Our new (to us) HiLo

Hey everyone. My wife and I bought a 2001 Towlite, 17 ft, after a bit of research. We wanted something smallish but what sold us was that the HiLo fits in our garage! No HOA worries....

The unit is sound and everything works, but it is dated, so before we do any extensive traveling, we are remodeling, with paneling on walls and ceiling, new seals, new flooring, solar panels, and revising the couch/bed layout to a twin on one side, with some seating and additional cabinets on the other.

Looking gorward to seeing what others have done to their units! We just love our HiLo!

We followed the example of yet another Hi Lo owner and painted the existing paneling. We first used a product called TSP, available in the paint dept at the big box stores and elsewhere. Use according to directions. This cleans all the dirt, grime and wax off the surface and after rinsing with clear water it "sets" the surface for paint. Worked perfect! And saved time and $$$. We did ours in two tones of grey and gloss white trim. Brightened the place right up.
By the way, welcome to the forum. Check out the "Modifications" section for other ideas for making camping life more comfortable.
Treeclimber

Welcome to the forum

Treeclimber has given you some good advice. Just be careful about the weight of the paneling you choose. Maybe you can just paint over what you already have. It is a good idea to take out all your windows and reseal with butyl tape and Lexel caulk. We have specific posts on changing the seal between the halves. Many good folks on this forum that can answer any questions you may have. Happy remodeling.

I wanted to keep the added weight to a minimum, so the “paneling“ is actually peel and stick woos grain vinyl, 2 mm thick. Some 3M #77 spray adhesive in tough spots and it looks great. Not much extra weight. Will show pics when finished.

As for the body seal, I “enhanced” the existing seal by adding automotive “D” weatherstripping just below the lip on the lower unit, and “Z” profile weatherstripping on the upper unit. Took less than an hour to install, cost about $80. When raised I get a full seal around the unit, so I am satisfied.

I am installing 300w of solar panels; running the solar wires through the antenna hole to the controller in the same cabinet. The wires to the battery are a little trickier. I plan to run the wires along the roof from the cabinet to behind the shower curtain. I will run the wires down a wooden tube attached to the ceiling; the tube is only long enough to allow the wires to collapse when the top is down.

That’s my story so far! Thanks for the input!

Post pictures.

I would love to see the material you used for a reseal. Keep us posted.

You may want to look at the post Jack( jack and Janet) did on installing solar. He has some interesting and sound ideas on how to wire things up based on how long the run is to the batteries. Where is your shower- in front? I would think you would want the shortest run you can configure to the batteries.

Rick

Pictures would be great. I am interested in the weather stripping and how it was applied. I have a 1994 21 foot.

sam said:

I would love to see the material you used for a reseal. Keep us posted.

Click to expand...

Here are some pics of my reseal. The upper seal is automotive “D” profile and the lower is automotive “Z” profile. There is also a “P” profile that would work well for the bottom. Clean the areas with alcohol and stick on.

Everything available on Amazon.