Rear bath removal 1972

[mrrealtor]

Can anyone share some advise on how to remove the bathroom tub and sink without destroying so I can inspect/repair the rear floor?


1972 Airstream International Land Yacht Sovereign

[lahrfarm]

I removed it from my 1969 for the same reason. The parts are all riveted in, start with the sink, if I remember right. Drill rivets with 1/8" bit in the center, there's a lot of them.

[lahrfarm]

I think you have the upper sink, lower sink, storage over tub, and tub. some rivets are covered by a vinyl strip that pulls out of the trim.

[J. Morgan]

Here is my story on a 72 Sov tub/sink...

I never intended to reuse my tub, but I fully intended to get it out in one piece.

I ended up cracking the sink around the drain after getting all of the screws out, trying to unhook the drain pipe. In retrospect I think I should have simply cut the pipe instead. (Carefully)

The tub is going to be incredibly brittle, go slow, treat it as if it is made of glass. Thin glass...


1/2 Ton 4WD Truck, 72 Sovereign Hensley Arrow

[Glenritas]

You will need plenty of room to do the floor repair .

On our Tradewind I started with the kitchen and gutted the entire interior so I could replace all the floor covering with Marmolium after replacing the rear 4' of the floor.

Start at the partition wall the one with the doors to enter the bathroom.

Strip out the cabinets and work your way back.

You will find hidden rivets and screws buried under other panels as you strip out the complete bathroom.

The factory started the interior installation at the rear and worked forward overlaying panels and pieces as they went forward.

[Glenritas]

Floor repair is a major project and one thing leeds to another. Allow waaaay more time to the project then you first thought.

BTW split the new floor over the frame and cross rails you should add another longitudinal rail in the center so the 2 halves can be supported at the joint and frame rails. There is only one outrigger behind the axle to support the floor and shell and its at the 4' joint just ahead of the water heater.

On my project I'm replacing and relocating all the systems and installing a custom wet bath from a Casita.

Good luck on your project.

[mrrealtor]

Thanks. I'll take the advise and start moving slowly and very carefully toward the rear from the bath door. One rivet at a time.

Also, do any of you have any idea if it would be easier to just tile it or custom fit something from Home Depot? I see a lot of tiled baths on Pinterest but wonder if that would even hold up over years of use and towing. I'm going to do everything the right way, I just don't want to finish this next year. Hoping to have it all done with the exception of polishing by June.


1972 Airstream International Land Yacht Sovereign

[FreedomPed]

Hey all,

I realize this post is a year old, but is the OP still active and how did it go? Getting ready to do the same thing on a 1973. Will send a PM also but wanted to revive the thread if additional information can be added. Thanks!

[SoverignGal]

Yes! I'd like to know how it went too! I'm thinking of remodeling a 72, and I hadn't even thought about removing the tub/toilet to see underneath. I finured it would be rotted in front if there had been a leak there. Would love to see the end result.

[HiJoeSilver]

I'd like to know from glenritas how the casita bath install went! I guessing that's what that big wall piece was part of.

[Glenritas]

This is how it went , I carved the big piece to fit under the Airstream cabinet , made tabs to attach to the under side of the cabinet and to the big piece.

The shower base/black tank was then fit to the big piece and holes were marked in the floor for the black tank and shower .

Note the two lines on the rear wall mark where the frame rail is .

The drains come out to the inside of the left frame rail.
The black tank plumbing then turns 90* to the rear and exits in the stock location in the rear bumper compartment.
The shower drain exits under the belly pan and joins the sink waste line then exits behind the rear wheel on the street side at this time. There is no gray water tank at this time.

The two shower walls make up the rest of the room. I raised them up to the ceiling and had to make 4 small panels to fill in the gaps.
Once all the pieces where in I used silicone bath caulk to seal every thing just like Casita does.

The black tank vent pipe exits the side of the shower and runs under and by the factory sink and joins the factory vent stack that exits the roof on the curb side.

When I plumb the sink it will vent to the same stack and drain down through the floor and join the shower drain/kitchen drain stack.

I had to cut the 16" wide closet frame down to 12" because the shower is 4" longer then the original cabinets and toilet that attached to the closet in the bathroom . The shower wall now attaches to it.

I had the trailer ready for the road in June 2015 and we made use of it all summer.
Even though it not 100 % we are still using it all this year too.

[Glenritas]

And the closet walls , black tank exit , finished walls

[mccrosti]

Started with the sink on my 72.... but wait a minute. Stop right there and do this first: 1) get an ice pick or sharp screwdriver. 2) go around back of the trailer and open the hatch 3) poke as closely to the rear wall with the ice pick or screwdriver, your looking for softness - if you find any you will then need to start removing your bathroom as that means the the connection between floor/shell/ frame is compromised.
Reach out to me privately and I will send you pics of how I did it with my 72.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[HiJoeSilver]

Glenritas, very nice work and thanks for all the info. I've got to digest it a bit but may have a few more questions. I'm looking for a good way to build a new shower enclosure for my safari.
Could you leave the toilet connection on top in place to create a roomy shower?
Did you just contact casita to buy the stuff?
Thanks
Joe

[Glenritas]

Joe,

Take a look again at the pic's , the shower base is only half of the unit the other half is the black tank and the toilet sits on top of it.

After I bought the shower parts from Casita they made a change to the curved wall and end panel that would make it difficult if not imposable to install it in the Airstream.

Now if you keep the original sink and toilet location and keep all the closets on the street side.
You then can remove the tub and closet on the curb side and add a home shower pan and move it forward to the door wall and cut to shape the store bought shower panels to fit the contours of the AS . Then add a closet to the rear corner.