Travel Trailer to Tower Trailer conversion

[holmzie]

So this is what I did to get her rolling: Jacked up the whole shebang and jack-standed it. I rolled and listened to all 4 hubs, one of which had a stuck brake which took me a half hour to pull. All 4 hubs had good bearings and I only had to reseat one inner seal.


Repacked all bearings. Remounted the two remaining old tires with new valve stems. Shot the suspension joints first with Blaster, then some white lithium grease.
Had to remove the rear jacks which were rusted solid in extended position.



Someone removed the load distributing attachment points on the front fork, but the owner gave me a WD hitch complete with bars, seems it’s for a 10K lb trailer though. I threw it inside anyway, over the axle for ballast.

[holmzie]

My electronic/electric experience paid off, got the origional lights working: Stop, left, right, running/markers. Some dopey b******d clipped the wiring harness. I just used wire nuts, and some scrap wire running to a 7 pin plug from Walmart.


Then I power-washed all the green growth off and found a white trailer under it!


All-in-all, the trailer doesn’t look bad from the outside. I’m using a license plate from a 4 x 8 utility trailer, so when I drive through the towns I want as little attention as possible. (Cops notice a green slimy slug with 4 tires and a NEW license plate...ya know?)
Did the check list: tire pressures, hitched up, chained up, lite up, 4WD/Low Range and pulled her out of the sea of wood-chips and mud. Hardly a grunt from the rig!


Now here’s the exciting part: I don’t know if it’s because of the trailer being empty. I had NO SWAYING, NO WAGGING, and NO PROBLEM STOPPING! The trailer tracked perfectly, even with one bias-ply tire. The trip was uneventful, going South 287, South Rt.9, South Rt.34 to Farmingdale. I even stopped at Tom’s for a beer 2 miles from my house. Hah!


So that's it, I didn't take pics after the power washing or of my hook-up.

[UNIXdude]

I may seem like a lot of work, but this actually sounds repairable. Many owners on this forum have structured and replaced the floor. The exterior doesn’t look too bad, except for the algae, which can be cleaned.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[holmzie]

Hey UNIXdude, yah the Algae is all gone now, after power-washing. If I were to make a shelter/enclosure on the front for, like two operator positions, I mite use some of the cabinetry and siding. But the struts I have to add will run diagonally into the area so one would have to either build around them or step around them I'm not opposed to the camping thing by any means, but I primarily intend to have a tower-trailer when all is said and done.

[Sunline Fan]

Interesting journey. I found it odd how the previous owner wrote up that order of events outlining why the trailer was scrap. Glad that everything went well and the trip home was uneventful.

The missing parts for your WD hitch are definitely available, but, if it's too heavy duty for what you need, that'll be worth selling. But without knowing how modifications will go, it's hard to say what your final weight will be.

Sunlines, especially short ones with tandem axles, were very well balanced trailers, so the lack of sway isn't too surprising. Yes, having it empty, or should I say having it not loaded with an imbalance, certainly helped.

Can't wait to see what it looks like after the cleaning!

[holmzie]

So after the powerwashing and the tow, here is the exterior of my Sunline Star Ray T170: It looks ok, though there are several dings, crunches and bumps. Non seem to have involved structural damage, but that doesn't matter if the structure is rotted.

[holmzie]

The inside: Someone did rip out the floor underneath the rear bed/couch exposing rotted /broken lumber. Evidence of rodents was also found. The front door frame is missing the bottom part. Windows are reasonable intact. They gave up on the fridge which had an ammonia leak, so they removed it and placed a 120v "cub" when they traveled. Cushions are intact, and rather unspoiled, surprisingly. Haven't located the grates for the stove yet. Hood works. All the upper and base cabinets as well as the benches seem intact. The damage is predominately within the walls and under the floor covering, though there is evidence of ceiling structure water damage, which would be expected. didn't go up there yet.

I may try to remove the first course of aluminum siding or two, after removing the edge molding. Sounds like the siding was installed reverse of that of conventional home siding, which is installed from the bottom up. This siding is installed from the top down? At least that is what my interpretation from one of Sunline Fan's replies above.

I am sure that if this is something that CAN be done, I can do it. I have most every tool known to mankind, or so I think. Every job requires every tool. If I don't have it, I'll buy it or make it.

more...

[holmzie]

I will eventually discover what it is I want to do, and I may very well re-use these items I remove in the new design... or not. I will try to preserve everything with Sunline Club members in mind.


holmzie N2EXG

[JohnB]

Yes, to remove the siding, Take the corners and any cargo doors, fenders, doors or windows etc in the path you want to remove

Then start at the bottom and work your way up. Once you get the first bottom piece off (which is most likely stapled up from the bottom) it will expose the joint of the piece above it that holds the top the bottom most siding piece. Then just keep pulling out staples and going up as high as you want to.

This link will drop you into my Project camper no 1 post where I am removing the siding. Yours is older but should be similar.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...tml#post137481

By your pics the inside does not look that bad, but the ugly will come when the siding comes off.

Good luck and hope this helps

John

[holmzie]

Got it JohnB. You fill me with much needed confidence. Now just imagine a tower trailer with a little "Star Ray" segment mixed in ahead of the tower, wouldn't that be wonderful - er a - goofy-nerdy. ah, I don't think there's room or it ain't practical. When I get down to the metal frame I'll brush off my slide rule and do some real double naught sipherin'. Find the balance point of the tower and give it a reasonable tongue weight. There are always bathrooms or woods around, and grills and Coleman stoves...but If I can remove some or all of the outer skin intact, who knows what I can create? There are no rule but that of the road and the campsite you're at. Who want's smooth skin?



BTW, I sold the 2011 Wrangler that I detailed, for 19.5k Deb's a happy girl!



holmzie N2EXG

[holmzie]

WOW JohnB: I followed your link and am fascinated by that project. What a goldmine of info, Tks !


holmzie N2EXG

[Sunline Fan]

Yeah, that doesn't look like too bad of a project trailer. Always easier to work on it when it's clean anyway.

[holmzie]

I mite begin this weekend, after our Ham Radio Club meeting (OMARC at the Spring Lake Heights F.D), though 40% chance of showers loom.


I'll have to make a raised brick-a-brack somthin' or other to place cabinets and fixtures up off the ground, covered with a tarp to keep things dry and so the varmints don't make a home in 'em. I want to keep 'em in good shape if I re-use em or offer 'em up to the Club.


It's almost like camping here in Farmingdale. I bought this as a forclosure, an investment property of sorts. I get TV off the air from NY and PA. I am too cheap to pay for tv or internet. I like to stay in touch, (especially with the the SUNLINE COACH OWNERS CLUB!). I get "free" internet connection from a WiFi hotspot about 150 yards away. I re-purposed a Linksys router, Flashed the firmware with "dd-wrt" and it's now a client-bridge. Tucked it up next to the front door up in the corner where my aluminum siding acts like a corner-reflector, pointing right at the wifi hotspot. I log in with Deb's credentials, and I can stream TV!


If I get stumped here, during this disassembly process, I can get on-line. I also offer my "services" to the club, though I know I'm not the only smarty-pants out here.


When out in the sticks camping, a high gain WiFi antenna along with a tv antenna can really make it like you never left home....hay! Wait a minute...Didn't we leave home and go out there to get away from all this? Smell the flowers, take in the sights, listen to the trees rustle, watch the deer and the antelope play?


My take on this: I like BOTH. I like the survivalist aspect of being independent, self sustaining, in touch with the world when I want, and at the same time I like to hug the trees, feed the hummingbirds, hike the mountains and paddle the streams and lakes. I powered my first ham radio with a solar panel in 1975 in Pittsburg NH.


With a big dopey antenna tower on top of a Sunline, I face exile from most campsites, and banished from civilization in general. An OUTCAST! Ah, the bitter sweet taste of REJECTION!


Well, I' not intending on invading campsites, and the purpose is a noble one of providing a mobile communications platform for amateur radio and the community at large. And having fun.


I hope you've enjoyed my little schpeal. Stay tuned.


holmzie N2EXG

[holmzie]

"oh my gawd, whadda nitemare"

Wow. Ya can't see it from my rear photo, but it's true, the rear is indeed sunk and the aluminium siding is truely bent on the bottom around the bumper frame rails.

No time for pics, gonna see "Dark Star" tonite, a Dead cover band at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Cooking early dinner for the beach gang down the street beforhand.

I started by removing the water heater and the storage unit door, and the vertical moulding around the front edge on the left (driver's) side. The FRONT was applied last, it seems. Mite be best to concentrate on the front first, and continue all around the trailer for the bottom course, progressing upward with each section. all around. That is if your are trying to save the aluminium skin. It's raining now and I have to stop anyway.

Hey Sunlinefan, I love it when you're rite! same to you JohnB, and of course UNIXdude an the rest of the following. Remove the bottom first. Follow the suggestions above.

What a MESS! There is nothing wood that is not rotted so far. SMELLS liet rot. Looks like rot...it's ROT! Half the screws are in granny land, and I have to pull 'em out.

Best to all,

holmzie N2EXG

[Sunline Fan]

Yuck, sounds like a nasty disassembly. I would definitely start by removing the corner moldings before pulling siding off. I believe the front and rear siding does wrap around the corner slightly. You'll fight taking the siding off a lot more if you don't pull the moldings first.

[holmzie]

Take a look through the back storage port, wow. A lot of the floor is soft, someone placed some. 3/8" plywood over it and covered it with carpet. Everywhere I look there is dead bugs, rodent and critter carcases and droppings. Stinks bad.

The pic's show as far as I got Sunday. U should of seen me lowering the AC off the roof, I forgot my gloves, that has to be 100lbs. I found notes to the effect: The AC failed in 2001 after some dealership modified the fan speed. It's a mess and a gonner. Figured out how to remove the furnace after mangling the exhaust port, It can be repaired.

There's not much to the framing, is there? it's only 1" x 2" spruce, or like. Gettin' good at pulling staples, don't know why but I am saving Aluminum skin intact. What a dope. Would have to separate it anyway for recycling, I mumble to my self ("Get out the SAWZALL, Holmzie, u stupid dopey B*****d"...

Raining like heck here on East coast @ 11:30 AM Mon. Had covered AC hole with plywood, won't get too much inside, as I moved her back among the canopy of trees in the back last night. helps block the wind. store insulation dry in garage. Im at Bradley Beach at moment. Radar shows orange and red! (Gotta get back to Summit and work on Deb's house, get it to sell ASAP)

More Next weekend
holmzie N2EXG

[enormiss]

That front wall looks good, and the side wall doesn't look bad either, but the floor is toast.
Do you have enough apart to see where the leak was? Insulation looks dry thru storage door... Wondering if it was a plumbing leak...

[Sunline Fan]

Yeah, those walls look really good! Wouldn't have known it was as old as it is. Curious if you find the source of the leak, but with the proximity of the water heater, I could see it being a split tank some years ago.

[holmzie]

Yessirree, the rear of the trailer is rotted, and the floor under the sink, and the entrance are both rotted, probably trom a leaking door/frame, and a leaking hood vent, (no cover).

The left rear molding (over water heater) had been removed, silicon caulked, and replaced, though the surface was not cleaned first, so the caulking did little good... those screws are mostly rusted, but I got 'em out. I have not removed the Right Rear molding yet, but the fronts had just a few screws rusted, and had not been addressed, and had original untouched caulk tape intact from manufacturer. Didn't see signs of infiltration at front. The gutter rails look like they had been addressed, using a black tar roof repair material among other things. The windows I removed had additional silicon caulk applied.

I doing a few feet at a time: Right side next, and then the rear, and then go up the next level all around and get the upper cabinets. Looks like the closet/Fridge/Bath cabinets are the only thing that will give stability to the structure enough to address the roof. Will I have to cut it up? probably...get out the sawzall.

Instructions, hand written by the most recent owner (since around 1999?) were very precise and detailed, so it is hard to imagine it not being winterized properly. This was a leak from the top/sides, or running down the molding. The whole rear floor is just about gone. Ill see the rest this weekend. I would guess the whole floor all the way to the front has some degree of degradation just because of the age and moisture accumulation.

QUESTION: I see a membrane under the trailer, it is lapped up about 4" at the front, sandwiched between the outer skin and the wood framing. How's that configured...is it lapped up over the steel framing, holding up insulation against the floor bottom, sort of like a tub between the steel frame members? if water ever got in there it would never get out considering the floor above is covered with an impermeable "vinyl" flooring.

This is like a box of chocolates, ya jes don't know what you're gonna get. An I'm converting this to a Tower Trailer, I remind myself. Why the heck do I care about a rubber membrane or leaky molding? Hah! You folks really got me goin', didn't you?
Shucks.


Having fun.

holmzie N2EXG

[mainah]

Yes the membrane is a double edge sword if water gets in there the insulation just sucks it up and holds on to it like glue.