Pet peeves of my Airstream

[jnm30327]

I saw a thread about "major" problems. It got me to thinking about minor problems - my pet peeves. Don't get me wrong. I love my Airstream. We have spent close to 100 nights in our 2018 27FB Flying Cloud over nearly two years and gone nearly 25000 miles (trip to Alaska was 13000 of that.) Still, there are the minor things that are a bother. Some we have solved. Others are essentially un-fixable. Here is my list:

Airstream Pet Peeves

1. Location of toilet paper dispenser. Designed for someone short and left-handed. I am neither. We put a stick on dispenser on the door below the sink.
2. Sweep on shower door. Kept coming apart. Just took it off.
3. Knocking of water pump. Is there such a thing as a quiet water pump?
4. Lighting oven means sitting on the floor, and you need a long reach into darkness to find the light point.
5. Piezoelectric spark devices on stovetop are not reliable. Bought an electric lighter.
6. Accessing electrical outlet under the dinette table means sitting on the floor. Even then, you have to have a long reach. Bought a power strip which sits on the dinette table.
7. Location of light switch in bathroom too close to water heater switches. I still reach into a darkened bathroom and hit the wrong switch.
8. Location of smoke detector too close to stove. Any meal which requires significant cooking will set it off. We have covered it up with a shower cap. Ugly and not the safest but works.
9. Location of rear temperature sensor too close to outside skin of trailer. I am always having to adjust the zone 2 temperature setting either to keep temperature warm or cold. It reads the outside skin temperature as much as the indoor temperature.
10. Weather stripping on front outside compartment door releases when temperature changes. Poor design as the weatherstripping will expand and contract with temperature change and flip off the aluminum track. Towing in driving rain will put water into compartment.
11. Capacity of original equipment batteries too small. They barely last the night when there is a heating load. I bought two 1000 Whr lithium batteries with built in converter and inverter which are portable and can be carried to electric outlet in men's room of most campgrounds for recharging. Also, bought two 100 amp-hr AGM batteries for trailer and a 160 watt portable solar panel. We can dry camp for a week without trouble even in cold conditions.
12. Storage switch leaves significant parasitic loads on battery. See number (13.) Why I need a live propane detector when there is no one in the trailer to hear it is beyond me.
13. No kill switch to protect battery during storage. This is an absolute essential. When stored, batteries will be pulled to zero within weeks.
14. No monitoring system for battery. Another essential if you do any amount of dry camping. I have a Victron which allows me to keep up with battery condition at all times.
15. No thermometer for indoor and outdoor temperatures. Bought one.
16. No tire pressure monitoring system. This is another essential IMHO. I think it should be standard.
17. Light on shore power cable does not light unless 50 amp connection. Have to enter trailer to determine if power is on with 30 amp connection. Trivial perhaps but I always want to be sure I have it connected. I look at small red LED on TVs.
18. 50 amp shore power cable too heavy and too stiff in colder temperatures. I have learned to live with this one but wonder if there is something better out there. Break camp with temperature in the 40s and see what I mean.
19. Front television is mounted so that second HDMI input cannot be accessed.
20. Rear television cannot be moved out from wall making optical audio output difficult to plug in for Bluetooth headphone transmitter.
21. Circular sink cutting board/cover is unusable. It will not stay on sink while in motion and is too big to use on counter. Its permanent home is behind the sofa seat cushions. Sometimes is pulled out as pizza cutting board but most of the time is out of sight.
22. Bottom half of inverter powered TV electrical outlets is blanked off.
23. Rear privacy curtain comes off its track. Plastic pin which hold it in track is too flimsy.

What are your pet peeves?

[turk123]

Mine is the light blue light used in the Classic outside grab handle for the main door. Looks pretty at night but at some locations, it will attract hundreds of small flying gnats that land on the handle and are just waiting for you to enter or exit the trailer. When we forget to turn off the handle and we leave for the night, we sometimes let in 50-60 gnats!

Wrong color Airstream!

[jnm30327]

Toilet paper dispenser

[jnm30327]

Smoke detector.

[jnm30327]

Power strip

[jnm30327]

Switches in bathroom for light and hot water heater too close together.

[farafield]

Yeah. Mine are mostly that the original equipment is not great and I have or will end up replacing and, more importantly, tossing things. A waste. If you are mostly boondocking I think this applies more. Battery monitor, factory solar/charger, ground clearance. I wish I hadn't gotten the factory solar panel. I wish there was a shunt and wiring installed so that hooking up a Victron would be a no brainer. I would have liked to have a lift option before she was delivered. Some of this is my fault for not knowing anything when I bought Bramble. But replacing and throwing stuff away really bugs me. And there is nothing currently to be done about that as far as I know. That being said I've had a lot of fun figuring out little things inside to make her better for me and considering that I bought her sight unseen for the dealer hundreds of miles away, I lucked out as everything (knock on wood!) has worked very well. I don't know how Airstream could cater to everyone but maybe leaving things out would be better than putting them in.

[Bill M.]

I personally do not keep pet peeves. They eat too much. If it is an issue I try to fix it. But generally I adapt. I spend 6 to 7 months of the year in an Airstream and life is just too short to be peeved.

[lsbrodsky]

JNM, the thing about your pet peeves is that there are solutions for many/most of them here on the Forum. You have solved some yourself, and you can eliminate many of the others with some free-time projects. My biggest pet peeve is having to fix stuff that should not have been necessary. Just one example is my roof needed to be recaulked after 2 years. I have a mental long list of many others.

Larry

[drbrick]

We really only have one

Inorder to turn on the light in the toilet/shower compartment you have to turn on the light over the sink which on the CB means you illuminate the entire trailer waking everyone.

Has anyone fixed this stupid setup and can tell me how they changed it to work independently?????

[Zardoz]

First World problems. The burdens we Airstream owners have to bear ...

[Presitla99]

Bravo Bill M. And Zardoz.

[RJJ]

I'm not peeved by much either... nothing in the "peeve list" was particularly annoying to me...

I don't have to sit in the floor to light the oven or use the outlets in the dinette... I just bend over for the oven and bend down for the outlets... The light switch in the bathroom is easy... either have a night light or feel for it as it does sit off by itself. A lot of the other stuff are purely aftermarket choices. If TPMS was standard, prolly a base model would be provided... we Airstreamers only want the high dollar model with all the bells and whistles.... Only the best will do. *wink, wink*

If our ASs came as we want them to be, even the wealthiest among us would balk some at the price tag. As it is, we add what we want as we enjoy our trailers. This way, we can have some control over the cost of upgrading. I'm happy with my trailer and all it came with... but, then, I'm a pretty adaptable person and I cannot expect everyone to be this way. 🤷🏽

I do have 1 peeve, though... that blue light 🔵 on the USB charger in the bedroom. 😑

[turk123]

Let's see . . .

I'm sitting here in my Airstream with the AC running and the window blinds all open with my computer and a cup of coffee.

My pet peeve is people that park their Airstreams at home in their driveways and are not on the road enjoying the country.

Just like me right now. I'm in my driveway right now!

But that will change in one week!

[LiLNomad]

My Pet Peeves:

When the whole campground is empty so you choose a spot next to me staring into my rig!
The toilet paper location hidden deep inside the cabinet...Ive just been too lazy to fix this.

Those huge vent holes in the Eddie Bauer 27 bedroom vent..that allow small birds of prey inside. Need to have a piece of mesh put over this..

The water heater buttons behind the hand towel..I wish they would move these.

When I have to break camp and go home...

LilNomad

[Starlight Mike]

I would be happy if they could figure out how to eliminate most of the leaks!

[guskmg]

When got our Airstream the company sent a request for our desired improvements or accessories on future new models. I filled out the form, sort of lengthy, read it over and never sent it in. It was just too lengthy, but similar to the above. So what I have done through the years is make improvements and additions. I now have the exact trailer I was wishing for Airstream to build. Yes, the total investment would choke a Wall Street banker, but we really enjoy being completely off the grid for long periods of time. Besides 34" slides are no longer produced.
guskmg

[PCJ]

I just dumped, so it's fresh in my mind when you have more experience in life it's not easy to get on your all 4's to connect and disconnect the water. I hate it, but love our AS and since we're now FT I'll need to get over it.

[J. Morgan]

Well, as a person who fully fitted my entire interior, any of my pet peeves are of my own making.

The funny thing is, in my inexperience with trailers, I ended up remodeling a lot of my initial build to eliminate my pet peeves......

If I ever build another trailer, and God willing I will, I'll address everything I learned I don't like about my first build.

The biggest problem with the Airstream design is the wheel boxes..... I'll be raising the shell high enough on the frame in my next build to eliminate the boxes allowing me to put anything in the trailer anywhere I want to put it.

So, in essence, the biggest pet peeve about my trailer is the wheel boxes.

[greenflag]

Stiff, heavy 50 amp cord solution. I bought a Marinco Park Power 50 amp cord. It is still heavy but far more flexible than supplied power cord especially in cold weather. I also bought a Marinco 30 amp cord that has a 50 amp head. I use it at RV parks that only have 30 amp. It weighs the same as a similar 30 amp cord. It eliminates the need for an adapter. Drawback of course is the cost of two cords.
Pet peeves, I don't sweat the small stuff.