As the title says.....it's been awhile since I started this adventure. I have been using her off and on for the past few years (mainly music festivals) and never really had the time to get down and dirty with any upgrades/repairs. Now, I suppose it's time to finally give the
Sovereign the love she deserves. After deciding that a complete shell-off restoration just isn't feasible (for various reasons) I figured that a nice interior revamp was the best option for now.
Summer Time, Fun Time
So.... on to the pictures that matter.
We started with this lovely interior about three years ago or so........
As much as I would love to keep the "baby poo brown" vinyl wall coverings, and the "space age" materials throughout......... it was time for a change. So after couple hours of no holds barred deconstruction, I get this.
Which, by the way, is right about the same time I started thinking that this was probably all a huge mistake. I honestly didn't think I could make it look any worse inside. I was wrong. I don't have photos of it but the next few months following from when the image above was taken essentially involved more pieces of interior coming out (and more doubts setting in that I could actually pull this thing off).
So, to save my sanity, I decided to slow down and actually create a plan for the renovation. A budget was decided upon, a time frame was (loosely) created, and a general theme and layout was designed. I took a lot of inspiration from the resto's over at
http://hofarc.com, so I want to thank those guys for that. There isn't a chance in hell that I could afford one of those restorations, but they are beautiful to me, nonetheless. What is it they say about imitation...?
Anyway, since then we have begun to knock out quite a few small things that had to be done before we could move forward. It's the worst part....since it doesn't look like I am accomplishing anything!! I know I am, but at first glance, it's disheartening. Things like changing the plumbing from those old copper tubes to PEX, isn't something that inspires visual confidence. Replacing
12V systems to accommodate better lighting and sound doesn't show up in photos that well, and patching hundreds of little rivet holes that were left behind from deconstruction isn't something that makes me feel like I am moving forward. That said, I'm not giving up. I mainly wanted to write this post to force myself to stay the course. The more I visit the forums and see what other people have accomplished, the more focused I get. So, to all of you DIY'ers that came before me.....Thank You. You may not realize it but, you keep me going.
I will try to keep the pictures coming. I have a habit of approaching things in life with a "just do it" attitude, so sometimes the photos get left by the wayside.
Speaking of photos, here a few more that I just found......
The first is a Primer Test Panel (Killz 2 after using TSP and some light sanding). Seems to be sticking pretty well after a few weeks.
The second is after a coat of Abyss (white latex with a hint of blue) from Lowes. It doesn't really do the color justice with an iPhone camera to be honest. Oh, i suppose now would be a good time to mention that we are approaching the renovation a little differently than most, by doing one room at a time. A little harder to move around, but the only option I have at the moment.
And the third is a shot of one of the window surrounds after removing them, stripping them, and then polishing to as much of a shine as I could get.
Until next time!!
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