Newbie 2004 25' CCD International

[FamilyCan]

We have made a deal to purchase a slightly used 2004 25' CCD International. We live in South Carolina and will arrange over the next few weeks to pick up our 'Family Can' in Massachusetts. This is our very first experience RV-ing other than distant childhood memories from my Grandfathers Winnebago.

We have a 7, 4, and 2 year old and really enjoy the outdoors. We have not done much camping over the past 7 years and hope that the Airstream will enable us to more frequently enjoy one of our passions.

I am experienced in pulling boats and small trailers but have never pulled a trailer with supplemental breaks.

Any advice is greatly appreciated from technical to fun ideas or pointers for family with young children. There is also much information on this site, any reccommendations for where to begin. Our family is very excited about future adventures and memories to be created.

[KIMILI]

First of all we'd love to congratulate you on your fantastic choice and welcome you to this great community!

We bought a 25'CCD too and absolutely love it.

There are many many things to do to make it yours but most of them can wait. The unit is perfectly towable and usable as it is. Just make sure you have all the standard camping equipment for it as: cables, sewer, levellers etc.

By searching this forum you can find different extensive lists of the must buys you will need for all your future trips but since you're buying used the previous owner may include most of the items needed already.

The 25' CCD is perfect for kids. We have camped with 14, 11 & 10 year old last August and everyone had a good time. The only problem was the dinette bed which is quite short for a taller child and it's pillows are not that comfortable to sleep on. Once we changed them and switched sleeping arrangements everything was fine.

Full hook ups with young children is also very helpful but not mandatory since this AS can do very well without them for a few days.

Search the forums, ask every possible question to the previous owner and if you still have doubts just post! There's always an expert online on these forums.

Happy trails
Kimili

[Oldtymeflyr]

Congrats on your new acquisition. I am sure that you will enjoy it.

I presume that your vehicle has sufficient towing capacity.

First you will need a brake controller. Read the instructions and setup carefully, it helps in making fine adjustments to the activation of the brakes.

Next. Check the mirrors, are they wide enough, if not another trip the the RV store.

Just take it easy, in the right lane for awhile. Get some practice in during the day, avoid rush hour and travel 5 mph below the speed limit, preferrable on multi lane roads.

Your boat experience is transferable and the electric brakes are much more controllable.

Enjoy.

Rick

[j54mark]

There is indeed much on these forums that can help. Up at the top of your screen you will find a menu which includes "portal", "forums", "photos", and so forth. Click on "Forums", then take a look at how the forums are organized, both under headings and sub-headings. The members and moderators have done a rather good job of keeping topics organized so that they can be researched as needed.

Next, spend the time to understand the "Search" feature. You should be able to track down just about any topic you might want to find.

Good luck to you and your family,

Mark

[Mike Lewis]

Having done the "camping thing" for years with both our children and grand children there is one thing that stands out in my mind that keeps family camping fun, especially with younger ones. Do as much camping as possable and as little traveling as possable. By this I mean it's better to visit longer at fewer places than to spend a lot of time on the road. The fun for kids doesn't begin until you stop and are parked. Even if you take long distance vacations this can be done. Try to get out as early as possable each day and stop as early as possable and don't spend every day on the road. Quality time over quanity is especially important with younger children. Save those longer trips for when they are older. Poking a stick in a campfire is by far more interesting to a 4 year old that all the monumemts and museums in the world. -------Pieman