First trip of the season

[dennisb-SUN]

We are about to set of on our first trip of the season. I have a couple of questions for the seasoned Sunline travelers. We are going to be leaving Washington State in mild temperatures (40 degree lows) and heading into a mountain pass that will be below freezing. We do not plan to stay overnight at below freezing temperatures, but we will be traveling in those temperatures before we get to warmer weather. What do others do about filling the plumbing with water while the weather can be below freezing? We are making our way to the South East coast, so the weather is expected to be warm for the remainder of the trip. Is it safe to fill the tanks and plumbing with water before going over the pass?

Also, when using cable TV in an RV park should I bring a CATV cable, and if so, what is a good length to carry? We have never used a TV while traveling until this trip.

Thanks,

Dennis

 

[Tweety]

The water depends on how long you'll be in freezing temps, and if you'll be stationary for any length of time. The water isn't going to freeze in an hour or 2, especially if you have the heat on in the QUE right before leaving home. The motion of the trailer will help in that regard as well. We have a fairly long cable (12 feet?) for connecting to the cable TV hookup. Alot of times we don't have cable, but the couple of times we have, it was located on the post right along with the electric.

 

[luvrque]

We are about to set of on our first trip of the season. I have a couple of questions for the seasoned Sunline travelers. We are going to be leaving Washington State in mild temperatures (40 degree lows) and heading into a mountain pass that will be below freezing. We do not plan to stay overnight at below freezing temperatures, but we will be traveling in those temperatures before we get to warmer weather. What do others do about filling the plumbing with water while the weather can be below freezing? We are making our way to the South East coast, so the weather is expected to be warm for the remainder of the trip. Is it safe to fill the tanks and plumbing with water before going over the pass?

Also, when using cable TV in an RV park should I bring a CATV cable, and if so, what is a good length to carry? We have never used a TV while traveling until this trip.

Thanks,

Dennis

.....Hi Dennis, I would Definitely keep your tanks & water system drained & or with the pink antifreeze in them. until you get to above freezing temps. Don't take the chance. ...... As for the catv cable I use a 20' pc. (25' would be better just in case you had to run it under the Que to the other side.) most of the time 10'-15' will work. ... Have a great trip!! Joe

 

[MACK C-85]

You should be ok with a trip though the cold, if you want a little extra insurance, you can get an adaptor that allows you to hook up an air line (30-35 psi max.) to the city water connection and blow out the lines (the tanks have room for expansion, so they aren't as likely to be damaged, in a short exposure time). In the fall before we fully winterize and the early spring after I put it back in service, when the Maryland weather can flip flop pretty quick, I always blow the lines out and drop a little anti-freeze in the toilet and sink traps after we use the trailer and in two cold seasons now we haven't had any issues. Takes about 10 minutes.

As for a the CATV cable I would get at least a 25' cable, we've run into a few campgrounds where the hookups weren't very well placed. We had one where 25' wasn't enough (yes, the only time I've used my electric extension cord ) but like QUETSE said it is usually on the post with the electric.

 

[SteveC7010]

Also, when using cable TV in an RV park should I bring a CATV cable, and if so, what is a good length to carry? We have never used a TV while traveling until this trip.

We were in a luxury RV resort in Gettysburg PA a few years ago, and the electric/water hookup was so close to the center of the trailer, I could have hooked up the water with about 5' of hose.

BUT! (You knew this was coming... ) the hookup for the CATV was on a separate post about 20' back from the water/electric post. I was lucky to have a 25' catv cord with me and it just barely reached. I actually had to roll the trailer back a couple of feet from where I had initially sited it to get the cord to lay on the ground.

So, I'd recommend that you get **at least** a 25' cable. They are readily available just about everywhere. Even my local CVS pharmacy carries them. It's the same stuff you'd buy to hook up a TV to a cable box at home.

Personally, if I was buying a new one for our trailer, I'd probably just buy a 50'er. They're a stock item right next to the 25' ones.

 

[dennisb-SUN]

Well, we are back from our first trip in our Que. We were on the road for 6 weeks (42 days), covered 9,200 miles and 19 states (WA, OR, CA, AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, AR, OK, CO, UT, ID). In all, we stayed in 24 different RV parks across the country, and I can tell you the parks do differ in quality. The scenery and experiences of the trip are beyond description. the weather ranged from beautiful warm sunny days to tornados and snow. We were only forced to stop for one day, and that was due to snow in Oregon. During the trip we discovered that our air conditioning in the Que does not work. We will have to get that looked at soon. We wore one tire completely out and lost the bearing cap on one wheel allowing all of the grease to escape into the chrome vanity cover. I carried a grease gun, so re-greasing the bearing saved us from the ordeal of replacing the bearing. The spare tire was installed in Santa Fe, NM and on we went.

I was worried about temperatures, but we stayed in temperatures as low as 21 degrees F, without damage, although the tanks did freeze. I never keep more than 2" of fresh water in the tank, and the gray and black tanks are usually no fuller than the same 2". I did have to thaw the valves and tanks out once in order to dump them. Hot water did the trick, and there was no plumbing damage.

One of our destinations was Chaco Canyon NHP in New Mexico. The road in is 13 miles of dirt washboards. We did have a bit of internal damage from the rough ride, so a little maintenance is in order now.

Our overall mileage was 12 mpg, which was less than we had hoped, but on the other hand our savings in hotel rooms more than made up for the fuel cost.

We were really surprised that we didn't see any other Que's in all of our travels. We did get lots of looks and questions about the Que. Several groups wanted to know where to look at or purchase one. That always elicited the sad tale of the factory closure.

We are already planning our next big trip, although I don't think it will happen for a while. We are trying to get used to living in a big space again after 6 weeks in a 7x17 foot house!

 

[luvrque]

A/C not working...........

Welcome back! Sounds like you had a great trip. Thats a lot of miles for 6 weeks !
As for the A/C does it just blow air but NOT COLD? I had that problem. You are not alone buy any means.. 6 QUE owners out of 26 that I know of on this site had a none working A/C.
I had mine replaced by Dometic under the 2 year warranty. If it just needs coolant they replace the unit (they do not recharge it). I do not know if my new unit will cool properly, will do a FLA.trip soon and find out... Do you have the low profile unit ? Maybe the problem is only with the low profile ones,I don't know but 6 bad units out of 26 is NOT GOOD!!
If your Que is less than 2 yrs.old you can get a new unit installed from DOMETIC...

 

[Rainy In Texas]

Just found the Que

This is the first time I heard of the Que. I have been planning on buying a Casita and came across this on the Club site. What is the news about the factory closing? Anything you can tell me would be great!

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Rainy

Yes Sunline closed in Nov of 2006 We are all bummed out about this, trust me.

BUT do not let that stop you or send fears of buying a top quality Sunline product. There are still a handful of new, never owned ones left. And there are used ones that can be as good as new. Or even old ones many years old still good.

I myself bought a used Sunline last fall after having new one prior. As I wanted the quality of build and the uniqueness of a Sunline. The TT presented it self and I took it without hesitation.

Good luck in your search.

John