Converting my childhood airstream into a tiny home

[Clobo]

I camped in this beautiful 1978 Airstream Sovereign my entire life. My parents have handed over the trailer and I plan on gutting this soon enough. Very new at this!!

[susangenz]

Don't gut it! It has some great 70's charm. We have a 82 Excella 31' that is very similar. Very well built. We replaced the Gauche with a reclining sofa, fixed subfloor, replaced the toilet,new flooring. It looks great and is very comfortable. We went with 70's retro print curtains! Love it.

[Clobo]

Hi Susan,
I'm worried if I don't gut it I won't be able to live in it year round. I am also worried about the condition of the frame!

[susangenz]

You can take out all of the interior fixtures, taking photos and labeling everything. Then remove the floor and check out the frame. All the fixtures can be put back in after you have done the repairs. It will be more economical and faster than building all new.
Airstream did a lot of research on making a trailer very livable, you may want to make some changes, but the original trailer layout is excellent.
Have you started your project yet? I would love to see photos!

[TheGreatleys]

I gutted my 74 Overlander to make a "tiny home." Been living and traveling in it full time for a while. No regrets. I suggest doing what makes the most sense for you. It's your home, make it what you want.

A few modifications help a lot for year round living. Make sure the furnace works or you have another source of dry heat. We use a wood stove.

Make sure you have the ability to keep your tanks liquid. We have electric tank heaters and rigged the propane water heater to cycle hot water into the fresh tank when needed for off-grid use. The original furnace ducted hot air into the tank bays, so if you keep the original configuration you can use that.

If you get the interior skins out, you can make sure the insulation is good (mice have a tendency to tunnel large voids in the insulation if they get into the walls). You can also add a thermal break between the interior skins and the ribs, which I think is the best insulation upgrade you can do to an Airstream.

Definitely keep all the interior fixtures until you're done, and reuse what makes sense to reuse. It's a lot cheaper and easier to use something you already have than to build a new one.

Post lots of photos of your progress. You'll get lots of help.

[Clobo]

Originally Posted by TheGreatleys

I gutted my 74 Overlander to make a "tiny home." Been living and traveling in it full time for a while. No regrets. I suggest doing what makes the most sense for you. It's your home, make it what you want.

A few modifications help a lot for year round living. Make sure the furnace works or you have another source of dry heat. We use a wood stove.

Make sure you have the ability to keep your tanks liquid. We have electric tank heaters and rigged the propane water heater to cycle hot water into the fresh tank when needed for off-grid use. The original furnace ducted hot air into the tank bays, so if you keep the original configuration you can use that.

If you get the interior skins out, you can make sure the insulation is good (mice have a tendency to tunnel large voids in the insulation if they get into the walls). You can also add a thermal break between the interior skins and the ribs, which I think is the best insulation upgrade you can do to an Airstream.

Definitely keep all the interior fixtures until you're done, and reuse what makes sense to reuse. It's a lot cheaper and easier to use something you already have than to build a new one.

Post lots of photos of your progress. You'll get lots of help.

Thanks for your reply! Sorry I took so long to respond. I actually started working on the camper about 5 days ago! Changed my plan around, not gutting it and I have a wood stove