Airstream quality?

[woodytwo]

Job is done. My knees are sore as hell. Took about 4 times the hours that I thought it would. Lots of work in close quarters. But it looks great. So I'm really happy.

[Paul Dobbin]

We did the carpet thing when we first bought our Land Yacht. We did the whole coach. A "big job" is a understatement. We took out all the furniture & seat belts and replaced all the old blue carpet except in the kitchen & bath where it had hardwood.
The hard part was doing all the countours around the foot wells under the dash and the shower pan. Interesting that the lower walls in the bedroom were carpeted too.
Three of us (All handy guys) worked on it for two full days, but it felt like a brand new coach when we were done. I then took the scraps and had them edged and put snaps in them for runners in the traffic areas. When the runners get nasty, I'll remove them and have new carpet again.

[Colin4]

Originally Posted by Airstream12557

Woodytwo, hang in there. It always feels good to vent, but problems do happen at the factory, dealer, or by do it yourselfers. All in all, I have been pleased with the quality of our 2004 Land Yacht, but we have to keep in mind that it was made by people like us who have an occasional off-day.

Sam

I replaced a leaky water pump under the queen bed a year ago and I had to pull up the carpet and the wooden covers that make up the base of the bed to dry everything properly. The workmanship that I saw was not the best. I replaced every single screw and washer I could find with stainless steel ones for starters. I also did a lot of "cleaning" up of the factory workmanship. Cable routing, pipe routing etc. The straps holding the water tank were a joke too. But I was not too concerned because I enjoyed making it a better coach.

[John&Vicki]

Originally Posted by woodytwo

Well folks, I was wrong. ...THE PROBLEM WITH THE SCREW HOLES IN THE WATER PIPE WAS NOT CAUSED AT THE FACTORY. So A/S quality was not and is not an issue. I am totally embarressed for having thought otherwise.

You might ask the moderators if you could edit your first post.

Poppy

[Kevin245]

Originally Posted by Birdmaestro

You might ask the moderators if you could edit your first post.

Poppy

A good thought but there's logic as to why we should not make the change. If the poster goes back and edits his first post then the whole thread dynamic changes and continuity is lost. Quoted posts referencing his post will still reflect the original language and other posts weighing in on the issue will not make sense.

The discovery and subsequent revelation of the flaw follow a timeline and changing the first post would only serve to confuse the matter. This is why the site has a time limit on post edit capability.

Kevin

[Colin4]

Originally Posted by woodytwo

Well folks, I was wrong. I dug a bit deeper at the back of the motor home and removed the plywood cover on the bed. I thought that I might as well check out the pipes and tank. Every thing here was OK but sure needed a good vacuuming. And what did I find? A small piece of carpet about 2 inches sqare that was a different color and type of carpet that I had removed on the floor. So I went thru those copies of workorders that I had from the A/S dealer that the previous owner had used and finally spotted a one liner that said "R & R carpet in BR". So It now looks like the carpet is not original as I had thought AND THAT THE PROBLEM WITH THE SCREW HOLES IN THE WATER PIPE WAS NOT CAUSED AT THE FACTORY. So A/S quality was not and is not an issue. I am totally embarressed for having thought otherwise.

Saw my buddies 2010 coach which is a Damon Outlaw. Wow .....I say my Airstream build is a 1000% better with superior materials and workmanship. Everything is falling apart or pealing inside his rig. My 2004 still looks brand new! That is definitely a testament to Airstream workmanship. So my opinion has changed on that front too.

[m.hony]

Having owned another brand I can testify to the difference in quality.
The previous trailer spent more time at the dealer for repair than camping.
The Airstream has never been back for service. The only issue now is moisture in the clearance lights.
Also, I was at Foley RV in Gulfport yesterday. Walking through Airstreams, there are no odors.
The off-gassing is so bad in sob trailers I could not enter some of them. Al that pressboard really stinks.

[Punch]

Originally Posted by Colin4

I replaced a leaky water pump under the queen bed a year ago .....The workmanship that I saw was not the best. I replaced every single screw and washer I could find with stainless steel ones for starters......

I think what gets lost in all this is that these vehicles are built to last a specific time period, with regular maintenance and care. If you had to replace rusty screws, that means the water pump leak was allowed to go on for far longer than it should. If Airstream used stainless steel fasteners throughout their coachbuilding, they'd be unique among MH manufacturers, and also long since bankrupt. My Airstream MH's are 19 and 24 years old respectively. I might not be happy with every aspect of construction and design, but overall when I have to tear into anything, I find I am dealing with a high and consistent standard of workmanship.

[woodytwo]

Originally Posted by Birdmaestro

You might ask the moderators if you could edit your first post.

Poppy

Anyone know how to contact the moderater?? Since the problem was not with Aistream I would dearly like to change that thumbs down to thumbs up in my first post.We have been a memeber of wbcci for 15 years while owning a trailer and yes most owners do a fair amount of bitching but we believe that almost all of us agree that Airstream is the best buy. Quality is not 100% but probably still higher than sob. As far as our M/H goes, we are glad that we purchased it. I had researched this website and conversed with many owners for some time prior to the purchase so I knew what the strengths and weaknesses were. It is as advertised and we are a happy owners.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by woodytwo

Anyone know how to contact the moderater?? Since the problem was not with Aistream I would dearly like to change that thumbs down to thumbs up in my first post.We have been a memeber of wbcci for 15 years while owning a trailer and yes most owners do a fair amount of bitching but we believe that almost all of us agree that Airstream is the best buy. Quality is not 100% but probably still higher than sob. As far as our M/H goes, we are glad that we purchased it. I had researched this website and conversed with many owners for some time prior to the purchase so I knew what the strengths and weaknesses were. It is as advertised and we are a happy owners.

this has already been responded to, see quoted post below:

Originally Posted by Kevin245

A good thought but there's logic as to why we should not make the change. If the poster goes back and edits his first post then the whole thread dynamic changes and continuity is lost. Quoted posts referencing his post will still reflect the original language and other posts weighing in on the issue will not make sense.

The discovery and subsequent revelation of the flaw follow a timeline and changing the first post would only serve to confuse the matter. This is why the site has a time limit on post edit capability.

Kevin

[Colin4]

Originally Posted by Punch

I think what gets lost in all this is that these vehicles are built to last a specific time period, with regular maintenance and care. If you had to replace rusty screws, that means the water pump leak was allowed to go on for far longer than it should. If Airstream used stainless steel fasteners throughout their coachbuilding, they'd be unique among MH manufacturers, and also long since bankrupt. My Airstream MH's are 19 and 24 years old respectively. I might not be happy with every aspect of construction and design, but overall when I have to tear into anything, I find I am dealing with a high and consistent standard of workmanship.

Absolutely you are correct. I still have my 2004 Airstream and I’m still impressed with their quality build.

[Paul Dobbin]

Originally Posted by Colin4

Absolutely you are correct. I still have my 2004 Airstream and I’m still impressed with their quality build.

Agreed!! our 1994 Land Yacht is still well built and our visits to RV shows tell us that S.O.B.'s are mostly cheap poor quality by comparison unless in the super pricey category. Although we know a guy with a Newel that sure has a lot of service problems for 1.3 million dollars. Our old Airstream has needed a few small things fixed, but it's 24 years old!