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davcarv · 11-03-2013, 08:02 PM

I've narrowed down the model I like and a year range.
I have alternates I'd compromise.
My wife respects when ya like something, ....
still she wonders if I'm set on an Airstream or if I'd consider an SOB.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm more obsessed with waiting for the perfect one or if I'm obsessed with the hunt.....

Are there others like me?

Sbb · 11-03-2013, 08:42 PM

My obsessions were different for the stages I was in at the time of each purchase. The Teardrop was what
I thought I would ever need and it was my first tow vehicle. I could not even see it behind my suburban. It was what
I could afford. It went tto festialsvwith me, kept me out of motels.

Three years later...time to have a bit more room, cook inside, I was driving to Chicago saw the TAB factory and knew one would be mine no matter what, based solely on the cute factor. I found one in Va, i could move it aound on a jack wheel, i could cook and cool things

Three years later i go to rv show and become obsessed with a brand new rv, i know it has a bathroom, shower, queen bed and light wood inside....so I buy it, saying itbwill be all I ever needed.

Three years later
I loose and rebuild my business twice to hurricanes Irene and Sandy. I now know I will never retire, on my bucket list is an AS, after about a two week frantic search I found one, purchased it, each one has been exactly right for the time, i loved each. I say I have found perfection, but will let you know in a couple years, the 27'' are calling me and since I just purchased a bigger tv i am all set! Does any of this make sense? Each was the perfect place for me art a very certain time, a time that will continue to grow and change,

slowmover · 11-04-2013, 08:40 AM

I would say that it isn't that one will be perfect so much as that experience will change what is seen as ideal (less constricting than "perfect").

As you've seen, perhaps, in comparing the experience of others (much reading) to what you envision for yourself is that the Airstream factory (and the late competition) spent a great deal on design from the 1950's to the 1990's. Most floorplans were worked out long ago.

Try an approach from a different angle: the classic design of the center kitchen (the heaviest items over the axles for best trailer weight balance) and rear bath with either twins or double forward of that "could" be your ideal.

In other words, think of the longest term of ownership where, with kids grown and a near elderly couple can finish out the years of travel with but one TT. I recall my folks discussing the purchase of their Silver Streak in this way(which cost a bit more than the average new American house; a trailer instead of a second home in the country). They kept it 27-years. And I can say (having owned a few, now) that that design layout is very hard to beat in an all-around sense.

The trailer that tows effortlessly is king. And no trailer, not even the various A/S, will tow quite as well as when designed to do so with appliance placement concentrated along this axis; where space for storage is maximized as well.

I would dislike my ideal (perfect) trailer being less than the best for road performance.

They all tow well . . but some designs will still be better than others (due to physics). As one gets older, or wants to take longer trips, this figures more and more.

So try a different approach where ideal design takes precedence over fitting the trailer to what I think I want. See if it bears fruit. For if one can have a better-driving tow vehicle than a pickup, then one is well ahead of the curve in all respects. The trailer is parked more than it travels, but those hours can exert quite a bit of stress. Etc. My parents and grandparents travelled North American without the extra gear so many today seem to find necessary.

Means and ends. Switch 'em up. And give yourself permission to change trailers a time or two.