Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaKana
I'm so glad that we found this forum! We just brought our camper home this week and it was advertised as a 1985 but some of the paperwork says 1983. Anyway, we have some questions as this is our first slide-in truck camper.
1.) Is the tie down system pictured sufficent to hold this on the truck. The previous owner said it would fine but the trailer rocks more than the truck bed does when traveling.
2.) The back door is coming apart and doesn't close tightly. Any suggestions?
3.) What is the sticker on the front? Is that a picture of the model, ie, condor?
4.) Does the power converter actually charge the truck battery when in use? How long can we run it without killing the truck battery?
As you can see, we are getting it ready for tailgating and can't wait to use it for many years to come. 
Thanks, Lisa & Dave |
Welcome Lisa & Dave!
1) I'm not nearly as familiar with camper tiedown systems as I'd like to be, but from what I know, this does look like a very primitive system. The turnbuckles used on the front are somewhat common, but I think most that I picture in my head are longer than that. The rear tie downs are also like the fronts that I know of, and not ratchet straps. I think the biggest reason why you have bouncing is the actual truck brackets themselves. I'm not sure how you have those brackets mounted (in the stake pockets?), but most camper brackets I've seen are mounted underneath to the frame and then stick out the side to tie to, both in the front and rear. I think your brackets are flexing in the front, giving you the most movement.
2) This is a very common problem. The top, bottom, and non-hinge side of your door is just a small wood frame, styrofoam center, all sandwiched with glue and the plastic skins. The wood is probably rotted all on the bottom, so when someone pushed the door into the door catch (flexing the door), it pops the plastic out of the frame. There are a few threads on how to rebuild these doors, but you'll just have to unscrew the door from the hinges, disassemble the parts, replace the bad wood with new, and reassemble. You should be able to reuse both plastic skins if you peel them off carefully enough. Make sure to put some silicone along the bottom trim where the plastic goes underneath on your rebuild. That's how the water got in originally, ran down the textured plastic and entered in the cavities in the plastic.
3) Well, part of that is original and part is not. I'm not sure what was done in the past there, but the camper originally had the same Sunline decal on the sides on the front there. It looks like someone put that round thing over top of the Sunline decal, since the Sunline one still shows. That round one doesn't look easy to remove, but if you tried, you'd have to work at it one small part at a time in order to retain the original one underneath.
4) I'm not totally sure since I don't know much of the truck camper systems. The converter won't charge the truck battery if it's running off the truck battery. If you had the camper plugged in to an outside power source, it may, I'm not sure. I think your best bet would be to disconnect it from the truck and power it from a generator or other power source.
It looks like a 1983 to me, and it would be a model C-951. In this particular year, there wasn't a specific model name that I know of, but this layout was considered a Sportster C-951 in other years. So that decal isn't of a condor... If you'd like to find out the exact year, you have a VIN for your camper located on an aluminum plate under the entry door sill plate. Remove those four or so screws holding the curved aluminum down, pop it off with a screwdriver, and then copy down the VIN from there. That'll tell you the exact model year (and I can give you a little more specific build date from that too).
Jon
__________________
2007 T-286SR Cherry/Granola, #6236, original owner, current mileage: 9473.8 (as of 6/18/21)
1997 T-2653 Blue Denim, #5471
1979 12 1/2' MC, Beige & Avocado, #4639
Past Sunlines: '97 T-2653 #5089, '94 T-2251, '86 T-1550, '94 T-2363, '98 T-270SR
Linear Mode
