was in one until after we owned the Sunline.

Look at the bench seats. Sunline had thicker, 5/8 or 3/4 I think bench seats. Others had 3/8 or some 1/4” .

Sunline boasted no partial board at all. Others have a qty of partial board.

Sunline had a 2-3 year warranty. 3 years on the Sunline parts and 2 years on the appliances. The others has 1 year warranty. In the RV world that means a lot...

The years we where looking at all had china toilet bowls. The others had the plastic.

Sunline put in a real wooden medicine cabinet, the others gave a plastic insert one.

Sunline had many windows all over and almost every one opened. The front window did not open. Many of the other brands only had a few windows and then not all even opened or where sliders. Sunline offered a mix of crank out and single hung and they all had screens.

The awning and AC unit where standard on the Solaris. These where options on the other brands.

Sunline offer ducted AC in the ceiling on the longer campers. Others did not. It makes a difference in a 25 foot or longer TT.

Sunline supplied ducted heat in the sides of the cabinets not floor ducts. I do not like the dirt catching floor ducts.

Sunline gave the auto-switch over tank LP system standard.

Sunline supplied a real heavy steel cradle to hold the fresh tank while towing while other brands have 2 pipe straps around them. Again Sunline provided heavy duty while the others provided cheap.

Sunline put light switches on the walls and inside lights everywhere.

Sunline provided a Shub shower screen over the standard curtain.

Sunline gave a hitch light, cargo hole inside lights on all ends and the non door side outside camper lights. Others do not.

Sunline had extras large cargo hole doors in the 2004 units over the others.

Sunline made wooden and steel towel racks and had cabinets everywhere.

The Sunline draws where made from furniture venire board not OSB board.

Sunline used the vinyl inserts around all the cabinets to the ceiling and the counter tops. This takes more time and covers up the slight cracks that come from rolling down the road between ft up.

Sunline gave 30# LP tanks on the 7,000# TT’s

In 2004 Sunline provide an onboard battery disconnect switch. It’s nice along with 60 amp power converters.

Sunline offered Krystal coat siding which helps with scratches.

Sunlines had bright and light interiors. The others where dark and not bright. The fit and finish was noticeable.

Sunline put axles, springs and tires on the hold the entire GVWR of the TT. Others cheeped out and down sized letting the truck hold part of the GVWR and as such many have had loading problems on the cheeped up brands. I will never buy a TT that the suspension will not support the entire weight of the camper.

Sunlines are built with good weight and balance to the tongue by design for stable towing. Some other brands do not do such a good job of this and expect you to load the camper right to create proper balance. The new camper person has no idea how to do this as most dealers never even talk about this.

We put a deposit down with the stipulation in 2 weeks we could get our check back. I wanted to see the other brands again to make sure and there was no comparison. So we came home 3 weeks later with a new 2004 T2499.

Time went on and we where after a larger unit. That’s a long story… but Sunline was out of business then. We still wanted the rear living floor plan but with a slide. We only started at the high end TT’s as there was no way I was going looking at the low end ones after being spoiled. Artic Fox came close but the wood was so dark, like deep mahogany and there was no WOW factor. So after 6 months or so of looking we gave up. Then from the forum here on SOC we got a tip on the used T310SR which was the dream floor plan. 500 miles away…. Now much more educated in TT’s I knew what to look for and watch out for. After a week of picture tag with the dealer we went and looked and I had an inspection list the dealer knew I was looking at. Well we walked in the and the WOW factor hit again and we pulled it home…

I have zero reservations buying a good used Sunline camper. Like any camper they can be abused and you have to watch out for certain things but they are built well enough that if they are kept up well, they will last.

I would not buy a new low end camper even with a 1 year warranty. I’m the type that is willing to pay a little more to get something that will last. And now just about every Sunline is used but still blows away most of the new ones out there. It is getting really hard to find a quality built TT now a days to compete with the Sunlines. A 5th wheel, yes there are many of them out there but TT’s there are not many brands of high end ones left.

Hope this helps and good luck on your Sunline search

John

[Plunkit]

I bought mine used from a couple who took very good care of it, so it was in good shape. I like the low profile (only one step up into trailer is good for my bad knee), and it's less wind resistance as compared to other brands that sit very high. The trailer seems well made, and every single thing on it works well.