1971 Airstream Sovereign 31ft

[phlegm]

July 2015, I agreed to buy this trailer, and brought it home by the end of the month.

It had been sitting in a hay field for at least 2 years if not 3.



I bought it because it had a shell in good shape and all the glass/doors were still there.
I knew I'd be doing a remodel on the trailer because the insides were trashed and the floor plan really wasn't going to work for us.

When the previous owner decided to park it, he left everything that he didn't care about behind.

In the front


Looking toward the rear



There was food in the fridge, I ratchet strapped it shut and disposed of the entire thing since it wasn't even a 12v/propane unit. And I wanted NOTHING to do with its contents.

There were mouse nests in other appliances..

The oven, later when I took the stove top out, there was another one under the catch tray.


In the pantry shelves


I hooked up, the lights *mostly* worked, so I towed it 80 miles home without any problems.


The sagging butt on the 05 is not because of the trailer, its because the previous owner put too much of a 'level' kit in the front end, and I haven't changed it.


Once home, the first thing I did was clean it.
Anything soft like blankets or clothing was burned.. there was so much disgusting mouse droppings, I was wearing rubber gloves and a facemask for this portion.

Plastic went in the trash, metal went in the recycle bin at work.
Some things like the pull out couch got burned first, and then the metal frame went into the recycle bin at work.




I kept the propane tanks, those aluminum ones are spendy and they appear to be stock for this trailer. I will get them recertified before using them.


Its started looking a lot better in there.


This split twin bed setup was never going to work for us, those things are about 2.5ft wide and 6ft long and there's no way to join them. And I burned the mattresses...


I had to find the right torx bit to take down the 'entertainment center'


More stuff headed to the trash


By this time, the trailer is almost completely void of anything that mice may have found of interest, all of the original walls and appliances are still in it.

 

[RapidRabbit]

Awesome project. I love the airstreams.

I'll be watching to see what you do with it.

Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

 

[phlegm]

I moved the AS back up by the house so I could continue cleaning and taking inventory of the things it was going to need.

This is the first camper of any kind that I've ever owned.. so its a bit of an adventure.

There are things that just need to be fixed, like the horrible caulking job around the AC unit.
The AC unit does work, which is nice for summer.


Last Fall, a tree branch fell on the Astrodome cover and shattered it, so that's on the list now.


The rearmost vent, that is in the original bathroom area never had a cover on it from the time I bought it, it did come with this sweet tote cover and cinder block.


I have now a Fantastic Fan model 3350 to put in this hole, I just need to gather some courage to start tin snipping the aluminum.

Under the tote lide, more ugly caulking. Luckily for me, this whole area will be cut out to install the new fan, so I don't have to clean this.


This is the front ceiling vent from the living area.
Shockingly enough, that plexiglass appears to have been a stock installed item.. sure is hideous..


My first view of the silicone on the windows


Looking inside the window frames, that bracket is supposed to be riveted to the window frame so the lever can lock it.


The window weather stripping is shot, dry rotted and cracked. I will be replacing this with a newer better sealing style of weatherstripping. This type has "two small fingers" the new style is a "D" shape.


It is possible to buy new seals for where the glass fits inside the window channel; most people cut off the dangling piece, then fill in the edge with a high quality sealant like Trempro.


Since all the gaskets for the windows and access panels were dryrotted and cracked, when the previous owner was LIVING in it for 3 years, he duct taped all the exterior openings except the main walk door.


Since this trailer didn't come with any window coverings or awning, I plan on removing all the mounting hardware and putting rivets into the holes. When I buy new window shades and awning, if the holes are in the right spot, I will reuse them, otherwise I will have to drill new holes.


There are 2 antennas on the AS, one for TV and one for AM/FM.
They both need to be removed and their holes plugged/sealed.

These two windows on either side of the main front window should be glass, both of mine have been replaced with plexi. There should also be a stone shield that covers all 3 front windows and provides shade when it is in the UP position.


A minor hole to fix/patch on the curbside (passenger) front corner.


It wasn't all work and no play, for a few years we had a pontoon, it had some issues right away within the first 3 months, but none the last 3 years. It was too expensive and time consuming, and we always worried about mice over the winters, so it was too stressful. We sold it last Spring (2016)


I spent quite a few days/weeks removing all the extras the previous owner had installed...
Curtain brackets that had no rods...


Probably a couple hundred of these small J-hooks that he used to hold stuff.


By now, it was actually starting to look like a usable AS again.






Looking toward the front.




But this look wouldn't last long, in the back of my mind I kept thinking about all the mouse droppings I had removed.. And the ones I was still finding.


A hint to how dark the original blue was. This location was were the original awning arm bracket was riveted on, it was gone when I bought it.

 

[phlegm]

Still July 2015, I was striving to have it usable for at least a single trip before winter set in.
I opened the windows and started scrubbing everything with lysol and water.




I lost count of how many buckets of dirty water I made


The inside was really starting to shape up though



Find dirt..


Scrub it away


That went on for days/weeks as time allowed.

I kept scrubbing and digging garbage out of the nooks and crannies.. making more dirty water.
I used a LOT of rubber/silicone gloves during this stage.

That green grill had a mouse nest in it, I recycled it...


Here is a better look at how well the old window gaskets are sealing.. not very well at all.


With the condition of the things I was finding and remembering what it looked like when I first got it, we decided that it wasn't going to get used the first year AND that we needed a different floor plan. Something like the newer units with the rear bedroom and a side bath.

 

[phlegm]

With that in mind, I started the demolition process..

A guy on the AS forums was looking for the curtain rails from above the twin bunks for his AS, he was doing a restoration, mine is more like a resto-mod... So I pulled them and sold them.


That was a fiasco, somehow in shipping they got bent and I had to go through the claim process for insurance money because they weren't usable.

The tear-down gets a little jumbled up, because there isn't a straightforward way to take everything in an AS apart. Each piece relies on the parts next to it for structure and sometimes trying to take out a simple shelf means that other things next to it have to come out first.

I have in storage all of the original AS components. When time comes for build it back together I will use it, or use it for templates to build what I need.



Bedframes
I have some coworkers that can MIG weld aluminum, so these will be recycled into the new queen bed frame.


The under bed storage won't be reused, but I will likely have to build/create some sort of storage for under the new bed.
Since the rear of the AS has an access panel that was used to get to the bathroom plumbing, my current thought is to make a large hollow area under the bed so I can slide large items in from the outside (foldable chairs/table and maybe torch style heaters) and then smaller storage drawers around the perimeter of the frame for inside storage. Time will tell..


Once I broke out the drill, and started removing rivets.


The interior panels started piling up.


Slowly the interior started to become empty.



More piling..


This amused me more than it should have.. This is under the curbside bed, that is all the plumbing for the kitchen sink. I was impressed by how many sections of rubber hose they had patched in..

The black pipe is the drain, back in the 70's when this trailer was new, greywater was simply dumped outside. The only grey water on this AS would have been from the sinks and tub.

When I get to needing to build the bathroom and kitchen, I will have to figure out some way ad a grey tank into the plumbing infrastructure.




Technically these are the 'outer fenders' because they are closest to the wheel, both of mine have these cracks in them. I have 2 options, replace or repair. I bought a plastic welding kit and rods and I'm going to try fixing them before I go with plan B.


The 'inner' fenders are missing on this trailer. There should have been a layer of insulation on top of that black fender, then a fiberglass cover over top of that to encapsulate it. I need to buy those still.

As I continued to pile up parts that I had removed, you can see the delineations along the inner walls where the wall sections had been. Gross..


I now have a REALLY good collection of phillips screws


Behind the fridge, I saw this head scratcher...
On the right is a 110v power box, the vent is for fresh air intake on the fridge, then on the left is another 110v plug in that has the shortest pigtail ever, it simply was plugged into the other box..

 

[Horseplay]

That would be someone's idea of an extension apparatus I guess instead of reaching behind the fridge. Probably wanted something that was more permanent than a cord.

 

[msell66]

That is awesome! My grandparents had one similar to this and we used to camp in it all the time. They took that trailer from one coast to the other...multiple times!

 

[phlegm]

70's swanky at its best.. there were 12v cigarette lighters in the living room and bathroom.


Here's that back hatch again, one that I hope to be able to use for storing large items.


The sexist bastards that built it only allowed for MEN to install the oven, check out this sticker..


The rest of the crew showed up for some interior wall scrubbing


Which got things looking a lot better


I had finally gotten the kitchen taken out


With a majority of the components out of the AS, my yard starting looking like a yard sale gone wrong..


The flatbed trailer, I had gotten from work for free, when we moved buildings it was left behind and the grounds maintenance guys sent out 3 rounds of emails asking who its owner was.. I know who its owner is now...


The walls are looking better, you can see where my shorter helpers could reach along the bottom of the wall on the right.


The previous owner had tinted the windows, and with the lights on at night you can see the edge trimming isn't great. You can also see that I peeled the tint off the window on the far right. The Vista View windows were not tinted.


The only interior left is the bathroom.
I still don't know why you'd want that HUGE window in the bathroom, I get it that while you are sitting, it might be nice to have a view, but what about when you are in the tub or using the shower?


So.Many.Rivets


The fart fan... seriously, that's what all the AS guys call it.


Another picture at night showing the air gap on one of the access doors.


I finally got all of the miscellaneous items removed from the front, curtain hangers, above the window curtain hider brackets.


The color differences between what was under something and what had been exposed to 40+ years of sunlight and use is pretty stark.


More removal in the bathroom
You can see daylight through that rear access panel finally.


And presto, it is all out including the plumbing


At this point the entire AS is basically gutted


Lumber Liquidators was running a sale on some closeout products, so we picked up enough to do the entire floor.


Some people will say that it should be the whole floor, others will say that we should re-outfit the interior first and then only put down flooring between the interior accouterments, but we are going wall to wall/front to back.

This was about the same time last year that I was able to put a few miles on the 75 Crew Cab before its engine issues..


I took these pictures and posted them on the AS forum (airforums.com) and quite a few members pointed out that my axles are shot.


The axles are shot, they are torsion style and the rubber rods inside them are just plain worn out/solid. If I were to use this AS on these axles for any long term travel, I would cause problems with the body of the AS as it would be shaken to bits.

I also noticed that I would really like to get the AS to sit higher, a lift kit if you will.
As it turns out, Dexter, the manufacture of these axles has a couple options to get the trailer to sit higher. You can change the down angle on the axle from 22.5 to 32, which would result in a 1.5"(ish) increase over stock. And they actually make a lift kit that is about 3" tall.

With a trailer this long, I should get the 32° axles AND install the lift kit to keep from dragging the butt of the trailer in and out of parking lots. But since I'm not too bright, I will likely install stock axles and then at a later time install the lift kit... so I can do the work twice...

 

[phlegm]

I had to break that last post into 2... I hit at 10,000 character limit...

Before


After, but not done...


More scrubbing...


Those walls were really disgusting


I'm still scrubbing, but this picture shows one of my next repairs that need to be made.
See that sliver of daylight inbetween the floor and the wall?
In AS land that call that 'separation'.


Due to the construction of AS trailers (semi-monocoque) the trailer frame does not fully support the shell, they work in tandem to create the structure. And as such, you should NEVER EVER tow a trailer behind them, or a bike rack, or mount anything to the rear bumper. What happens is that the frame will pull away from the shell and this 'separation' issue occurs.

Mine is also not helped by the fact that the big back access door wasn't properly sealed and water dry-rotted the floor board.

Then we used a primer called 'Bondz', I don't remember the exact one, but it was the one that was the most expensive and designed to stick to everything.

My little helper got busy.


With his diminutive size and painting style, his area of coverage was limited... but he was there to work, and work he did.


For those that don't know, these old airstreams are aluminum inside and out, but the inside panels are coated with a textured/colored vinyl layer. We were never going to get the original surface clean, so we had 2 options, strip it to bare metal or prime/paint it.


The upper nose piece was painted with Rustoleum Fusion rattle can paint.


As more primer went on, the interior got significantly brighter to work in.


Test driving the interior lighting


We were curious to see how the laminate flooring would look next to the lighter colored walls


I think its going to look great.


I need to go find this paint code again, its a little hard to see but the color we went with is mostly white with just a slight tint of blue.



New paint with future new flooring


Like working in a big tube...


I pulled all the screen covers and the riveted on window surrounds. I still haven't decided if they will be stripped/polished or painted either the same color as the rest of the interior or white.


It was about this time that my wife was tossed from her 3 yr old filly and broke some ribs and her collar bone. That same night as I attempted to unsaddle the horse, she also broke a couple of mine. Work on ALL physical labor projects basically slammed to a halt, right in the middle of June 2016.

 

[phlegm]

Early October I had the bright idea to put the AS inside so that I could work on it until the weather got too cold.



The barn is a 42x60 with 12ft doors/walls 20ft wide sliding doors at both ends.
Its supposed to be for the horses.


After getting it into the barn, I really didn't get much progress made.

Using a combination of plastic chisels, dental picks, steel wool, and acetone I started stripping out the old silicone.

I started with the curbside front window because I could be on the ground and when I was trying to find the right combination of tools/chemicals I wouldn't have to climb up/down a ladder.


I quickly realized that my cleaning process was also polishing the aluminum by removing all the oxidation. Originally AS trailers were clear coated, but 40yrs in the sun has eaten that off and its basically bare aluminum now with a few remaining spots that still have clear on them.

So I bought a variable speed grinder and polishing wheel and started testing out how things would look if I fully polished it.


Polishing is going to take a LONG time.


At some point I also have to make a determination as to what I am going to do with the exterior/roof panels. Quite a few people are now coating them with paint or elastomer (bed liner) to make them more resistant to direct sunlight and add little stiffness, while also providing a positive leak prevention layer.

That basically ended my 2016 airstream repair season for good.
Days got shorter
The temps got colder
And I didn't want to work outside.

I had hoped that by the time I closed down in 2016 that I'd have had the exterior sealed enough that I could reinstall a furnace on the inside so I could continue working in a heated room. Sadly that was not the case.

 

[phlegm]

As I stated earlier, I bought a Fantastic Fan model 3350, I found one on sale for 1/3rd retail.
I couldn't say no...



Its reversible, has a built in thermostat AND can detect rain and close itself. Ideally, I will get another of these for the other end, set up one as a pusher and one as a puller and it should circulate air enough that we don't have to use the AC much.

Early this month work finally resumed on the window silicone cleaning.

The front street side vent


Then I moved up to the street side Vista View Windows (VVW), the top front one I had removed the silicone from last fall, but over the winter a layer of dust and bird crap formed that I had to clean off before I could finish removing the last of the silicone.


Then I moved to the rear curbside VVW


The process isn't hard, but it is time consuming..
First I used a metal putty knife to cut any seal between the window frame and the outer shell.
Then I use the same metal putty knife parallel to the outer surface as close as I can to the seam between the frame and outer shell to cut it free totally.


Then I wipe it down with acetone using the steel wool, I have no idea how effective this step is, but it seems to help break down the silicone a little bit for the plastic chisel to get in and remove the bulk of the silicone.


After a majority of the silicone has been scraped off, I go to using just steel wool, acetone, and arm power. Ocassionally I have to scrap a thick chunk with my finger nail.


Eventually I get it down to bare metal.


When one window looks good..


Then I move on, this time down to what should have been the top rail for the window awning.
But it shouldn't have been installed using steel screws, it should have been riveted.


This piece had a bonus waiting behind it..
Butyl tape!


The process didn't change
Plastic chisel followed by acetone, followed by more plastic chisel, followed by steel wool and acetone.. and a short while later..



When I moved to the front half of the awning mount strip, I noticed that the previous owner half-arsed the silicone on the top of the front window...


With the tops of the windows all clean, I can make my way down to the port hole windows below the big windows..


It was about here that I realized that the previous owner skipped a LOT of windows in regards to sealing.

He did in between the front two windows, but not the back two.


And then I walked around the AS and saw that he did the rear side window on street side, the rear side window on the curb side and the curbside Vista View, but NONE of the rest of them. That is going to save me some time in regards to scraping. I will still do some manual work around the window frames to remove the oxidation and polish them all up a bit before I start sealing them.

In regards to sealing, I also have to do the access doors, I don't know why he didn't, but I am thankful he didn't think of it...

And now you are caught up on my 1.5yrs of progress on the AirStream.

I am hoping to order new axles soon, and to get the windows sealed relatively quickly.
For Memorial Day we are headed out to see friends and that would be a good time to "test drive" the main body/trailer before any longer trips later this summer.

 

[tarafied1]

that's a huge project but very cool! Looks like a nice spread you have there too. And horses, nice. Sorry about the ribs.

 

[KBMWRS]

Wow....

 

[Grabber70Mach]

That's a massive undertaking, keep us updated on your progress.

 

[phlegm]

It is a huge project, I've done plumbing and laminate inside my house, I've done electrical work on both cars and buildings.

I set low expectations for this year.
Sealed from water leaks.
Repair the soft spots on the floor
Install new flooring.
New axles and most likely a lift kit.
A bed for the grown ups, cots for the kids.

A giant metal tent.

We aren't going to go boondocking our first year out, we are going to stick with established camp areas that have full facilities (bathroom/shower/water/electricity) and figure out what we need for future trips.

A coworker recently bought a motorhome from a dealership, he bought it for the motor/transmission. Everything else in it works including the working 12v/propane fridge and furnace, he suggested that I come take a look.
I need to go do that one of these days, maybe tomorrow while my wife is out of town..

I'm looking forward to learning some new skills.
Aluminum welding and repair
Fiberglass creation
Steam wood forming

And it is going to be an exercise in restraint to keep everything efficient and light.

This guy does some very nice renovations on older airstreams.
https://hofarc.com/

 

[B67FSTB]

Wooooww , massive job !
Very nice streamer ! Always wanted to buy one some 10 years ago but due to high transportation costs and inport duties , I gave up on that idea.

 

[phlegm]

FWIW, each window takes 1.5-2hrs of slow tedious work.
You can't use anything on it that would damage the aluminum, so you can only go slow and use soft items..

Plastic chisel.

I got the two rear windows over the original beds cleaned of their silicone.

All clean and shiny

For the first time this year, I pulled it outside for a bath

The top had a layer of this black stuff on it.
Luckily it pressure washed off fairly easy.

My pressure washer conked out on me so I didn't get the whole thing washed.

But its looking pretty good.
Some of the discoloration is remnants of the original clear coat, some is waterstains from the AC drain. Eventually I'll get it all uniform.

The last window with any major silicone is the Vista View right in front of the door.

This one..

After the last window, I have some other slight cleanup to do, but nothing like the windows.
I'll spend some time cleaning up the windows that didn't have silicone.

Then Ill start resealing.

 

[tarafied1]

that will be great if you can gut the motorhome for the stuff you need. All that stuff will add up. If it's decent that will save you a lot.
I never "restored" a camper trailer but I inherited my parents trailer when my mom got cancer. It had sat outside uncovered for a few years ans started to deteriorate. I rebuilt a lot of it. Mine was no Airstream so ultimately it became more work than it was worth but we got many good years out of it. I miss camping! My wife and kids loved it when the kids were younger. I'd like to get a retro looking camper or a decent older one to pull behind my old truck and start camping again. You may inspire me! keep sharing, love it

 

[phlegm]

Here you go... just like mine
1971 Air Stream Camper - $2200

Funny thing is, we never had a camper growing up.
We never had a motor home growing up.
Tents, station wagons, conversion vans. The ONLY time we ever had or used a motor home was when we moved from Oregon to NoDak; and we sold it right after getting to NoDak.

My wife's family had a HUGE motor home that was shared by multiple families (her uncles/aunts) so they used it infrequently and usually for trips to get to point B from A, but not for camping. Her sister had a lot of surgeries as a child and they had to see specialists across the country, the sister is fine now, and she's a doctor...

My kids have been helping as much as they can or have attention span for.

From my experience and what I've read, when working on an Airstream its best to practice a zen attitude.
Nothing gets done fast
Everything costs more than you think it should.

I need to get it usable so I can start spending nights/weekends with the kids away from home. My son has already expressed the NEED for a TV in it. And while it may get a TV someday, that isn't why you have a camper. I need to get them away from technology and out into the wild.

Back on the airstream...
I finished cleaning that top vista view window on the passenger (curb) side. 2hrs, by far the longest I'd had to spend on any window.

And then I removed the silicone from the front wing window, no after pic...

Thus ending my major silicone removal tasks, there are still some small spots of silicone that I haven't found yet and some other caulking that I need to remove/reseal. But the silicone marathon is done!

And so was my Tuesday night..

Starting back up last night I went about the task of polishing the window frames that DID NOT have silicone on them.
The work pictured in the rest of this thread took less than 2hrs..

The streetside big window cluster

The refrigerator access door..
Before

After

Not pictured, I did he windows above the original twin bunks, both sides.

And then I did about 75% of the battery access panel frame.

Things move a lot faster when silicone isn't involved.

In preparation for this weekend when I hope to start reapplying sealant, my wife got me some 60cc syringes from work.

I got my wife to break down her expectations to wants and needs.

Needs would be sufficent for a weekend camping excusion.
Wants are for a longer trip like the one I want to take it on to Oregon in July.

Needs
Adult Bed
Roof that doesn't leak
Lockable
Clean
Flooring installed.

Wants
sink
hot water OR an electric kettle
electricity
storage
sitting area
microwave

List seems pretty easy.

 

[tarafied1]

Sounds like any other restoration (the cost more than you think part for sure!).
Here is my old Ford and the camper I inherited. It was a Viking "pop-up" but leaked a lot and rotted a lot of the wood, the lift for the roof was always breaking a cable or something. Even the axle broke once. Like I said, it wasn't worth fixing but I did fix a lot of it before finally giving up. My parents bought it new in 74. Before that we tent camped. I couldn't get my wife to tent camp so I borrowed this and she loved it. then we camped almost every weekend in the summers. We used it from 94 until about 2003.