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Old 01-03-2009, 04:06 PM   #1
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2001 25' Safari
stouffville , Ontario
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New time streamer, long time dreamer

Hello all, just recently purchased our first Airstream. Have long dreamed of being the proud owner of one and have admired every one that i ever come across. I remember my first sighting of an airstream and how thrilled i was, it was back in 69/70 in a very small cottage community with a camping area for trailers. It was a brand new airstream and i remember thinking how it looked so much like a submarine. I remember the owner looked just like Col. Saunders of Kentucky Fried Chicken, my cousins and uncle told me it was actually him, i was pretty gullible then(6 yrs old) and believed it was. I was more excited about his trailer than him. My trailering experience began when i met my wife, until then i was tent camper. Her family had long been campers and had been using a trailer for a long time. We found a nice little boler for us to take camping and when the kids came along we moved up to a larger boler and then back to a smaller trillium. The Trillium has been in our possession for quite some time now but with our boys getting bigger and bigger the dream of a larger airstream was becoming an obsession. We spend most of the summer camping in Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada and the Trillium was getting smaller by the day. I have become partially disabled and need more space as i have seizures from time to time. I didn't want to give up camping as our sons love it so much and our autistic son seems to thrive in the forest enviroment but i needed a larger place to "collapse" and ride out my seizures, thus began our quest for an airstream. It was just by chance that i checked the local r/v trader and found an ad for a 2001 Safari 25C. We got an unbelievable deal on it and it is in real good condition but dirty and tired on the interior. The previous owners didn't keep it very clean but nothing that some scrubbing and replacing can't fix. I already have my first problem and that is the hitch, the interior guts of the ball clasp have fallen out and i have to figure out how they go back in. I'll do some searching to see if i can find anything in this huge treasure box forum. I'll also have to figure out if my Honda Odyssey will pull it as well, any thoughts? I sure hope to make some new friends here and i'm sure i will as i have met many of my best friends while on camping trips. . william.
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Old 01-03-2009, 05:12 PM   #2
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Welcome Wilburstream,

Plenty of well informed folks on the forum to help with any questions.

Kevin
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Old 01-03-2009, 05:33 PM   #3
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Hi and welcome to the forum. Your Airstream answers are all here.
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Old 01-03-2009, 05:34 PM   #4
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William, welcome to the Forum. I am sure you will enjoy your Airstream.

I think an Odyssey is a minivan and thus built on a auto chassis. My feeling (that means I may not know what I'm talking about) is that it is too light a vehicle for your Safari. A 25' Safari now weighs more than 3 tons and has a tongue weight more than 700 lbs.; I don't know about weights in 2001. I doubt an Odyssey has a weight distributing hitch receiver or the engine to tow that much weight. On the inside of the wardrobe door there should be a decal with the unloaded weights of the trailer and other info such as cargo capacity. You Honda manual may tell you towing limits. You will need a weight distributing and sway control hitch—there are many brands, but some of the most popular are Equalizer, Reese and Hensley. There are substantial price differences.

There are many, many threads on weight issues, payload being an important and sometimes disregarded part of it, on hitches and hitch receivers and all sorts of related topics. Read up on it all. Between cleaning and waiting for the snowdrifts to melt sometime next June in Ontario, you'll have plenty of time to figure this out.

We may be going to Ontario and some western provinces in May, so maybe we'll see you on the road.

I'm glad to see you are realizing your dream.

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Old 01-03-2009, 05:47 PM   #5
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Welcome.

Does this help?



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Old 01-03-2009, 06:41 PM   #6
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To help you with your Honda Odyssey, contact Andrew T (a member here) of CanAm RV in London. They specialize in setting up tow vehicles and will be able to help you.
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Old 01-03-2009, 10:41 PM   #7
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Thanks

Thanks for the warm welcome and sound advise. Thanks Gene, i kind of suspect the odyssey is a little light to pull it, i was hoping that it would as we would be keeping the trailer in the park vicinity and would only be pulling it about a dozen miles each way. Thanks to Cameron and the Labradors, i have already contated them enquiring about other items, it turns out our trailer was originally purchased from them and they will most likely know the trailer quite well. Thanks Rodger, the hitch is similar but the spring mechanisms inside are different. Hard to describe but there is a larger spring on the vertical shaft of the clasp and a smaller spring that fits into a square housing that in turn slides above or below the vertical spring. I'll refer it to the other catagory and see if something turns up. Does anyone know if Col. Saunders had an Airstream and travelled with it or were my cousins and uncle just being cruel to a little kid? Thanks again everyone and hope to talk to you more in the future. I'll post pics of our shiny baby as soon as i get it home. william.
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Old 01-04-2009, 08:00 AM   #8
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Thumbs up Col. Airstream

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilburstream View Post
Does anyone know if Col. Saunders had an Airstream and travelled with it or were my cousins and uncle just being cruel to a little kid? Thanks again everyone and hope to talk to you more in the future. I'll post pics of our shiny baby as soon as i get it home. william.
Well he did visit the National Rally in Kentucky in 1976, so anything is possile.

Welcome and good luck with your "new" Stream...
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Old 01-04-2009, 08:06 AM   #9
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Welcome to the forum.
We have a 28ft 1963 Ambassador that we pull with an F150 that is not powerful enough. We also have an Odessey and can not imagine it could safely pull your 25footer. I would say at minimum an F150 5.4 liter. Best of luck.

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Old 01-04-2009, 03:19 PM   #10
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Thanks

Thanks Robert , maybe it could have been him. I remember my cousin being thrilled when he was asked to go with him to the nearest store. I couldn't take my eyes off of his trailer so didn't go.
Thanks 63silver, i kind of suspected it may be undersized to the task. I was hoping it would as i wouldn't be doing alot of travelling, just back and forth from our lot into Algonquin Park, about 12 miles each way. I didn't want to have to buy another vehicle, maybe i'll look into some of the local people and see if i can hire someone to move it for me when the need arises. Cheers. william.
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Old 01-04-2009, 04:01 PM   #11
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William,

Algonquin Park is very nice—we drove through in '04—but the call of the road with an Airstream may eventually make you drive to the other end of the Park, then further and further. Pretty soon it'll be camping on Lake Superior or the Lake of the Woods.

Maybe your medical condition makes that difficult, though I hope not. Anyone who has the good sense to live in such a beautiful part of Ontario has the brains to figure out how to do this. Perhaps modifications to the Odyssey can make it safe for a 12 mile trip. Buying a pickup just to tow a few short miles a year seems like a very big expense, though a older gently used 1/2 ton pickup or SUV may be a good choice.

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Old 01-04-2009, 04:03 PM   #12
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For that short a distance, the Odyssey may well be all that is needed. I think Andrew at CanAm has set them up for towing. Have a chat with him to see what he says.
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Old 01-04-2009, 08:15 PM   #13
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Thanks for the suggestions guys. Yes Gene i was giving that some thought, we have a property that we will be keeping the trailer on most of the time, maybe all of the time in the town just east of the park, the water we are on is actually park of Algonquin Park but it would be nice to still camp where we have for many years in the park. We may decide to travel with it down the road and will definitly have to consider a larger vehicle. I just sold my suburban last year because of the cost of fuel, didn't think i would've gotten an airstream at the time.
Thanks Cameron, I was speaking to a guy named John a few days ago and will be contacting them tomorrow with all the details of the trailer, I will be sure to talk to Andrew for his advise. william.
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Old 01-04-2009, 08:54 PM   #14
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Greetings and welcome Wilburstream.

Ask away as you won't find a better group of knowledgeable airstreamers anywhere!

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Old 01-05-2009, 01:38 PM   #15
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Thanks

Thanks Steve, i'm thrilled and amazed at how large this site is and the wealth of information and friendly people on it. Great to be here. william.
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Old 01-05-2009, 02:03 PM   #16
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Missed it by that much!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilburstream View Post
We got an unbelievable deal on it and it is in real good condition but dirty and tired on the interior. The previous owners didn't keep it very clean but nothing that some scrubbing and replacing can't fix.
Hello and welcome to Airforum, William. So far, you are the closest Airforum member to me that I have discovered here.

By any chance, did you get your AS at RepotDepot? If so, you just beat me out by a hair. Congratulations! I did go and see it (from the outside only), and it was a fabulous deal.
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Old 01-05-2009, 03:23 PM   #17
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That would be me.

Hello Aage, yes that would have been me. There was one other person there to look at it before me but they passed on it. Yes its like new on the outside, the inside is a different story, tired and dirty with some repairs that need to be done but very doable. I completely agree that it was an amazing deal, thats why i bought it. I feel bad that i had to be the one to spoil it for you, were you there just after me? We knew when we looked at it if we didn't put the offer in right away we would lose out on it. It was apparently very, very popular. I've been looking for quite some time now but never dreamed i would end up with one. I'm thrilled that we got it and can't wait until we get it cleaned up and use it. How long have you been looking or do you own one now? Thanks for the welcome, i had no idea AS had such devoted owners, a true testament to their quality i'm sure. When i get it home you'll have to come see it inside if you like, i don't want to upset you any more though. Thanks. william.
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Old 01-10-2009, 04:14 PM   #18
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2001 25' Safari
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Got it home.

Well, got the safari moved today. Asked a number of friends with large vehicles that are equipped to move trailers this size but none could do it. I ended up calling a local RV dealer and his son moves trailers and agreed to do it for me right away, GREAT. It was supposed to be sunny and clear today but the weatherman got it wrong again and it was cloudy, windy, very cold and snowing. They had to get a front end loader to move the accumulated snow in front of it so we could get it out. What a relief it was when it hooked up and the lights worked without any problems. Nothing worse than trying to fix something in crummy weather. The hauler was a GMC diesel 350 and it pulled it like a dream. It did make me realize that it takes a substantial vehicle to haul one of these and i definitly won't be trying it without it. Got it to a local storage yard and blocked it up. Will take some pics tomorrow and post them. I didn't get the chance to do it today. Cheers. william.
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Old 01-10-2009, 06:15 PM   #19
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Great news William,

We all look forward to seeing it up on glowing pixels.

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Old 01-11-2009, 08:14 PM   #20
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Some Pics

I took a few photos the day we bought it and a few more today (outside is alot dirtier from the move yesterday). Today i put a bunch of bounce dryer sheets all around, heard it was good for repelling mice.
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