1990 25' Excella

[dougandlori]

Good morning, Today I will be looking at at 1990 25' Excella and would like to know if there are any common problems I should be looking for. It is the oldest AS I have looked at but at the surface looks promising. Thanks in advance.
Doug
Fresno

[Bill M.]

We have a 1988, 25' Excella. We love it. In my opinion, the big thing to look for is leaks. Check the floor in the compartments around the edges and under the gaucho and where ever else you can access it. These models have the OSB floor. Other than some sealing and a small patch in the floor we have had no problems. We had some seams sealed, replaced the brakes, replaced the electrical cord, replaced the AC, re-certified the LP tanks, recovered the gaucho, and I upgraded the slides on the drawer under the gaucho and the pantry pullout, removed the carpet and put in flooring. We also rebuild the dump valves. ($500). Ours is a twin bed, center bath. We have replaced the water heater. PO had replaced the refrigerator. I do not think age itself is a big problem with Airstreams. Leaks and body damage could be. Check the A frame for rust where it goes into the trailer, under the battery compartments. The 25' is a pretty popular model and a wonderful trailer to tow and to live in. Ours weighs about 6400lbs fully loaded and on the road. We have pulled it many miles in the last 5 years.

Any work that you can not do yourself on an older Airstream comes pretty expensive. Airstream charges about $2400 for a complete inspection and about $100 an hour labor for the repairs. Figure $4000 grand or so to just take in up and have them fix what they can find. They do good work. My point is to figure some maintainence costs into it when you are looking at the purchase price and deciding whether to buy an old trailer or not.

Could be that you will find the trailer works fine without much work from the get go. There will be down the road costs with any trailer. We were headed to Alaska for our first long trip so we wanted it working as best we could right from the start, so I did the Airstream repair thing. Never have been sorry for that except for when I wrote the check.


















42400

[MtnCamper07]

I just purchased a 93 Excella 30'. I am rather excited about it, but like you, and skeptical (nor sure if that is the proper sentiment, fearful??) of possible problems. My TT will need some work as it has been sitting for some time. The guys on the forum have been great.

I suggest you check it out carefully and assess any/all damage and possible repairs that you can see. Feel free to brouse the forum for any related topics and and ask members questions or for recommendations. Feel free to 'knock off' anything you think will detract or lower the value. Most owners know what's wrong with the rigs, so its a question of starting with a given value and deducting what you feel is reasonable (and getting the seller to agree)! Of course, if the asking price is too high, then maybe none of what I said is applicable. You will need to judge for yourself. Good luck!

[perryg114]

Look for leaks at the back and at the 4 corners. You probabably have particle board floors so you really need to look for soft spots. The worst spot for leaks is at the back where the plate over the bumper compartment goes under the trailer. It is easy to miss leaks and bad floor sections especially if you are a newby to Airstreams.

Perry

[MtnCamper07]

Perryg114 - I will do this. I am a newbie and have already learned a lot (perhaps this is but a drop in the ocean; this is vast topic and there is much more to learn)- all I hope for is that my ignorance will not translate into a huge expense! I don't mind fixing things (I half expected this) but the cost for parts can really set you back. I noticed a black substance on one of the roof seams - I assumed this was dirt or grime but will look more closely.

[perryg114]

Usually the roof seams don't leak on a relatively new trailer. One that has 1000's of miles on it and has loose rivets may leak. However, there are tons of other places for stuff to leak. Rear bath trailers are much harder to evaulate because the bathroom covers most of the rear floor. Also floor covering hides a lot of rot. Spend some time in the floor and frame forum here and learn about rebuilds and what caused them.

Perry

[MtnCamper07]

We'll do... my Excella is a side bath. I purchased a side bath TT bc of all the things I had heard about rear baths - tail droop, floor rot, leaks, etc. The PO has owned AS before; he traded in a 27' for the 30' Excella. He replaced things as needed, but for some reason he simply lost interest or stopped traveling like he used to. The TT sat in some shade during summer months, but our winters and the sun (UV) took their toll on the exterior. The only positive is in the fact that we have a dry climate and that even our worst storms pass qucikly and the moisture quickly evaporates. I will have to poke around and check for any rot. Thanks