Why did you buy your Sunline TT?

rrwayne · 07-14-2011, 03:19 PM

Let's assume that I am your brother, father, father-in-law, uncle or best friend. I just told you that I want to buy a travel trailer and saw a nice shiny model for about $17,000. What would you tell me about your Sunline trailer to keep me from buying a product that is not as good as what you own?

This is a very serious question for me. I would like to know what it is about Sunline that their TTs are better than many others.

MACK C-85 · 07-14-2011, 03:49 PM

When we bought our T276SR in the fall of 2006 at the Baltimore RV show, a friend of my wife worked at another dealer and had another manufacturer's trailer there that was an almost identical floor plan to the Sunline. It was also listed at about half the price.

I went in and sat on the couch while several other groups came through the trailer. You could hear the difference!! When drawers slid, cabinet doors opened and closed, people walking through, didn't matter, it was cheap!! Drawers were held together with plastic straps and staples. Cabinet doors were made of fiberboard. The floor bounced like a diving board.

But, the capper was when I stood up, I pushed my hand against the ceiling to steady myself and lifted the entire 8' x 30' ceiling 3"!!!! Now I wasn't "pushing up on it" I was just "holding on" so to speak.

We immediately left thier display and my wife started negotiating (yes, I bow to the master negotiator!!) with the two Sunline dealers at the show. About two hours later we signed the contract. Even after negotiating almost $10K off the list price, we still paid about $4K more than the other piece of junk and would gladly do it again.

You will find very few trailers that have the level of materials and craftsmenship that Sunline's have.

Mack

kanyonkitty · 07-14-2011, 04:44 PM

For many of us that were fortunate enough to tour the Sunline factory, that tour would make up your mind for you. The Sunline workers REALLY took pride in what they were building. Quality WAS built in to each Sunline they produced. And, even though few people knew it, Sunline was a company that WOULD "customize" a coach for you, many other brands with mass production would not even think about a "custom order" unit. Usually, "IF" you took your Sunline back to the factory for some work, it often left with some new upgrades done to it that you didn't even ask for. They were just that kind of Company. Unfortunately, many people look at the glitz & bling, they do not look at construction methods, materials, etc. I am on my 17th Sunline, due to often selling one when someone would just not accept "NO" for an answer. So I set the price high, if they paid it, I would go get another Sunline. The process allowed me to move up from a 1986 16 footer to the brand new '06 T-2499 that I special ordered. I have since sold the 2499 and we purchased the F-311SR that I drooled over for 4 years. (I was single so I stuck to a travel trailer, but now that Gary & I are together, we got my "Sunline F-311SR 5th wheel"). To replace the 5th wheel will be a very hard when the time comes because we are used to quality, and there is not a lot of that out there to choose from.

**PTHutch** · 07-14-2011, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrwayne

Let's assume that I am your brother, father, father-in-law, uncle or best friend. I just told you that I want to buy a travel trailer and saw a nice shiny model for about $17,000. What would you tell me about your Sunline trailer to keep me from buying a product that is not as good as what you own?

This is a very serious question for me. I would like to know what it is about Sunline that their TTs are better than many others.

If it was a good quality trailer at a fair price, I wouldn't try to keep you from buying it.

mainah · 07-14-2011, 06:43 PM

Strangely enough I had no ideal what I had bought it was in very good shape the fit and finish was above average nice wood work etc. Then I started looking into it and found out it was a sought after camper and the more I played with it the more I liked it. I have upgraded a few things but after all it its 21 years old we have been out a few times now and if I ever decided on a bigger one it would be a Sunline.

Gene · 07-14-2011, 07:19 PM

When DW and I decided we wanted a TT to replace the popup we looked at a lot of trailers. On our evening walks around our favorite campground we saw a few Sunlines and started looking at floorplans. I saw an ad from a dealer near the campground for a used one year old T-2363 so we decided to go look at it. The instant we went inside we both thought WOW we like this. Everything just screamed quality. The dealer tried to interest us in a Coachman TT about the same size and weight but it just didn't have the quality feel as the Sunline. In short, the Sunline just seemed better made than anything we had looked at over the previous year.

pwb01 · 07-14-2011, 08:02 PM

You get what you pay for. Sunline's solid construction is obvious when you walk in the first time. I've seen many display models of other brands with broken door hinges and stops and broken cabinets. When the walls move with a light touch, it's flimsy.

You don't see many 20 year old trailers in good shape. I've seen several 70's and 80's model Sunlines in excellent shape being used regularly.

When we saw our first Sunline we loved it but thought it cost too much. We looked at every other manufacturer over two years and found we always compared them to a Sunline. We realized there was no reason to settle for a compromise.

GoodoleBob · 07-14-2011, 08:08 PM

To best appreciate a Sunline one should have a point of comparison. Mine was in the form of twenty years spent RVing in a Fleetwood Southwind motorhome...I slowly learned all of it's inadequacies and inherent shortcut quality. I vowed to make my next RV the opposite of everything badly built or designed in that motorhome. The Sunline TT was exactly its opposite...thank God. It continues to bug me why the Sunline brand had to fall victim to the economic downturn which ended many other RV brands. They of all the brands could have survived in my view. Really a shame their gone. Our Sunnies are treasures now.

**Tweety** · 07-15-2011, 06:25 AM

We basically lucked out with joining the Sunline family. The factory was a couple miles from the house, and the nearest dealer was where we started our camper shopping. We liked it, knew nothing about them, did no research, and we bought it. That was in the 1980's. Fast forward to fall 2006. We had been out of camping for a while (teenaged kids) and now owned a popup. One of us was tired of popping up

and started looking for a travel trailer, and doing some research. Boy is there alot of flimsy stuff out there! About when we were ready to buy something we found out that Sunline had gone out of business

We hadn't seen anything nonSunline that we liked, so RAN back to the local dealer and got an excellent deal on a Sunline QUE. Well...that lasted 2 years because it was SO small, and we now had this massive truck that could tow more. So, we started shopping again. I had been prowling the local dealer lot on a regular basis since they are way too close to our house. I knew I wasn't impressed with the new stuff they carry, so we went to the Hershey RV show. We were shocked at how little they had to offer that didn't have a bunch of slides, or that didn't seem cheesy, or didn't smell like formaldihyde. We also started to realize that Sunline was the master of the floorplan. They somehow squeezed an amazing amount of cabinets and living space into a smaller length than what's out there today. I continued to wander the local lot and in one of my prowling sessions I came across our current 2753. We bought it used, only 2 years old at the time, and still looked new. We've been very happy with her

I would certainly buy another Sunline if it was well taken care of. But if I wanted shiney new I would probably take a look at anything made by Northwood. To us, they seem the closest thing to Sunline - family owned, very well built, and have a stellar reputation for customer service. Unfortunately, with them being made in Oregon, there aren't many dealers in the east.

Gene · 07-15-2011, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodoleBob

.... It continues to bug me why the Sunline brand had to fall victim to the economic downturn which ended many other RV brands. They of all the brands could have survived in my view. ....

That was my thought when I heard they closed. I read a couple of places that one reason was that they didn't get constant repeat business. People with "brand a,b,c,x, etc." would trade every few years because things were comming apart or leaking. Sunlines were a little more expensive but didn't fall apart, their owners were satisfied and didn't trade as often. The Sunline quality may have been their demise.

**Tweety** · 07-15-2011, 08:19 AM

In a way their quality was their demise. They refused to cheapen them up, and therefor, in the down economy, their price became less competitive with the newer cheaper brands. It is a shame. If you look at the Northwood Fox Creek I think you will find a very similarly built trailer with some interesting floorplans. There's even one that reminds me of a combination of the 1950 and the 2363. It was mentioned in another thread that no one has picked up the ball to replace what Sunline offered. I think Northwood is trying to do that with the Fox Creek - at least with the no slide trailers. The smart thing that I think they are doing with this trailer is making it so that the options are ala carte. That way if you want a cheaper version you can get it, and if not you can jazz it up.

OPIE · 07-15-2011, 08:56 AM

We were looking at used pop-ups when a friend of my wife mentioned she needed to get rid of her camper since the grandkids were too cool to visit anymore and her husband was too frail to camp. She gave it to us...for free!! It was a bit neglected and trust me, I've put some (shoddy) work into it, but I've never seen another trailer that I could have done half the repair and mods our little 1550 has. And it's pushing 30 years old, but everytime we take her out, someone stops by to take a tour, and they are always impressed with the quality of our little sunny.

MOKID · 07-15-2011, 12:18 PM

We started looking for a RV and price and size was a factor. We were told about Nash and Sunline. We watched the Nash forum and the Sunline forum for probably a year or so and decided we liked them both, however Nash is made in Oregon and Sunline made in PA and we live in MO so we couldn't find either one to look at. Then we found a 2005 Sunline T-1950 located in Detroit and had only been used 4 or 5 times and we decided to drive to Detroit to look at it and we brought it home with us and have been very happy with it. Since that time we have been to a couple of RV shows and I must say that you can tell the difference in Quality in Sunline and some of the new RV's. For the 2 of us the T-1950 works great. Its small and easy to pull and very open. We purchased it in Jan 09 and have stayed in it 120 times and have pulled it 12000 miles and we are heading to WI and MN next week for 3 weeks and in Sept we are heading to MI for 2 weeks. The longest we have stayed in it at one time is 2 months and without a problem. So Sunline met our price and size and that is why we bought our Sunline.

Anne and Jim · 07-15-2011, 04:40 PM

We started looking about 2 years ago and had been ready to buy several other TTs, but something always went wrong. Then one day on Craigslist, I found our T1950. Had never heard of Sunliner and had been camping for almost 40 years, albeit mostly in an RV or then a tent! My only requirement was that the bed was separate, so that I could walk in and lie down immediately. This had the separate bed and the ROCKING CHAIR! SOLD! We love it, spent 3 months last year and headed from FL to TX and OK, then in Jan we drove out to ARK. Spend most of our time camping here in FL, but it is so easy to hook up and pull. I've taken it several times myself and I'm a Senior! Was already for a girls weekend away today and had a tire blow as I was bringing it back from the storage area to our condo. So a question for all the old timers....Should the tires be rotated any special way? They all look very good, have about 20000 miles on them, but the unit is 8 years old, so probably just old age. Even the blown out one still looks like it has all it's tread. Can we get by with just replacing one? 2? or all 4? Any thoughts? My DH is a mechanical junkie, if he can't take something apart and put it back together again, he doesn't want it. The previous owner was the same way and went over every nut, bolt and screw with us. We have the complete owners binder and DH pulled everything apart before we went our first mile. And until the blown tire, never had a problem with anything, except the TV remote turning the radio/CD player on/off. Why did we buy? It was everything we were looking for. Would I buy another? Absolutely, but it would be very difficult giving up our "Leap of Faith"

GKLarson · 07-15-2011, 05:08 PM

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** · 07-15-2011, 06:00 PM

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 · 07-16-2011, 11:03 PM

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 · 07-17-2011, 07:23 AM

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** · 07-17-2011, 01:38 PM

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 · 07-18-2011, 08:20 AM

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.