Can of beans Sovereign 1972

[Can of beans]

Greetings
My wife and I have been following these forums for a year or so as we repair our trailer, and I thought it was time we started posting about our trailer. We've updated and fixed a few things, and I'll split them up into posts below.
but here's a recent picture. We haven't tackled the clear-coat yet, but someday we will get there. Someday My Dad and wife will finish getting out the dents as well.
We inherited the trailer from my wife's parents who've had it for decades, but hey it had fairly new tires on it. and came with leak catching buckets, some of the lighting worked too. It's roomy though, and has a separate bedroom for our little problem sleeper.

[Can of beans]

New
Axles
Pex plumbing
Water Heater (with Electric option)
Furnace
Front and rear floor plywood
Outdoor Shower
Inverter
Battery
Curtains
Gaucho Upholstery
Water pump
Light Covers
LED lighting (in Process)
propane tanks recertified and a new Regulator
1 vista view reworked
new roll pin for KT door lock (it's scary how close it was to locking me out forever)

Things on the list to Do
Black tank drain valve and plumbing
Kitchen Countertop (oven is slowly falling in)
Oven gas valves
Bathroom sink and counter
finish new weatherstripping for windows and door
Fix all the windows :{
re-string the awning
following the perpetual leaks around and find all those spots i missed when i resealed the exterior.

[Can of beans]

Axles
Axles were easy, new Dexter tor-flex, I ordered from Six Roblee's through work with a 3500 lb rating, easy lube spindles, and nearly bolt in, I just had to slot the holes a bit on one side, and hook up the brakes. New 5/8" fine thread bolts finished it off. Any body need some low mileage sagging axles?

[Can of beans]

Pumbing, a quick hook up to the water connection showed a couple burst copper pipes, so using forum advice I learned how to plumb with PEX, and it went pretty well. I also swapped the water heater and water pump at the same time. We stuck with the same 10 gallon water heater to keep it drop in, but added the electric heat option. the pump I switched to a shur-flo to go with the update theme. I bleached the water tank, and added new hoses and it was all good to go.

[Can of beans]

Electrical
I replaced the buzz box with a pd9245 converter and a new fuse panel, and replaced various other wires that I came across. a new battery from he wal-mart just barely fit.

[Can of beans]

Floor replacement,
I replaced the rear sheet of plywood, and later the front sheet, while I was at it, I fixed the bumper water catcher to hopefully help keep the water on the outside.

[Can of beans]

Furnace Replacement,

we had a trip planned for East lake in Central Oregon for around September, so it seemed like a good idea to check on the condition of the furnace as it was under a recall, good news the cross tube was in fine shape, bad news water had pooled and rotted through the exchanger. I replaced it with a new version and like others used the old housing to make duct work to mount the new furnace. the auto light feature is nice. and it kept us warm.

[Can of beans]

Upholstery,
My wife did a magnificent job creating new curtains with new sliders to fit the tracks, in a fun bird on a branch fabric, with blackout backings to keep out the headlights at night. then she recovered the Gaucho in a waterproof commercial style fabric, that really cleaned up the front.
Later we moved the stops on the Gaucho slides to get another 8" of sleeping space out from under the front shelf. it made a lot of difference for me on the wall side, and it was a quick easy fix. for now we have jack stands under the rails for extra support, but now that we've tested it, I may make some drop down legs for it.

[Can of beans]

KT door lock
Check your door lock, the roll pin for the outside door handle was worn off, and the friction between the spring retainer and the shaft was all that opened the door. one 1/8" x 3/4" roll pin fixed it.

[xrvr]

Gonna be like a new one! Jim

[Minno]

Need more pics!

Chris

[Swahealy]

No pictures came through. Looking forward to seeing your work.


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[Can of beans]

Here are some of the before and after pictures,
Front floor Rot, and the patched in repairs,
The recovered Gaucho
a Picture of the mid-bath, retro-brite helped, but not enough

and the new furnace and sagging counter

By the way the stuff seen through the windows isn't mine, I thankfully get to store the trailer in my Dad's heated shop, which makes it much easier to work on in the winter. even if all of his stuff is kind of in the way.

[MacDad]

Big job isn't it?

We are on a similar project, but we went full frame off. It has been a huge under taking especially on our tight schedule and a huge investment in a short time, but I am sure we both will have great units when done.

[Can of beans]

someday maybe I'll go back for the frame off, but for the moment, it's just been fixing it to use. I got the parts for the black tank valve the other day, but I've been trying to get a pole building built so I can store our stuff here, the trailer will have to wait for winter, or the week before our next trip where ever that may be.

[Rolland]

Looks good, you guys did a nice job! -Rolland


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[Can of beans]

Thanks, the project has been on hold while I build the trailer a new home.
My Dad has been helping me put up a pole barn, we're at the sheetmetal stage, but it's slow going only being able to work on it some weekends.

[Can of beans]

I have a minor emergency, we have a trip scheduled for the 6th-8th of June, so I figured it was time to tackle the black tank leak. It turns out it wasn't the valve, it was the tank itself. well the tank and the valve. so I need a new tank, I could try and weld it up, but the crack is in the area of the valve flange and is pretty long, so I would prefer to replace the tank. my problem is our mid bath late 1972 31' sovereign has the black tank on top of the floor, and I can't find any sources for a tank. I looked at vintage trailer and inland rv's website, and the inca catalog but none of them list this tank. I'm hoping The forum can help me. I'll call the usual references on Monday as well.
Thanks

[Can of beans]

Maybe I spoke too soon, it looks like Inca has a H201 in the airstream specific catalog, that looks like it matches, other than the drain fitting should be 3" pipe thread i'm pretty sure my tank is flat as well, has anyone used this tank, would you lay something under the tank for the slope?
there were no shims under my tank.

[cameront120]

The name of your trailer makes me want to re-read Tom Robbins' "Skinny Legs and All".