Tag: 1977 Airstream Sovereign

The inside of the ’77 has really been getting some much needed updating over the past few months. We are building all new beds, cabinets, shelves, couch, and bulkheads. We are using a shaker style for the cabinets. The walls will all be painted a slightly off white color while the cabinets will be a gray. All of the paint was bought at Sherwin Williams and we are using their adhesion primer that will bond to everything in the trailer. I have already tried it on the window screen frames and it worked incredibly well.

We removed almost everything from the interior with the intention of rebuilding with the same basic layout. The kitchen cabinet will be slightly different than originally, but for the most part the same basic layout.

We painted the sub-floor with an oil based KILZ low odor product that has worked pretty well. The new cabinet frames and doors are built out of select pine and will have a really nice cabinet grade paint that should help give them some durability. Trim will be added to the front of the shelves and we have some really nice nickle hinges and handles that should finish things off nicely. I will be spraying everything myself with my DeVilbiss FinishLine 3 gun once I finish building the couch and kitchen cabinets.

My wife finished these great herb boxes that we will mount on the living room side of the fridge wall (transfer and then stained). They will not be for herbs, but will be a nice touch!

We decided to go with a walnut colored laminate flooring that is going to look incredible. You can see a plank of it in the picture above of the couch area. We wanted something that would be very durable, look great, and be very easy to maintain. This stuff has a really thick padding and should be really nice installed as a floating floor.

Well, it has been a long time since the last update, but not for lack of progress. I actually misplaced the camera I use for this project and needed it to complete this update!

Here are the long overdue pictures of the finished work of the rear-end separation repairs. It turned out really nice and after many rain storms I can tell you that the rear area is the most water tight area in the trailer currently!

The other project that has been done for some time, but no camera to prove it are the new LED running lights. We replaced all of the tail light covers as many were broken, but currently those are still using the normal bulbs. I purchased the LED lights from superbrightleds.com and could not be happier with the results.

Here are a few before and after pictures of the front running lights. The old and new wire were soldered together and then heat shrink was applied over the exposed wires. There were times where the wire from the LED was on the opposite side from the original lights, so a little channel was made using a Dremel tool.

And finally here are the play-by-play pictures of the rear running lights.

The new running lights look great during the daytime, but they really stand out at night!

Well, that is it for tonight and I will post more updates on the ’77 and ’67 this weekend. The ’77 now has all new cabinets, axles finally shipped today, and the ’67 made the maiden voyage to her new home until I can finish up the ’77.

About three weeks ago we decided to do the “bare minimum” to get the ’77 safe and road worth so that we could use it this summer while the ’67 is still a long ways from being ready.

The axles had as negative of an arm position as possible so we ordered new axles that will actually be custom manufactured for this trailer today. I went with Axis axles through Colin Hyde this time with 10″ brakes. We were missing one of the original wheels, so it was a perfect time to upgrade from the original 15″ wheels to 16″. This gives us a lot of good tire options, instead of just one or two D rated tire options with the 15″ wheels. I ordered HWT series 4 aluminum wheels and BF Goodrich Commercial T/A All Season E rated tires. These tires have lasted other Airstreamers for 80,000 miles without any issues, which is better than all of the 5,000 mile Goodyear Marathons that everyone has issues with. The wheels are here and I’m just waiting for UPS to deliver the wheels.

The rear 3-4 feet of this trailer had sub-floor rot and also serious frame rot. We removed the last piece of sub-floor by jacking up the shell off of the good sub-floor/frame and pulling out the bad sub-floor from the rear of the trailer. The damaged portion of the frame was then removed, replaced, and POR-15 was applied. The new section of floor actually went into place without much fighting and is now fasted to the frame. This week we will close up the banana wraps and put the bumper back on.

The tongue looked really horrible and a PO had built a wooden box around the spare tire holder. The tongue has since been cleaned up and received an initial coat of POR-15. The spare tire box was removed and the nice spare tire holder also received a coat of POR-15. The electric jack was not attached to any existing wiring, but it is in great working condition.

There was a really odd looking pan under the living room floor and upon further looking it turned out to be some type of air tank that I believe was used for hydrolic brakes at some point. This thing had electric brakes from the factory and did when I bought the trailer. Some things will never be 100% understood.

The fresh water tank was dropped, sanitized/cleaned, and is now ready to go back into place. We had to repair the main bracket plate as it was really badly rusted, but now should hold up just fine! I will post some pictures once we put it back in.

The old AC was DOA and so we removed it and have a new 15,000 BTU Carrier heat pump unit waiting to be modified for the drain line. This unit should work out great and I’m looking forward to getting it installed. Three new Fan-Tastic vents are on their way and will be great on those not so hot days.

The biggest news has to be that the shell is now back on the ’67 trailer and turned out great. There was absolutely no good curve to go off of on the rear so I was a little worried (the sub-floor was completely rotted, the c-channel was broken and bent in three different places, and there was a big dent on the street-side skin right next to the utility door). The shell is now attached much more securely than it was from the factory and the lines look really nice.

No new progress to report on the ’67 this week as I’ve been busy with work and other obligations. Over the past few weeks we have been looking for a good used vintage Airstream for some close friends of ours that would like to become Airstreamers. A few weekends ago we came across a hidden jem on the side of a highway that looked like it would be perfect for them. The trailer wasn’t listed in any paper or Craigslist, so we thought they might get a good deal.

We went to look at the ’77 with them last week and it was in really great condition for the price. The trailer had three awnings in incredible condition, all windows, and the exterior panels were all in excellent condition. Our friends decided that it wasn’t quite right for them with their current tow vehicle and my friend is starting up a side business that has quickly started to build up speed and looks to keep him very busy for some time. They still want an Airstream, but decided to pass on this 1977 31′ Sovereign and look for a 25′ trailer once his new side business is up and running.

’77 Sovereign

Now, also last week at the same time, I started to research how I could obtain a Zip Dee awning for the curb side of our ’67. A few phone calls and getting quotes on new replacements I was finding that it would cost about $1,500 to purchase a new awning and assembly (before shipping). That just seemed like way too much money with all of the other items I know I will need to finish off this trailer.

I then started to think about how the trailer that my friends had looked at and thinking of those three Zip Dee awnings that were in near perfect condition! Once I was sure that my friends were not interested in the trailer, I offered the seller some money just for the awnings, but he declined. I then decided it wouldn’t hurt if I low-balled him an offer for the entire trailer, with the intent of removing the awnings and then selling the trailer myself. To our surprise he accepted my first offer for the trailer and tonight we sealed the deal. I will bring it to the shop this weekend to sit next to the ’67, while I decide what I am going to do with this new trailer.

Zip Dee

Now the problem is us deciding if we want to fix up the ’77 a little and use it while we are restoring the ’67. The trailers are each unique in their own ways and the ’67 is vintage, while the ’77 looks classic. I think they would both be great campers and now can understand why a lot of the members of the airforums.com forums have multiple trailers!