Sovereign Redux

[Zeppelinium]

Several members have asked for updates, so here's the moderate progress to date:

1. Roll-out pantry face, closet door, and overhead shelf doors installed. I was slowed down considerably by the closet door--I hated the fit, so I drilled out all the rivets and made a couple of trims to the skins and put it back together. There are some jobs where you just have to pick up the drill and start taking the rivets out or you'll sit it in the corner for the next year...but happiness is getting it installed and being satisfied with the fit. This "10-day" project has taken considerably more time--another reason not to tackle aluminum cabinets. The fridge is first, then the pantry, then the large shelves, then the closet. Running across the top of the cabinets is a shelf with two doors that swing up. I need to get some of those spring-loaded hooks to hold them open against the ceiling...



The little slot at the bottom of the pantry face (in the sunlight) is an access to the traveling lock for the pantry.

2. Got the eyebrow cabinet installed. It took a couple of extra weeks because I had to install a switch between the rear and outside speakers (car radios do not like to have paralleled speakers). Deciding how I wanted to do that and where to put the switch and getting the faceplate made, etc., etc. I also wanted to move the voltmeter and ammeter, so I needed to figure all that out. Turns out the wonderful price I got on the meters wasn't so wonderful--they needed isolated power, which took another couple of weeks. The doors are held closed by the action of the hinges and by a small 3/8" magnet. If you look close you can see the shiny magnet in the vertical divider and the corresponding dark spot on the door (you have to put a felt or rubber cushion on the face of at least one magnet--these rare earth magnets snap together with enough force to crack them). The other side of cabinet has similar, but not identical, divider and shelf.



The radio is an HD FM receiver with CD, USB, and Aux audio connector, all accessible via the face.

I need to figure out a couple of handles, but basically this two month project is installed! Where's the 2Buck?

Zep

[Silverfoxrae]

Looks really incredible! I love how sleek and tidy it is. Very cool.
Rae

via~ AIR Forums App.

[MrBeast]

man Zep, you can call me impressed, that thing looks mighty fine!

[goransons]

Megan and I had the chance to walk through this trailer, mind you it was Christmas evening, and it was very very below freezing and Roger was towing this thing in the worst weather, not only is his driving amazing, but his craftsmanship is incredible. Someone will be lucky to have such a well built trailer!

[Zeppelinium]

A little more progress. All the doors have latches, etc., all the small stuff that I always put off and then hope I can figure out how to do them. The bathroom door took five days just to polish it a little, fabricate the sliding hangar, and then get it mounted so the vertical edge of the door fit precisely into the receiving groove in the opposite wall.

Not to mention the closet door didn't fit quite right--it was off 1/8" in the vertical and about a 1/16" in the horizontal (the frame made by the partitions wasn't quite square), so it had to come apart be rebuilt. You can just see the bath door--looks like a dark line near the corner of the shower--that's just the shadow between the door and the partition. The door hangs totally exposed--not in a pocket. It has guide rail at the bottom to ensure it doesn't swing.



Did I mention somewhere in this thread about 6 weeks ago that I thought I'd be done in a couple weeks? ...

There's still some work to do. The toe kicks under the kitchen drawers, the over the sink eye-level cabinet, a few other things. But the hard stuff is finally done.

Zep

[elfirebob]

Nice job!
The finish is similar to early AS with aluminum cabinets. I'm also using 3/4 angle, to finish corners and blend old with new. Keep the pics comming. Looks like we'll be ready for a shakedown in a few weeks!


Remember Karma-52
April 14, 1986

[Love shack]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

A little more progress. All the doors have latches, etc., all the small stuff that I always put off and then hope I can figure out how to do them. The bathroom door took five days just to polish it a little, fabricate the sliding hangar, and then get it mounted so the vertical edge of the door fit precisely into the receiving groove in the opposite wall.

Not to mention the closet door didn't fit quite right--it was off 1/8" in the vertical and about a 1/16" in the horizontal (the frame made by the partitions wasn't quite square), so it had to come apart be rebuilt. You can just see the bath door--looks like a dark line near the corner of the shower--that's just the shadow between the door and the partition. The door hangs totally exposed--not in a pocket. It has guide rail at the bottom to ensure it doesn't swing.

<img src="http://www.airforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=125218"/> <img src="http://www.airforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=125217"/>

Did I mention somewhere in this thread about 6 weeks ago that I thought I'd be done in a couple weeks? ...

There's still some work to do. The toe kicks under the kitchen drawers, the over the sink eye-level cabinet, a few other things. But the hard stuff is finally done.

Zep

This is so nice, can't wait to see it finished.

[SilverHoot]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

A little more progress. All the doors have latches, etc., all the small stuff that I always put off and then hope I can figure out how to do them. The bathroom door took five days just to polish it a little, fabricate the sliding hangar, and then get it mounted so the vertical edge of the door fit precisely into the receiving groove in the opposite wall.

Not to mention the closet door didn't fit quite right--it was off 1/8" in the vertical and about a 1/16" in the horizontal (the frame made by the partitions wasn't quite square), so it had to come apart be rebuilt. You can just see the bath door--looks like a dark line near the corner of the shower--that's just the shadow between the door and the partition. The door hangs totally exposed--not in a pocket. It has guide rail at the bottom to ensure it doesn't swing.

Attachment 125218 Attachment 125217

Did I mention somewhere in this thread about 6 weeks ago that I thought I'd be done in a couple weeks? ...

There's still some work to do. The toe kicks under the kitchen drawers, the over the sink eye-level cabinet, a few other things. But the hard stuff is finally done.

Zep

You possess huge skills! Thanks for sharing the great pics.

[Zeppelinium]

As I've said previously, I don't like the mechanism for the pull-out beds. Here's the finish of the couch conversion--first photo is the bed when it's in the couch mode. The lower compartments pull out on wheels. The leftmost compartment is just an open storage area that can accept all the couch parts when it's converted back to a bed.



The following three photos show how the back of the couch works. The vertical part of the back is in two pieces that slip apart. Each of them has a hinged support that extends towards the front window--you can just see the two supports in the middle photo where the middle cover piece has been removed (you can see the interleave pattern that allows all three covers to rest on the two support arms). The area behind the couch backrest can store pillows and blankets, all nicely concealed. Plus, you get a sofa table-like area behind the couch. Yes, the piece in the foreground fits in the open space--it's the wide angle lens that makes it look too big.



Thos photo shows all the wood pieces disassembled and folded, ready to slide into the storage area at the left side of the bed.



The couch "seat" still has the problem of being flat (not comfortable). I was going to do something like the gouchos, the sliding wedge mechanism, but I think I'm just going to put an removable two-piece wedge under the front edge of the mattress.This way I can store it with the rest of the parts and the wedge will provide a suitable slope to the seat.

Zep

[Aage]

Wow! I would love to have a set of the plans to make that beautiful seat/bed. In fact, I would pay for them, since you probably just did sketches as you went along,I imagine.

Tremendous design and follow-through on a quality build, too Zep. I think I see that the white "headboard" (the piece that follows the curve of the front windows) is cushioned? And it stays there through all positions of the seat and back, correct?

If you ever take any detailed close-ups, please put me on your distribution list.

Thanks for showing it.

Aage

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by Aage

... I think I see that the white "headboard" (the piece that follows the curve of the front windows) is cushioned? And it stays there through all positions of the seat and back, correct?
...

Yes, that's really just an "insulation surround" that keeps you from freezing your hands/arms when it's cold outside (and it's really a side-board--I can see the foreshortening makes it look like it might be the head of the bed, but the head is to the street side). I think my Caravel came with an item like that as original equipment and I have copied it in all my remodels since. It's just a piece of hardboard covered with 1/2" upholstery foam covered by cotton duck. The duck is folded over the back and just stitched together with string. If you could see it, you would think Fronkenstein was at work.

Zep

[perryg114]

Nice job Zep. So how long does it take to get your tan in the kitchen with all the lights on? I think we need a movie of you converting the sofa into a bed. I am not sure how all the parts fit together. It looks really cool though.

Perry

[Zeppelinium]

The last major piece of aluminum cabinetry is about half finished. It's the over-sink kitchen cabinet. All the other cabinets are 100% metal, but I got real tired of trying to maintain angular rigidity in them, so this last one has a wood interior and frame. It's sooo much easier to fabricate the metal cladding. In addition, the wood interior will allow items to vibrate around a little without making black oxide.



This cabinet is identical to the wooden one in the Overlander and is the model for that one. This one allowed me to experiment with getting the corner joint correct, since it would be concealed--I'm glad I had this one to experiment on because the joint is a mess, but it allowed the Overlander's cabinet to turn out perfect. Not that the exposed metal corner was any picnic, mind you. Most of the edges are 1/2" "L" channel, but the two edges shown here are odd angles, 34° and 58°. I bent these on a Harbor Freight 18" hand brake, but the stiffness of the brake is not sufficient to obtain a consistent angle along the whole length. I needed to manually adjust the angles along part of their length using a plastic mallet and block, very carefully so as not to put noticeable bends along the edges (hey, I only threw a few parts away).



The finished panels are all buck riveted together, except for one seam at the bottom. This allows me to take the metal cladding off to buck the rivets. The final installation will have one row of pop rivets along the bottom edge at the end. The opening in the end face is for the tank monitor and volt/amp meters. I still need one long angle to form the edge along the bottom of the front.



I polished each of the edges (channels) before riveting them on with a kludge polishing setup.



Net step is to make the aluminum doors.
Zep

[truckasaurus]

Neat plan Zep. I've got to make 2 runs of 10 feet for my Overlander, mine have a large radius bend between the horizontal and vertical faces and the longest slip roller at the shop is 48" so I'm struggling with ideas. I don't fancy making 6 cabinets 3'4" but might have to!

[Zeppelinium]

Yay! New axles just in time for the Restoration Rally in ABQ next week. Luke has a nifty device he uses on a floor jack that can hold the axle so that the arms are horizontal and the axle can be jacked directly into the axle slots on the fish plate. We adjusted the axle position 1/2" in order to get them equidistant from the hitch ball. Maybe the tires will wear better, now.





Zep

[Skatiero]

Wow! I loved reading this entire thread--- just beautiful.

[Zeppelinium]

The mid-bath is nice, but this light bar is a bit much. This bar light had 6 bulbs, drawing almost 9 amps.

It now has four LEDs, drawing less than 1 amp on bright and less than 0.04 amps on dim. Three of the LEDs have the 12 SMDs and the fourth one has the 10 SMDs. This light's one unique feature is that only one LED is powered when on dim--it's isolated with a 1 amp rectifier. The dim setting is achieved with a 150 ohm resistor.

The SPDT switch is on the fixture now, instead of the cabinet.





Zep

[Zeppelinium]

I've never liked the scare light, the way it beams straight out, probably annoying the crap out of other campers. I tried to put a hood on it, but that got to be too hard, so I modified the original casting to take an LED disc and built a hooded replacement from scratch. The new light is only 1/4" larger in diameter than the original scare light casting, despite the appearance in the photo.



It's not impossible, but it is difficult, to get an LED disc to sit inside the casting right at the center of the lens, so you get some odd light rings on the ground near the Airstream, but the light output is still quite good. I haven't given up putting a hood on the original casting, but I'm leaving that experiment for another week.



Building a hooded replacement for the scare light is doable, but I'm not sure I like the hood coming out 2-1/2". The next try will attempt a flatter section across the middle of the hood, or maybe some shrinking to bring the lip down a little. The good aspect of this replacement unit is that the light shines mostly down, there is no direct visibility of the LEDs to a person standing, and there is good illumination of the ground straight down. It's also wired so that in the dim mode only one LED is powered.



The awning arm is a potential hazard for any light fixture that protrudes in the area of the scare light. We'll see how this one fares.

Zep

[Zeppelinium]

Well, I wouldn't exactly use the word "elegant," but it will do for now.






Zep

[MOSDEF]

Hello Zep,

My name is Andrea and I now own that 1975 31footer that you so brilliantly crafted so well.
I’ve had it for a week and a half now. I’m in Lacey Washington and I’m in the process of putting curtains up and I really would like to replace the stove do you have any advice on that? I’m new to all this type of living but I’m willing to embrace it 150%.

Could I ask you questions??? About the trailer of course. Thank you Andrea