Greetings Tursipops!
Welcome to the Forums and the world of Airstreaming!
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Originally Posted by Tursipops
Hi Folks,
I'm very excited to have found this forum. A little background about us: my husband and I are first time parents (14 month old baby) who are considering buying our first trailer. I grew up tent camping at national and state
parks, husband did not. In fact, I don't think he has ever slept in a tent.
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I suspect that a "reluctant" camper or someone who has never camped or RVed would find the experience more palatable in an Airstream product RV. As with many other Airstream owners, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble not to mention quite a bit of money if I had went with my intuitive selection of an Airstream product rather than compromising on a Brand X travel trailer. In 1980, I truly wanted an Argosy (the local dealer had a leftover 1979 Minuet 6.0 Metre), but was convinced that an orphan coach would be less likely to hold its value than the brand new 1980 Nomad 1780 Light Weight travel trailer that I special ordered. The Nomad lasted almost three years before I became disgusted with its quality and construction issues . . . so much so that I sold it in 1983 and didn't return to RV ownership until 1995.
I learned my lesson, and held out for an Airstream product RV when I contemplated my next purchase. Just as you have the predetermined requirement of a queen bed floorplan, I had the requirement of a full rear bath. My initial intent was to buy a brand new Airstream in the 25' size, but quickly learned that the floorplan that I wanted wasn't in the current lineup and hadn't been for several years. That switched my search to used Airstreams. I began looking at coaches from the 1980s, but each one that I looked at lacked the feel that I wanted . . . then went back to the 1970s where I found the floorplan that I wanted but the feel still wasn't what I wanted . . . then, in frustration, I decided to look at a
1964 Airstream adverstised as a 28' that had been advertised for more than three months in the local trader magazine. The firs time that I walked into that
1964 Airstream Overlander Land Yacht International, I knew that I had found the Airstream of my dreams. In the days before the prominence of the Internet, I was more or less on my own in making an "informed" decision regarding the trailer. I lucked out and only had to replace the water pump, Univolt, tires, and shocks. I have now owned that '64 Overlander for 17 years and can't imagine parting with my Overlander. I did wind up purchasing a 1978 Minuet 6.0 Metre for shorter trips or long trips with my 1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible as the tow vehicle.
Somehting that one discovers after being involved with Airstreams for any length of time is that our Airstream RV often become family heirlooms that are passed down in the family through generations. I have good friends who are the third generation of their family to travel in their
1960 Overlander . . . and they are planning to pass the trailer down to one of their children who have just started school. When carefully maintained, and Airstream can become a family heirloom . . . I don't think that there is any way that my 1980 Nomad could have ever survived long enough to see even the second generation of its original owers' family . . . I know that the second owners of my Nomad towed it to the salvage yard when it was seven years old and beginning to disintegrate.
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Originally Posted by Tursipops
Now that we have a baby, I want to be sure our little fella gets the same wonderful national park experience I had. A trailer seems like a good way to make that happen and make both the men in my life happy. My husband wants a queen sized bed. (He is not kidding around about that, btw.) In general, having all the amenities is probably pretty important for him to be comfortable with a trailer/camping experience. We will use a Yukon Denali XL to tow, has a 7500 towing capacity. We are planning to use this for longer weekends away, and week-long trips here and there. Thinking about something in the 23 foot range.
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The Yukon Denali XL is an excellent tow vehicle. My 1999 GMC K2500 Suburban (the last year before the GMC Suburban became the Yukon XL) is approaching 200,000 miles very quickly, and it has been trouble-free other than the four wheel drive transfer case (the Lucas Electric Control Module for the transfer case has a 12,000 to 15,000 mile life expectancy).
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Originally Posted by Tursipops
So here's my question: based on your experience is it better to spend less money (10kish) and buy a cheaper used trailer that is less attractive and solid (not an AS) to figure out what we really want/need or is it better to buy a used AS (20-30kish) and feel like we got the right thing in the first place? (Is it pretty common to feel like you got the first one not quite right and replace it?)
Any feedback would be welcome - grateful for the opportunity to hear from experts.
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My suggestion would be to shop around and check out both Airstream and the competition from the Brand X contingent. I suspect that you will very quickly determinet which alternative makes for a more comfortable fit. Initially, the Airstream will almost undoubtedly be more expensive, but if it keeps you from being dissatisfied a few years down the line forcing you into the market again . . . the Airstream may just be a better buy. I know that in my case, I would have come out money ahead had I purchased the Argosy in 1980 and avoided all of the problems that I had with the Nomad . . . and I wouldn't have missed out on twelve years of enjoyable travel.
Good luck with your investigation and deliberations!
Kevin
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