2024 Trade Wind

[moosetags]

We have now had New Lucy for ten years. We have been taking a serious look at the new 25FB Trade Wind. It would appear that it would be conducive to our Airstreaming style, and free us up from generator use while boondocking.

We are looking for input from Forums Members on the new Trade Wind.

Brian

[field & stream]

Originally Posted by moosetags

We have now had New Lucy for ten years. We have been taking a serious look at the new 25FB Trade Wind. It would appear that it would be conducive to our Airstreaming style, and free us up from generator use while boondocking.

We are looking for input from Forums Members on the new Trade Wind.

Brian

I think it would be perfect for you two. Well, maybe “perfect” would cost less!

I have not seen one but have watched the Colonial Airstream video and read a lot. It seems to be well designed and very capable for sustained use unplugged. It would take a very long stretch of poor solar conditions to run down. I guess the only remaining reason for a generator would be to run air conditioning.

If we went “big”, it would be a Trade Wind with the hatch.

[moosetags]

My research on the Trade Wind indicates that all A/C functions run from the 3,000 watt inverter. One thing that I am trying to determine is how long we can run the air conditioner on a fully-charged battery bank.

Brian

[field & stream]

Originally Posted by moosetags

My research on the Trade Wind indicates that all A/C functions run from the 3,000 watt inverter. One thing that I am trying to determine is how long we can run the air conditioner on a fully-charged battery bank.

Brian

I hope someone who really knows this stuff weighs in, but here is my limited understanding.

From experience, I would say you would be doing great to get 50Ah per day from each of the six 100w panels, so 300Ah per day of recharge. For my planning I estimate 30Ah per day average from a 100w panel.

From internet research (that’s a warning!) I would think a 15,000 BTU ac would use about 100A per hour, or all 810 max Ah available from the lithium battery bank in about eight hours. Minus inverter inefficiency. So, a long long way from being plugged in.

Some days you don’t need ac, some days limited use is adequate, some days the above is not sufficient. What this will do is feed the power hungry fridge and all of the other electric powered “improvements”.

[27ftToaster]

There was a recent post in another forum about someone could easily keep their Trade Wind cool while connected to shore power, but when operating from battery power, they couldn’t cool down enough. They determined that the cause was the heat generated from the Multiplus was vented to the inside. It was offsetting the cold air from the a/c. Their conclusion was that it was a poor design. So, if the main goal is a/c while boondocking, you might do some more research or check with other owners on their experiences.

Dave

[field & stream]

Just in case this thread didn’t catch your eye: https://www.airforums.com/forums/f44...of-253725.html

A definite asterisk on my “well designed” earlier comment.

[hikingcamera]

We bought a Trade Wind, and love it. When we went from out 19-foot SOB (with tented pop top), we had been used to going indefinitely on 480 watts of solar on the roof and two 100Ah AGMs. Our Flying Cloud couldn't last more than 24 hours with minimal usage (no inverter, limited to no charging of devices). We did several things to it to try to get it better, and were prepared to add batteries. Our dealer couldn't add more than two, so we were going to have to get second opinions or try to dive into it ourselves. Luckily, with our new converter, we were able to charge from the ProPower in our truck. But still, we wanted to go on long weekends without needing to worry about power.

Enter the Trade Wind. (Layout was also part part of the equation in not trying to update our 23FB.) I'm at the end of a 4-day camping trip right now. We've left the inverter on, run TVs for the kids, used our CPAPs at night (3–4A for each one, probably 24 hours of run time in total between them due to some middle of the night shuffling with the kids), and we are now at 42%. We are heavy treed so have gotten no more than 20W+ from the solar at any time. Not tried charging from our truck at all. We are so happy.

I have a MicroAir thermostat, so if we know we are planning a lunch break, I can turn the A/C on while driving and cool the trailer down before we stop, a nice feature. We've run the A/C on battery a few times, just to help cool things down or take the edge off, but only for short periods. The big moment was when we were plugged into a house (15/20A outlet) with two other trailers also running off the house (a 30A and a 50A big rig). We throttled the amperage to 15 and the Multiplus was able to run the A/C and all the appliances, using both batteries and the shore power to keep us from blowing a circuit. The big rig ended up needing to just run the generator, they kept pulling too much power and blowing the circuits. This saved us in fully sun exposed high 90s. Kept the trailer down by 20 or so degrees from the outside. Then we got 300–400 watts of solar during good chunk of the day. We pulled in 4.2 kWh of solar power in total over 3 days.

As others have suggested, how long you can run the A/C will depend on the duty hours. That weekend, the A/C ran constantly from 5am to midnight (give or take). We could have gone probably a few hours without A/C. It was nice that our A/C never cut off as we were troubleshooting getting everyone hooked to power without blowing circuits. But it was not going to work without A/C for sure. We were prepared to hookup our truck to power things.

We've not had any experience with the Multiplus being too loud or getting too hot, but generally we are either hooked to shorepower or boon docking while camping, not usually actively charging from a lower battery level while camping. But if we were out here longer, we would have to to get the battery levels back up. I'll be curious to see how things go when we get home and plug in again. I may run the A/C to test things, though not sure what the temps will be at home this week.

Hope that very anecdotal experience is helpful.

One other suggestion. You might see if a mod can move this into the Trade Wind section of this forum so that more current owners will see it.

[PaulinVA]

We bought a 24 FBQ Trade Wind in May with all options because it has all of the upgrades I wanted and the dealer price was super low at a show. We wanted the twin, but for the price we could live with the queen.
Our limiting factor is water, not power. Between the stock solar array, the Victron suite of management devices, the stock dc - dc charger and the gigantic battery bank, I monitor but don’t worry about power at all. It gives us the ability to stop and not have to obsess over every amp. Being able to control the temp from an app and the micro air thermostat is huge as well.
Found that the multiplus allows for passive soar battery charging even with the battery switch in the store position. So I go to the TW in storage, can run the A/C from batteries for a couple of hours while I work inside. Close it up and the next day the batteries are back at 100%. Pretty, pretty good.
The trailer may be able to put up a good fight if parked in a south Texas scrubland in August for a day, but who really wants to do that to themselves.
The Trade Winds are out there if you look. It has been the answer for us- less luxury and more functionality in more locations and circumstances.

[PatLee]

Originally Posted by field & stream

I think it would be perfect for you two. Well, maybe “perfect” would cost less!

I have not seen one but have watched the Colonial Airstream video and read a lot. It seems to be well designed and very capable for sustained use unplugged. It would take a very long stretch of poor solar conditions to run down. I guess the only remaining reason for a generator would be to run air conditioning.

If we went “big”, it would be a Trade Wind with the hatch.

Umm. Boondocking and the need for air conditioning seems sort of oxymoronic to me.

[dsatwork]

Originally Posted by PatLee

Umm. Boondocking and the need for air conditioning seems sort of oxymoronic to me.

Wow really helpful

[moosetags]

I have moved this entire thread to the Tradewind sub-forum. Thank you for noting that as I was not aware that we now have a Tradewind sub-forum.

Brian

[dsatwork]

Originally Posted by moosetags

We have now had New Lucy for ten years. We have been taking a serious look at the new 25FB Trade Wind. It would appear that it would be conducive to our Airstreaming style, and free us up from generator use while boondocking.

We are looking for input from Forums Members on the new Trade Wind.

Brian

Brian,

We don't have a tradewind but our Victron system is almost identical to it ,in fact our victron system information was monitored by airstream during the trade wind development stage. These comments are right on and used very much like we use our Airstream. You can't run the AC indefinitely, the two hour limit is probably a good expectation as long as you have enough solar to recharge. A lot of times we'll run the AC, to cool the Airstream down before we arrive. But you always have to consider solar or dc to dc charging capability for next stop or what's needed for the days to come.

[Mollysdad]

I understand there's an issue with the Tradewinds when plugged into a home 120 vac outlet. (Like to cool down the fridge) It will try to draw 30 amps and the display panel is locked out. (Airstream didn't want to give average owners too many choices. Seriously.) So, now they've installed a switch to accept 10 amps.
I'm way above my pay grade here but this video was good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBQRMF7AkvI&t=6s

[charlesk]

Brian,

We’ve had our TW and Rivian since November and we are full-time.

In Arizona and Utah, I routinely saw 500+ watts from the solar. I am pretty pleased with the solar. Wish there was a bit more.

We’ve ran the AC for 2-3 hours with no issues and plenty of power. How long can you go, can’t answer that one. When I get down to 40-50% I shut down the AC.

I read the post about the Victron dumping all the hot air into the cabin. I can NOT confirm this but I do hear the auxiliary fan kick on.

Chuck

[moosetags]

Thank you all for the input and guidance. What we are looking for in the Trade Wind is the capability of spending an occasional night on the road not having to plug in. Our form of boondocking is most often a night in a Walmart parking lot. We have always carried a Honda 3000 which we use for this purpose. We have been thinking that it would be really nice to not have to mess with the generator. We also like the idea of setting the air conditioning at about 80 degrees while underway and not have to do the battle of the cool down when we stop for the night.

We have also thought that a new Airstream would be a really nice treat. New Lucy is still in good condition, but she is now ten years old and has spent a thousand nights on the road. We are closing in on twenty years of Airstreaming, and hope to have more years in the future.

Brian

[hikingcamera]

Personally, I think it may be overkill if you only spend a night boondocking. I guess unless you run that A/C a lot when doing so. I think you’ll still want to haul a generator in that case. The Multiplus is nice because it can draw more limited power from the AC cable and support the devices onboard with the battery (called assist mode). So you could get something lighter, like car generator, and avoid the bulky and mess of an additional engine. Plus add some more batteries to what you have now.

I wouldn’t buy a whole new Airstream just for that. We’d have even just considered a used model and upgraded it. Except, the weight distribution, with the batteries under the floor just behind the rear axle, allow for a much lower tongue weight than other 25FB’s, allowing us to keep our current tow vehicle. Really the only reason we went new.

That said, if what you want anyway is a brand new trailer, sure, the Trade Wind is worth considering. But know that you are paying Globetrotter prices for something between Flying Cloud and International finishes, so that is your trade off for all those batteries, solar, and power management. To me, it wouldn’t be worth it if I never spend more than 12 hours boondocking. A few thousand in upgrades could get you the assist feature and maybe a bit more battery power.

But YMMV.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by hikingcamera

Personally, I think it may be overkill if you only spend a night boondocking. I guess unless you run that A/C a lot when doing so. I think you’ll still want to haul a generator in that case. The Multiplus is nice because it can draw more limited power from the AC cable and support the devices onboard with the battery (called assist mode). So you could get something lighter, like car generator, and avoid the bulky and mess of an additional engine. Plus add some more batteries to what you have now.

I wouldn’t buy a whole new Airstream just for that. We’d have even just considered a used model and upgraded it. Except, the weight distribution, with the batteries under the floor just behind the rear axle, allow for a much lower tongue weight than other 25FB’s, allowing us to keep our current tow vehicle. Really the only reason we went new.

That said, if what you want anyway is a brand new trailer, sure, the Trade Wind is worth considering. But know that you are paying Globetrotter prices for something between Flying Cloud and International finishes, so that is your trade off for all those batteries, solar, and power management. To me, it wouldn’t be worth it if I never spend more than 12 hours boondocking. A few thousand in upgrades could get you the assist feature and maybe a bit more battery power.

But YMMV.

Thank you for the insightful sage advice. We have just begun to consider alternatives to our current Lucy. We would like to simplify our camping routine. This is why we are looking at the Airstream Trade Wind. We are also looking at the Bowlus Rivet which is similar in the power department to the Trade Wind and looks very much like the 1936 Airstream Clipper, which is a virtual copy of the 1934 Bowlus Road Chief.

Brian

[hikingcamera]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Thank you for the insightful sage advice. We have just begun to consider alternatives to our current Lucy. We would like to simplify our camping routine. This is why we are looking at the Airstream Trade Wind. We are also looking at the Bowlus Rivet which is similar in the power department to the Trade Wind and looks very much like the 1936 Airstream Clipper, which is a virtual copy of the 1934 Bowlus Road Chief.

If it had been my decision alone, we probably would have gotten the Bowlus Rivet. Half the weight, no more WDH, not stuck to our truck as the TV. Imagine having an EV that could tow our trailer on shorter trips... Higher quality build, fully monocoque instead of partial monocoque design. Far more aerodynamic and probably better in 4-seasons given the hydronic heating and likely better insulation. Less than 7 feet wide.

My wife immediately disliked the floor plan compared to the 26-foot Airstreams. And I don't like that the Rivet does not come with the twin bed option. Would rather have that room to sit on the bed without taking up the entry into the bedroom. Still, would have loved that.

Also, they've been using Victron systems longer and seem to have a better grasp on them and how to install them well.

I'm mixed on the cassette toilet. I love the freedom it offers, but also remember getting pee inside where the cassette fits in our old trailer. We never did #2s in it. But it does free you up from needing a dump station all the time.

[richh]

The Rivet is nice but I don't like the floorpan either. What I do like is that they use thicker (better ?) aluminum. Almost everyone I know has had significant hail damage to their Airstream. It is ridiculous that one average hailstorm can cause $30,000 of damage.

Rich

[taylorcubs]

In my experience, the AC runs for about 5 hours on battery power before they are depleted, with only the refrigerator running in addition.