Visit our Popular Forums

garyk1970 · 03-21-2006, 06:06 PM

hello everyone,
me my wife angela,and daughter tiffany are proud owners of an 1967 sovereign land yacht.weve owned it for 5 years and when i first bought it i visited some web sites and saw people polishing their airstreams(never noticing they were bambi and other smaller models)i decided to polish ours,after 3 months of stripping old clear,going through 3 stages of polishing/buffing(going through 4 milwakee 10000rpm sidegrinders and too many to count buffing wheels.)each day ending up black as can be.tasting and smelling allum polish for days.

still to this day the very top is not polished and i havent found the motivation to finish.the camper was in very good condition only missing the awning.weve redone the material on the couches and fixed misc. water leakes. we love our old camper and in the 5 years weve owned it , we have been from tenn to fla. it has so much personality (compared to the"bread boxes "that have flooded all the rv parks ive seen)anyway thats a little about us and our camper----still lookin for an awning....!!!

maxandgeorgia · 03-21-2006, 06:10 PM

She is Beautiful! Congratulations on your job well done

Ours is a 30' also and getting so blemished, but I cannot imagine tackling the polish job shown here. Hope we meet you sometime on the road~G

65glbtrotter · 03-21-2006, 06:12 PM

Great looking trailer and you did an awesome job polishing it. Welcome to the forum.

juel · 03-21-2006, 06:20 PM

Since you now have all that experience, how about coming to visit Oklahoma, and bring your polishing equipment. We have courtesy parking for an experienced polisher. Welcome to this forum. You have a beautiful trailer.

garyk1970 · 03-21-2006, 06:21 PM

i didnt really know what i was getting into!thank you ,were very proud.i just pulled it out(NOT stored inside)and did a quick orbital polish with mfx,thats still a job,but i like to do it.its easy to make shine,but hard to make shine consistant on a camper this large.im also an 12 volt electronics tech.,so if anyone needs help or has questions let me know.im looking at led lighting for exterior lighting now.thanks

garyk1970 · 03-21-2006, 06:22 PM

juel,
hehe!!!!!!!!!!

bill benton · 03-21-2006, 07:28 PM

Beautiful.congratulations on a job well done.We have a part time job for a full time polisher if your interested. It doesn't pay anything. But you get to marvel at your artistic ability. Boy if I only had the energy.

davidh · 03-21-2006, 07:29 PM

That Looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!

rebel beck · 03-21-2006, 08:15 PM

Looks great. We have a 31 ft and live in Mississippi and would love for you to come visit oh yeah bring your polishing tools hint-hint.

Becky

freeofecho · 03-21-2006, 08:15 PM

How long did it take you? I'm picking up my new '58 Overlander in a couple of weeks and plan on getting to work polishing it right away..........at least I think that is the plan

!

silver 67 · 03-21-2006, 08:22 PM

Welcome to the forums!

Just showed the hubby what our Sovereign is SUPPOSED to look like. He says "All in good time, all in good time".

Sounds as though yours was in pretty good shape when you found it. We've had ours for almost two years and still haven't gotten it on the road. But you have given us inspiration.

garyk1970 · 03-22-2006, 06:01 AM

most people who dont know what a airstream is doesnt realize the work involved in a project like this.my fellow airstreamers do!my most common question is "its a 67? how long did it take to replace the allum?!!"

freefecho;after 3 months of all my spare time .took about a week to get the feeling back into my hands!!!!!and to get all the black dust off me.

silver67;outside was rough,looked white not silver, interior was very good.get your hubby out there and you too together: strip clear and polish a small section so he can see how good it will look.see ,that polished section will stick out and help move him along to finish the rest!!!!!!!!!!!

eubank · 03-22-2006, 06:58 AM

Welllll, since Beth (Silver67) owns a 67 that is the near spitting image of our 67, maybe we could have a 67 maintenance rally: We drink, you polish?

Guess not.

Lynn

garyk1970 · 03-24-2006, 05:19 PM

who has best deal/installation on awning?

**azflycaster** · 03-24-2006, 09:31 PM

Best deal on installing the awning is to do it yourself. A few holes, a few screws and a couple of rivets. I shopped around and got the best price from Inland RV. They had it shipped to my house from the ZipDee factory.

garyk1970 · 03-25-2006, 08:52 AM

how much?if you dont mind me asking

**azflycaster** · 03-25-2006, 09:04 AM

Gary,
I PM'd you some info on the awning...

Condoluminum · 03-25-2006, 01:12 PM

Gary-

Another vote for a ZipDee awning... They have lots of fabrics besides blue, gray and striped, plus quality, customer service and fit designed (literally) around an Airstream... Fabrics shown in separate brochure, not available over website, but I'd chase one down before ordering. After all that work on polish and restoration, it seems a shame to put Brand X cheap awning on it...

You could most likely handle installation yourself, and save the difference between ZipDee and some other brand.. We had Colorado on former Nomad trailer and ZipDee on current Airstream (dating to 1988) and there is a huge difference...

John McG

garyk1970 · 03-25-2006, 05:14 PM

thanks for the very good advice.zip dee will be our choice.getting a color sample is good advice as well...looking forward to an awning,i know it would be enjoyable to sit under it and enjoy the good ol' outdoors.