1973 31 Foot Airstream Sovereign

[pat356jones]

This is my first attempt at posting on this forum, in fact it's the first time I've ever posted on any forum.

I recently bought a 1973 31 Foot Airstream Sovereign for $75.00. I think I want to move it to some property I recently bought on a coastal South Carolina island and turn it into a tiki bar, on a small hummock on the property overlooking the marsh. It is in rough shape with a couple of dents that I'm sure can be beat out, a couple of small bullet holes I hope can be repaired, and three broken windows and no interior. I priced the 3 windows and they are over 20 times what I paid for the trailer. I may try to put my own upscale interior in it, polish it up and tow it around, but I will probably stick with the plan to make it a tiki bar. I have not tried to move it yet because it needs new tires. The wheels are rusted so I've been dousing the lug nuts with WD-40.

If anyone has any advice on tiki hut -vs- restoration, please let me know.

[Scorge-ION]

1. WD-40 is a lousy lubricant and even worse as penetrating oil. Acetone mixed 50-50 with automatic transmission fluid is the old standby.
https://www.engineeringforchange.org...netrating-oil/ recommends cooking oil instead of ATF; cheaper and works a little better. Ed's Red is popular with firearms shooters: http://forum.accurateshooter.com/thr...lvent.3837877/ and it also shows results of a semi-scientific Drexel University engineering school test. Oil of Wintergreen is highly spoken of but I've never tried it.
WD-40 stands for the 40th Water Displacing formula tried. It's a Water Displacing chemical that was never intended as a lubricant.
2. Better get a good air compressor and a rattle wrench for removing the rusted in nuts and bolts.
3. Buy a selection of nut breakers to remove the nuts the rattle wrench doesn't.
4. Buy the proper personal protective gear: full-coverage eye protection, heavy gloves, face shield, dust mask, etc.
5. Get to know the hard points that allow you to jack up an Airstream without tweaking it an ruining it.
Probably a bunch more that I can't think of straight off the top of my head.

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by pat356jones

If anyone has any advice on tiki hut -vs- restoration, please let me know.

If you're balking at the price of the windows, I'd advise you not to attempt a restoration. *Everything* will be over 20 times what you paid for the trailer. $75 is a great deal, but the price of the trailer is just the downpayment. A restoration is a long and expensive road.

[Monza]

Restore it, give it a tiki theme if that's your thing. Then at least it's usable and will have resale value.

On the other hand if it's really bad it might not be in your reno budget and you could tow to your location and use it as your open air tiki bar and don't worry about any thing really working.

[featherbedder]

Originally Posted by Scorge-ION

1. WD-40 is a lousy lubricant and even worse as penetrating oil. Acetone mixed 50-50 with automatic transmission fluid is the old standby.
https://www.engineeringforchange.org...netrating-oil/ recommends cooking oil instead of ATF; cheaper and works a little better. Ed's Red is popular with firearms shooters: http://forum.accurateshooter.com/thr...lvent.3837877/ and it also shows results of a semi-scientific Drexel University engineering school test. Oil of Wintergreen is highly spoken of but I've never tried it.
WD-40 stands for the 40th Water Displacing formula tried. It's a Water Displacing chemical that was never intended as a lubricant.
2. Better get a good air compressor and a rattle wrench for removing the rusted in nuts and bolts.
3. Buy a selection of nut breakers to remove the nuts the rattle wrench doesn't.
4. Buy the proper personal protective gear: full-coverage eye protection, heavy gloves, face shield, dust mask, etc.
5. Get to know the hard points that allow you to jack up an Airstream without tweaking it an ruining it.
Probably a bunch more that I can't think of straight off the top of my head.

Kroil penetrating oil works better than any other pen. oil but can not be pur. localy only mail order. much better than pb blaster.

[TruckerFritz]

"This is my first attempt at posting on this forum, in fact it's the first time I've ever posted on any forum. "

Good job.. now it would make a lot of us happy if you would "first time" post a few picture, love to see your project to be tiki bar..

[Tampatomgirl]

Either way, you're going to invest some money. Do you want to turn it over for a profit or run a tiki bar? Either endeavor will cost you thousands.

Good luck on whatever you decide!

[SuzyHomemakr]

Originally Posted by Tampatomgirl

Either way, you're going to invest some money. Do you want to turn it over for a profit or run a tiki bar? Either endeavor will cost you thousands.

Good luck on whatever you decide!

As much as I like to see old Airstreams on the road, at some point they all must say goodbye to asphalt... So going full-on tiki in a Carolina marsh could be accomplished for a song, as it doesn't have to go anywhere. Doesn't even have to be fully water-tight. I'm thinking yank out all of the windows, and replace them with 1X6s made into panels, throw some adirondack chairs around, and a bunch of palm thatch, then start pouring drinks!

[Monza]

Originally Posted by SuzyHomemakr

As much as I like to see old Airstreams on the road, at some point they all must say goodbye to asphalt... So going full-on tiki in a Carolina marsh could be accomplished for a song, as it doesn't have to go anywhere. Doesn't even have to be fully water-tight. I'm thinking yank out all of the windows, and replace them with 1X6s made into panels, throw some adirondack chairs around, and a bunch of palm thatch, then start pouring drinks!

Lets drink to that!