New to Airstream Life

[Simplelife]

Hello, I'm new to the forum. I'm a young single mom and I purchased a 27 ft 1973 airstream in July 2015. It is currently not hooked up to electric or water - i have an arrangement where I rent kitchen/bathroom aces in a lovely communal house. I live in NC.

Having an airstream has been a dream for years and I'm excited to make this little space my home.

In the spring I will fully remodel after a winter of living in it as is.

[Echelon73]

Congratulations on your purchase. We are also in North Carolina. You may want to read some of the threads about winter camping for some tips on how to keep things from freezing this winter. Best of luck and welcome to the community.

[martian]

Welcome to Airstreaming and to the Airstream Forum.

With winter weather around the corner, water condensation may become an annoyance. I got the following advice from a poster on another trailer forum site that I'd like to share with you.

"Some dehumidifiers are small and use a thermoelectric element. While these dehumidifiers seem just right for travel trailer use, they will extract maybe a quart of water/day. This is less than what you produce from normal perspiration.

The good ones are a refrigeration unit that have an exposed cooling coil that lowers the temperature around the coil below the dew point and extracts moisture from the air. Even a small roll around unit will extract 6-10 gallons of water/day in high humidity conditions. These dehumidifiers work well and that's what we have. Figure around $100 for such a unit".

I think this is good advice. The problem may be finding a refrigeration dehumidifier that is right size for your trailer. Wish you the best!

[RamblinManGa]

Hi from AZ. . . Welcome to the Forum & Airstream life, although I'm not too sure how 'simple' life will be with a 40 year old AS ! You just learn as you go, as most of us have. . . We miss those Carolina mountains after 5 yrs @ WCU (my Son) . . .enjoy, Craig

[twolanehwy]

Yeah, that dehumidifier would be a must have if your full time and high humidity area.
Just breathing creates quite a bit and with an aluminum skin it will collect.
You obviously have power access where you are parked.
If thats the case i'm a big fan (no pun intended) of the vornado fan/heaters...especially the higher end ones such as the TVH600.
They are an aluminum case instead of plastic. Very quiet, have a remote control and are very efficient.
Troll on craigslist and you might find a better deal as new maybe $160?

[Lily&Me]

Welcome.


Maggie

[Silverbee]

Since you have bathroom and kitchen privileges are you going to forego hooking up to water this winter? If so, you would just need to make sure that you trailer is winterized and leave it that way until warmer temperatures in the Spring. By Thanksgiving most place in NC have cold enough weather that the Airstream needs to be winterized.


Have you had the gas furnace checked out? Our winters are cold enough that you may need the gas furnace. If so, you may want to have a larger propane tank delivered and get on the gas companies' auto fill up schedule.

Hooking up to electricity is almost a must, particularly if you want to hook up a de-humidifier as other have suggested. You will want some lights as the days get shorter and sitting outside is a little too cold.

Just some ideas to think about. We live in the piedmont area of NC.

[Sunnysideup]

You have embarked on a wonderful adventure for you and for your child. Let me share our experience. We (Harry and I) are older. Not old, just older . Huge difference. We are "full-timers". We bought our A/S off eBay had it delivered and moved in. It came with a new toilet in a box which we had installed. It, along with a new bathroom floor, is how we began our adventure. That was two years ago. Now we live on the beach in SC. Ours is a 1988 34'. Now, finally it does not leak. Well almost. I just discovered wet clothes in the bottom of the closet. So I guess first I would see if you have leaks. Around the ceiling fans/skylights is where we fought them. Then we replaced the Fantastic fans and put "rain hats" over them. We can have ventilation during rain. Really like these changes. Other people mentioned dehumidifier. We have not have gotten a dehumifier
but being on the beach is making me reconsider. I also just recently put fans down under the beds in the "cubbies". One is on each side with cords run up the outer wall next to the outlets by the bed. When it is high humidity or raining, I will plug them in but from inside. Won't have to go outside in the rain to turn them on.
Anyway there is a lot to do and everyday it seems to us, there is some new problem to solve. There is always a need for invention and resourcefulness. Your child will learn a lot of that watching you do it. We changed everything in our A/S. And continue to make changes.
We wish you luck in this adventure. We think you have taken a big bite. Hopefully you will have and find people who can help you

[dbj216]

Hi simplelife. Congratulations on your 73 vintage Airstream. Maybe it's an Overlander? Living comfortably in an old Airstream will not be simple, but you are up for it. I hope you have a source of technical help for the things that come up that you don't want to do yourself. It's common for travel trailer appliances to quit for no good reason; furnace, water heater, fridge, electricity, and the like. Heck, our door latch/lock broke the other day locking us in the trailer. Luckily I had some tools in the trailer and could take it apart to get out. Just one of those surprises an old trailer offers. Keeping fresh water inlet and waste water drains from freezing during the winter is a challenge, but maybe you won't be using those utilities. Running to your shared bath and kitchen will help. So maybe you plan on your Airstream being a heated bedroom with lights for now and nothing more.

Maybe your Airstream has been well maintained and maybe renovated to some extent. Old Airstreams usually have lots of needs to make them travel worthy.

You will find a wealth of information and assistance here on these Air Forums. Ask a question and you will likely get a good answer.

Welcome and let me know if I can help.

David

[cwf]

Welcome! Good luck!