Camper Larry's Sun Lite 19RB Build & Adventures

[Camper_Larry]

So I'll begin our journey by saying my wife likes to put the cart before the horse because she knows I'll never agree to buying the cart in the first place. After she buys the cart I have to figure out the horse, and also the cart, and she just shows up to ride in both....LOL.

Case in point. The wife wanted a camper so she went out and bought a new 2025 Sunlite 19RB camper back in February. When we show up at the dealer to pick it up, the first thing the salesman says is "What do you plan to tow it with?". My wife points to our 2022 Jeep Wrangler JL and the salesman says "Oh, ummm, well, let me go get the tech guy and ask him". Tech shows up and asks me the tow rating on the Jeep, which is 3,500 lbs with a max tongue weight of 300lbs. FYI, the advertised DRY weight of this camper is 2,900lbs with a tongue weight of 320lbs.

The tech guys says "Well you might be able to tow it with that (Jeep), but the transmission probably isn't up to the task, not to mention you are already exceeding it's tongue weight limit." BTW, I've got a good bit of towing experience so I know the Jeep won't work, but when my wife wants something, she will make the math work. In her mind 3,500lbs is more than 3,000lbs so the Jeep would be fine. Regarding the tongue weight, the Wrangler JL's hitch is mounted to the body (not the frame) so not recommended for use with a WDH. We ended up having a friend tow it home for us with his F-350 and park it in our yard, and there the adventure would begin.

Fortunately we also own a 2003 F-150, which is rated to tow up to 6,200lbs IIRC. Ours is the 4.6L V8, 4R70W 4-Speed transmission, 3.55 LSD, and the tow package with an oil cooler, and transmission cooler. I was pretty sure it would be fine even though my wife calls it our "Hoopty Truck" because I bought it cheap, and it's primary use has been trips to the landfill. It's got 193K on the clock, but even though it's exterior is a little rough, the interior is mint, and it runs great. Besides, for the cost of a newer truck, I can afford to fix a LOT of stuff on a truck I bought for just $1500.

After doing TONS of research via YouTube, forums, and asking friends who've been into it for a while, I started getting the truck and camper ready. I started by making a list of items needed for the camper, which was quite long as there is a LOT of stuff that is needed for water, sewer, and electrical hookups. Fortunately there are almost endless resources for information about campers and RVing on YouTube. I also bought a 3-camera setup, and a TPMS system to keep an eye on the camper tires. It didn't but a couple of manual up/down operations with the manual tongue jack before I bought an electric one. If you plan to run a WDH, the electric tongue jack is almost a necessity IMO.

After I got most of the stuff done on the actual camper, I started upgrading the F-150 since it would be used for towing duty now. I added a set of airbags, news shocks, WDH, and a brake controller. I also changed the transmission and rear diff fluids, and installed a dedicated transmission & water temp gauges to keep an eye on things while towing the camper.

Here's a shot with the truck hooked up prior to getting the airbags and WDH installed. As you can see it's squatted quite a bit and would likely have been riding the bump stops when I hit the first bump if I towed it like that. BTW, I did NOT!

Stay tuned for more....

 

[Camper_Larry]

So our first trip actually went pretty well. We went to Kerr Lake here in Eastern, NC for Fri-Sun trip which is only about 1-1/2 hours drive for us. The weather was great on the drive down, but turned cold and windy after that, so no deploying of the awning.

The F-150 did pretty well, or as well as expected. I have to tow in 3rd gear, which increases the RPMs of course, and decreases the MPG. The good news is with ambient temps of almost 90F, the highest trans temp I saw was 180F. We used the back roads and ran between 55-60MPH the whole trip.

Our campsite had water and electrical hookups, but no sewer. The site was reasonably sloped, but I was able to level the camper with no issues. I found I may need to buy an extension for both my electric and water as both were almost at their limit to reach the hookups.

Since it was pretty cold at night, we got to try the propane furnace. The amount of heat it put out was great, but the thermostat sucked, and was one the things I noted that I needed to replace before our next outing. The water heater is also propane and it worked very well. The shower works, but works better if you are my wife's height of 5'-0". I'm 6'-3", and it was bit tight, but I managed.

Here we are all set up:

 

[Camper_Larry]

Some things learned as a new RVer after our first trip:

1. The camera setup I have is not as useful as I had hoped. The side cameras are OK on the highway, but less than useless when backing the camper. The rear camera is good if you want to see the bumper of the camper. I you want to use it to see traffic behind you, or back into a spot, well, it's useless.

2. The stock, heat-only, thermostat may as well be a light switch since there are no temperature "settings". Seriously, there were no numbers on it to set a desired temperature. I immediately ordered a digital model and installed it.

3. It seems I setup the WDH, airbags, and brake controller correctly as I had no sway, bouncing, or other drama while towing the camper.

4. The gear I bought for the water setup worked very well. I bought a flexible cloth hose, water filter, and pressure regulator and had no leaks.

5. The gear I bought for the sewer connections (Rhino Blaster hose combo) worked well when dumping/flushing the black tank. I was worried about this, but it went off w/o a hitch.

6. Towing mirrors are needed. I wasn't happy with the cameras, so I bought a set of towing mirrors.

 

[Camper_Larry]

The modifications started early. Inside the camper I added some RGBW LED lighting above the bed. The two OEM 'reading' lights that face downward are way too bright to be useful when laying in bed.

I hate exposed wires in general, so I also added a couple of wireless magnetic chargers to each side of the bed for our phones.

Fortunately the circuit that runs the lights above the bed is fed directly off the 12V battery and the wiring is easy to access via removable cover that forms the shelf. The OEM push-button lights are 12VDC, the new LEDs are 24VDC, the phone chargers are 5VDC so I had to install a buss bar, two separate converters to get the correct voltage at each.

 

[Camper_Larry]

Continuing on with the upgrades...

Our fresh water tank and pump is underneath the bed along with some extra storage space. To gain access to this area, there is a hinged lid beneath the mattress that is held up by two gas struts. Those struts worked fine with the stock mattress, which SUCKED, so we replaced it immediately with a nicer (heavier) model.

That extra storage space is where my wife wanted to keep the extra sheets, towels, etc so it needed to be easily accessed. The new mattress was too heavy for the gas struts, and a powered solution seemed in order, not to mention I've always wanted an excuse to use linear actuators. I bought a pair off Amazon to replace the gas struts and installed them. They are controlled via momentary toggle switch at the foot of the bed. They work great, most importantly the wife is a big fan.

 

[Camper_Larry]

After I got the actuators installed I discovered I needed lighting underneath. I had been using a battery operated puck type that you had to turn on/off with a push button. It worked OK, but I had to remember to turn it off, and that resulted in dead battery in short order.

I wanted a light that turned on/off automatically when the bed was raised/lowered. I added an LED strip and connected it to a magnetic-type reed switch. Works like a champ!

 

[Camper_Larry]

As anyone with a camper knows, storage is a premium, so you take it whereever you can get it. Ours has a dinette/guest bed with two storage areas underneath the seats, but it's a pain to access quickly and easily. To gain access you have to remove both these cusions, place them somewhere out of the way:

Then remove this plywood cover, and get it out of the way.

It seemed to me that it would be much easier to cut a hole under the side of each seat, and add doors which would eliminate removing/displacing anything. That was the plan so it was time to get to it.

I started by using my ocillating tool to cut the thin wood paneling to form the openings under each seat. I used a sanding block to smooth out the edges and get rid of all the splinters from the cutting the paneling.

Next I cut some Poplar 1x2's 1-1/2" wider that the opening and used my Kreg pocket hole jig to join them to form the door frames. I then used my my router to cut a rabbet on the back side of the door frames to accept the panels that I cut from the openings. I painted the frames, installed the hinges and door pulls, and installed them in the camper.

The hinges are self-closing, but I still need to add door latches inside so these stayed closed during transport.

 

[Camper_Larry]

So after our lake trip the wife told me she wanted a rack to hang wet items to dry like swimsuits, towels, etc. I'd never seen one, but figured I could come up with something, and I built this.

The vertical mast is 1-1/2" square steel tubing that I welded to a 1/8" thk x 4" square plate. I installed stainless-steel rivet nuts into the bumper and attached it with (5) 1/4"-20 stainless-steel bolts.

The (4) horizontal arms are 1" square aluminum tubing, covered with pipe insulation. The arms are bolted to (8) tabs I welded onto the mast. These arms stayed locked into place during transport via M8 stainless-steel sping-loaded pull pins.

I spent more than I needed to because I used all stainless hardware, and had steel plate and mounting tabs laser-cut by SendCutSend.com, but everything fit perfectly, so it was worth it IMO. Bottom line is she was very happy with it and it works great.

 

[Boat Bum]

Cool upgrades, I especially like the wireless charger.

 

[Camper_Larry]

Our next adventure was at Dixon's Landing RV Resort (near New Bern, NC) which is located on the banks of Goose Creek. We had a bit of heat wave and it was hotter than a four-balled tom cat as it was at or near 100F each day.

The trip started a little rough as the A/C on the tow rig (my 2003 F-150) decided to take a pause for about 2 miles, and then ran normally the rest of the trip. :dunno: On the drive there I was running about 60MPH and noticed the water temp was creeping up beyond where the needle usually sits. I didn't know the actual water temperature, but to be safe, I slowed to 55MPH and it seemed to normalize. The max trans temp I saw was 194F, which I was happy with. I'm not comfortable with the stock water temps 'normal' range, so I ordered an actual matching water temp gauge that I'll have in place prior to our next trip upcoming on July 4th weekend.

The good news is the A/C in the camper was able to keep up despite the heat. Keeping the door closed we could maintain about 75F during the day. At night it will freeze your tail off though and we had to actually turn the temp up.

Our setup for the weekend:

 

[Camper_Larry]

Regarding the transmission temp gauge I referenced earlier. To install it I removed a round section of one of the HVAC vents with my Dremel, and glued the shroud in place to hold the gauge. Vent still works, and pivots.

For the water temp gauge, I bought an A-pillar mount from Autometer: