[87MH]

The Sovereign is 30 years old - it left the Factory in JacksonCenter in the last half of 1977.

Some of the significant interior and lighting projects are outlined below:

• Lighting. I put in fluorescent overhead lights in the bath, hall, and kitchen. LEDs were installed in the bath night light, the tail, turn, and backup lights, as well as all of the marker lights. A 90 degree 1056 LED light was installed in the step light over the door. Halogen lights are now in the brake and flood light sockets.

A Pair of 36 LED array lights are in the kitchen light.

• Entertainment System. The Bose five speaker Surround Sound System and a flat screen television were brought over from the '87 345 MoHo. A later model Excella curio cabinet purchased as salvage from Colaw’s houses the Bose Acoustimass® Module. The roll around cabinet replaces the removed Tambour/Storage/8 Track module on the driver’s side of the living room.

Entertainment center and collapsible table shown secured for travel with flat screen TV bungeed to top.
The Entertainment Center started life as a unit similar to this one.

• Oak Parquet Flooring. A new ¼” plywood sub-floor was added over the original ½” plywood floor to level out seams and elevator bolts. The ¼” plywood was screwed down utilizing ½” countersunk screws and then the parquet was glued over that with a “pliant” glue. The bath area parquet was not glued, but secured with countersunk screws to facilitate possible future plumbing issues. Oak wall base molding and shoe base molding were installed wherever feasible. The wall base molding was installed with Velcro when possible, the shoe base with finish nails or silicone caulk.

• Additional Oak Overlays. Oak Cabinetry Plywood was overlaid on as many flat laminated surfaces as possible to eliminate the “plastic look” of this late ‘70’s Airstream. The Dometic inserts were replaced with the same Oak Plywood. Of all of the individual improvements made I think the Oak overlays and inserts provided the most bang for the buck.

• New Platform Bed. The bedroom was reorganized with a single East-West Queen Sized Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed. The Queen bed was installed as far rearward as possible (the rearward corners hitting the trailer sides at the wrap-around), and the adjacent areas filled in by cutting the original foam mattresses and various thicknesses of “memory foam” mattresses to effect a single “full room bed”. This type of bed was successfully used in the '87 345 MoHo. The surface is tied together by a high density memory foam cover and a deep king size mattress pad. Sleeping surfaces are protected by full area duvet styled sheets and bed coverings. The sleep platform was constructed utilizing the original twin bed supports with light weight pine bracing installed in three longitudinal locations. The rear end frame support I initially added (see post #27) came in handy here. One excellent feature (besides the light weight) of the Select Comfort air beds is that the largest single piece is only 6” X 6” X 80” long, so you do not have to wrestle a huge mattress into position through the trailer.

This pic shows the area available for a foam bolster.
Center support under bed - similar supports on driver's and curb side. 1/4" underlayment for Oak Parquet Flooring also visible.
Close up of cut out of bed platform for sitting area.

• Gaucho “Memory Foam” and Upholstery. I found a saddle maker in a small town just west of Houston who added 2” of memory foam to the original gaucho foam and installed new upholstery. “Silver Threads” here in the Forum finished the end and arm panels previously with the same fabric.

My total time on the rebuild (less stripping/polishing) to date is 650 hours, the total out of pocket expense is 16,000 US Dollars. Cost does not include purchase price, retrieval, or the polish job. There was no other labor involved with the rebuild – did it all myself (including the axles) with the exception of the upholstery which is included in the expense cost above. Time does not include chasing parts, which would easily double the 650 hours of actual work time.

This was therapy work - not work of necessity or an attempt at profit taking. Cheaper than some hobbies (I've owned airplanes and boats), but more expensive than most.