Quality of new AS: 2004 22" SAFARI

[lee]

Hello to all of you fellow and future airstream owners.

Our Airstream is a 22 ft. 2004 model built in 9/03 .

My wife and I have been traveling and living in the 22 ft. safari since 10/9/03 which makes almost 4 months now. We have towed the trailer over 4000 miles and we have hooked up & unhooked , dumped sewage , defrosted refridgerator, and just about anything else you can name during this time.

We are both very familar with the trailer, with every sq. inch of this thing to the point that we are nolonger overwhelmed with the romantic idea of owning an airstream. What I say is the experience of 2 people living day after day in a 22 ft. trailer while on the road.

Here are my findings / opinions.
1) One plastic blind anchor broke ( these things are cheap flimsy things that should be made out of spring steel)

2) Latch for wardrobe closet is heavy duty but not designed for accordian style doors as are used in the 22 ft. safari 04 , and should be change to a different type of latching system.

3) The Water pump for pushing water through the lines works fine but is noisy enough to wake the dead.

4) The trailer is as tight as a drum after being towed over all types of roads for 4000 miles. We have towed through blinding rain and snow storms and over 200 miles of horrible Icy roads and have had absolutely no problems with rattles, leaks or things falling apart due to vibration or poor workmanship.

5) The design of the interior suits us very well , I am 6'2" and my wife is 5'6" and we have no problem with liveablility or design and have adjusted very well to a small but well designed space.

6) The electrical system appears to be well designed and over built as we have been in several places where hooks up had severe electrical problems that scared the heck out of me but the airstream system survived. I did however buy a voltage regulator/surge protector that I will always use when hooking up to shore power.

7) I have had no problems with anything failing on the road except the 2 minor items listed in #1 and #2. I consider this trailer a quality product as I doubt that I have ever had anything that I have given daily usage over a four month period that has not needed some adjustment or failure issue. In this 4 month period I have seen numerous trailers from cheap models to 400,000 dollar plus motor homes break down , flood , electrical systems fail or just plain fall apart and many of these catastrophic problems were on brand new units and none of them were on airstreams.

Over these several months I have had many people with small inexpensive trailers to monster megabucks units look longingly at our AS then come over and start asking how we like the AS and if we have had problems then telling us about the horrible problems they have had with theirs.

8) I do not consider the 22" safari expensive now as I have been shown by expierence that the Airstream product is quality . The Airstream is the Toyota of Trailers ,( or should it be the other way around ).

[Big Dee]

Hey Lee,
Your post puts a smile on my face. As we write this, my A/S is finishing the line at the factory. I have been lucky enough to have a pics of my baby as it grew. It looks like on hell of a quality production line to me and I am glad to hear of your praises. I think they really revamped the quality control and they are producing the finest coaches anywhere.

[MaShep]

Check your water pump, ours made a lot of noise too. It was loose and is much better since our AS trailer folks tightened it up when we had other warranty work done.

[silverback]

Big Dee, We have an 04 (25' CCD) being built now. How did you arrange to have pictures taken of the build process?
Thanks,
Ken

[Big Dee]

Ken,
I suspect the factory takes EXTRA good care with forum members so...

Find your new unit's VIN on your paper work. Then email Mitch Bailey, Airstream Customer Service Representive at tech@airstream.com Tell him you saw my baby pix on the forums. I am sure he would be happy to search out your unit and take a few shots of it for you.

I was in email contact with the factory before my baby started the line. Mitch, being the awesome guy, surprised me with a daily update. To say he magnified my excitement would be an understatement. It proves the people in the factory know what specialness they are producing and they are truely unique and special themselves. Well, you can see they won me over and I haven't even got the freakin thing yet.

Check out my album for the latest from Mitch at http://www.airstreamphotos.com/photo...=500&password=

[bubbles28]

We've had our 28 Safari since April 04. Put about 2000 miles on it with multiple weekend trips. We've had only one long trip (2 weeks) up to Yellowstone. Great times in our Safari- with lot's of people asking how we liked our TT.
Overall, we are very satisfied with our Airstream. No major problems with the Safari so far. Just a bunch little things and some lack of attention-to-detail or possibly cost-cutting production measures that I wish A/S didn't use.
We also had a mini-blind bracket break over the kitchen sink (they are cheap plastic- and it was not installed correctly, it snapped off, but easily replaced), a cold water line leaked under bathroom sink which I easily fixed with $6 replacement line. All the stapeled-on velcro strips that hold the cushions onto the dinette and sofa backs have pulled out. The staples on the couch upholstery have come out also- much to the surprise of my daughter trying to sleep. Ouch! One cabinet door overhead our bed has a loose hinge (screws have pulled out of the composite (fiberglass?) material. I modified a couple of plastic screw anchors to grip the screws better.
We just got a safety recall on our wheel bearings, so we are planning a trip back up to our dealer (5 hours away). Other than those problems described, we've had great fun with no major headaches.

[Tarheel]

The water pump has 3 pistons in it. It is not as quite as a centrifugal pump but it delivers a good flow with consistant pressure and it has a built in check valve feature. I have tried everything to make mine less noisey but haven't had much luck. It's mounted on carpet with padding under it and the supply and output lines are not sound shorting on anything. All I can say is its a good sound to hear it come on.

Big Dee the pictures aren't coming up when you click on the link.