Hi,
Just by way of introduction ...
A strange chain of circumstances has led us to 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 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 as we make progress, but you get the idea ... two more crazy people pouring time and money into a 56-year-old aluminum can.
By the way, "Thumper" 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.
At some point prior to our rescue, a large quantity of ice must have fallen from the roof of the barn and onto the rear curb side roof from just just forward of the end cap to the rear of the wheel well. The exterior panels there are badly deformed, but not leaking. The rear three ribs all show some deformation from the impact as well, but are still functional. The damage is not visible from the curb unless you're 7' feet tall, so we're leaning towards leaving Thumper with some "character" in this regard. We have shored up the roof panels from inside (pictures will follow), and the interior curve of the rear wall/ceiling is almost symmetrical now
.
Our intention is to entirely rebuild with a custom interior - rear centreline queen, mid-bath split shower (curb side) and toilet (street side). Crazy, as mentioned previously.
In our defence, we do have a daughter who is a welder/fabricator, which helps keeps costs down. She keeps wanting to fix all the AS peculiarities, even when they don't matter, but so far I've kept her in check
. We have some nice new cross sections and outriggers rear of the wheels, and a beautifully modified frame section to accommodate the new grey water tank and plumbing.
More to come ...
Rob & Heather
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