85 Sovereign

[FiveOJoe]

Went and looked at an 85 Sovereign today. Really looked straight on the outside. Inside smelled damp, and the floor was soft just to the right of the door. The rest of it was well worn and needed to be gone over. He was asking $7000 and I'm thinking I should have bought it. He wouldn't hook up electric and water for me to check the operation and thats pretty much the reason I walked. Just really wanted to know how deep of a project it was. Double bed in the back. Curtains and blinds all missing, tables there, but all busted. The cross member under the front had a rust hole through it right in line with the tow vehicle rear tire. What do you think?

[AlinCal]

That's a very desirable trailer in my book, the rear pano window 25 is something I would be willing to take on as a project.
$7000 if straight sounds good to me, the water system will need an upgrade anyway so not running that is of little concern to me as is the electrical. The elephant in the room is the frame condition with a soft floor who knows what lurks below? I would investigate the structural integrity some more and go from there.

[AlinCal]

If you go back to look more make sure you look inside the two rear lockers for floor rot. I wish my 25 was as straight as that one appears.

[dbj216]

The price suggests the seller wants to get rid of it. This trailer is likely a big project. The early nineties trailers are known to be well built. It is easy to see another $10k or more in parts and materials, not including lots of labor. If you can do the work yourself, and wanted an Airstream of this size and layout, 7K range is reasonable. The fact the owner would not demonstrate the trailer means to me it needs everything.

David

[OTRA15]

This is the exact AS we had for ~7 years back in the 90's, which ended up in PA after we sold her. Great layout IMO especially the rear panoramic windows. Thanks for the photos! FWIW there were no leaks at all.

Could you post a link for the listing please?

Thanks,

Peter

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

This is the exact AS we had for ~7 years back in the 90's, which ended up in PA after we sold her. Great layout IMO especially the rear panoramic windows. Thanks for the photos! FWIW there were no leaks at all.

Could you post a link for the listing please?

Thanks,

Peter

You mean literally - this exact trailer was in your possession? Or this same model?

[OTRA15]

The exact same model and year, with pano windows at both ends . . . same rug and couch color . . . same flip-up dining table at couch . . .



Doubt if it is the same unit, but that is why I asked for a link. Does its provenance include PA in the 90's?



Stranger things have happened!

Peter

[FiveOJoe]

Listing is down . Heres another picture that may help.

[OTRA15]

Thanks for the photo. If your seller is the one who collected all those badges/plaques, then that is not our trailer for sure. The original owner's family maybe?

That rear-corner bed model with all the pano windows was a great floor plan IMO. Too bad yours has the soft floor and probably other problems, sorry to say.

Thanks for the follow-up. Good luck in your search!

Peter

[AlinCal]

Were the rear pano windows an option in that year? So few come up for sale but if one did in my neighborhood it would be hard to pass on at that price.

[OTRA15]

Not sure . . . that was our first AS so I was not even tuned into the pano windows that much. Trailer was clean, everything worked, local RV shop gave it a clean bill of health, so that was that. Great original owners, our van would tow it OK, and so forth.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by FiveOJoe

Listing is down . Heres another picture that may help.

Wondering if you ended up buying this AS?

Thanks,

Peter

[FiveOJoe]

I did not buy it. Seller gave me a “buy it or don’t” and didn't want to hook anything up or let me test stuff. He was a flipper and wasn’t very friendly, so I passed on it.

[OTRA15]

Thanks, sounds like a good call.

Peter