Hi Folks,
It seems that this year, restoration project campers are abundant. This past weekend BenB and I traveled to northern VA to pick up our latest project camper, a 2004 T317SR. And if you are counting, this is project camper no. 4.
The opportunity presented itself, and the camper was in the acceptable condition for a restore project. This camper is an early build, 2004 model. The VIN decal is sun faded, but the single owner had the manual with all the paperwork in it. The camper went through final inspection at Sunline in June 2003 according to the inspection record dates. The interior décor is Nutmeg Floral. The camper was a stock order camper to a dealership by the invoice sheet. This 2004 T317SR has enclosed and a heated tank compartment, which I found as a shock. I had thought that my T310SR was one of the few enclosed tank TT’s Sunline offered as this was not an advertised option. But, it seems they provided it on other larger models in the 2004 line up. At this point there is more to learn on how these enclosed and heated tank compartment Sunline TT’s came to be and which models have them.
Last year the owners noticed a leak in the back wall area and repaired it to help stop the leak. Over the winter, a tree branch fell on the roof in the repaired area and separated the roof membrane from the rear wall. Water was leaking in for an unknown period and they did not notice it as they stated they went camping once in it earlier in the year.
Before discovering the new leak, they started to prepare it for sale. They then found the latest roof leak and realized the gravity of the situation. They called one RV roofer and got a quote. The cost to replace the roof was too much for them to absorb and still try to sell it. They decided to sell it, as is. The owner was forthcoming, not trying to hide anything and the total transaction went off smoothly. They were accommodating with everything, especially during pick up day.
Here is the roof issue. Yes, this looks ugly.![]()
The rest of the roof needs replacing.
![]()
The back of the roof was tarped before we arrived to help stop more water from getting it. When we removed the tarp, we drained approximately a gallon of water laying in the membrane that had collected, the black area in the pic. Having been sent good pictures, I was able to create and come prepared with a temporary roof patch to allow us the 500-mile tow home and not have a roof separation or leaking problem. Having done two roof replacements over the winter, and not yet taking the old roof materials to the dump, I had enough roofing material (rubber bonded to bud board) to make an 8 ft wide by 6-foot length roof patch.
Three of the rear rafters were compromised from the water damage. The 4th rafter in front of the rear roof vent still had some stability left to it. We placed two small sheets of 3/16” flooring underlayment over the old roof to hold up the new roof patch. Using long screws and fender washer, we attached the two pieces of wood plywood to the rafters, rear wall molding, and themselves.
![]()
Next was to place the 8ft x 6 ft old rubber roof patch with solid bud board backing over the plywood sheets and attached it all sides with fender washers and screws. With the rear wall ceiling rafter deteriorated, we screwed into the aluminum molding, which was still well attached. Then I cleaned the perimeter of the rubber patch, the old roof, and the moldings and used a combination 3” wide Gorilla tape and 4” Gorilla brand Eternabond type tape they now sell. The old roof patch was wide enough to lap over the gutter rails and be screwed to the side of the camper. The tape added extra temporary water protection.
![]()
This did take an amount of time to do. Cleaning was the longest to get the tape to bond correctly. While I was doing the roof patch taping, BenB was doing tire pressures, lug nuts torqueing, and getting everything else ready for road travel. The owner towed the camper from this tight turning spot out into cul-de-sac street where we could set up the Reese dual cam WD hitch on our truck. The upper cam arms adjusting nuts had dirt seized up, and I didn’t bring any penetrating fluid, making adjusting impossible. Penetrating oil will now be added to the camper pick up list! But, I remembered we had some mineral spirits for roof cleaning! Digging the dirt out of the cam arm key slots, I was able to work the mineral spirits into the threads and with luck and wiggling, freed up the cam arm locking nuts. Never had this issue before, but live and learn and we were then on our way home.
Here is a rest stop in MD. They have nice rest stops.
![]()
The weather started nicely; as the evening approached we hit a monsoon rainstorm that we had to drive through in total darkness. Glad we patched the roof! We made it to the Washington PA, KOA, to camp for the night, and it has stopped raining at least. We cleaned up the camper and made dinner on the stove. By 10:00 pm we finally dined and then crashed for the night. Sunday we made it home fine as the sun came back out again.
Here are some inside and outside pics at our place if you have never seen this floor plan. I started to clean-up the siding before we begin taking the camper apart so it can dry out before winter. This camper is 31’ 6” long, and cleaning every inch with a magic eraser and Awesome cleaner is a time-consuming task… I’ll do the rest at a later time
The outside:
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
The front top siding partly cleaned and the roof status. I was not going to clean the roof as it will be replaced.
![]()
![]()
Inside pics;
This camper has three bunks in the back, and it has a moveable wall feature for the bunk room. It adds some privacy if wanted, or the wall can be left open. But the wall has to be stored for travel as the slide room uses the floor space the wall is in when the slide comes in. Here is the wall with a mirror on it in the stored position.
![]()
And in the bunk room closed position. There is a hinged access door on the left.
![]()
The dinette and couch slide
![]()
The kitchen area looking towards the pass-through bathroom to the master bedroom.
![]()
With the bath door closed
![]()
Looking in the entry door
![]()
The rear bunk area. The ceiling has dropped from the water damage, and I cannot get the moveable wall to swing wide open. The pics are closeups as I was so close to the area. There is also one bunk with two cushions on it. And one with none. That was me storing it there to see what was under the bottom bunk. A water heater and cargo storage area.
![]()
![]()
![]()
Each bunk has its own window and light.
![]()
The bath area
![]()
![]()
I have yet to figure out what drove Sunline to install tub showers and non-tub showers in slide room campers. On the non-slide campers, there are wheel wells to contend with, and the tub shower shows up there to deal with the wheel well. But on a slide camper, the floor is flat the entire camper. Anyone know why in the same model year, some slide campers have tub showers, and some do not? I have even seen this on the T-264SR models. Some do, and some don’t have tub shows, yet the same floor plan.
The front master bedroom;
![]()
![]()
![]()
The pics do not show the amount of restoration repair needed. So far, this is what I know needs to be restored, repaired. The list will grow as the camper comes apart.
- The rear bunk area ceiling needs replacement and all wood above it.
- The right and left rear wall areas have water damage.
- The entire rear wall has water damage.
- A whole new roof is needed.
- The top front roof corners have the beginning of water infiltration, as shown by wet walls with the moisture meter.
- The front left lower wall has a water infection in the storage compartment. It looks like a corner molding leak.
- The slide drive system needs the drive shaft bushing rebuild and slide adjustment.
- The slide floor has a small area of floor water damage to be repaired.
- The freshwater tank mount needs to be reworked along with the bottom cover. The tank was laying out of its cradle being held in by the bottom cover.
- The axles are very much out of alignment. The trailer dog tracks hard to the right and wears tires badly as observed on the old set of tires they took off, which I requested to keep. The back of the camper is approx. 6 to 8” shifted to the right and dog tracking with the front while towing straight down the road.
- The right side rear spring hanger has cracked the I beam frame web above it from side turn flexing of the lower I beam flange. This web crack is an issue on the long spring hanger I beam frames of this vintage across the RV industry. Sunline is not alone in this issue. Reinforcing needs to be added to stop the lower I beam flange from constantly flexing in turns.
- The roof AC unit does work, but the control system has issues and will not respond to the T stat. The roof AC unit runs nonstop in high cooling until you turn the power off. The good news, the compressor, and the fan does work.
I will post more as progress continues.
Thanks for looking.
John
It seems that this year, restoration project campers are abundant. This past weekend BenB and I traveled to northern VA to pick up our latest project camper, a 2004 T317SR. And if you are counting, this is project camper no. 4.
The opportunity presented itself, and the camper was in the acceptable condition for a restore project. This camper is an early build, 2004 model. The VIN decal is sun faded, but the single owner had the manual with all the paperwork in it. The camper went through final inspection at Sunline in June 2003 according to the inspection record dates. The interior décor is Nutmeg Floral. The camper was a stock order camper to a dealership by the invoice sheet. This 2004 T317SR has enclosed and a heated tank compartment, which I found as a shock. I had thought that my T310SR was one of the few enclosed tank TT’s Sunline offered as this was not an advertised option. But, it seems they provided it on other larger models in the 2004 line up. At this point there is more to learn on how these enclosed and heated tank compartment Sunline TT’s came to be and which models have them.
Last year the owners noticed a leak in the back wall area and repaired it to help stop the leak. Over the winter, a tree branch fell on the roof in the repaired area and separated the roof membrane from the rear wall. Water was leaking in for an unknown period and they did not notice it as they stated they went camping once in it earlier in the year.
Before discovering the new leak, they started to prepare it for sale. They then found the latest roof leak and realized the gravity of the situation. They called one RV roofer and got a quote. The cost to replace the roof was too much for them to absorb and still try to sell it. They decided to sell it, as is. The owner was forthcoming, not trying to hide anything and the total transaction went off smoothly. They were accommodating with everything, especially during pick up day.
Here is the roof issue. Yes, this looks ugly.
The rest of the roof needs replacing.
The back of the roof was tarped before we arrived to help stop more water from getting it. When we removed the tarp, we drained approximately a gallon of water laying in the membrane that had collected, the black area in the pic. Having been sent good pictures, I was able to create and come prepared with a temporary roof patch to allow us the 500-mile tow home and not have a roof separation or leaking problem. Having done two roof replacements over the winter, and not yet taking the old roof materials to the dump, I had enough roofing material (rubber bonded to bud board) to make an 8 ft wide by 6-foot length roof patch.
Three of the rear rafters were compromised from the water damage. The 4th rafter in front of the rear roof vent still had some stability left to it. We placed two small sheets of 3/16” flooring underlayment over the old roof to hold up the new roof patch. Using long screws and fender washer, we attached the two pieces of wood plywood to the rafters, rear wall molding, and themselves.
Next was to place the 8ft x 6 ft old rubber roof patch with solid bud board backing over the plywood sheets and attached it all sides with fender washers and screws. With the rear wall ceiling rafter deteriorated, we screwed into the aluminum molding, which was still well attached. Then I cleaned the perimeter of the rubber patch, the old roof, and the moldings and used a combination 3” wide Gorilla tape and 4” Gorilla brand Eternabond type tape they now sell. The old roof patch was wide enough to lap over the gutter rails and be screwed to the side of the camper. The tape added extra temporary water protection.
This did take an amount of time to do. Cleaning was the longest to get the tape to bond correctly. While I was doing the roof patch taping, BenB was doing tire pressures, lug nuts torqueing, and getting everything else ready for road travel. The owner towed the camper from this tight turning spot out into cul-de-sac street where we could set up the Reese dual cam WD hitch on our truck. The upper cam arms adjusting nuts had dirt seized up, and I didn’t bring any penetrating fluid, making adjusting impossible. Penetrating oil will now be added to the camper pick up list! But, I remembered we had some mineral spirits for roof cleaning! Digging the dirt out of the cam arm key slots, I was able to work the mineral spirits into the threads and with luck and wiggling, freed up the cam arm locking nuts. Never had this issue before, but live and learn and we were then on our way home.
Here is a rest stop in MD. They have nice rest stops.
The weather started nicely; as the evening approached we hit a monsoon rainstorm that we had to drive through in total darkness. Glad we patched the roof! We made it to the Washington PA, KOA, to camp for the night, and it has stopped raining at least. We cleaned up the camper and made dinner on the stove. By 10:00 pm we finally dined and then crashed for the night. Sunday we made it home fine as the sun came back out again.
Here are some inside and outside pics at our place if you have never seen this floor plan. I started to clean-up the siding before we begin taking the camper apart so it can dry out before winter. This camper is 31’ 6” long, and cleaning every inch with a magic eraser and Awesome cleaner is a time-consuming task… I’ll do the rest at a later time
The outside:
The front top siding partly cleaned and the roof status. I was not going to clean the roof as it will be replaced.
Inside pics;
This camper has three bunks in the back, and it has a moveable wall feature for the bunk room. It adds some privacy if wanted, or the wall can be left open. But the wall has to be stored for travel as the slide room uses the floor space the wall is in when the slide comes in. Here is the wall with a mirror on it in the stored position.
And in the bunk room closed position. There is a hinged access door on the left.
The dinette and couch slide
The kitchen area looking towards the pass-through bathroom to the master bedroom.
With the bath door closed
Looking in the entry door
The rear bunk area. The ceiling has dropped from the water damage, and I cannot get the moveable wall to swing wide open. The pics are closeups as I was so close to the area. There is also one bunk with two cushions on it. And one with none. That was me storing it there to see what was under the bottom bunk. A water heater and cargo storage area.
Each bunk has its own window and light.
The bath area
I have yet to figure out what drove Sunline to install tub showers and non-tub showers in slide room campers. On the non-slide campers, there are wheel wells to contend with, and the tub shower shows up there to deal with the wheel well. But on a slide camper, the floor is flat the entire camper. Anyone know why in the same model year, some slide campers have tub showers, and some do not? I have even seen this on the T-264SR models. Some do, and some don’t have tub shows, yet the same floor plan.
The front master bedroom;
The pics do not show the amount of restoration repair needed. So far, this is what I know needs to be restored, repaired. The list will grow as the camper comes apart.
- The rear bunk area ceiling needs replacement and all wood above it.
- The right and left rear wall areas have water damage.
- The entire rear wall has water damage.
- A whole new roof is needed.
- The top front roof corners have the beginning of water infiltration, as shown by wet walls with the moisture meter.
- The front left lower wall has a water infection in the storage compartment. It looks like a corner molding leak.
- The slide drive system needs the drive shaft bushing rebuild and slide adjustment.
- The slide floor has a small area of floor water damage to be repaired.
- The freshwater tank mount needs to be reworked along with the bottom cover. The tank was laying out of its cradle being held in by the bottom cover.
- The axles are very much out of alignment. The trailer dog tracks hard to the right and wears tires badly as observed on the old set of tires they took off, which I requested to keep. The back of the camper is approx. 6 to 8” shifted to the right and dog tracking with the front while towing straight down the road.
- The right side rear spring hanger has cracked the I beam frame web above it from side turn flexing of the lower I beam flange. This web crack is an issue on the long spring hanger I beam frames of this vintage across the RV industry. Sunline is not alone in this issue. Reinforcing needs to be added to stop the lower I beam flange from constantly flexing in turns.
- The roof AC unit does work, but the control system has issues and will not respond to the T stat. The roof AC unit runs nonstop in high cooling until you turn the power off. The good news, the compressor, and the fan does work.
I will post more as progress continues.
Thanks for looking.
John