Aerolite 213RBSL - Rotate the Toilet - Dutchmen Owners
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Old 08-14-2021, 01:57 AM   #1
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Aerolite 213RBSL - Rotate the Toilet

Hello all. We should be picking up the "new to us" Aerolite in the next few days. Really like the floorplan.

I've tried searching the Dutchmen forums on the subject of rotating the toilet.

On the 213RBSL we think the toilet is positioned/pointing way too much toward the sink base. We plan on replacing the shower door with a retractable or a slider and then hopefully can rotate the toilet a little more clockwise.

I've seen videos on other brands where it was just as simple as removing the bowl, unscrewing the flange, rotate the flange to the desired position, screw the flange back down and then reinstall the bowl.

Does anyone have any experience trying to do this on the 213RBSL?
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Old 08-14-2021, 07:29 PM   #2
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Keep in mind that the “hole” drops straight down and bolts straight to the floor-probably yo some joists. Be careful because the “floor” is just 1/4 or some such wood with a foam sandwiched so you will not be able to bolt in a different spot most likely with out reinforcements
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Old 08-20-2021, 02:03 AM   #3
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We have a 2018 Aerolite 213RBSL that we bought new, and also like the floorplan and the big and very useful outside kitchen. I see your point on the toilet. As was mentioned, not sure how feasible rotating will be. Ours appears to be bolted down much like a residential toilet. Me thinks mine will stay where it is. As for the curved shower door move to a different style, I get it. The curved shower looks cool, but I have already done one field repair when one side came off the rails. Thankfully fixed relatively easily. Good luck with the new to you trailer. Other than the usual reassembly needed with any new RV, it has been a good unit. Big enough for relative comfort, but not too big. Easy to tow with my 1/2 ton SUV. I did replace the mattress with a 60" x 75" RV queen that just clears the slide. The RV king it came with was 72" long, but I am 74" long, so that was not going to work. I had to modify the bed platform, but that was easy. I also replaced the China tires with Goodyear Endurance right after I bought it. Peace of mind. Oh, I also found a way to keep the cushions in place when the dinette is used as a bed. I use Velcro to hold the table top in place and then straps with Velcro to hold the cushions in place. Now our 8 year old's bed stays together for the night.
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Old 08-21-2021, 11:10 AM   #4
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I like what you’re thinking. At 6’2” it’s a tight squeeze for me in our 213RBSL. I am interested in how it works out.
We removed the shower door and put a roll up door in, best darn thing we ever did! Check this thread out for more details. A few of us have installed them and all with great results.

https://www.dutchmenowners.org/forum...ns-7119-4.html

Enjoy, the 213 is a great trailer! We just got a new RV King Mattress and will be installing this weekend.
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Old 09-04-2021, 07:35 PM   #5
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Update #1 - minor bathroom remodel

Picked up the camper this past week. Set it up in a nearby campground for a month so I can check everything out and start the bathroom remodel project.

Took all the measurements of the shower enclosure, noted the corners are square where the wall meets the pan.

Shower opening is 53-3/8 top and bottom (so hopefully fairly square).
Shower surround is 65-1/2 tall where the door rails are located.
There is over 73 inches of clearance to the ceiling.
It is 2-1/2 inches wide (or more) where the bottom door rail/support sits.

Ordered the Nautilus Shower Door from Stoett Industries:
Height: 67"
Width: 60"
Housing: Square
Screen Type: Opaque Stripe
Frame Color: Brushed Nickel

I did choose a 67" height to give me a little more clearance since I'm a little over 6' tall. Figuring only 1-1/2 inch over the existing surround walls would still have plenty of support.

I thought about ordering 71" tall door and building out the wall to support the extra 5-1/2" above the enclosure. Some 1/4 inch plexiglass/plastic with some waterproof adhesive would probably work fine.

With it being the Holiday weekend probably takes 3 weeks for it to arrive. That will give me plenty of time to remove the existing shower door/rails and clean-up/prep the area for the new door.

Also plan on rotating the toilet at this point since I'll have more room to work.
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Old 09-14-2021, 12:03 AM   #6
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Update #2 - Shower doors removed

Spent some time this past Satuday at the camper. Time to remove the existing shower door.

Removed the screws holding the top rail then removed the top rail.

Removed all the remaining screws that I could access with the door and frame still in place. There are three screws holding the back rail to the wall that couldn't be accessed until most of the shower door is removed.

Used a 1-1/2inch metal putty knife to slide between the frames pieces and the shower surround walls to break the silicone caulk sealant.

Now I could remove the glass door and its frame, followed by the fixed glass panel section. This allowed me to remove the 3 remaining screws that were holding that back rail to the wall.

Next job is removal/cleanup of the silicone caulking. Started with a razorblade knife/scrapper, then the metal putty knife, then a plastic putty knife which got most of the caulk.

I'll be buying some Goo Gone Caulk remover tomorrow to hopefully get rid of the remaining silicone residue.
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Old 09-14-2021, 02:40 AM   #7
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Adding some pics

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Old 09-15-2021, 03:58 PM   #8
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Ready for the new door to arrive

Used the Goo Gone Caulk remover and a plastic putty knife to remove 99% of the caulk. Don't think I can get any more because of the textured surface of the shower walls & floor.

I am adding a pic of the screws used to hold the original door in place.
3 long screws in the back wall rail, 3 medium screws front wall rail, 1 medium screw in the bottom rail at the hinge point of the door, the remaining dozen short screws are what was holding the whole thing together.

Now we wait for the new retracting door to arrive.

Plan on trying to rotate the toilet in the next couple of days.
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Old 09-20-2021, 02:56 AM   #9
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Mission Accomplished - Toilet rotated

Had some time to work on the RV again today. Time to try and rotate the toilet.

Shut-off water supply to RV and opened a couple of the faucets to relieve pressure. Flushed toilet to remove water.
Loosened and removed the water supply line to the toilet while having a small towel under it to catch any water.
Removed the protective caps on the nuts securing the toilet to the flange/floor. Loosened and removed both nuts which were not as tight as I expected.
Removed the toilet and placed it on a towel in the shower. Was surprised by the sawdust and dirt under the toilet. Removed the flange bolts.
Removed the 7 screws securing the flange to the floor of the RV.
Used a putty knife to make sure the flange was free from the vinyl floor.
Grasped the flange and rotated it clockwise basically 1 screw hole. At first there was a some resistance, but once it started moving it didn't take much to turn it.
I then cleaned up around and slightly under the flange.
After replacing the flange bolts in their slots, I refastened the flange to the floor using 2 of the screws so I could check the new placement of the toilet.
New position of the toilet looked great.
Set the toilet back in the shower and finished fastening the flange to the floor, drilling small pilot holes where necessary.
Secured the toilet to the flange/floor using the nuts, being careful not to over-tighten them. Replaced the protective caps on the nuts.
Reconnected the toilet's water supply line (hand tightened), turned on the water supply to the RV, then filled the toilet and flushed it a few times while checking for leaks at the supply line and around the flange/floor area.

Now we have a much more user-friendly toilet, especially for anyone over 6' tall.

Just got notified the new retractable shower door should be delivered tomorrow...probably going to be next weekend before I get that installed.
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Old 09-20-2021, 03:19 AM   #10
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Couple of other changes - no more dinette and a new mattress

After spending quite a few hours over the past couple of weeks...along with sleeping in it one night, we decided the dinette needed to go and a new mattress needed to be found.

We did some searching and found a nice, used La-z-boy manual reclining loveseat that is 63 inches wide. All I need to do next is search this site and others for options to have a swinging/sliding table available to each side of the loveseat. Until I can find something we like...we plan on using a small folding table and folding chairs which would easily fit behind or beside the loveseat when not in-use.

As far as a new mattress, we purchased a custom one from the Original Mattress Factory sized at 73 inches wide and 80 inches long. They happen to have a factory & showroom in the Tampa area. It's supposed to be delivered next Friday which was less than 2 weeks after we ordered it.
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Old 09-20-2021, 10:51 AM   #11
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Looks great-I like the loveseat idea.
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Old 09-26-2021, 04:03 PM   #12
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Shower Door installed & new mattress in place

The mattress was scheduled for delivery yesterday so thought I would tackle the shower door installation afterwards.

I did a final wipe down/cleaning of the shower wall surfaces with rubbing alcohol.

I decided to have the canister portion of the door by the shower controls/head. The thought was less of a chance of bumping the door open during a shower if it's at the far-end of the shower. This means you have to flip the canister over to mount it on the right-hand side as the manufacturer's plans & pictures in the instructions are for a left-hand side install (and yep this means the factory installed stickers are upside-down for now).

I wanted as much room in the shower area as possible so I placed the canister so it touched the raised lip of the shower base. This puts the retaining clip about 1/2 inch over. You need this measurement in order to mark where the other side rail needs to be installed. After marking the bottom I used a level to place a small pencil mark at the top of each side...one for the canister and one for the other side rail.

Because I wanted a taller opening and this makes the rails extend past the shower walls, I did remove about an inch of the two-sided sticky tape. This is when I found out on the back rail, the sticky tape is the only thing holding the retaining clip button in place to the rail. Seems like they could have a better design/method for this key little device. It just means you need to replace with some regular tape to hold it place...or so I thought...more below.

After pulling off the protective covering on the sticky tape I held each side to the wall for about a minute to form a good bond with the shower walls.

Measured and cut the top and bottom rails using a small handsaw with a fine metal cutting blade. You measure from the canister to the other side rail and deduct 1/4 inch. There was 1/8 inch difference as the bottom rail was slightly longer. I did smooth out the edges on the cut ends using an emery board.

With the canister being on the right side, it was a tight fit to install the bottom rail since you start at the canister side. On the left hand side, the vanity extends about six inches out from the wall and is only about six inches from the shower door.

The upper rail is where the real fun started (mentioned above when I discovered that small button was held in place by the two-side sticky tape). As soon as I slid the retaining clip off the side rail in order to put it on the top rail, the little retaining button practically disappeared...enough so I knew it wasn't extended far enough to catch on the clip. I ended up using a small allen wrench in one hand to pry and keep that little button out enough so it would catch the top rail. I'll admit it took a couple of tries to coordinate and pull it off by myself (along with some colorful language as I praised the manufacturer for this design).

The last step on installing the rails is to fasten the back wall rail (in my case the left hand side) to the top and bottom rails using some provided self-tapping screws. I drilled pilot holes with a 1/8 inch bit as I was afraid the self-tapping screws would make too large of a hole in the aluminum rails to hold properly. These 2 screws prevent you from accidentally moving/kicking out the top/bottom rails as you get in/out of the shower. By the way you need a square-head bit to install these screws...a tool not mentioned in the list of what you need to complete the install.

Final step was using silicone caulk to seal around the new door. I did both inside and outside even though the install directions said outside only. I don't want any water getting behind or between the rails and the shower wall. I don't think that two-sided sticky tape (which is foam-based) is designed to get wet over and over.
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Old 08-28-2022, 03:38 AM   #13
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@the_drisin: It has been close to a year, how is the toilet rotation holding up for you? Any issues? I have an SEA TriSlide shower door on order and will rotate the toilet when I swap the shower door out.
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Old 09-05-2022, 11:14 AM   #14
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It's been great and without any issues. So glad we made all the changes, especially the toilet and shower.
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Old 09-05-2022, 12:32 PM   #15
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Thanks, and good to hear. Planning a cross country starting in October and finally getting all the mods done that I have wanted to all these years.
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Old 09-24-2022, 09:40 PM   #16
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Finished the shower door and toilet rotation, thanks to drisin's information it was pretty easy. LOVE LOVE LOVE the SEA TriSlide shower door, though I have yet to use it.
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Old 09-25-2022, 01:44 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Donkichi View Post
Finished the shower door and toilet rotation, thanks to drisin's information it was pretty easy. LOVE LOVE LOVE the SEA TriSlide shower door, though I have yet to use it.
I like it, nice job! I have the tri-slide in my RV and, I like it a lot also.
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Old 09-25-2022, 04:26 PM   #18
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Thanks!
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