New to airstream

[Petarm]

Good day all. Just purchased our first airstream and very happy to have done so. Looking forward to everyone's knowledge and stories. Thanks for having me and my wife

[ROBERT CROSS]

That is one fine looking unit....Excellent score.

More photos required.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[Petarm]

I don't pick it yp till October. I will take more pictures then.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Looks like a great find.

Be sure to check it over carefully before going on a lot of long trips.

Bob

[Petarm]

Anything special to look for?

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Petarm

Anything special to look for?

Hi

You will find a lot of threads about this and that. Quick list:

1) Brakes and bearings. Mainly to *know* they are fine.

2) Tires. Replace if the date codes are over 7 years ago. Inspect otherwise.

3) Batteries. If they are over 6 years old, just replace them.

4) Converter charger likely is due for replacement if it's a 20 year old original.

5) Make sure heat, fridge, stove, oven, and A/C work before you depend on them. 20 years is a while for an A/C unit ....

More of a deep dive stuff:

6) Floors are plywood. If they get wet, they get soft that can be fun to fix

7) Rear end separation. Do a search and dig into the details. You want to catch it
if there is an issue.

8) Leaks from anywhere. All that stuff going through the skin is caulked. 20 years is a long time for caulk to last ..... best to spend some time looking here and there. The old stuff gets removed before new goes on .... yuck ....

None of this is specific to the trailer you own. The entire list may have been taken care of by the PO last year. It's just a bunch of guesswork. There's also the usual "deep clean everything / everywhere" that one does on any new this or that. Just how deep that gets is very much up to you ....

Bob

[Petarm]

Thnk, i ill look through some old discussions so i can find the best wax to use on the unit and the frequency for the area i am in. I live in the okanogan area. Kamloops bc canada

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Petarm

Thnk, i ill look through some old discussions so i can find the best wax to use on the unit and the frequency for the area i am in. I live in the okanogan area. Kamloops bc canada

Hi

.... hmm ... been there. First step would be to find a day that it's neither raining nor snowing

The subtle thing to watch on waxes is that the modern ones have a certain amount of "polish" in them. In this case the polish is a grinding compound. You take a small bit of paint off your car / truck each time you use it. The teflon coating on the AS is softer than typical auto paint. It's easier to grind off ....

My answer is to learn to love a dirty trailer

Bob

[dbj216]

Greetings from Colorado and welcome to the Airstream owner's family. We too have a 34' Airstream and really enjoy it. Ours is a 1986 Limited 34' that has been in the family since new. We took possession in 2005 and actually traveled through southeastern Canada several years ago. The long Airstreams are most comfortable for long trips with the extra room and storage areas.

Here we are in Tucson, AZ, under a lemon tree. I'm glad no lemons fell on the trailer. Big dent I bet.

Take old uncle bob's advice and check out your new Airstream carefully before taking off. It's no fun to get to a destination and find the furnace doesn't work.

David