Relocate bath

[GaCamper]

I am new to AS and have just purchased a 1972 31' unit. It is complete and we thought we would "clean up" and camp. It did not take long to find floor issues so now we are moving into the gut and remodel.

It is a rear bath model and I am looking at relocating the bath to the center. I am looking for advise as to issues related to this. I have several ideas/questions:
1. can I move the black tank to the middle of the trailer to be under the relocated toilet?
2. On mid bath units why is the sink and shower on different sides? If they are both on the same side as the kitchen sink could I not combine the drains and have just one vent pipe?
3. If I move the bedroom to the rear I will need to move the h/w heater. Do I simply cut a new hole where I want the new one? And how do I "patch" the hole from the old location? I do not like "ugly" patches. Do I need to replace the side panel or is there another solution?

I hope this is not too much for my first post, I appreciate everyones advise, This appears to be a great site for owners to learn and share.

[Aage]

Howdy and welcome to airforums.com, GaCamper!

Lots of folks on here that can answer your questions, but some like me will just add to them:

• You will need to consider moving windows, too
• Add to that the outside doors to the storage areas will need re-sorting

You will find that what you are proposing to do is quite a big job. You might want to concern yourself with just getting it roadworthy, or selling it as is to buy one with the floor plan you would like...

In any event, good luck, and keep asking your questions!

[Darkspeed]

Hi Gacamper! I have the same AS and am planning the same mod as you. Good luck and post photos!

From what I understand you can buy a blank ( no hole ) black tank and cut the hole for the toilet where you need to fit your new floorplan.

You may also want to consider downloading a google sketchup model of your AS to play with floorplans

[wasagachris]

Welcome GaCamper. That is a huge undertaking that has been considered by others before. Very experienced and handy people decided that it wouldn't work well. As Aage said windows and compartment doors get in the way as do the vent pipes throught the roof for the tanks. The two windows in the bedroom would be in the wrong location for a center bath and so would the two exterior compartment doors that are currently under the beds.The water heater must be moved and the rear compartment would now open up in to the interior. The interior end cap in the rear bath models are different than centre bath ones. There will be no interior skins behind the end cap so either a new end cap or new interior skins(walls) would need to be made.
You might also consider adding a grey tank as the 72's don't have one.
The frame would also need to be modified to accept the new tank locations.
Moving windows, compartment doors and the water heater would require either patching the old holes(ugly looking) or reskinning the areas of the shell (very time consuming and expensive. Shell interior ribs would also need to be relocated. The new rear bedroom would only have one rear window unless the center bedroom ones are moved. Oh yeah fresh water plumbing, drain plumbing and electrical wiring would aslo need to be modified as well.
Basically you would be practically re-engineering the entire rear half of the trailer. Like I said a huge undertaking that would require a lot of planning and measuring to locate everything correctly in the right order of assembly.
Good luck if you try it but I wouldn't recommend doing it.

[Jim Foster]

Not a great idea.

The first thing that is planned in a new Airstream is the floor plan, not the last thing.

You would be far ahead by finding the trailer you want, buy it, then sell the other.