Hello from Washington

[wanderingduo]

The learning curve is manageable, we agree, even as first timers... however it's the curve balls that get to us.
This weekend we were hooked up to a water outlet and on the second day we discovered a pool of water under the kitchen sink. There were three PEX connections that were leaking. We removed the city water hose and used our water pump. We continued to see a leak from these three connections. We had to change our travel plans, leave the campground and head 80 miles to the next town to get a PEX crimp tool. There wasn't much room to work with in that small cabinet area but we were able to crimp down the three rings. It seemed like they hadn't been crimped before!
This made us uncomfortable knowing there are PEX connections within the trailer that are not as visible where someone might have forgotten to crimp a ring or two.
On a positive note, we now have learned to crimp copper PEX rings. Also we didn't let this spoil our day and went out and had fun anyways.
We do plan to make sure to let our dealership make a record of this incident. And we have learned that from others on this forum who talked about making sure that there is a documented trail of issues. So yes much to learn and also much to experience...

[RicnDebi]

Do you think that perhaps the campgrounds water pressure was too high and it caused the initial leak? I know things can happen and I sure don't want to badmouth Airstream. It is the travel trailer that Debbie and I WILL be getting. I'm sure it most likely is in a separate category, but does anyone know (or can they point us) to how the Airstream build process goes and more importantly, the quality control, checkout procedures on new units?

[cwf]

Originally Posted by RicnDebi

Do you think that perhaps the campgrounds water pressure was too high and it caused the initial leak? I know things can happen and I sure don't want to badmouth Airstream. It is the travel trailer that Debbie and I WILL be getting. I'm sure it most likely is in a separate category, but does anyone know (or can they point us) to how the Airstream build process goes and more importantly, the quality control, checkout procedures on new units?

Airstream has a built in "pressure regulator... One of the "good" things about them..

There are "quality control" threads all over this forum. Other more knowledgable here can validate my following statement: Airstream Corp monitors this forum.

Reality: these are "man made"... Expect and deal with the problems, just as Wanderinduo did above. This NOT different from the SOB crowd...

The whole experience of RVing is "involved". Are there occasional problems..especially as they "mature". If your AS (Airstream) sits or travels, it will age.

Have you ever owned a boat, motorcycle, snowmobile, lawn mower? When "new" there are nuances about each you discover/learn. For instance, Harley's may vibrate... This may cause objects in the mirror to become blurry.

Same with a "new to you" or factory rig...they are allllllllll different in each one.
Eventually you will become familiar as you observe the variances......and their remediation.... Just think of the AS as a kid who will never leave home...but in this case, the AS can be part of fun and relaxation after a brief "adjustment" time...

[wanderingduo]

Originally Posted by RicnDebi

Do you think that perhaps the campgrounds water pressure was too high and it caused the initial leak? I know things can happen and I sure don't want to badmouth Airstream. It is the travel trailer that Debbie and I WILL be getting. I'm sure it most likely is in a separate category, but does anyone know (or can they point us) to how the Airstream build process goes and more importantly, the quality control, checkout procedures on new units?

The water pressure can get high, but we had an external pressure regulator attached to the city water hose in addition to the inbuilt one on the trailer. So I can't really believe that high pressure alone had anything to do with it. Pressure did play a part in exposing the week connections but if you read my post, the leak continued after turning the city supply off and using the internal pump.
When I went in to crimp the rings I went ahead and crimped down all those I could find under the galley sink. These three rings took more pressure than those around them and therefore I deduced that they were probably not crimped to start with. Plumbing can be pressure tested for leaks and this one wasn't caught, for one reason or another. I attribute this to shoddy QC, no other way of looking at it- bad mouthing or not. But hey, as far as it's fixable I am still okay with it. The idea is to have a rig that allows us to have fun. Sometimes problem solving can be fun too, right?
Also, a few hours ago I discovered a leak in the Black water tank flush inlet. The insulation in between the shell under the inlet is wet. For now I have an incandescent bulb warming the area behind the closet and am waiting for the insulation to slowly dry off. Next time we use the inlet I am going to observe the inlet to see where the leak is. For all I know it might just be from the fresh water inlet too, which is just above it! We will see. And if I can't deal with it I'll take it in to the dealership, since we still are very much under warranty.
Before we decided to purchase an AS we saw many other trailers. This was the only one that we wanted at the end of the search, and despite these initial hiccups, we'd still buy an AS if we had to do this all over again. Besides, not for a moment are these issues going to stop us from having fun, they are mere inconveniences as far as we are concerned. We knew what we were getting into and so our expectations were to be solving a few kinks along the way.

[switz]

Airstream must have been embarrassed with all the issues left inside and outside our new 2015 23D because they did not even put the word "AIRSTREAM" on the back end of the trailer.....

Fortunately a good third party vintage Airstream repair facility (A&P Vintage Trailer Works in Paradise, TX) was able to properly fix all the short comings while modifying the unit to our specifications.

[RicnDebi]

SWITZ, I see you live in Apache Junction. We have a home in Gilbert. My wife works there and I work in Rapid City, SD. The closest AS dealer is Desert Autoplex. Is that where you go or is there another one that we might want to look at?