Sunline 'newbie' - general questions

[sunnysideup]

Hi,
A real newb here to travel trailers. Having been in tents and crank ups for the last 30 and years my wife and I have just purchased a sweet heart of a deal on a Sunline Saturn (17) ... although it is in overall excellent shape the bathroom floor is soft and the fridge does not work.
I have a Canadian winter to deal with these issues and any help or suggestions along the way would be most sincerely appreciated. One of the determing factors on this purchase was the fact that this message board even existed

Is there an easy way to rip out the bathroom and replace the floor ... suggestions on the fridge are most welcomed too.
My wife and I are celebrating our 25th Anniversary next June and it is my goal to take us out on our maiden trip with this sweet unit ready to go

[JohnB]

Hi Sunny

Welcome to Sunline Owners Club and your new coach!!!

On the fridge, this comes up often. If the cooling coil has a leak and lost all the fluid you have 3 options.

1. New RV fridge.
2. New Cooling coil for old fridge
3. Take fridge out and put a small 120 VAC unit in held in place.

If you plan to do a lot of camping with out access to 120VAC then option 1 or 2 may be the answer.

There is another option is to make sure the fridge is indeed dead for a cooling coil. Since your new to TT's how do you know the fridge does not work? They can take 8 to 10 hours to cool down. And then there is the option to fix what ever control system is not right providing the cooling coil is OK. The cooling coil is about 1/2 the price of the fridge so the repair options come down to funds and how you use the camper. Several folks have gone the big dorm room fridge and had good success for a fraction of the cost of a new cooling coil.

Now the floor. Several has replaced the floor in place. See this post in the FAQ forum under Sunline Articles.
Sunline Articles - “How To” and DIY (Do It Yourself) Links

Scroll down to
Restoring a Sunline
1. Repairing water damage on your Sunline.

You will find several posts with pics showing the floor fix and others too. If you do the floor fix, take pics and post and we can add your "How To" post to the mix so others can get help in the future.

Good luck and hope this helps

John

[sunnysideup]

fantastic John and many thanx !!!

The previous owner made it known that fridge did not work in the listing. She also stated that she was told that removing it and leaving it upside down and then reinstalling it might fix it.
I would really like to keep it original if at all possible and am interested in repairing it or replacing it with OEM if possible.
Many thanx again ... looking forward to reading the information you have provided.
Kevin

[JohnB]

Hi Kevin

H’mm, OK the prior owner info may help. I have heard that these types of fridges where they sit for very long periods of time (years) have had issues starting back up. And I have heard of the flip the fridge over trick that sometimes helps get these fluids to start to move again. I myself have never had either of these issues. The fridge flip over was discussed here on SOC not too long ago. I do not know if the club member actually went through with it or the outcome. A search in the repairs and maintenance forum may turn up that post and a contact to that member.

The good part of this is, if this is the case where the unit will not work due to long periods of inactivity that can be a better problem to deal with then a cracked cooling coil. A web search may turn up some more on the fridge flip fix as I have heard it before outside of SOC. You may even call around to some Dometic fridge repair places if they can assist or have heard of the fix.

If you do find some info, please post back. Working through these kinds of problems helps a lot of folks in the future searching for the info plus of techy types learn something new all the time.

Good luck and looking forward to hearing about your camping adventures in your Sunline.

John

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by JohnB

H’mm, OK the prior owner info may help. I have heard that these types of fridges where they sit for very long periods of time (years) have had issues starting back up. And I have heard of the flip the fridge over trick that sometimes helps get these fluids to start to move again. I myself have never had either of these issues. The fridge flip over was discussed here on SOC not too long ago. I do not know if the club member actually went through with it or the outcome. A search in the repairs and maintenance forum may turn up that post and a contact to that member.

I went through it. Didn't do a single thing. Maybe a couple days could have helped, or maybe even shaking the unit some, but I didn't have that much time. It only was turned overnight and then it got re-installed, even though it didn't work.

You can buy a replacement cooling unit for it and mount it all to the old cabinet, or you could just buy a new RV refrigerator.

If you buy a new refrigerator, and the same company makes a very similar model still today, you can remove the wood panel from the old door and put it in the new one, so it looks like it would have been there from the factory. Your new refrigerator either won't come with a panel or it will have a solid color plastic one instead. Sunline would have bought the refrigerator the same way and put the insert panel in there too.

[sunnysideup]

That is all very encouraging gentlemen and thank you.

Started to peel back the flooring to see how bad the damage was ... no surprises but definitely a little work ahead of me. Biggest worry is where the water came from. I'm guessing it is a toilet issue but really know way of knowing for sure at this point.
Will post a pic of the 'mess' this weekend ... lol
Caught it just in time !!!

I just realized I have posted this in the wrong forum and please accept my apology for this.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by sunnysideup

I just realized I have posted this in the wrong forum and please accept my apology for this.

Lol, I didn't even realize that since I was just using the recent post window thing on the right. I'll get it moved to repairs & maintenance for you.

[sunnysideup]

lol ... I realized I posted under the 'Sunspot' and my model is a Saturn.
Thank you again , very excited about cleaning up what is hopefully a couple of minor issues and getting many more years of enjoyment out of our new to us trailer.
Pics to follow ...
What may also be of interest is the 'dealer' that originally sold this trailer is still around and has in fact relocated just down the road from me.

[Sunline Fan]

No problem! The Sunspot is a rather unique model, which is why we have a forum specifically for it. The Saturn is a more typical model construction wise, so it's just grouped under the Travel Trailer forum. Your question is a more general repair and maintenance question that can apply to just about any type of Sunline, so that's why I chose the R&M forum.

What dealer originally sold your trailer?

[sunnysideup]

The spare tire cover on the rear of the trailer reads Under The Sun who is just down the road from me. Family owned and run since 1968 , I am assuming they sold it but I could be wrong. Will be in touch with them today regarding a possible toilet replacement. Going to try and charge everything up to see where exactly the water is coming from. Thinking it is the toilet.
No user manual and no experience with a 'coach' should make for a very interesting weekend ... lol

Under the Sun Trailers Ltd. | Quality Trailers in Central Ontario

[Sunline Fan]

Hmm, thanks for the info. I've never heard of them. They may have sold Sunlines brand new in the past, but they weren't a dealer in the last two years of production.

[sunnysideup]

Hooked up to my house tap and ran water through the trailer system and could find no leaks, and yet I have all this damage
I don't relish the thought of repairing this not knowing what the root cause was.
Best price on a new fridge is $900 .... so far.

[JohnB]

Wow Sunny, your right that is some damage. It is almost like the one RPeirce (Bob) did See here Rebuilding my floor and here Floor Repair part 2

I had some water damage in the floor of my slide. This much I now, the OSB board sure swells like crazy and wicks too and then spreads. The water entry point may be only in one spot and then over enough time it just keeeps growing. Under your floor it can't dry out. Vapor barrier on the bottom of the camper and vinyl floor on top. It has no where to go but spread into fresh new dry board.

Knowing this, the wet entry may only be on one spot. For sure check the walls for anything coming down from the roof.

And here is a product I used to treat the stable wood that was left from fungus. Wood preservation, rot repair, and restoration using epoxy resin on boats and homes.

Looks like this and is like painting on diesel fuel. It kills the fungus and seals the wood shut. If left untreated the fungus can dry rot or worse, wet rot keep on growing.


And for sure buy the respirator and wear it when using it. The smell will do you in. After about 3 to 4 days it is gone but inside the camper will ovecome you without the respirator being on.

Good luck and keep us pic posted on the progress or any questions.

John

[sunnysideup]

excellent John B and thank you for the advice ... it will be heeded.

The seller claims that the floor was soft when they bought it a year ago and that it never leaked once for them in that period.

The toilet is a Flushomatic 707. Is this a standard Sunline toilet ? I am hoping it is not and that the original owners replaced it with this. That might give me some piece of mind as to how the leak originated .. lol
Will be checking everything as I tear it down, just hope I don't have to go to deep and that it is all salvagable