Our "new" tiny travel trailer - Sunline Sunspot

[frank_a]

Long day today, but finally made it over to Syracuse to pick up our Sunline Sunspot from Gaelen (Pat Steer).



Got some things to look after, but got it home okay, about a 3 hour drive, towed like a dream, no swaying, balanced well, and just what Gail and I needed. My sincere thanks to Pat for her patience and understanding. She's a great woman, and I just hope she makes out okay with the challenges life has thrown her way.

The Sunspot ("Spot") is now in our driveway until I figure out how to lower it or raise a garage roof. Never really thought it wouldn't fit in my garage, and it won't fit in my pole barn either. I have some other ideas for a cover for it, but for now, outside it sits.



We'll be hauling it to Fish Creek next month for the Adirondack Tear Up. Looking forward to it!

Frank

[rmclarke]

Awesome score and Congratulations!!
Sunspots are C L !!!

I based my trailer design partially on the Sunspot (and the other part on the Grasshopper for good measure)

Enjoy!!

[frank_a]

So then you would know how well balanced these are for towing Richard. If it wasn't for it's imposing front in my rear view mirror, it's like it's directly attached to the back of the vehicle.

We have at least two jaunts already planned, one a 10 day stay in the Finger Lakes of NYS at Keuka State Campground in July. and the Spring Tear Up in the northern Adirondacks next month. It will get used!

Frank

[papmom35]

congratulations Frank! I can't wait to see what you do with it! I'm glad it found such a good home. I sure hope to meet you guys some day-you've been such a help with my Play-Mor and TV saga!!
Enjoy the gathering in June!!
Pam

[frank_a]

Thank you Pam. It is and will be a mid- to long-term project. We have too many other things going on. It works as is, but we do have some plans in the works too.

Good luck with your Play-Mor. They look to be great TTT's too! TV saga is right. You got a lot of folks pulling for you.

Frank

[papmom35]

yes I do and it's very heartwarming!
Somewhere on this site is a rehab build blog for a sunspot that was pretty cool. Have fun!!

[rmclarke]

Frank,
I've never owned one or towed one...but I've always liked them. It's just a neat small trailer concept.

[Deryk the Pirate]

CONGRADS!

If I didnt buy my trailer frame and order the lumber I would have driven up to look at it...I was lookin for sunspots for over a year. But Im happy with my vardo, just brought it home to finish the inside from my friends house...

Best of Luck with it!

[frank_a]

Pam, I've seen that blog. Those folks had a lot better place to work on their Sunspot, and cash to do it all at once. I don't qulaify either way.

Well then Richard, let me tell you what is neat. I've towed a lot of trailers, mostly boats and utility types, with all kinds of experiences, some scary. Not with this baby. Because I was somewhat concerned about the hubs, I didn't go over 65 yesterday, but I was towing in the rain and it worked great. I hope to pull the hubs today and check them out.

Well Deryk, it was kinda funny how this all worked out, but suffice it to say it did work. It worked thanks to the graciousness of Gaelen actually, which we very much appreciate. I'm pretty enthused, and hope to start working on it soon, and laying out plans for things to be built for it.

Frank

[frank_a]

Woo hoo! I got it in the pole barn!

[papmom35]

with room to spare it looks like! That's awesome! Now you can work on it at your leisure without worrying about the weather too much!!
I think the teardrop idea of the galley in the rear is pretty cool and if there is anyway you can work it so you can access at least the stove and fridge from inside then even better!! Is there any such thing as a double sided fridge?
Pam

[kirkman]

frank_a...... What no inside pic's?

[frank_a]

Yes Pam, good to have a place to work. Just finished painting the deck of my old speed boat, looks great. Now I'm waiting on my brother to come over with his utility trailer for a wiring and lights job.

Inside pics when I get it cleaned out, hopefully later today!

Frank

[frank_a]

Soon as I get some time, I'll start an album.

The inside was stripped. Old seats and table gone, hutch, frig, sink, cabinets, etc. gone, needs rebuild. That is what we'll do, re-build it to our tastes. Pics (and/or album) soon!

Frank

[frank_a]

first thing I did was pull the hubs to check them out. Basically all looks good, cups are nice and shiny, cones are similar, just need re-packing. But I'm having a go-around with seals for these hubs!

I can't even begin to tell you how many hubs I have rebuilt. Usually it's all I can do to get the seals out. Boy, not in this case. The first one came right out with hardly any pressure on the screwdriver at all. I pulled the other hub this morning before coming into work, and thought I would try a little experiment. I got the tip of my forefinger in as much as I could between the seal and the bearing and popped it out with my finger! Gee.

So yesterday the local NAPA guy tells me 16074-224 (number on the original seal) interchanges to 14840, so I order a couple of those. After pulling one out with my finger this morning, I thought maybe ordering replacements wasn't such a great idea, especially given the amount of grease leaking out the back of both hubs. So I search on the net for hub repair kits for 1 1/16" axles and come up with an interchange for the seal to NAPA of 29676. So I call NAPA and ask if they could tell me what seal goes with 1 1/16" hub rebuild kits. Oh good, there's two - 12404 and 17146. So here's the deal - NAPA is ordering me pairs of all these numbers. I WILL figure this out. I'm pretty sure I am not going to be putting direct replacement seals (14840) back in.

Whatever I come up with I'll post. You never know, someone else may run into a similar problem.

Frank