Has anyone attached an outside storage box?

[jagzoo]

Hi,

Not sure where to best post this, but:

We are wondering if it is possible to attach some sort of storage box/cage to either the back bumper or to an installed back hitch receiver on the new airstreams? We wouldn't use it for anything really heavy - roll-up chairs, outside rug etc.

Have any of you done this? If so, how did it work. We really would love to increase the outside storage space.

Thanks

[cameront120]

I believe that the general consensus is that it'll put too much strain on the frame and cause you structural problems down the road.

[CanoeStream]

This question is one of the most persistent in terms of regularly returning as a forum topic. Gen Disarray just took his rear bumper box off. Maybe it's still available with a negative warranty (he'll pay you if it doesn't cause frame & rear shell-frame junction problems).

Freshman year in college I remember hazing where we'd have to hold a book on an outstretched arm. This gets tough based on fairly simple physics. They never made us bounce up and down but you can imagine how much more stressful that would be. That is how adding weight at the rear of a frame that wasn't designed for it can multiply the structural stresses as you bounce down the road. Sixty or seventy pounds of box, grill & lawn chairs will seem like a momentary multiple hundred pound load when you hit the inevitable worn seam on a freeway.

Even without 'rear end separation' (failure of the frame behind the wheels), the rear shell-frame junction is one of the weak points to guard against breakdown. Water can then get in and rot floors, etc.

[Boondocker]

As Canoestream mentioned, the previous owners of my 68 Trade Wind put a handy box on the rear of my unit. I removed it this spring and had the damage repaired. It wasn't cheap. I can not speak to differences in construction between 1968 and 2009, but I would not put one on an airstream having seen the damage that results.

[jagzoo]

I'm convinced - we won't put any storage bin or hitch on the back. Thanks to everyone for the great advice.

An Airstream dealer did tell us that there was a bike rack that was approved. Is that OK? Anyone use that?

[richinny]

hold the bikes with an outstretched arm ;-)