Greetings from New Jersey Noob

[2thepoint]

Hi Folks,
My name is Phil and I live in southern part of NJ not too far from Delaware. My wife and I are both retired and we just bought a 2007 T-289SR. It's being prepped by the dealer and should be ready for us to pick up late next week. We still have a little snow on the ground so the extra time will allow me to plan where out back I will park it until we venture on our first trip. I've done a lot of camping early in life and I'm looking forward to getting back out there. My wife's bought into the adventure which is a good thing! lol

This is my first travel trailer so I have volumes to learn. I've towed boats and small utility trailers, but nothing this big so it's a combination of being excited and a little anxious. The excitement is definitely winning out.

I''ve spent hours on this forum reading through numerous posts, files, faqs, etc. You all have tons of knowledge and experience and are kind and gracious enough to share openly. Thank you for keeping the Sunline spirit alive.

Maybe we'll get to meet some of you in our travels.

Phil & Aggie
South Jersey

[JohnB]

Welcome Phil and Aggie,

That is one nice camper!!! Congrats. We have the 2004 T310SR which is the predecessor to the T-289SR rear living camper. Our is a little longer and a slightly different kitchen counter top, bath room and entertainment center. Gotta love that big rear picture window!

See here



Any questions you have, about anything camper, truck, camping, cooking, you name it, this is the place for Sunline/camping related info. Ask away and there are no dumb questions, just questions you need info on. Oh and we like pics!!! of anything camper or camping related. When you get your new camper, we would love to see it.

Want to give you a friendly heads up, camping in the Sunny can become addictive real quick! Better start preparing for it the now...

Have a great camping season and fun setting up home in the new camper. Don't worry where you put things, your gonna rearrange at least 3 times in the first year... trying to find the "right" spot... History repeats itself all the time

John

[2thepoint]

John,
Thanks again for the warm welcome and offer to help!
Aggie and I are getting psyched. If the weather cooperates, we should bring it home the later part of next week. Excited would be an understatement.

Since it's just the two of us, we really like the layout. Yes, we're hoping the rear picture window yields many memorable views. I'll post some pics next week as things progress. I already started trimming some trees so we can temporarily park it in the back yard. We're also going to visit a couple campgrounds next week along the Jersey shore. If it works out, we would set up camp somewhere close to the water for a month or so. We both enjoy fishing. I'm thinking the end of April for a launch date....this way I'll have a month to take everything apart and TRY to put it back together. Even though the T-286SR seems to be in good shape with full functionality, it's just my nature to know exactly what's going on under the covers. Trying to avoid an unpleasant surprises. It will also give Aggie some time to rearrange and decorate X2 and shop for some pantry accessories.

BTW, I believe I downloaded in the upward of 25+ technical files from the SunLineClub library!! Your server was so busy, I received a few "slow down" alerts and had to wait!! You and all who contributed to the archiving the data are to be commended!! If we ever the opportunity for a FTF, the beverage of your choice will be our treat.

We'll keep you all posted.
Warm Regards,
Phil & Aggie

Warm

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by 2thepoint

Even though the T-286SR seems to be in good shape with full functionality, it's just my nature to know exactly what's going on under the covers. Trying to avoid an unpleasant surprises.

Hi Phil,

It sounds like you are "into" trying to understand your new camper and trying to avoid, supersizes. This is great and good for you!

I will pass along one topic that you may not of heard about yet, but is for sure very unpleasant after you learn you have the problem. The topic is how to lower your odds of getting a leak and the need to do regular roof maintenance.

The intent here is to provide friendly help on the education that roof care along with siding joint care is a must if you want to keep your camper a good long time, rot free. The roof is worse then the siding joints but as the camper gets older, widows, doors and cargo door seals can be a problem too.

Some RV owners never realized what it takes to care for an RV roof until it sadly showed up as a water infection problem. The premise that, since there are no leaks seen in the camper, all must be just fine right? They intuitively think the camper is built like their home roof and that the roof does not need regular maintenance only gets replaced every 25 to 30 years. Well, no a camper that tows down the highway and built with materials that are a lot less costly then how a house roof is built. The is very different as the house that stands still and is built to last a real long time with time proven materials and methods.

The camper water problem by the nature of a slow leak, is a water infection that can be festering for 1 or 2 years in the walls, ceiling or floor rotting the camper away before the leak can be seen inside. And by then, the damage is done. The leak left a trail on the outside, but only if you know where to look for it and how to protect against it. It is all fixable if you have the problem, but can be very costly if it has to be hired out at a large dealership because it can be labor intensive to repair.

Water issues can also happen to folks who know and do roof maintenance but the leak sometimes comes about mid winter and is not discovered until spring if the camper lives outside exposed. However, the folks doing the roof maintenance regularly have much lower odds of water infection.

Point being, when you get the camper and have a little time in the first month or so, check the sealants at all roof penetrations and all door, window and cargo doors. On the roof, look at the sealants at any pipe, vent, edging etc. where the rubber part touches some object, and that goes for the entire perimeter of the rubber where it is attached to the siding of any wall. Don't think that since the dealer prepped the camper for you, that unless you had a specific agreement with them on roof care and water infection, that they did any roof maintenance before delivering a used camper.

On the roof, a special caulk is used that over time the caulk can develop splits that start out as a hair line crack. That hair line crack can be tolerable at the early stages. As time goes on left untouched, that tiny split can turn into a crater and hole to the inside of the camper. The roof also needs to be washed regularly to keep stuff from growing up there pending where it camps and is stored. Your camper by now is old enough it should of had many touch ups in the caulking. Some may be tiny, others larger. If there has been no touche ups, that means the prior owner never knew they where supposed to do roof care and did not do anything. That can be a problem.

See this post for more help and ask away on anything that does not make sense or how to do it. http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...1-a-11508.html That post also talks about that your camper most likely does not have the special order direct walk on roof. To service the roof, you have to take precautions with a tarp or something to protect the rubber from abrasion and to use small sheets of plywood to spread out your weight.

I didn't mean to scare you to death on your camper you don't even have yet.... just to give you a heads up on this topic since you are into the details. Here recently we keep bumping into situations that the original owner or the past owner did nothing on roof maintenance and the new owner finds this out after the fact with a leak inside.

Hope this helps.

John

[2thepoint]

Hi John,
We might have had a cosmic moment, thinking along the same lines!!

One of the first questions I had to the dealer was how do I gain access to the roof. Is it weight bearing, was it maintained, service records, will it be fully examined during the service check, etc. I haven't read the post you linked above, but plan to do so after I send this reply. Even though I have zero trailer experience/knowledge I have seen first hand what water can do and silently intrusive it can be. Left unattended, it can find it's way to places that one didn't know places existed!! Back in my younger years, I spent several summers living and fishing aboard a 1960 - 30' Owens Sport-fisherman. It was 100% wood with a lapstrake hull, flying bridge, and plywood covered decks. She was old and somewhat neglected when I bought her. The price was right. I gained a whole new respect for how destructive water, salt air, and sun can be on wood and most other things!! Rust never sleeps and neither does dry rot. I replaced boards on the hull, patched the transom, and replaced a large parts of the deck among other parts. I finally realized that I was still "fixing" things in the middle of July I then passed her along to someone who had more time and tools. I became part of that boat and loved every minute. It was time to move on.
I very much appreciate your advice and heads up. I appreciate the fact that you've taken the time to help keep me on the right path. I would not hesitate to reach out to you and others for help. I'm looking to learn from your experiences and knowledge. Why reinvent something?? My inventing days have passed. I do realize that maintaining and keeping the Sunline in the best possible condition is similar to many of my other passions ...it's long slow journey seeing and learning new things along the way. That for me is a great part of the reward.

Regards,
Phil & Aggie & our yet to be named T-289SR

[mcj7247]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Hi Phil,
I will pass along one topic that you may not of heard about yet, but is for sure very unpleasant after you learn you have the problem. The topic is how to lower your odds of getting a leak and the need to do regular roof maintenance.

The intent here is to provide friendly help on the education that roof care along with siding joint care is a must if you want to keep your camper a good long time, rot free. The roof is worse then the siding joints but as the camper gets older, widows, doors and cargo door seals can be a problem too.


Hope this helps.

John

HI John, I'm wondering if you find one design better than the other (Fiberglass vs Al Siding) for durability, leaks, weight, insulation, aerodynamics? Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks Mark