3D model of '77 Sovereign frame...

[dbj216]

I have a 75 Overlander and my friend has a 76 Sovereign. The very most rear cross member on my trailer is a 1 1/2" steel channel all rusted to hell. My friend's 76 has a full stamped cross member similar to your SketchUp view.

Airstream certainly made changes to the trailers every model year of not more often. A different axle location may be an effort to increase tongue weight and reduce frame stress behind the axles.

You two men ought to get together and see if you can figure out what was going on. Why that much difference.

It appears mine and my friend's trailers have the same axle mounting plate with the horizontal "D" shaped holes stamped in them. This axle plate was too light for the intended duty. My friends 76 31' has some buckle in the axle plate behind the rear axle causing frame sag. We haven't looked at the frame rails yet. We will make the necessary repairs.

The interior "melamine" material changed from my trailer to his. Mine has held up very well through the years. His seems thinner and has more delamination issues.

David

[glrtex]

Ian,

My previous post was a “Part 1”.

It may be that your axles are set further back, but what about the center of the wheel well with reference to the axle mounting plate?

Given that yours is a rear bathroom, I can see why AS might shift your axkes back 7”, but the center of the wheel well should not change with reference to the axke mounting plate.

One more measurement that will confirm the difference between our units is the shell. I have the distance from the front center to the leading edge of the wheel well (without moulding) at 15’ 8 1/2”.

We are not very far apart, so perhaps a visit might be in the future...

Greg

[glrtex]

Ian,

Well, a light finally went on. I measured from the front plate on the shell to the middle of the "notch" for the wheel well on the shell. It lines up perfectly with the 15' 3 3/4" I had for the center point of the wheel well outriggers.

I guess this is proof that your Rear Bath unit has its axles set 7" further to the rear. I guess it's time to weld the last 4 outriggers on to my frame!


Greg

[glrtex]

I had originally designed my cross members to put the two floor supports back in as in the original. Since I used 2x6 rectangular tubing, I cut in three sets of oval weight reduction cutouts in each cross member. My plan was to put the floor support in the space between cutouts.

Rethinking the weight issue, I am now thinking I will only put in one lengthwise floor support (again to save on weight), but now the floor support (1x2) would have to be notched into a cutout area. Does any one think this will affect the structural integrity of the cross member? The floor support will be welded in, so the notch should not affect the overall strength.

I could also cut the the floor supports and butt weld them to relieved crossmember and notch only on solid crossmember (3).

Photo explains it better than I did...


Greg

[dwhitake]

Ian,
This is awesome. I did may layout in sketchup, but would love to have the frame to get my tank placement set. I would very much appreciate the model. please email me dustin_elec_eng@yahoo.com

Thanks

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by glrtex

I had originally designed my cross members to put the two floor supports back in as in the original. Since I used 2x6 rectangular tubing, I cut in three sets of oval weight reduction cutouts in each cross member. My plan was to put the floor support in the space between cutouts.

Rethinking the weight issue, I am now thinking I will only put in one lengthwise floor support (again to save on weight), but now the floor support (1x2) would have to be notched into a cutout area. Does any one think this will affect the structural integrity of the cross member? The floor support will be welded in, so the notch should not affect the overall strength.

I could also cut the the floor supports and butt weld them to relieved crossmember and notch only on solid crossmember (3).

Photo explains it better than I did...


Greg

Hey Greg,

I will be moving a few things around and adding at least one crossmember and definitely some outriggers on the tail end. You shouldn’t need to notch your crossmember if you’ve got a really good weld, I’m going to add a support here and there like you and will butt weld, well my friend will, he’s a welder of supreme prowess...

I’ll post a version of what I plan to change shortly.

Ian

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by dwhitake

Ian,
This is awesome. I did may layout in sketchup, but would love to have the frame to get my tank placement set. I would very much appreciate the model. please email me dustin_elec_eng@yahoo.com

Thanks

Sure thing Dustin, I’ll email it shortly. Would you mind sharing your layout here? Might be a good addition to this thread.

Ian

[dwhitake]

Originally Posted by Iansk

Sure thing Dustin, I’ll email it shortly. Would you mind sharing your layout here? Might be a good addition to this thread.

Ian

Sure Thing, I'm not a Designer, but I can get the job done.

[Iansk]

Here is my proposed frame layout with new tank placement thoughts next to the original frame. Additions in blue.

The tanks are modeled on VTS 21 gallon tanks. I need to figure out if the toilet can live with the hot water heater as that isn't moving.

[dwhitake]

Ian,

As requested, my proposed layout for my 31' Sovereign.

[dbj216]

Very, very nice indeed. David

[wcronin4]

Ian

I've been looking over your latest layout of tanks and I have some questions:

You have filled two 24" wide bays (side to side) with gray tanks. Are you showing two VTS 747 tanks in parallel, or just one big tank?

Also in the picture you posted, the toilet is not sitting on top of the black tank in the rendering, but is offset. Is this a function of the CAD program, or are you going to pipe over from the toilet to the tank?

Slowly but surely I'm sneaking up on a tank design.

Bill

[Iansk]

Hey Bill,

The showing tanks contains 3 of the VTS 21 gal tanks for exploration purposes only and is not my final design. The thought is there is 2 x 21 gal tanks for grey water (color coded grey) that would be hanged together to make a 42 gal system and another 21 gal tank to see if I could use that as a black tank solution (color coded black). As you pointed out, the toilet does not drain directly into the tank as placed and unless I can reorient the toilet over the tank without moving the HWH I’ll have to use a different tank for black. I will only dump straight down into the black tank as any deviation may be pretty poopy in the long run.

Hope this makes sense...

Ian

[crazycuda]

was this a rear bath or center bath unit? could you give me a top down of the trailer as it was from the factory?

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by crazycuda

was this a rear bath or center bath unit? could you give me a top down of the trailer as it was from the factory?

If you are addressing me, the OP, it’s a rear bath. Are you requesting the file? I’m happy to share, otherwise there is a top down as from factory above.

If you are asking the other poster who shared his design, that was a center bath, but he’s out of the game as his trailer got destroyed in a storm.

Ian

[mdpetri]

Ian,

I am working on a restoration/restaurant project and have been searching for information on the 31ft Sovereign frame. I found some basic owner's manual documents, but a drawing would really help. If you are still sharing your trailer frame SketchUp model, I'm interested in taking a look at it. Would you please send it to mdpetri@mac.com?

Thank you for sharing!
-Mark

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by mdpetri

Ian,

I am working on a restoration/restaurant project and have been searching for information on the 31ft Sovereign frame. I found some basic owner's manual documents, but a drawing would really help. If you are still sharing your trailer frame SketchUp model, I'm interested in taking a look at it. Would you please send it to mdpetri@mac.com?

Thank you for sharing!
-Mark

Hey Mark,

Sure thing. Give me a few segments of time and I’ll get it to you.
The only thing I ask is to keep this thread going with any updates you make to it.
I’m trying to figure out how to just make it available here and maybe that’s just a DropBox link or something.

Ian

[Iansk]

Mark,

I sent you the file via email.

I'm posting a DropBox link to the file here for anyone else who wants to play with it.

Again, I only ask that if you make any changes or modifications to the model that you share it here for others to benefit.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8628vew6d...1InNM_wWa?dl=0

Ian

[mdpetri]

Thanks Ian - this is super!

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by mdpetri

Thanks Ian - this is super!

Happy to help.

I need to update my sitting bucket in the model, that orange one is long gone...

Ian