First time rv owner

[Electric Lady]

New to all this good stuff. As of Friday I am the proud owner of a 2003 International CCD. First trip planned: Burning Man. Is it a good idea to take her out for a trial run in the area, probably huh?
Any advice for a single gal and her A/S?

Jules

[85MH325]

Originally posted by Electric Lady
New to all this good stuff. As of Friday I am the proud owner of a 2003 International CCD. First trip planned: Burning Man. Is it a good idea to take her out for a trial run in the area, probably huh?
Any advice for a single gal and her A/S?

Jules

Congrats Jules! You're gonna love it!

Do yourself a favor, and take your own advice! Do a couple of trial runs to get comfortable hitching, pulling, and unhitching the trailer; test out all of the systems, both for familiarization and to ensure that they work properly; and most importantly so that you'll find out what you REALLY need/want to take along!

Enjoy Burning Man!

Roger

[Pick]

Boy, I am jealous, I would love to go to Burning Man. When Airstreamphotos.com gets back up, there are some cool pix that a member called "Jeromepix" took of that event a couple of years ago. You don't have much time, to practice, that is in August sometime?

Burning Man Website

[Silvertwinkie]

Congrats and welcome.

I too agree that you should take your own advice. It is always a good idea to go someplace local to shake down and get a feel for all the things before going out on a long distance trip. Most here have done just that. I came across a whole bunch of stuff on my shakedown cruise that might not have been critical, but were nice to find out before hand, such as what to bring, what I can safely pack, what things I think would be even better to bring, etc.

Have fun!

Eric

[overlander64]

Greetings Jules!

Welcome to the Forums and the world of Airstreaming!

If you haven't already discovered it, there is an intra-club within the Wally Byam Caravan Club expressly for single owners of
Airstream products called the Free Wheelers. You can learn a great deal very quickly about solo towing by attending one of the Free Wheeler seminars at the larger rallys. I am a Free Wheeler and have towed my Airstream trailers to nearly every point in the lower-48 West of the Mississippi with very minimal trouble.

Two things that you might include in your pre-planning process would be:

1.) Obtain a "hitch-align" mirror or its equivalent if you haven't done so already. It is a pole mounted convex mirror that allows you to look out the rear of your tow vehicle and see the coupler and hitch ball as you back up your tow vehicle to hitch the trailer. There is a magnet that attaches the pole to the tongue of the trailer with one style and a bracket that mounts to the "A" frame with the other style. You can check out these mirrors at:

One Shot Hitch Viewing Mirror (Bracket Attachment)

The Hitch Spotter (Magnetic Mount)

I use the magnetic mount mainly because I have two trailers and it was a significant cost savings to need only one of the assemblies.

2.) Practice maneuvering your rig before embarking on a trip where it might be necessary to back the trailer into a campsite. An empty parking lot is usually a good place to start, but it is always a good idea to ask permissions first. Try borrowing some vinyl cones or a pair of vinyl garbage cans that you can use as landmarks as you maneuver your trailer. This process will also help you to discover whether your towing mirrors are adequate. I had CIPA slide-on mirrors for my Suburban, but found that they were inadequate through this process and upgraded to McKesh mirror that will allow a much wider view with convex spot mirrors on each side. You can find the McKesh towing mirrors at:

McKesh Towing Mirrors

Welcome to the world of Airstream and enjoy your new adventures!

Kevin

[Stefrobrts]

Congrats on your new trailer. We are also first time RVrs, just got our trailer in April. It's been quite an adventure learning the ropes, but nothing bad has happened. We have just occasionally been slightly inconvenienced here and there. Mostly problems caused by our trailers age that you won't encounter in your new unit.

Definitly take it for a few drives around town. Get used to how your whole rig feels on the road. Get used to how it feels braking. Practice hitching and unhitching, which is still the trickiest part for us. We found it usefull to make a checklist so we don't forget anything. On our fourth trip out we got cocky and forgot the sway control! Luckily it didn't matter that time, but now we check the list before we hit the road.

Get the hang of backing up, because you never know when you'll need to turn that beast around. Set it up in the driveway (if you have room) and test out all the systems and spend a night in it.

Most of all, have fun!