'88 Sunrader -

[SaadowGorl]

Hello All!

A brief overview of my current situation followed by some questions after the ***'s. 

I've been out doing car camping part time & living in town with friends/family while taking care of a family member for a while now. I just purchased a 21' 1988 Toyota Sunrader (4 cyl). The RV has significant damage to the walls from water intrusion over the years. [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I am in the process of ripping out the walls and getting ready to take out the windows and reseal/reinstall them. T[/font]his unit has the wrap around windows that I'm looking to replace with fiberglass as I've heard they leak pretty badly. I've never owned an rv before and a friend suggested I get the propane tank pressure tested. I'm going to call the local Camping World service store to get an appointment for this... 

I'm looking to:
Get the walls ripped out
Redo the windows so they don't leak
Fiberglass over the wraparound front windows
(Basically weather proof the RV and head out for some test runs, get rid of the current living situation and be out full time by early next year; hoping to do the RTR if it is in person as the jumping off point.)

Caveat:  I don't know how to use any of the systems and don't really get electronics. I don't know how to use the propane either, so for now I've got my old Coleman stove for cooking on, a portapotti that I've used car camping, some 5 gallon water bottles, some 3 volt usb lights that plug into a very small solar panel and battery storage, and my cooler. I'm hoping to run into some people that can help me figure out the 'how too's' of RVing along the way. Anyhow... 

Stretch[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] goals (depending on time and the little funds I have...): [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Add USB charging to the standard electrical outlets, [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Change out the lights from incandescent(? 1980's style lights anyway) to LED[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Replace the insulation[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Replace the walls[/font]



***
??? Are there general checks beyond the propane tank pressure test that I should have a professional service team look at? 
??? Is Camping World a good place to get this done? Or should I consider a different shop? 
??? Are there any other things I should think about in terms of working on the RV for comfort/living? 
??? If I can't get to the 'stretch goals' (highly likely that I won't) any ideas on how to do a decent job of covering the wires and things in a way that will allow me to easily remove them to do the behind the walls work? I have 1 sheet of ply wood and 3 sheets of thin wood like you would put on the back of a cheap-o fiberboard bookshelf now. 

Thanks for taking a look at this! Photos below for fun/info

 

[maki2]

The Sunraders just use normal RV appliances. Youtube has a ton of videos for beginners shoeing how to do propaane appliance checks and trouble shooting. Also videoos on emptying the waste tanks, fixing plumbing leaks, putting in new faucets. I used to own a Sunrader so know a fair amount about them.

But it is too bad that someone has been messing around wiith that ceilng as it has screwed up the inherent structural integrity of it. The Sunnraders are a bit unique. In the RV world. When they were built the shell was left upside down in the mold while the insulation and the plywood that formed the interior ceiling whle the shell, the insulation and the plyood ceiling panel were continuously bonded together with a full adhesive coating on all the mating surfaces. That created an engineer structure known as a SIP which stands for " structurall engineered panel. The strenth of which is much greater than the individual parts. So now youare going to have saggy roof issues unless tou add in a bunch of cross beams which will refuce the head height inside you rig.

The other issuebthey have for leaks is the screws under that wxteripr trim band between the upper and lower half. Sure they used stainnless screws but the rust out anyepway so that can create numerous small leaks. That aliminum trim band has no drainage holes along the lower edge so water gets trapped in it and seaps insifede the walls. It is not just the front window that causes the leaks in the upper bunk area, it is just as often, if not more often those screw holes. Once I fixed the screw hole issue in my forward bunk area the leak issue was solved without having to remove the wrap around window.

Small leaks in that wrap around rubber widow gasket can be fixed using Captain Tulleys Creeping Crack Solution. It is a liquid thin type of caulk that will fill small voids. Boat owners use it on their port light rubber window gaskets.

If there are small rock chip spider cracks in that Plexiglass window they can be sealed with a Weldon product meant for bonding acrylic plastics. Using a tiny artist grush you let the liquid wick off the brush tip into the crack. Never use a brushing motion or it will smear the plastick. Or have a drippy excess of liquid on the brush and never touch the surface before the glue dries as that will smear the plastic.

 

[SaadowGorl]

Thanks for the tips. Good to know about the engineered roof. The roof was definetly *not* all bonded together; looks like they went cheap and put as small bead of adhesive on it to keep it to the roof. Lots of it just fell off the roof with no signs of adhesive anywhere.  Was looking to add in additional reinforcing of the thing anyway, so think we should be good on that.  Was wondering about the trim that went around the shell...thought it was probably where they married the two halves of the fiberglass shell. What is the best way to deal with the screw holes? Remove the band on the outside? That has several places where it is torn already. Figure replace any rusted screws, put some sealant over the screw hole (from the inside or from the outside???) and replace the band?

 

[john*thomas]

The good news is Sunraders are extremely popular and as noted above there are a ton of video's on YouTube that will help address all your questions. IMO you are better off keeping the wrap around windows and just reseal them. That's likely even easier than covering them. It's too bad someone didn't take care of this one better.

Another great source of information is here.

https://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?/forum/2-general-discussion/

It's quite active and there are people very knowledgeable that post there, many with Sunraders. Take your time, do a decent job (you don't have to spend a ton to do this) and you'll have yourself a very desirable RV.