ANOTHER New Baby

[Hareynolds]

We drove 4+ hours from Houston, all the way to Dublin, Texas to pick-up our new baby, a 2016 23D with the hipster black ultra leather. Here we are at Cedar Ridge (Corps of Engineers) campground on Belton Lake on the way back to Houston.

Our daughter-in-law says it's so hip we need to drive immediately to Marfa, Texas. I think we'll wait for some cooler weather. Say JANUARY.

I'll tell you what, (as we say in Texas) Bayer RV in Dublin is the little dealer that done good (as we say in Texas.) The Houston dealer had THREE 2016 23Ds in cashew, but exhausted us with all the car dealer price tricks (elevated MSRP, "but we're throwing in the batteries!", mystery "parts" charges, tag-team price negotiations, etc.) I finally got them to almost match Dublin's price, but by then I was so exasperated that a long drive back-and forth to Dublin was looking good by comparison. The fact that their "Airstream Corner" is tucked in behind the biggest nastiest SOB Motorcoach monsters we've ever seen, off in a distal corner of the dealership, should have been a clue.

The folks in Dublin were sweethearts from the first internet inquiry.
Excellent 3 hour walk-though, lots of good 'stream advice, we even tied up our mongrel pup to their forklift for most of it.

[Hareynolds]

@Cedar Ridge Campground on Belton Lake (near Temple, Texas.

[runnersg]

where in houston are you located? We are in Kingwood!

[Hareynolds]

We're at I-10 and Wirt, outside the West Loop.
Drove down from Temple today; went down to Sealy to avoid the mess on 290, then hit major traffic insanity on I-10. Hauling an Airstream in Houston traffic is enough to get a body thinking about moving to the country.

Here's an action shot my wife took somewhere along Texas 36.
That's Nellie Pepper, 1/4 Cogi, 1/4 Shepherd, "the rest unknown".

[runnersg]

yeah its a nail biter with the airstream in tow for sure!

[Airstream12557]

Congratulations! Life is too short to tolerate an Airstream dealer that doesn't make you feel good about the total experience!

I have good things to say about our dealer, Bill Thomas, in Wentzville (St. Louis), MO. We went in in July for a service appointment and they had lost our appointment on the computer. All their camping spots were filled and the shop was booked. They hustled about and found us an overnight spot in their outside service area and worked us in the first thing the next morning. We were back on the road by 10:30 AM. They did a GREAT job of making the best of what could have been a bad situation.

[KJRitchie]

I've heard many good reports of the Dublin dealership. Funny, they are only only 100miles from Fort Worth the next Airstream dealer which took over the Airstream dealership in 2012 from a dealer in Mesquite, TX.

If you had a bad experience with your local Airstream dealer during the sale any service would be probably the same experience. Better plan for future service/repair outside the Houston area. There are some independent shops in your area that may serve you better.

Kelvin

[runnersg]

i did not purchase mine in houston and knew full well they wouldn't service mine if I purchase from another dealer. i gladly drive mine to the original dealer a couple times a year if needed. I DID NOT enjoy the games played by the local dealer so I simply moved on. Sounds like you guys had a similar experience.

[Hareynolds]

Unless I have MAJOR warranty work (furnace, reefer, A/C, furnace, etc.) I'm likely to fix it myself. That was one element in the purchase decision.

Besides, I have to amortize a wood/welding/electronics shop behind the garage. My Ozzie buddies call a home shop like that a "shed", which is a pretty good description. I do mostly furniture, wood turning and build tube guitar amps. Not averse to the occasional Potato Cannon.

e.g. while we were going over the interior at Dublin, the wife tied the dog to the folding dinette leg. Before I could elaborate on "you probably shouldn't DO that", Nervous Nellie Pepper bolted out the door, breaking the leg at the bracket. While the tour continued, I just unscrewed the leg from the table top w/ the Swiss Army knife, found the stripped screw, got it replaced, good as new.

We got it home, and then the wife complained about a loose pantry latch, so I made a little shim for the latch from stacked bits of veneer. Snug as a bug.
Oh, it also helps to hoard little bits of stuff like veneer and rubber and cork, etc.

Before we decided to buy, I downloaded the 2016 Floating Cloud Parts Manual and Owner's manual and read 'em both. Turns-out the Airstream is a Tinker's Dream.

[dbdreams]

Picked up my new 2017 23D from Camper Clinic in Buda tx. Ended up with a great price, they came real close to RV 1s price in Orlando, with the cost of going to pick it up and drive it back it was about a wash. I have had issues with their pre delivery and after the sale service but may have been a fluke with this being a very early 2017.
Picture from mid week at Buescher SP, was the only one there.

Congrats on the 23D ! I really like mine so far
David

[Hareynolds]

Jealous of them 15s.
I got a quote from Buda on a 2017 and they weren't close to the 2016 from Dublin.

OTOH I have this sneaking suspicion that it's eventually going to be a wash when I replace the wheels & tires with 15s.

And the Solar Prep would be nice, too, although the idea of boondocking extensively seems to fade into the background with each passing year. 30A of 120VAC is hard to give up.

[dbdreams]

I used a quote from RV 1 with their sales manager and was surprised to get within $1400 of that quote, still wish I would have gone elsewhere, Dublin is not that far from Fayetteville!
The 15s and 12 inch brakes are why I went with the 17, a few of the passes I covered last year had me thinking about the brakes all the way down! And that was with a 17 Casita, with pretty good brakes.

How well did your A/C keep up in Belton, mine would only hold 81/82 during the afternoons, thinking of a few things that might help, insulating the fridge to closet wall, etc.

We need a new Airstream rally in the area!!

[Hareynolds]

If I recall correctly, Dublin only had the ONE 23D, and no 2017s yet.
The Sales Manager said that they've been selling 20-30 Airstreams a year the past few years; they had 16 or 17 in stock by quick count, about double what the folks in Houston had.

The A/C worked TOO well to start with; we got down to about 70 degrees before we hauled out the book and studied on setting the Dometic controller. The 23D is so small compared to the stated 25,000 BTU of A/C that if it won't get chilly in there, I would be tempted to get it checked.

It did become obvious though that the solar gain of the AS was pretty high in the Texas sun (as I've seen reported elsewhere on the Forum) even with the white roof. We never opened the skylight blinds during the day, for example. I've started to wonder if there's some sort of shade cloth solution for longer-term stays for July and August in Texas.

Re: Texas Airstream Rally
I couldn't agree more, but we're such Airstream Noobies that for all we know there are a whole bunch of them already. Time for more RESEARCH!!!

There is such a huge number of gargantuan gaudy SOBs around here that we really could use the validation that comes with hanging-out with members of our own tribe.

The obvious best location would be in and around Austin, but then there's only some much Austin that the average Texan can take.

[For all y'all not privileged to live in The Republic, the popular expression here is "Keep Austin Weird". Outside of Austin, the expression really means "keep The Weird confined to Austin." Not that we dislike them folks, we just want them all in one place so we can keep an eye on 'em.]

Maybe Matthew McConaughey would sponsor something at his place.
http://www.celebrityhomes.eu/celebri...tream-trailer/