Need Info On Mid '90s Land Yachts

[timmac]

Hello all: New member here, coming from RV.net site [member since 2006], I need more info on Airstreams and not getting much on that site, I currently own a classic Xplorer class C that is up for sale and looking very hard at the mid to late 90's Airstream Land Yachts, [30 foot model].

Need some unbiased info such as it's comfort, performance, quality, issues, gas mileage, etc, etc, would you buy another or if not why.

I am moving up to a newer class A and really like the looks of the Land Yacht's [mid to late 90,s] however none are for sell here in Vegas at the moment and never have been in one, so I need some help before I get on a plane a fly half way across America just to go see one..

Oh yea did they make 28-29 footers in those years ??

[LuvRVing]

Hi,
I have owned a 1995 30' since Jan of this yr. I previous owned a 20' class C so a big change for me. I bought it off of e-bay in TX and drove it to CA. I got 12 mpg on that trip with the RV empty. As a 74 yo single female I have found it very easy to handle, with great road vision. All the systems on mine work great and it is very comfortable for 1 or 2 people. (Wish the kitchen had a larger counter). I have not towed with it yet.

[LuvRVing]

Forgot to mention that on this forum we have members who will check out a rig for you if it isn't in your area before you go look at it.

[BarnacleBill]

Hi timmac,
We have been full time on a 1995 30’ Landyacht LE since the spring of 2008 and we could not be happier.

We found two Landyachts, one in Casa Grande AZ and one in Mesa AZ. We bought the one in Casa Grande because it had more accessories (leveling jacks, and two AC units), we liked the interior better and we preferred the Ford chassis over the Chevy.

Comfort; the coach is great for the two of us. It is easy to drive and handle. We have had my son and his partner aboard and that works fine for a couple of days. The granddaughter has worked out great for a week at a time.

The AC keeps us comfortable when it’s hot out and when poor planning has placed us in a cold environment; we have kept nice and warm with either the AC on heat setting or the furnace. The furnace heats all the tanks so we don’t have to worry about anything freezing while we move south “where the weather fits our clothes”.

Performance; All the onboard systems work very well. If the coach has been maintained well you should have no problem. Keep in mind the systems are all 10 to 15 years old and even the best equipment can just were out.

We (actually the dealer) replaced the inverter and the refrigerator when we bought the coach. The refrigerator was not working; probably from lack of use, and the inverter was suspect, but working. We also replaced the three burner stove top with a stove top and oven, just because we like to have a conventional oven in addition to the microwave/convection oven.

We replaced the house batteries and all the tires because they were very old. Check the date on the tires. The ones on the rig we bought where 8 years old! Anything 5 years old or older need to be replaced.

We tow a Jeep Wrangler and it tows fine. You will be happier with gas mileage and engine strain by unhooking for steep climbs.

Quality; the quality is great, it’s an Airstream!

Issues; check for leaks, we had some. If the previous owner(s) did not stay on top of calking there could be some problems. Search the group here and you can see what I mean.

Gas mileage, we average about 7 mpg towing the Jeep.

I would absolutely buy another, but I can only drive one at a time

I think the only lengths where 30’ 32’ and 36’but I am not sure about that.

Good luck with your search, you are on the right track.

[blkmagikca]

My '94 LY is a 34-footer on a Spartan chassis. This is a diesel pusher with a Cummins 5.9 engine rated at 230 hp and a 6-speed Allison transmission. I love the layout and the quality of the build. It is amazingly economical on fuel - I get 14 mpg towing a small car 4-down provided I stay at 58-59mph. Since I do about 10,000 miles a year with it, I prefer the economy of diesel. As well, the Spartan chassis is a strong rigid one - they are noted for building fire engines - and they keep an inventory of parts even for their older chassis.

Previous owners had not properly cared for the unit, although it looked good. One of the weak areas is the roof seams, and it had had leaks and continued to leak, notwithstanding several times in various RV shops to fix this. The first shop, an AS dealer, showed me that the previous owners had put a bead of silicone caulking over the lap sealant, and while it looked good, you could easily lift it off with a fingernail. I finally fixed them all myself by removing all the caulking and resealing the seams with lap sealant and then taping over them with Eternabond tape (see Roof Leak Repair Products & Sealing Tape | EternaBond which comes with a good long factory warranty). So far, with the rains we've had, there is no evidence of water coming in now. My advice on the roof is to do it right before you head out, as water damage is something you really want to avoid.

Other smaller issues which the previous owners kludged were: (1) "fixing" the Fantastic Fan using a nail to replace a missing cotter pin - this fan has a Fantastic lifetime warranty so any parts are free; (2) they seemed to have replaced the GFI breaker in the 120-v panel box, but cross wired the black to the white neutral - a simple plug-in tester showed this.

Since I dry camp fairly often, I don't have any need for the 120-v ice-maker, so I removed it - it's in my storage area pending getting around to selling it.

Good advice on the tires - we had had a blowout on an 8-year old Michelin (left rear inboard tire) that damaged the fender well and panel between the rear wheel and the genset.

I did find that handling was greatly improved after I installed the Steer Safe system (see Steer Safe ) which I had done at their factory in Deming NM.

Some of the LY's were equipped with more options than others - mine seemed to have it all - Alcoa rims, roof-mounted spotlight, 2 TV's (both of which I've replaced with 15-inch LCD TV's with digital/analog tuners). Lately I've replaced all the 12-v incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs.

After 5 years of owning this unit, I'm quite pleased with it and my illness (2-foot-itis) has been permanently cured.