Pulling a trailer behind an Airstream?

[slowmover]

Double tow in Texas is only behind a 5er/GN trailer. And not a good idea. At all.

[halftimer]

Could you not fish plate the rear frame of the air stream like they do concrete mixer truck and other heady duty and that take care of separation. In my dp the dw said we look like acircus coming to town. 40 foot dp extended cab pickup and twenty foot boat right at 75 feet yes I know 65 the limit but have bee stop by highwY patrol strap dragging nothing said about length.was at the lake once guy came in crew can dually pulling big 5th wheel towing pontoon boat back it tight into over flow parking spot. Just have to back slow

[slowmover]

For purposes of this discussion, an Airstream doesn't have a frame.

[halftimer]

Did not know that.

[Manrique]

Originally Posted by slowmover

For purposes of this discussion, an Airstream doesn't have a frame.

Airstream trailer are build on a thin frame and yes it's a frame under the floor. The frame itself due to its thin gage can't sustain a lot of stress. The design of an airstream can be classified as a semi monocoque or semi unibody design category. The integrity of the shell and the frame form a rigid assembly that can sustain much more stress then the sum of each of them separatelly. The problem in towing behind (double tow) is with the rear separation due to the aft frame flexion. This 'problem' can be mitigated with reinforcing the frame behind the aft axle as well as the rear attachment between the rear of the shell to the frame.
This explanation are from myself as a Mechanical/Aerospace Engineer
Excuse my bad english, this is my second language.

[slowmover]

With respect, rebuilding the trailer is not any kind of "solution". Which is why I wrote that for purposes of this discussion that A/S does not have a frame

In other words, the desire to double tow is not possible in a realistic sense.

[John&Vicki]

What about something like this? You could put the Airstream in the back and not have to worry about it's small frame.

Cheers,
John

[tjdonahoe]

Disaster wanting to happen, don't even think about it, my opinion

[ericpeltier]

Originally Posted by polarlyse

Just a few weeks ago at a Edisto Bch. State Park in South Carolina I saw a 30' Airstream towed by a Dodge dually P/U. They had a cap on the truck with a rack on top with kayaks and a rack off the front with a medium sized motorcycle on it.

Wow. That might have been a serious payload problem. Even for a Dually.

[slowmover]

The latest ones have a 7000-lb payload. The above would have room to spare even with a 4500-lb truck camper in place of the topper.

[ericpeltier]

Originally Posted by slowmover

The latest ones have a 7000-lb payload. The above would have room to spare even with a 4500-lb truck camper in place of the topper.

Oh wow. Color me wrong.

[Wolf Alaska]

Originally Posted by Kiera

I just would like to be able to pull a very small aluminum motorcycle trailer with my bike...

Thanks!

I love it when people want to do stuff that their equipment can't possibly do. The only problem I have is that they want to do it on a public highway and thereby endanger possibly me and my family and all the other people who may be traveling that same highway at that time.

Here's an idea. Buy a Featherlite SURV trailer. Keep or sell your A/S. When you want to go camp and take your motorcycle, use the Featherlite.

That is what I do. You can see my Featherlite SURV on the pix I have posted. The Featherlite is based on a drag trailer. Its axles are rated at 12,000 pounds. That is the GVWR of the trailer.

The Featherlite SURV is all aluminum construction and has almost as many rivets as an A/S. I routinely haul an OHV + a dual sport Kawasaki on board, but I can carry both my Kawa dual sports if I want. The Featherlite's load floor is only one step from the ground so loading with the 4,000 pound rated ramp/rear door is simple and safe. My SURV has a private bedroom, private bathroom, twin sofas/ beds, a good galley with microwave and refer, heat, A/C, and inverter. I have had no problems at all with the Featherlite construction or the installed equipment for that matter. The trailer is a 2006 which I have owned since new.

I've been to the factory once and was treated like a prince. A few very minor items were worked on immediately. It was like the factory stopped what it was doing and got me back on the road in an hour. They also gave us a tour of the ABC Monday Night Football broadcast 5th wheel Featherlite that was in for an interior and electronics upgrade.

Please, I'm begging you, treasure your A/S for what it is. Several other forum members have given good advice and good concepts. If you can't buy a Featherlite SURV (which is the BEST idea), use a second TV to pull that small trailer with your moto. You know, you could let someone drive the TV and pull the A/S. You could ride the moto. It is much better to ride and a lot more fun. If you want to clear your head, get on your moto and run off a few hundred miles. Things immediately get better.

Let's Roll !
Wolf

[Kiera]

I have been an AS owner for 6 months now and posted a few times in the very early stages. My experience would go something like this: "i'm looking at doing this, re-plumbing, yada yada" and there were like 100 negative posts to follow. Thank God there are the few VERY few that actually support their fellow AS'er. Long story short I don't post anything anymore, I don't ask questions or opinions. I don't know how each and everyone of the negative people on here act in their day to day life but I hope I never find out. There are kinder ways to say what you all are saying. Just because YOU haven't done something DOESN'T mean that it can't be done. Yes you can double tow. Just because you haven't seen it on your "journeys" doesn't mean it's illegal. NOT ALL states are like that. If you read my post you'd see that I wasn't asking that. I wanted to know if it's been done. I wouldn't put MY family in danger, why would you think yours would be? You have no idea of my background and what I'm willing to do with my AS. RE-building the frame? Sure let's do it! I'm all game! I'm sure people said you couldn't add a slide out either but ta da there are some with slideouts! I appreciate all the good information that I received but the negativity and snide remarks are above the top.
Just an update:
I re-plumbed my whole AS, re-built my bathroom, put hardwood floors in, new cabinets, new propane lines in my whole AS, new bed frame,new screen in all windows,took all my tanks out for inspection and cleaning, and roof vents in 2 weeks! Yeah it could be done! ( I probably should've posted that in the original post)

Thanks!
-A very unhappy camper

[slowmover]

Ive got a few thousand hours reading around here. At least. I find that what you've written is often the result of folks not reading something as well as they should have. But for a complete thread to be that far off is rare. Unusual. This is not one of them.

Most are trying to be helpful, however they do it. Were your criticisms to have merit I'd have expected to see links in your post to the last half dozen threads on which this was discussed.

Good luck

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Kiera

Just because YOU haven't done something DOESN'T mean that it can't be done.

I quite agree. But there's an important distinction here, between can't be done and shouldn't be done. I believe most respondents have provided perfectly valid reasons for why it shouldn't be done. But in the end, it's your Airstream and you can do whatever you bloody please with it. Advice is just that, advice. You can either take the advice that's offered or ignore it. But getting upset just because the advice you're getting is not the advice you hoped for is actually quite rude to everyone who has taken the time to read the thread and responded.

You have no idea of my background and what I'm willing to do with my AS. RE-building the frame? Sure let's do it! I'm all game! I'm sure people said you couldn't add a slide out either but ta da there are some with slideouts!

But no aftermarket slide-outs built by Airstream owners that I'm aware of. If there had been, it would have been one of the hottest topics on the Forums! All the slide-outs I'm aware of were built by Jackson Center as part of the original trailer. I don't think any Airstream owner would want to build his own slide-out, with all of the engineering and design effort that would be required to do it properly. But if you have the engineering background to design the modifications, or are willing to hire one to design it for you so that it can be done safely and responsibly, then you didn't need anybody's advice to begin with; you should just go ahead and do it, and post pictures to show us. Both a workable trailer hitch to tow your motorcycle AND a homemade slide-out of your own, if that fits your idea of the perfect Airstream.

I appreciate all the good information that I received but the negativity and snide remarks are above the top.

After re-reading this entire thread, I failed to see any snide remarks, except maybe my own in this post. And even those who advised that you shouldn't modify your Airstream to tow another trailer behind it tried to offer you valid work-arounds that let you accomplish the same end result— taking your motorcycle with you— by a different and proven method. That's hardly an example of negativity; that's called "constructive criticism."

[Msmoto]

I am curious as to your background. Especially if you have knowledge to share many of us are lacking.

While on every forum there are Trolls", where opposition and negativity is about all they have to offer, my experience on Air Forums is most folks are attempting to be helpful.


Ms Tommie Lauer
Greensboro, NC
2015 Serenity 30 RB / 2008 Dodge Cummins 4 X 4
WBCCI #4165 AIR #31871

[Manrique]

If you double tow with your AS can you upload some pictures and also pictures of your modification to double tow.I will upload picture of my frame modification as soons as I find how to upload pictures. Can anyone give me help on that?

[JamuJoe]

I'm a fan of innovation and bold engineering. I shudder, though, when I see a recreational double tow on the road. The STATIC elements (eg; frame and coupling) could be evaluated and designed / modified as necessary, but the DYNAMICS of handling, especially braking, under a variety of road and weather conditions boggle the mind of this Engineer. It's enough of a challenge to mate a trailer to a tow vehicle and be assured of safe handling in adverse conditions, but contemplate the added variables of a trailer on a ball hitch behind another trailer on a ball hitch. Emergency braking in wet weather? Collision avoidance at high speed? All of the risk factors in towing would be multiplied. Give it careful consideration.




Safe Travels,
Jamu Joe

[Manrique]

JamuJoe, can you explain me the dynamic difference between double towing with a modify AS frame compare to a square box trailer? First of all the distance/measurement between the hitch to the axles and the axles to the rear hitch receiver are in the same range for the AS and the square box. If these measurements will be a lot different, that will may have to be taking in account for the dynamic stability and the calculation will may have been required. The most critical distance is the distance from the axles to the rear hitch receiver; this can be considered as the overhang on the towing vehicle. This overhang introduces most of the sway to the second trailer and can cause stability problem. As these distances/measurements are comparable/similar to square boxed trailers that are towed in tandem (double towed) in safe manner, I tend to make the affirmation that double towing with an AS in dynamic point of view can be done safely. The only problem I see is the stress induced into the frame/shell as the AS is built on a ‘semi-unibody’ type frame. If the frame is modify in accordance to the stress induced and an anti-sway bar (Not a equiliser) is used on the second trailer I am positive on that this combination can work properly.I will demonstrate that when my Airsream Argosy 26 ft will have my boat (19 ft trailer total weight 1750 lb) hook up in the back.

[slowmover]

Can't see the second trailer, thus driver cannot monitor it for problems in mirrors.

That should be enough. Before any problems of vehicle misalignment at speed cause their own problems.