New Washington State member

[TDA]

Greetings! We have been camping by trailer (Kit 18RT) since 1995, mostly state and National Parks. Now that our kids are grown, we are hoping to move up to an Airstream, likely a Flying Cloud 23 or 25FB. Our TV can handle anything, but we want to stay "small" in order to fit into less well-travelled places, and more primitive campsites. Looking forward to learning all about rivets and aluminum!

[PKI]

Welcome to the forum.

Both the 23 and 25 are good solutions. There have been many times we were glad to be narrower, but while we think it's perfect, others find the 23 too small.

The Seattle Airstream Adventures Dealer should have a nice inventory. Spend some time in a whole series of coaches and figure out what works best for your RV lifestyle and budget. Used coaches have different amenities so figure out what you want/need and find your perfect solution.

You should look at the Oliver trailers too. Some folks find them a better solution for their application. Airstreams are iconic, not perfect. Research before you buy.

Looking is a lot of fun. Enjoy! Pat

[Wconley]

Welcome to the forum. We are in Renton and just traded our 2013 23D Flying Cloud in for a new to us 2009 27FB International. We loved the 23 but the corner bed was an issue. We will miss the ease we could squeeze into campsites but we are looking forward to further travels and the 27 will be much better in the long run for us. Good luck with your search.

[PKI]

Corner bed???? You should have gone for the FB and upgraded to a full size queen. Very good example of why you need to understand yourself and what is important to you in an RV. A quick choice is the first symptom of two-ft-itis developing. It's expensive to trade. Get it right the first time.

The East West bed is not a walk around, even though it looks like one. You may have space on the bed, but will end up crawling over to get up in the middle of the night. So if that is a real problem, you need a North South configuration which moves you to a bigger coach.

The combined bathroom configuration of the 22, 23 & 33 takes away living space, but is a much nicer bathroom layout .... except for one thing. If two folks need to use shower and toilet at same time, the separate configuration allows that access and is an advantage.

A big refrigerator or two closets .... an oven or a microwave .... single or dual axles .... dinette or couch .... single or double sink .... big or small .... single or multi stage converter .... duct or ductless AC .... 14, 15 or 16in tires .... 10 or 12in brakes ..... and the list goes on.

You have a lot of investigating to do. Enjoy the adventure of the hunt! Pat

[aftermath]

Welcome to the forum. We looked for a long time before we found our 25FB on Craigs List. By looking we knew we did not want a crawl over type of layout. The 25 does allow one of you to get out of bed without crawling over the other. Drive down to Portland or up to Seattle and visit the Airstream Dealer and go through the models you might be interested in.

Ours has been a great trailer and we have done a month and a half in it without any issues. We do suffer from 2 ft itis though and would like to move up one day.

[greenflag]

We previously had a 25' which is the most popular size. Ours had the corner bed (Hated It). Hard to change bedding and make the bed. Toilet area is small. Had to leave door open to sit on toilet and close privacy screen.
You could probably put a 25 anywhere you put a 23. The 23 is narrower than the 25. If you choose the 23, opt for the front bedroom floorplan. The dinette table slides and swivels for ease of access. Our daughter is looking to eventually purchase the 23 FB.

[Rob Cope]

Just a few thoughts: I found sitting for long periods (an hour or two) helped narrow the possibilities. 23FC was a bit too narrow; the aesthetics of other designs tired after looking about for great lengths of time; the comfort varied considerably from one seated position to another; the placement of window/door views outside became more important ... and so forth.

I am a lone user so bed issue was not a matter of concern. Closets are adequate for one, but I find it hard to imagination two peoples' needs satisfied.

Hopefully, that set of observations is useful. Oh yeah, the dealer paid for a day of camping, towing me to a site and back so I could test everything for it working. There have been issues of quality performance at the factory. I have had no problems, but there is lots to learn about how everything works. ... from San Juan Island. Best wishes...

[Anders79]

Welcome from a fellow Washington Stater. We have the 25FB Flying cloud and are very happy with it. I will admit that if we were to do some longer trips (i.e. months versus weeks), i would like to go up in size; but 25 is as small as i want for our multiple week trips. Also word of warning - Airstreams are like other trailers and will have problems from time to time (just setting expectations). If buying new, the local dealer / service guys in Kent are very knowledgeable, nice and helpful (and host user meetings every so often, etc).
I Would also recommend getting solar panels installed - have found them very useful. Let us know what you think after you get it.