1973 Land Yacht Sovereign 31' - Mark and Georgia's Project!

[FreedomPed]

Hello all!

Mark and Georgia here!

We are starting this thread to document our journey in rescuing a 1973 Airstream! For about six months, the two of us and our two dogs were on a bicycle-only trip across the US. We made it nearly 4,000 miles before our older dog, Biscuit, started having issues riding in his puppy hauler (a customized bike trailer). While on that trip, we found an Airstream that was parked on the side of a barn and in talking to the owners, they bought it with hopes of touring the country but it ended up being used for storage. We struck a deal when the bike trip ended and how we are starting the process of bringing the trailer back to life.

Our plan is to live in it full time as soon as we can get it in suitable condition. As you might imagine, it needs a lot of work. We are so glad to find and be part of these forums so we can get advice and learn, and hopefully help others out too as we work through the efforts on our trailer. We have our fingers crossed that there aren't any big show-stoppers down the line.

Pictures, and surely hundreds of questions, are coming soon!

Mark, Georgia, Junebug and Biscuit

[Minno]

Welcome! Keep us posted, and be aware that we LOVE pictures! As in you need to post some soon!

Kay

[FreedomPed]

Here are a few pictures

[FreedomPed]

Originally Posted by Minno

Welcome! Keep us posted, and be aware that we LOVE pictures! As in you need to post some soon!

Kay

We have been reading your thread, and will end up reading every line of all 156 pages! You are both very talented and your efforts are amazing. We have already learned a lot. Thanks for blazing such a well documented trail!

[Minno]

Chris is the talented one. I'm just the flunky! Except for the quilt on the bed.
Your trailer looks very like ours in configuration at the start. Ours was in much worse shape and partially gutted, though. As you deconstruct, take many many pictures because you will want them to refer to when you put things back together. Trust me on this. Also don't throw things away yet. You never know when it will come in handy, even if just to look at or trace for curves, etc. We literally only reused the kitchen sink and a few outlet covers in our rebuild (oh, and the wall anchors for partitions), but used many other things to help figure things out.
Read, read, read many threads. There are lots of wonderful ideas out there, and we got a lot of help from the forums for ours.
Keep posting!

Kay

[Cleosdad]

Congratulations. It looks to be in pretty darn good condition.

[starboard]

We have the same Airstream and have been living init for 10 years. I love it more than my wife but she has a good sense of humor! After all you can only sit on one chair at a time.
Good luck, you will be fine.
Starboard

[laducky]

Originally Posted by starboard

We have the same Airstream and have been living init for 10 years. I love it more than my wife but she has a good sense of humor! After all you can only sit on one chair at a time.
Good luck, you will be fine.
Starboard

Haha!! The first time I read this I thought you meant you love your trailer more than you love your wife, not you love the trailer more than your wife does! So true tho, one chair at a time!!

Have fun with your project!!

[TxDave]

Congratulations on your new project. My wife and I are in Temple, TX. We are renovating a 1971 Sovereign 31'. So far, we've finished all of the electrical stuff, replaced the sub floor in the rear bath area, new heat pump/ac, new plank laminate flooring, window hardware and screens, new toilet and black water tank, and are about half way finished with replacing all of the plumbing with PEX.

Our trailer was actually in pretty good shape when we purchased it last September. We're hoping to have it road ready in a couple of months.

[KEIZER]

I just purchased a 1973 rear bed model yesterday. Will use this while i restore my 1980 excella II. Both units are 31'. Congrats on the airstream.