2004 22'

[lee]

Quite a bit of buzz on most of the 2004 models except the 22' safari. Has anybody seen one of these and if so what about that big window on the roadside ? Also if you notice on the pdf file for specs that the 22' safari is the only one that has 1 battery while the rest , even the 19' safari, have 2 group 24 batteries which is rather odd given that it was moved into the safari lineup.

One reason I'm curious is that my wife and I ordered a 22' international AS 4 months ago and have litterally watched the trailers specs/options change before our eyes. We received a copy of the factories order to build in july 04 and nothing but silence since then.

This is the first time in my life I have ever ordered anything instead of buying something off the lot. Believe me I will never make the mistake of ordering anything again, I'm starting to feel like I bought stock in green cheese from the moon.
I'm trying to hold back my cynical side, if anyone has seen or has even heard of a 22' 04 safari sighting please speak up.
Thanks

[Pahaska]

I have a '03 International AS and looking at the floorplan on the Airstream site, I have to guess that the diagram is incomplete. A window that size would span the bedroom partition and a number of ribs. It just wouldn't be practical and would destroy the strength of the monocoque body.

If a window was going to be that large, they should have just retained the wraparound front window. I think they simply left out some black line while making changes to the diagram.

[yocomotion]

I just saw a 22' Safari at Bill Thomas Camper Sales in St. Lous. They just received it in and were in the process of winterizing it. What do you want to know?

[Pahaska]

Undoubtedly, the single battery all the way forward on the tongue is to balance the weight of the rear galley. The rear galley is heavy enough that the frame needed to be reinforced at the axles. There is really no other practical place to mount a battery.

[CanoeStream]

Proper call on the floorplan drawing, John. I could speculate -- one window over the dinette table and one roadside of the bed. They just didn't darken the space in between.

The 25' CCD SS floorplan shows a double window at the dinette, just like the 22' CCD. T'ain't so. It has a single window with another window roadside of the couch.

What is your dealer or Airstream telling you? Good luck!

[lee]

It was stated that there was a 22' safari at a dealer in St. Louis. Could you tell me if it was a 2004 and if so what was the window configuration on the roadside. Is there one large window or is it two windows in a large configuration , roadside, .

And if remembered were there two batteries on the 22' or one.

Thanks for your help, as I stated in my initial thread the specs have been changing and we are not sure how different the 22' safari will be in relation to it's 2003 flavor as the International AS.

I havn't had such trouble waiting for something since I was little and it was the day before christmas.( As my wife and I are in our 4th month of waiting for the AS ) .

[yocomotion]

I do not recall the window configuration. However, I do remember noticing the single battery. I found this odd because my '03 Bambi has double batteries.

My contact at the dealership advised me that they ordered this in for a customer that was to take posession this week. The customer backed out and the '04, 22' Safari would go into regular inventory.

Go to www.btcamper.com. It is listed on their available inventory page.

[lee]

Yocomotion,

Thanks for your info. . I will call the dealer and ask a few questions. I checked out the site.

[lee]

Alert,
A miracle occurred. The AS dealer in Manteca Ca. called and stated that he was looking at the 22" safari we ordered. Will pick up next week and when the opportunity occurs I will tell about the mysterous window ect. .

This has been over 4 months of very hard waiting . Thanks for all your replys.

[lee]

Just returned from picking up our 2004 22' safari. Am currently very tired so I'll get to the point.

1) Walk through . only issues two areas that needed to be calked .

2) Dealer manteca RV. Nice people . maybe it's because they got 35 G's . ( Am I being to cynical) I would reccomend then, and they had several other AS's in stock besides our custom order.

3) Tow vehicle 2001 Tundra , w reese WD hitch. It towed like a dream even over the lousy calif. freeway system , pothole all over. It was like riding on a jack hammer , hwy's 99 and int. 5 and Int 80.. when we got back to Nevada it was like riding on a cloud, This trailer is one heck of a tow , straight as an arrow nomatter what the road or how many semi's passed by.

4) The big window shown in the AS floorplans site for the Safari 22: does not exist . There are tow seperate windows one for the dinnette and the other for the bedroom.


Now we get ready for our excursion to oregon , Wa. for a month . Am taking the laptop so may post road messages.

[proxak]

Hi Leeman,

Congratulations on picking up your new 22' Safari AS! Sorry to hear about the condition of the California freeways, maybe it's something that our new Governor-elect "Ah-nold" can fix?

Just curious, is there a reason why you picked Manteca RV over RV's of Sacramento? Wouldn't Sacramento have been a bit closer for you than Manteca? Or did you have a bad experience with the Sacramento dealer? I'm hoping to be able to purchase a new trailer either in January or February, and am looking at the dealers near me ... besides Manteca and Sacramento, I've also been down to Paso Robles at the Sky River RV dealer.

Thanks! And congrats again!

Xak

[lee]

We checked out the Sacto. dealer in june and while they had good prices. There dealership was very shaky looking , everything was very unprofessional , sort of like buying watches from a guy with 10 watches on his wrist. Every time we had a question about amything the salesman had to make a phone call to someone who might know the answer, so we decided to drive to Manteca Rv.

At manteca RV they had a very large setup that was immaculate the salesman we talked to knew what he was talking about, we asked him several questions we know the answers to, and the service dept. had one of the few airstream trained sheet metal men workiing there. I won't get too mushy about manteca because it was like buying a car, but there operation was very professional. We later found out the sacramento dealership is owned by Manteca RV.

Whem we picked up our AS , Manteca RV assigned a mechanic in the service dept. to us, we spent 4 hours in a very extensive wank through and found only 2 QC issues that were fixed immediately. We did have an issue about a fantistic fan that was not installed but that was taken care of immediately and installed after working hours. We did talk to a Mr Tinney at Manteca RV , Owner/GM or dealership, whom made it clear that he wants his dealership to be THE PREMIUM Airstream dealership . My wife and I are retired and in many years of buying things we have never had service this good. This is why we went to Manteca RV