Hi all,
We've been on the forums for a little while, and decided to make it official.
We're previous owners of a 2002 33' motorhome, but a strange chain of circumstances led us to sell "Fun Slug", and take the plunge on an battered
1963 Sovereign. We went in eyes open, knowing from the aroma alone that anything less than a frame up rebuild would be inadequate.
We have previously restored a
1967 sailboat, so are not complete newbies to the idea of a large and long-term project with plenty of learning curve. We're also recently retired, so why not?
We found the
Sovereign settling comfortably into the ground next to a barn and covered in tree dirt near Ottawa, but with all windows intact, the suicide door-within-a-door still on its original hinges, a complete and mostly unblemished belly pan (rear 5' detached and tied up with string), and a mostly original but completely unusable/unsuitable twin bed interior.
As expected, we found floor rot and separation in the rear 3', and floor rot in a half-dozen other locations.
It did have four rolling wheels (we replaced the tires) on original torsion axles that had plenty of life on the rescue mission home.
We got "Thumper" home near Brockville, Ontario in late August, and have been spending a few hours a day working on it since. All interior panels are off, two rear subfloor sections have been replaced and two more are off awaiting new tanks/plumbing and axles.
We'll be posting some rebuild photos and stories elsewhere on the forums, but you all get the idea ... two more crazy people pouring time and money into a 56-year-old aluminum can.
By the way, the name comes from the panel sections which pop in and out as the exterior heats up and cools down in our crazy Canadian daily temperature swings. We'll be addressing most of those, but I realistically don't expect to get them all. It's a journey.
Rob & Heather
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