How long is your trailer? Are you sure?

[John&Vicki]

It appears to me that Airstream descriptive length measurements might be some what arbitrary. I measured my “25ft” 1990 Excella yesterday and have no idea how they came up with 25 feet. The trailer itself measures 23’ 10” and the tongue measures an even 3’ for a total length of just under 27’.

Which is a little confusing.

I reserved a spot in an Oregon Coast beachfront Park the other day. The sites available require the trailers 24’ or under. When you see those kind of requirements are they referring to the full length including the tongue? Until yesterday I always thought the AS measurements included the tongue, which would make mine a 27 footer. But the trailer itself is under 24’.

It appears that assigning a length of 25’ to my trailer is more or less random. Have you measured yours? What did you find out?

Cheers,
John

[Rocinante]

Oh yeah, the "model number" and the length from bumper to tongue are related, but the relationship is imprecise. our 27FB at 28' is actually an inch longer than the 28RB, which comes in at 27' 11".

Here's a fun spec comparison that lets you see the actual length for each of four different trailers: https://www.airstream.com/travel-tra...25fb,27fb,28rb

[sheriff1]

I believe most other brands measure only the box without the tongue and rear bumper so I equate our 27FB to a 24’ when looking at spaces.

[AlinCal]

Just measured our 1990 25' and came to 26' from ball center to rear bumper, Airstream says it's 25'-11" total as I recall?

Never been a problem except the time we reserved a site at Kirk creek and at the time had a 19' also and made the reservation with it in mind, 6 mo. down the road and forgot about that detail until trying to fit the Excella 25 that we showed up with(that really measures 26') into our space. Creative jack knifing got our truck and trailer into a driveway advertised as 37' overall but not the best situation.

[az-streamer]

We have a 2014 25’? FC. when looking at a state or national campground we try to read all the descriptions to see what the “real” length and width of the campsite is. With private campgrounds we always tell them we gave a 30’ so they don’t try to stuff us in a small spot.
If reserving on line- we always go for the largest site available sine you are paying the same price for a 20’ backin as for a 49’ pull through

[Kittycatcat]

I would ask the RV park personnel what they include in their length requirements - usually, I believe they don't want parts (e.g., the coupler) of your trailer sticking out into the road or some such thing.



When reserving for my 27FB, I give a length of 28' just to be sure - that includes bumper to coupler, and gets me out of having to call folks to clarify.


Then there are those places that measure the trailer AND the TV combined....but that's a whole other issue...

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Kittycatcat

I would ask the RV park personnel what they include in their length requirements . . .
. . .
Then there are those places that measure the trailer AND the TV combined....but that's a whole other issue...

Yup . . . good advice. . . just ask.

Ferries need an overall maximum combined length.

Happy Trails,

Peter

[Bill M.]

Airstream model designations are “nominal”. Just names, not actual length. When Airstream does actually measure they do it ball to bumper. I have had this trailer 13 years and do no know the length. I suspect the campgrounds go by total length but do not know for sure.

When I took my Excella 32 toJackson Center for service they listed it as a 33 on the repair invoice.

[MissingLink5]

Guess I got the better deal; my 2018 27FB measures in at exactly 28’2”, end tip of tongue to back of back bumper. Don’t figure!!

[VeloBuckeye]

As stated earlier in this thread by another, my 2018 FC27FB is actually 28’ long, ball to bumper.

When we reserve a spot, we always say 28.

When a fellow Airstreamer asks which model is ours or how long it is, we say 27.

If a non AS owner asks how long our rig is, we say 28.