33ft owners need your Help

[Lets travel]

We have 2014 classic and love it, Went and looked at the new 33ft and love the bathroom, twin bedroom and kitchen, not sold on the living area and TV. Also noticed how much less storage the 33's have. I would like real owner opinions of the 33ft, the sitting area and the TV and how it looks, asked the dealer to turn it on and said he couldn't, won't spend that much money if the sitting and TV is terrible. please help.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I've sat at the TV at a show. It's pretty impressive. Given the lack of good TV signals out in the deep woods, I'm not sure how much use you will get out of it off the air. Probably be pretty awesome for BluRay's with popcorn late at night ...

Bob

[Lets travel]

thanks uncle bob, wish more 33ft owners would respond there has to some out there....that have an opinion

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Lets travel

thanks uncle bob, wish more 33ft owners would respond there has to some out there....that have an opinion

Hi

There's a lot of people who only read the forum once or twice a week. 33' Classics are pretty rare. That combination gets you down to a very small group.

None of that's to say the 33' is a poor choice. We might have considered it more carefully when we got our 30'. When we were shopping, they had been out of production for six months or so. There simply were none on the lots to look at. Even now, there aren't a bunch of them out there.

If you dig around here, there is a thread from a 33' owner who had issues getting this and that part of the entertainment system to work the way he thought it should. I don't recall anything being said about it being no fun to watch once it got running.

Bob

[NOAZRK2690]

Seriously check for any recently discovered towing issues. I thought there was an axle placement issue earlier in 2017 that may or may not have been addressed. My opinion; that's a lot of trailer & potential contents weight for two axles.

[fkiehl]

We picked up our 33ft in September. Added Dish, which means that we had to reconfigure the entertainment system and reprogram the master remote. It took some time, but we love the entertainment system.
Once in a while you feel too close to the screen, but that goes away quickly. The screen is viewable as far away as the bedroom. You can always pick something to pieces, but for the space available I think Airstream did good with the bathroom, living space and bedroom.

[Deveau]

My husband and I bought a 2018 Classic 33 ft in October and hope to drive it up here to Canada in the spring time. We really liked the living area as it will provide us with three seating options/areas for two creative people. We did not want to be sitting next to each other all the time and with the layout of desk plus table we both have a space to call our own.
We will be new at this as our previous experience was in a motorhome rental travelling in Europe with our three daughters when they were young. We're not great tv watchers but I'm sure we will both enjoy documentaries and movies on the big screen on those days when it's not nice enough to be outside!!
The shower stall is fabulous as my husband is quite tall and it is the only one he can actually stand up in comfortably.

[Lets travel]

Thanks to all so far that have posted an opinion of the 33ft airstream all are welcome. On the fence on what to do so all opinions help.

Thanks Again to all 33ft owners

[rbs]

we were at the factory in July and there was a 33' that was sitting there, apparently being used as a display model. We actually loved everything about it, but the lack of storage would be an issued for us. The rear bath is what dreams are made of.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Lets travel

Thanks to all so far that have posted an opinion of the 33ft airstream all are welcome. On the fence on what to do so all opinions help.

Thanks Again to all 33ft owners

Hi

The question (of course) becomes "compared to what?" ....

If the comparison is to an earlier 30' then there are a couple of significant differences. The most obvious is 2' more length . If it's an early enough 30' then the new ones have ducted AC. Compared to anything before 2017, you get the Alde heat (which *is* a big deal). I also would list the shower size in the "big deal" category.

Weight wise, the 30 and 33 are almost identical. Same weight per axle, same load on the TV. Yes, one is slightly longer and will fit in *slightly* fewer sites. We've been in lots of sites where that would not matter at all. I'd bet that a 33' is no better / worse if your psycho GPS sends you driving through a bean field with it

The big thing I'd do is spend a bit of time in one on a dealer's lot. How does the seating work for *you* ? What do you think about the view from here or there?

If the TV (or other features) are make / break on the deal, explain that to the dealer. If you are about to sign on the dotted line and he can't pull a 15A power cord over to the trailer .... find a new dealer !!! We're talking about a lot of money here. I can understand that you don't do this or that for some random guy named Bob. He's not ready to sign. There is a difference .... I've talked to some very nice people from JC. They would not wand to hear that a nice new 33' went un-sold just because you couldn't see the TV.

Indeed the dealer matters a bit here. You don't just want a good sales experience. You also want a good prep job on the trailer. Both require familiarity with the unit. There are a bunch of unique things on a 33'. Some (but not all) are common with the 30' Classic. They need to be set up correctly and you need to be trained on them. The dealer choice *is* part of the decision ....

Lots to think about !!

Bob

[xrvr]

Originally Posted by NOAZRK2690

Seriously check for any recently discovered towing issues. I thought there was an axle placement issue earlier in 2017 that may or may not have been addressed. My opinion; that's a lot of trailer & potential contents weight for two axles.

Are you talking about the basecamp axles? If so you are confusing things. Correctme if youneed to.

[Lets travel]

Uncle Bob great advice, have done just that. sat. moved around, and explored the 33ft at my local dealer. weighed the pros and cons and was about to put down a deposit on the 33ft and while working the blinds one hung up a little but quickly corrected itself. Well that prompted me to ask a question about the cost of the automatic blinds, now they do have a 2 year warranty, but are you ready for this if you had to replace the blind out of warranty the cost for the small one is 900 dollars each and 1200 for the large one and that's without installation. Well for me that was the deal breaker, we work are blinds constantly and I could see one needing to be replaced and to me that cost was ridiculous, so will be keeping our 2014 classic for now. Thanks for everyone for their comments

[66Overlander]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Are you talking about the basecamp axles? If so you are confusing things. Correctme if youneed to.

There was a rumor shortly after the 33 Classic was introduced that they were tweaking the design to move the axles slightly forward to reduce tongue weight. I have no idea if that was true.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by 66Overlander

There was a rumor shortly after the 33 Classic was introduced that they were tweaking the design to move the axles slightly forward to reduce tongue weight. I have no idea if that was true.

Hi

As far as anybody knows, that was not true. In a lot of ways, more tongue weight is better than less tongue weight. The same is true of axles further back vs axles further forward.

A lot of smaller AS trailers have real tongue weights that are in the same vicinity as the 33' (or the 30'). If anything they might move the axles *back* further to make them more like the others.

Bob

[ChipB]

Originally Posted by Lets travel

We have 2014 classic and love it, Went and looked at the new 33ft and love the bathroom, twin bedroom and kitchen, not sold on the living area and TV. Also noticed how much less storage the 33's have. I would like real owner opinions of the 33ft, the sitting area and the TV and how it looks, asked the dealer to turn it on and said he couldn't, won't spend that much money if the sitting and TV is terrible. please help.

We took delivery in mid-November of our Classic 33. My wife fell in love with the floor plan, and especially the bathroom.

The Entertainment system is absolutely great, albeit quite the learning curve to operate. The very high-end Polk music system quality is incredibly good as is the Bose Sound System. Our Blue Ray picture quality is excellent- no degradation, and, as one earlier post suggests, the large 65" screen provides a true "at the movies" experience.

Since my wife and I are able to work remotely, we've enjoyed the "workspace" with plenty of room for laptop and even a drawer for our printer/scanner.

Everyone will have a different opinion on amenities and floorplans. The Classic 33 fits us perfectly and is everything we could want (actually more) in comfort and quality in our new home away from home.

[Zybane]

You guys need to put a real 4K laser projector in there.

[Hibby]

The 33’ layout is heaven for me... I am able to work remotely and the workstation was a slam dunk for my needs, and keeps the kitchen table free for my wife to work or make food while I work. There is less storage, but I like that! We have carefully evaluated all of the stuff we don’t need to keep on board, and removed it from the packing list. We had WAY too much duplicate equipment. Any extra stuff we just throw in a tote and leave in the bed of the truck.

[Lizzard]

Love the TV and the fact that the screen goes away when not in use. The projector puts out A LOT of heat. Very complex setup and not for the faint of heart.