Searching... beds? Classic?

[az_angel]

I prefer the cross-car bed to the corner bed. The International 16' has a cross-car bed, but 19' and 23' have corner beds.

Is it possible to put a cross car bed in any airstream length or are there restrictions?

I'm wondering the same thing about an L-lounge/sleeper. I don't want a dinette booth or a sofa.

The 20' Flying Cloud has a cross-car bed. Is it possible to put an L-lounge/sleeper in the other end?

Thank you!

[az_angel]

Am not an owner yet but am almost settled on the Airstream that I want for fulltime living: a 25' Classic I have to park it in remote locations and tight locations, so I don't think I can go any bigger than a 25 foot.

Can anyone confirm that the classic is the most cost-efficient for interior climate control?
Can anyone confirm that the complete (with inverter installed) solar package can run a microwave, burners, and especially a power-hungry computer and for how long on one charge or if I will need after-market adjustments to make that possible?
Can anyone tell me the advantages/disadvantages of a front bed setup?
Can anyone tell me where I can see pictures of ALL the color/fabric choices? The AS website does not have an area dedicated to that.

THANKS! Any input will be greatly appreciated.

[myoung]

Originally Posted by az_angel

Am not an owner yet but am almost settled on the Airstream that I want for fulltime living: a 25' Classic I have to park it in remote locations and tight locations, so I don't think I can go any bigger than a 25 foot.

Can anyone confirm that the classic is the most cost-efficient for interior climate control?
Can anyone confirm that the complete (with inverter installed) solar package can run a microwave, burners, and especially a power-hungry computer and for how long on one charge or if I will need after-market adjustments to make that possible?
Can anyone tell me the advantages/disadvantages of a front bed setup?
Can anyone tell me where I can see pictures of ALL the color/fabric choices? The AS website does not have an area dedicated to that.

THANKS! Any input will be greatly appreciated.

I believe that you will find discussions of all these topics save the last one here on the Forum. Use the search feature to get your answers.

To repeat what has been said on this thread, the solar charging system simply recharges the trailer's battery. It's not for heavy duty electrical usage. It will not allow you to use the microwave oven or even an electric coffee maker drawing from the batteries. If you try to install an inverter of sufficient size for this purpose, expect to suck the battery dry before you warm your bagel.

Unless you've got some horribly inefficient laptop computer, there shouldn't be much difficulty using a $50 inverter to keep its battery charged up. I've never experienced much battery drain keeping a collection of iPods, iPhone, and Mac charged with a simple inverter that plugs into the battery outlets in our Safari.

[CanoeStream]

Hello az_angel -- welcome to Air Forums! Are you researching to purchase used or new? For the latter read through http://www.airforums.com/forums/f274...ued-47645.html. The Classic thermostat has a bit more flexibility with zone controls (different temp setting in 2 or 3 areas of trailer depending on length). Insulation is no different, so I'd not say it's more efficient. In the Southwest you'll want the biggest capacity air conditioner option you can set your hands on. Then you'd be talking a plug-in campsite.

If boondocking you can buy an inexpensive cigarette lighter inverter (see Amazon?) to let your laptop recharge off the coach batteries. My laptop brick says it wants 1.5 amps input, so 180 watts would be the smallest I'd want. Note that your tow vehicle will recharge drained batteries only slowly (300 miles of driving? 400 miles?). Drawing the coach batteries below 50% can damage them and cut their capacity and useful life. I've seen one long night of DVD player use drain the battery in a truck.

What will your tow vehicle be? Do you have a general length range in mind?

The sideways bed under the panoramic windows is somewhat narrow at 48" and others say it's hard to access to make the bed. It's in the 16' Internationals and 20' Flying Cloud. Other sideways beds (queens) begin to show up in 25' Flying Clouds.

How many people will be sleeping aboard? You ask about the L lounge. I'm pretty sure the factory wouldn't add one to the rear of the 20' Flying Cloud -- there'd go all your plumbing.

A mix of old and new Airstreams show up at rallies. No area is more active at having rallies than the Arizona area. Check our rally calendar. Walking through others' coaches is the best way to get a pre-purchase sense of what is practical and which Airstream might have the capacity and features you need. Check the Rally Calendar at the top of the page -- bring that ol' Eureka Timberline and tent among silver!

Beyond that -- only a trip to a dealer is going to give your an actual idea of what the fabric options are right now. They lock into one large quantity of any fabric and when they're gone, they're gone. Go to Colonial Airstream's site and scroll down -- there'll be plenty of pictures if the unit is in stock or sold.

[CanoeStream]

Originally Posted by CanoeStream

The Classic thermostat has a bit more flexibility with zone controls (different temp setting in 2 or 3 areas of trailer depending on length). Insulation is no different, so I'd not say it's more efficient.

While driving to Minneapolis in the rain today (not snow ... woo-hoo!!), I realized there's another dimension here. My '06 Safari has a heat strip in the overhead A/C. Running the A/C is a lot noisier than the furnace but at least the A/C runs from the plug-in and not an LP tank. Classics have a heat pump IIRC. Neither the heat strip nor heat pump are effective at outside temps below 40-45 degrees. So you'll still end up using LP if you're at upper altitudes or it's cold outside for any reason.

Two 30# LP tanks should last most of the camping season unless you do an awful lot of cold weather camping. To me the distinction of heat pump vs. LP isn't a big efficiency issue. A couple inches of fiberglass insulation in the walls isn't a lot ... especially with the aluminum extrusion ribs to conduct cold to the interior. I'd rather use the furnace just for the lower noise level. I find it inefficient to set the thermostat much more than 65 degrees when I'm up and about. I bring plenty of warm bedding and set the thermostat in the mid- to upper-50s overnight. When it dips into the 30s, higher thermostat settings have that furnace running a high percent of the time.

The furnace is your only option when boondocking. A night or two of furnace blower will run your batteries down about as far as you want to go. So a Honda or Yamaha genset is the best option for recharging after that. About the only night lighting we use inside when boondocking is a couple very efficient self-contained LED lanterns.