what's up with the cabinet doors?

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by lmgreenfield

I'm hoping that on this next trip - our fourth, we will not experience any more factory-caused malfunctions.

After 3 Airstreams, I am totally convinced that the nails and screws are simply whatever the assembler happens to pick up at the moment, regardless of the design (if any).

In my Classic 25, I had a 3" screw (that should have been about 1 1/2") that deformed the pantry track and finally led to a failure that dumped tghe pantry in the aisle. I have had a number of too-short screws. In the 25, I had the spice rack disintegrate on a rough road and found that the nails were too short and only had about a 1/8" penetration. I e-mailed the factory, but never received a reply.

Fortunately, in 2 years, I have found very little to complain about in my 2007 Classic 28.

[ShikariJones]

Reading these posts I am inclined to think that Airsteam quality has been steadily eroding to where quality in todays product is questionable.

Seems that earlier trailers were much better finished and contained lots of real wood.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Same-o problem with loose screws...

This trick worked for us..

Elmers white wood glue, flat tooth picks. Coat the picks one at a time and
insert thin end in hole until filled, let dry, break off excess, coat screw with same glue and re-install.

ps..they will come out if you need to remove them, also re-tighten well

[lmgreenfield]

Originally Posted by ShikariJones

Reading these posts I am inclined to think that Airsteam quality has been steadily eroding to where quality in todays product is questionable.

Seems that earlier trailers were much better finished and contained lots of real wood.

Makes one wonder whether all the folks who are purchasing and refurbishing the older models are really getting the better deal than those of us with newer models (apart from the thrill of seeing their Airstream re-born).

Despite those problems, I still think our camper is better than all the white boxes we've looked at in the past! Just wish the factory had a greater sense of pride in their product, as they apparently did in the past. Liga

[GStephens]

We have an '82. It's one of the "older" units you speak about with few screws to begin with and no particle board, but we have a few srews holding a mirror on the wall, etc. We had problems with the mirror screws and would find rivets on the floor that had broken and fell from the ceiling. Once we had a cabinet front fall off enroute. I read posts from Inland Andy and others about how important it is to keep the entire running gear proberly balanced. We installed Centramatic balancers and now don't find the rivets or loose screws.

Now, I'm not suggesting everyone go out and put on Centramatic balancers just to stop the screw problem. I know Pahaska well and if he says they are the wrong size, then you can well bet they are the wrong size, but our trailers shake themselves to death if the tire, wheel, and hubs are not all balanced. There aren't many places that can do that thus the centramatic balancer installation for us as we use our trailer probably a lot more than most. We put on almost 10,000 miles last summer touring Canada and every Western state. It goes somewhere every month even through the winter and then stays on the road all summer. In our situation, the Centramatics paid off.

That may also beone reason that Pahaska's 28' is holding together better than his previous two trailers as he also is running Centramatic balancers on his 28' Classic.
GStephens

[Ray Eklund]

My wife and I travel more unpaved road in a year, than most Airstream owners can imagine traveling in a life time. Any weaknesses in design, engineering or parts unsuitable for travel on roads that are not silky smooth are found immediately.

I carry an assortment of wood and sheet metal screws that can be bought at any hardware store for "replacement upgrades". The screws are in plastic containers with 8 to 12 sizes.

To save the hinges we found a simple cure. Nylon rope. Other than the pantry, the doors and drawers are secured by rope while we travel. Even the storage door hinge below the bed was adapted with a sliding door lock, set at an angle so the bolt does not vibrate open while moving. For extra security a rubber band is used to prevent this door from swinging open.

Fresh fruit in the refrigerator are placed in the netted styrafoam protection that comes with Costco's Asian Pears and the Apples kept in the clear plastic containers. Eggs remain in the styrafoam carton. Glass bottles are never in the front door shelves while moving to prevent breaking glass containers on a rough road. Watermelon travel fine on the bed, believe it or not! We have not had a melon get loose on the steepest roads of the Rockies.

After three years we have a sequence of door hinge checks when camp is set up. the hinges need to be tightened regularly, but is just a fact of life on the road. When we explained to the RV sales people that we were moving from tent camping to needing a sturdy trailer, they pulled out the Airstream literature showing caravans running the deserts and mountains. The Airstream is probably 70% of this image in reality, at 200% the cost.

Am I dissatisfied with the Airstream? No. But... when we are ready to step into a 25 footer, there will be a list of immediate changes and upgrades done before I feel it is off-road-worthy.

[Foiled Again]

If you read enough restoration threads, you'll find comments about braces being "cut to size with a hatchet" and other assorted design flaws in even the hoariest of Airstreams. Wally is dead and has been for a long time.

Even while Wally lived he was in business to make a profit. Still, you can bet that any trailer he owned was better made than any he sold. The reality today? These trailers are still hand built - and hand built in a world where 21st century robots could do a better job of riveting than the best humans. Wally built trailers for people who drove 40-50mph. That isn't our world at all is it? Stuff does shake loose. And yes, there ARE a lot of inappropriate screws used too! Centramatics ARE probably a great idea to reduce vibration.

Everything takes maintenance. Take a look at the great pyramids of Egypt... and take a look at 100 year old photos of them... you'll see that their decay is accelerating - polution and vandalism.

I bought refrigerator bars... which BTW work in overhead cabinets too. I got the little childproof hooks at IKEA and put them in every drawer, cursed at them horribly for a week, then it became habit to use the thumb the same way I do on the refrigerator door.

Loose screws? The Elmer's glue and toothpick trick does work well, and if you don't have a wooden toothpick, saturate a little piece of paper towel with the glue, cram, and screw.... any wood by-product like paper should work on MDF shouldn't it?

Watch out for the Safari overhead doors - they aren't even MDF or chipboard. Its a foam core with some kind of plastic skin. I took one of the front side covers off because there was something rattling around by a speaker - it was rigidly installed with two screws (from the back) and three staples. I knew I couldn't reinstall it that way, so I velcroed it back on and that's worked perfectly. (If I were younger and less law abiding I'd probably hide my stash in there. Sorry, Cheech & Chong moment.)

I really wish all of the drawers and doors had come with the little push button release that's on the pantry. BUT have you ever seen an SOB that's had 30K on it? Try to find one, then IF you do, try to find one that's even worth doing a frame off restoration on!

If Airstream decides to have another HOMECOMING why don't you all come and we'll take over the factory for a day or two and we can build ME a custom 27' CCD FB Okay?

Paula

[TBRich]

We have an 06 19' Safari SE...there is one screw that seemed to want to unscrew regulalry...and we solved the problem by filling the hole with toothpicks and re-screwing them...so far so good... Having owned another RV (SOB) we know that towing will loosen things, so we periodically go through the unit and tighten screws...it's a maintenance thing...if you have a problem screw, replace it with a more appropriate screw and/or fill the hole and re-screw... We have far fewer problems like this in the AS than we did with the SOB by the way... we had to rebuild all the drawer tracks on the SOB...talk about a pain is the a**...