Second trip in the Sunline!!!

Tod Osier · 07-02-2012, 10:08 PM

Some Sunline- and camping –related photos from our recent trip “out west”, which was mostly to Wyoming. We were gone for 7 weeks and put about 8K miles on the truck. We did a number of different things, but mostly it was a camping/fishing/wildlife viewing/rockhounding trip with a stop at Yellowstone National Park.

We saw 2 Sunlines on the trip, both 20’ models and both headed West. One on I-90 in SD and one on I-84 in CT.

In preparation for the trip, we added a pressure tank to the water system, which is a nice addition for boondocking. It was also time for tires on the 2006, and we followed henryj’s lead exactly and put a set of Yokohama G051 LT215/75R15 LRC on 4 new 15X6 galvanized wheels. I did enough research to confirm that I was not going to find a better option for the price (thanks henryj!). With the larger tires and axle flip we have good clearance. Only complaint with the tires is that the deep tread picks up a lot of stones on the gravel roads we were on.

Our camp on the Fort Pierre National Grassland in SD, we camped there to see the Greater Prairie-Chicken on their booming grounds…

Camp on the grassland from a distance (white spot center)

Truck and coach ready to go further West…

View of the rig from the Bear Lodge fire tower. It was more fun driving up to the tower than turning around once there…

Rig at Powder River Pass of the Bighorn Mountains, WY - elevation is 9666…

Our camp South of Tensleep (little white rectangle on lower left).

Pulling camp under threat of rain…

We camped along Boulder Lake for a few days waiting out a big storm that was pushing across WY with high winds and snow…

Our camp was on the little bay to the rear and right…

The snow that we were avoiding fell a couple nights in the higher elevations…

From Yellowstone we went to Green River Lakes and stayed a few nights. Camp along the Green River…

Lower Green River Lake is scenic enough, I guess…

From Green River Lakes we went to Big Sandy Reservoir to collect petrified wood and algae.

Camp on the Ham Fork Plateau, WY...

Rig at fossil fish quarry near Kemmerer, WY…

Tailgate shot of fossils…

Rig and dogs camped near McKinnon, WY…

Camp on Delaney Ridge near Wamsutter, WY…

Wamsutter camp in the morning…

View from Wamsutter camp…

Camp at Fish Lake…

Pretty enough lake…

Lily lake, our last real camp of the trip (camp at right)…

Gravel in trailer tires…

Poppy & Nana · 07-02-2012, 10:30 PM

BEAUTIFUL pics.......looks like you had wonderful camping spots!

**Sunline Fan** · 07-02-2012, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

BEAUTIFUL pics.......looks like you had wonderful camping spots!

x2!!

Tod Osier · 07-03-2012, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

BEAUTIFUL pics.......looks like you had wonderful camping spots!

Thanks! the trip turned out great and it was nice to do it in style in the Sunline. We put the Sunline and truck to the test to get to a few of those spots, but no major problems or damage. Worst thing is a serious case stone dents on the front of the coach. We did have a close call towing down 17 miles of really bad road - the microwave completely lost 2 of 4 screws and of the two that were left one was stripped. I'm glad the road wasn't much longer or that would have been a mess with the microwave falling out.

kanyonkitty · 07-03-2012, 01:30 PM

Great pics, Thanks

A piece of Diamond plate across the front will hide those nasty stone dings.

Jim-Bev-2363 · 07-03-2012, 03:37 PM

Great pics. Good thing the axle was flipped.

**JohnB** · 07-03-2012, 10:27 PM

Tod,

That looks like a great trip! And your rig looks really good. A nice setup.

Thanks for sharing. Can now add some of these places to the "need to see" list.

Is your canoe Kevlar? The stem on the front and rear sure look like a Kevlar setup.

Again, thanks for sharing the pics of your Sunline in action. Very Nice.

John

Tod Osier · 07-04-2012, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnB

Tod,

That looks like a great trip! And your rig looks really good. A nice setup.

Thanks for sharing. Can now add some of these places to the "need to see" list.

Is your canoe Kevlar? The stem on the front and rear sure look like a Kevlar setup.

Again, thanks for sharing the pics of your Sunline in action. Very Nice.

John

Thanks John, the canoe is Kevlar. It is a Wenonah Escape 17'6". The boat is a Kevlar flex core, which is a gel coated kevlar with a core, but no ribs and weighs 53 pounds. We bought it pre child for boundry waters trips, the only use it sees these days is as a fishing canoe.

Tod

Tod Osier · 07-04-2012, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanyonkitty

Great pics, Thanks

A piece of Diamond plate across the front will hide those nasty stone dings.

That is on the list, especially if we pull it to Alaska next summer!

Poppy & Nana · 07-04-2012, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanyonkitty

Great pics, Thanks

A piece of Diamond plate across the front will hide those nasty stone dings.

We have a trailer company locally (they make snowmobile & landscape trailers) who did the diamond plate on the front of our 2499....did not cost that much (thinking around $200.00) and it looks great and saves the front of the TT!!!!!

**JohnB** · 07-04-2012, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tod Osier

Thanks John, the canoe is Kevlar. It is a Wenonah Escape 17'6". The boat is a Kevlar flex core, which is a gel coated kevlar with a core, but no ribs and weighs 53 pounds. We bought it pre child for boundry waters trips, the only use it sees these days is as a fishing canoe.

Tod

Tod,

Very cool on the Kevlar!

I have 2 canoes, my pretty canoe, a 16'4" Mad River Exployer, teak gunnels, cain seats, V bottom, weighs around 50 to 54 #. It is Royalex foam core. I can roll this one up on the truck not too bad. Bought it new.

The 2nd one is Old Town 17'4" Discovery and is 3 layer polyethylene. Shallow arch bottom, standard gunnels and seats. A guy at work wanted to unload it so for $300 I could not pass it up including the paddles even. This thing is great on the water, very stable for hauling gear but boy it is a beast to get up on the truck. 65#... I used it a lot teaching Flat Water paddling with the Scouts. The boys call it "The Vessel". I'm just not that young anymore to get that beast up on the truck by myself. Built a 6 canoe trailer to haul them and the Grummam's.

We did many Quetico area trips. (The Canadian side of the Boundary waters) If one is a Canoe nut, the Boundary waters is one of the ultimate paddling spots.

Some day I may get a little 14 foot Kevlar for solo'ing. Nice and light and easy to solo. Or we may end up Kayaking. Son just bought a tandem Perception. We went paddling a little over Memorial day. Need to stay out of these things before I end up with yet another toy...

Happy paddling.

John