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Old 11-11-2008, 04:48 AM   #1
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70's Vintage Models with Queen or Double

I see many of the 70's era AS's that have twin beds. My wife and I still like to sleep TOGETHER!

Which models can I narrow the search to that have double or queen beds. Just the two of us, so bedding for guests/kids is not an issue.
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Old 11-11-2008, 04:56 AM   #2
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We have a 31' Land Yacht, center bath. We repaced the rear twins with a queen. It's a little snug, but there's room to get around all three sides.

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Old 11-11-2008, 05:21 AM   #3
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Our 23' has a double but is a couch during the day. Located on the curb side.
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Old 11-11-2008, 05:49 AM   #4
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Mine has two doubles - both fwd and curbside gaucho... feels smaller than a double but the double sized memory foam pad fits perfectly on each. Guess that being only fully open/accessible from one side makes it feel a little less roomy.
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Old 11-11-2008, 05:52 AM   #5
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My Trade Wind is a double. This arrangement gives you much more storage area. We keep the bed as a bed all of the time which makes the isle to the bath area a little narrow, but saves you the work of setting it up every night.
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Old 11-11-2008, 05:58 AM   #6
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How tall are you? An "RV Queen" as they're known in most of the industry is only 74" long. I'm 6'5" tall, and that's not comfortable for me. The last two trailers we've had (a '94 34' tri-axle, and now our Bigfoot 25' I replaced the RV queen with a full 80" queen. The rear corner beds are usually 74" or less, and are narrow, with a mattress that is angled on one end and curved at the other. I'd suggest you look for a model with an "island queen" bed, but you won't find one from the '70s unless it's been heavily modified (totally new bedroom setup). The rear queens didn't appear in the market place until the mid-80s at the earliest. I don't know of any Airstreams shorter than 31' that even had one (that said, there may be a 29' out there somewhere). The late '60s/ early '70s vintage Overlanders with the rear bath and side rear couch/bed may have been 6'6" long... I seem to remember them being a little longer than a standard bed, but I haven't seen one in years, so don't take that as "gospel". Perhaps someone who has one can chime in with bed dimensions.

Here's a photo of that bed/couch in a '68 Overlander.

Roger
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Old 11-11-2008, 06:57 AM   #7
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I am 6 feet tall, and really don't want to be forced into a 31 footer just to get a larger bed. I did like the Trade Wind configured as a double. Thanks!
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Old 11-11-2008, 07:16 AM   #8
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Welcome to the Forums. I am almost a neighbor to you, being located in western Lincoln county. Good luck in finding a trailer to suit your needs.
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Old 11-11-2008, 11:05 AM   #9
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My wife and I have a similar issue when looking at most of AS's vintage lineup. Even if you do get a double bed, it looks tough to wiggle your way out to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Have to say, from our searching we've VERY fond of the 25' Sovereign/Excella side-bath floorplan (from 1985 up) with a queen bedroom in the back. But I forget if that bed is a platform bed with room on 3 sides around it, and most of those trailers have OSB floors instead of plywood.

Ironically, one of the biggest RV beds we've found is in a TAB teardrop, one of the smallest trailers out there....

Tom
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Old 11-11-2008, 03:21 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mutcth View Post
My wife and I have a similar issue when looking at most of AS's vintage lineup. Even if you do get a double bed, it looks tough to wiggle your way out to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Have to say, from our searching we've VERY fond of the 25' Sovereign/Excella side-bath floorplan (from 1985 up) with a queen bedroom in the back. But I forget if that bed is a platform bed with room on 3 sides around it, and most of those trailers have OSB floors instead of plywood.

Ironically, one of the biggest RV beds we've found is in a TAB teardrop, one of the smallest trailers out there....

Tom
Funny you should mention that... I was watching the RV show on the travel channel (think that was it) and noticed their new little trailer - the T@DA. Very cool!

www.tada-rv.com - T@DA - Microlite RV Teardrop Travel Trailer - TADA TAB Daddy
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Old 11-11-2008, 03:28 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by mutcth View Post

Ironically, one of the biggest RV beds we've found is in a TAB teardrop, one of the smallest trailers out there....

Tom
But... but... the T@da bed is only 70" LONG!
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Old 11-11-2008, 04:19 PM   #12
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We have a 31 foot, center bath, '78 Sovereign that had a double bed in the rear. I did some measuring and found that a standard queen mattress would fit if we we willing to sacrifice walk around access. A plywood platform that fit the new queen footprint was installed on top of the existing platform, and the standard mattress was installed. The most exciting part was finding that the "no turn" (read cheapened) mattress could not be bent and required removing the street side ceiling cabinets to get it in. The conversion was made five years ago and has worked well.
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Old 11-11-2008, 05:50 PM   #13
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But... but... the T@da bed is only 70" LONG!
Right - but it depends on the floorplan. There is a U-shaped dinette/bed model that is definitely longer than the 70" fixed bed model - I've tried it out. Can't find the dimensions though.

The (smaller) T@B can have up to a 70"x80" bed, again depending on floorplan. No bathroom there though. Somehow, the wife and I prefer either going simple and superlight like the T@B, or going for something with full tanks - the T@DA is an odd in-between.

Tom
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Old 11-11-2008, 07:56 PM   #14
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Together?? You mean like in the same bed?? Haha!!
We travel with our three children that still live at home, age 9, 7, and 6. We have the bunks in the back of our '78 Argosy and the fold down couch in the front. We also add an inflatable mattress on the floor for our 6 year old at night. Actually, the setup works really really well, 5 people sleeping in there!! Of course, it doesn't suit sleeping together ... call it birth control ...
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Old 11-12-2008, 07:01 AM   #15
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Quote:
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We have a 31 foot, center bath, '78 Sovereign that had a double bed in the rear. I did some measuring and found that a standard queen mattress would fit if we we willing to sacrifice walk around access. A plywood platform that fit the new queen footprint was installed on top of the existing platform, and the standard mattress was installed. The most exciting part was finding that the "no turn" (read cheapened) mattress could not be bent and required removing the street side ceiling cabinets to get it in. The conversion was made five years ago and has worked well.
I second the "wall to wall rear bed" approach...below is a dimensional pic of the rear bedroom of a '78 Sovereign...




I built a "total platform" over the two existing twin beds, brought in a "Sleep Comfort" Queen sized bed (these beds break down into small, lightweight pieces), and filled in the "open spaces" with a heavy latex foam. I left the areas to the front of the trailer open, great places to stow flashlights, glasses, drinks, and use as a sort of a "night stand" area.

A King Sized "Tee-shirt" fitted sheet does an adequate job of holding everything together, and standard king bed coverings are used elsewhere. Note that the two "Bolster" dimensions to the front of the trailer are in error - the bath side (curbside) dimension is a few inches longer than the closet (driver's) side. From memory, 36" and 31" I believe.
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Old 11-12-2008, 10:06 PM   #16
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Hello everyone, I am currently looking to purchase a 1970 24' airstream international, and I am trying to find any information on trailer. is there such a trailer? thanks

G Torres
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Old 11-13-2008, 02:17 AM   #17
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Red face Bph

So Dennis I see you got the bed crammed in there sideways. What I want to know is how yall got the t-shirt (bedsack) on and how do yall get it off for cleaning?
I can imagine why the filler at the rear, but why the fillers on each side (street & curb)? Would I be correct that you sleep nearest the front of the trailer? Or as might be called the "prostate side"?
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Old 11-13-2008, 06:06 AM   #18
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Hello everyone, I am currently looking to purchase a 1970 24' airstream international, and I am trying to find any information on trailer. is there such a trailer? thanks

G Torres
Welcome to the forums!
International is an upgraded trim level that was available during that era, it is not a model. Starting in 1969 and running through the 70's the size of the trailers remained the same. There were no 24' models. The Safari was 23' and the Trade Wind was 25'. Both were available with the International trim level. The VIN of the trailer should easily tell you what it is. The second and third digit would be the length. This website: Vintage Airstream Photo Archives lists the different models and sizes.
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Old 11-13-2008, 06:24 AM   #19
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So Dennis I see you got the bed crammed in there sideways. What I want to know is how yall got the t-shirt (bedsack) on and how do yall get it off for cleaning?
I can imagine why the filler at the rear, but why the fillers on each side (street & curb)? Would I be correct that you sleep nearest the front of the trailer? Or as might be called the "prostate side"?
We sleep East-West, and the requirement for the "full area bed" is such that pups, grandkids, flashlights, and clothes do not drop into the bottomless abyss on the three non-accessable sides and be forever lost and forgotten in the bowels of the trailer.

You are entirely correct about the prostate position for sleeping, although the situation is recently much improved.

There is a 2" "Memory Foam" slab over the entire bed cut to fit the rear bedroom. The two rear corners are pulled up first (one at a time) and the respective corners of the fitted sheets are stuffed into the "filler" areas - there is enough "give" at the corners of the Sleep Number bed that the fitted sheet goes all of the way down to the plywood base. This, of course, requires that you be "on the bed" while putting down the fitted sheet. The "front" two corners are installed similarly, but does not require a "bed mounted" position to slip the fitted corners of the sheets into the bolsters. The rest of the bed clothes are sort of a duvet style, so stuffing them in neatly can be accomplished by starting from the curbside rear and working around to the drivers side front. The bed is not that difficult to make up, it just requires that you refine a technique of positioning the sheets and covers about where you want them prior to starting to fit from the rear.

Below shows a shot of the bed from the hallway to the rear trailer window.


Below is shot from the rear drivers side corner to the curb side front.



And, lastly, a shot of the forward drivers side of the bed. The small "ledge" areas to the front, and on either side of the hallway were originally filled with bolsters also, but we found that we really did not neet the room on the bed, the opened ledges made ingress and egress (especially the latter) easier, and any pups, kids, drinks, etc. dropped in this area were easily retrieved. The ledges also make a great area for stowing flashlights, glasses, slippers, clocks, and other necessities often required in the middle of the night.

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Old 11-26-2008, 04:39 AM   #20
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Guys,
Help me out with something I just don't understand. From looking at the .pdf of the trailer weights over the years, it appears that there was a huge jump in trailer weights in 1982 that continues to this day.

A 1981 center bath 31 ft Excella weighed 4680. The same trailer in 1982 weighed 6800. A new 27 footer weighs 7600.

What makes these trailers so much heavier than the older units? Are the frames stronger, the skin thicker? I have heard that the new units are heavier because they have Corian countertops. That simply cannot account for a near doubling of the trailer weights.

I am interested in this issue because trailer weight impacts towing and gas mileage, and I would much rather have 4680 lbs pushing me down Black Mountain than 7600.
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