New Member w/1996 Itasca Sunrise 31rq Ford Chassis

[FrankenHome]

Hello All,


I'm new and this is my first post so I'll start by introducing myself. First, my wife and I are still newbies when it comes to RVing. We used to make most of our vacation trips by motorcycle or sports car but a little over two years ago we became guardians of my wife's now 13 year old 2nd cousin. We also have a 90 lb. knucklehead of a dog named Buddy that we don't want to kennel every time we travel out of town. So we decided we needed to figure out how we can all go on vacation together. The only thing that we could come up with that would work for all of us was a motorhome. Mind you that this was not a readily acceptable concept for me. As an avid motorcyclist, it never occurred to me to own a Class A RV or any RV for that matter because RVs were just targets for me to eventually pass. But I had to accept the fact that buying an RV was the right thing to do.


That's how we ended up purchasing the 96 Itasca. I found this beauty on Craigslist. The price was reasonable and the owner "swore" the RV didn't need anything. It turned out that it needed everything but I'll share that little detail later.


For now I'm looking forward to talking with all you.


Best regards,
John

[Rickf1985]

Welcome John, I also have a 31 footer but it is an 89  on a Chevy chassis.

[FrankenHome]

Hi Rick, thanks for the reply. It's nice to know that there's others out there that own, drive, still use and maintain older RVs. I'm currently sitting in mine repairing a a hole in the side of the engine coolant/heater pipe under the sofa at the hose fitting to the hot water heater. I had a stain appear on my carpet and traced it the corroded fitting and hope. Made quite a mess but I'll get it fixed. One of many challenges with this coach. If anyone is interested I have a lot to share.
Take care,
John 1996 Itasca Sunrise F53

[FrankenHome]

By-the-way, that was supposed to be "fitting and hole". Not hope. My phone keeps changing my words. Makes me crazy.

[Rickf1985]

Just so you know, that pipe will continue to the rear where it will tie into a rear heater so you might want to check back there also.

The forum owner likes to keep everything in it's place so once you start talking about repairs move the posts to the Chassis section under the Ford header.

[FrankenHome]

Thanks and will do!

[boogie_man]

Hi and welcome to the madness