25FB vs. 27FB death match

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I'd like the dealer where we bought ours to go out of business, but I doubt they'd want to see us since they know what we think of them.

Gene

[drew05]

We had a MH a number of years ago, and that had influenced us on the 25' floor plan. We didn't like the bed against the wall, or bathroom next to the bed...

Our youngest graduates HS next year, and we're starting to decide a road trip for next summer...

[drew05]

Again thanks everyone!
The newness (and a little buyers remorse?) hasn't fully us yet. We've started writing out notes and questions. The dealer didn't give us any literature, and I didn't ask, in part because we won't finalize the sale until we pick her up. I did find the owners manuals online last week and read through them to get an idea of what we are getting.
I'm not sure if we will bring our cats, but we do have 3 medium/large dogs to contend with...

[CDONA]

I'm on the fence between the two, as a full timer the "extra" storage looks good.
The 25's side bed looks to be better for gazing out the front pano's, I wish the gap between the bed and wall was greater. A 27 with side bed, little more leg room bed vs wall, bigger closet, and the rear hatch from the EB.
Sign me up, , ,

[Gene]

But is it worth the extra money for a 27'?

Gene

[Timofeevich]

I have a similar dilemma choosing between 25FB vs 27FB. My major concern is if they are legal in Europe and can be registered in the UK. If not, I would go for 27FB.

The UK legislation says that trailers and caravans towed by vehicles with a Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM, known as maximum permissible weight or gross vehicle weight) of 3.5 tonnes [7700lbs] or less are limited to a maximum body length of 7m [22' 11.6''] excluding the coupling and drawbar and a maximum width of 2.55m [8' 4.39''], unless it has an Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) certificate. A vehicle with an IVA can have a maximum width of 2.6 metres [8' 6.36''].

My questions are following :

1. Does anyone know the official length of both 25FB and 27FB EXCLUDING the coupling and drawbar, but INCLUDING the rear bumper ? (The official drawings from Airstream with dimentions of both 25FB and 27FB would help a lot and would be highly appreciated).

2. Which of 25FB built 2005 onwards (except Classic, due heavier weight) are available in Twin Beds configuration, i.e. Safari, Flying Cloud, International, Ocean Breeze, Serenity, Signature) ?

Many thanks to all of you who know the answers and give their valuable input to clarify this matter !

[Jim Pona]

Hello R,

My wife and I have a 2007 Safari SS SE and love its size for towing. I pull it with an '07 F150 and a fairly big cargo load in the bed (tandem recumbent bike with paraphernalia, heavy tools, etc. When I read that you are trying to figure out what can easily be stored on your property I decided to share our setup and constraints: We live on a narrow residential street with a 10' wide driveway and little clearance on either side. Our rig has to be backed all the way down to the rear yard, so it is a tight fit. I took an aerial photo of our house/driveway with a crude scale overlaid on it to our dealer for a serious discussion before buying our Airstream. We were told that it would be no problem getting the 25 SS in. And, after two full seasons during which we made about ten trips, we have essentially had no big problems backing it in. I'm not saying I can get it back there without going backward and forward several times; but I have not been disappointed in the operation and it typically takes 15-30 minutes to get it into its nest. I don't know if a 27 footer would fit. Keep in mind that although the 27's axle may or may not be farther from the tow vehicle, there will almost certainly be more overhang at the rear and that could hamper your manouverability during backing. Hope this helps, and good luck with your decision.

[CDONA]

Question 2,
Current brochure indicates, 25 FB Flying Cloud has the only optional twins.
Glad I checked first, I thought I knew all the differences of this raging 25/27 controversy
I going to pop for the EB Extended, a 27 FB, no twin option.

[palmtreegirl]

Hello Experts!

This was an entertaining and insightful thread!

I think I've found my 'dream Airstream'. It's a 2008 Safari SE FB - queen bed and double sinks with dual panoramic windows.

My thoughts on the queen are this - I'm planning to put an extension on the board under the mattress on the front wall side (useless space) and add some thick foam to increase the bed size in width. The person sleeping on the inside has to exit the bed at the foot anyway - let's use that space for more sleeping room (this coming from a king-bed girl!)

Regarding the pano in the bedroom - we love to lay in bed and drink our coffee in the morning - can't wait to have a nice window to look out of! We bought two Backjack original chairs and use them both in the bed and dinette when sitting sideways.
Manufacturers of The BackJack Chair & The Dunebuggy Chair - BJ Industries, Inc.

Just an aside - this trailer has been stored in a cave in MO since being purchased and has only been used about 10 times - virtually brand new!

[mstephens]

One comment...
If anyone has any kind of disability, or mobility issue at all, they would be wise to very carefully compare the North-South Queen bed in a 27, to the East-West Queen in the 25. At first, it may not look like much difference. But after a time, the ease of access of the NS bed is very apparent. Just a thought.

[dkottum]

Originally Posted by mstephens

One comment...
If anyone has any kind of disability, or mobility issue at all, they would be wise to very carefully compare the North-South Queen bed in a 27, to the East-West Queen in the 25. At first, it may not look like much difference. But after a time, the ease of access of the NS bed is very apparent. Just a thought.

For those particular needs one may be better served by the twin bed option of the 25, if that would be an otherwise suitable size.

doug k

[Gene]

Palm', it sounds like you are looking at the 25'. Making the bed longer is fairly easy, but making it wider would be difficult. For wider, you would have to remove the small table in the corner and would not gain anything at the head because of the curve.

To lengthen it, I screwed some 1/4" plywood to the end, adding about 4 1/2". Then my wife made a bolster to fit at the head and pulled the OEM mattress down 4 1/2". This worked well since our feet don't hang off the end of the bed anymore. We have a king at home, but being closer in a queen is not a bad thing. We also put a 2" foam topper on the uncomfortable OEM mattress. By lengthening the bed to standard queen size, normal sheets fit a lot better—just pull them over the bolster. I cut a piece of plywood to fit the curved space at the head and inserted it into the bolster to allow the sheets something solid to hold onto underneath the bolster. Standard sheets are a lot cheaper than RV sheets to fit an Airstream.

Those chairs look like a good idea since it is hard to sit up on the side of the bed with the nearly useless window behind it. We don't look out the windows because the view is usually of our truck or other RV's. We have put Reflectix on all the bedroom windows—it provides a little insulation and keeps it darker in there when the sun comes up at 4 am (at 8 am too).

The 27' bed would be easier to get in and out of and to make. We decided a shorter trailer had advantages of maneuverability plus cost about $4,000 less new. I believe the 27' for '08 had the round sink and we like the double sink a lot better—one side to wash and one side to air dry most of the time; it provides more flexibility from our point of view. If we were looking now, I'd consider the 27' more seriously because of the position of the bed, but we are doing well with the 25' and we will stick with it until we need a crane to get out of bed.

Gene

[mstephens]

Originally Posted by dkottum

For those particular needs one may be better served by the twin bed option of the 25, if that would be an otherwise suitable size.

doug k

Yes, absolutely. The "bed issue" is one that I think takes a few nights of sleeping and getting in and out to fully appreciate and rate the ease of use.

[palmtreegirl]

Well, I just turned 60 but my man is 44 - he will be the one climbing out from the wall side!

Gene, I was going to leave the night stand and just give us a little more leg room...close at the head but - what? - about 10 more inches from the end of the table down?

Regarding the view? Perhaps I'll bring a birdfeeder and put it on the top of the tongue jack!

[Gene]

Originally Posted by palmtreegirl

Well, I just turned 60 but my man is 44 - he will be the one climbing out from the wall side!

Gene, I was going to leave the night stand and just give us a little more leg room...close at the head but - what? - about 10 more inches from the end of the table down?

Regarding the view? Perhaps I'll bring a birdfeeder and put it on the top of the tongue jack!

I like the bird feeder idea, but you'll be cleaning a lot of stuff off the propane cover.

My wife is the younger one and she gets to crawl over me and I like that. I'm the one with a back injury, so I have a lot more trouble moving sideways and getting out of the bed. I only added enough to be the same length as a standard queen—otherwise sheets wouldn't fit. If you don't used fitted sheets, California king sheets are longer. There is still enough space at the foot for storing stuff like a collapsible clothes hamper and other odds and end. You also need some space to lift the bed (try doing it from the side—it is much harder) and get to the compartments underneath. You need enough room at the foot to get in there to change the sheets.

If I were to do it again, I might add another inch, but that means more to fill in at the top. Barb said a bolster was easy to make, so we went with that. I measured the space at the top, made a template out of butcher paper, and gave it to her as a pattern. Then I also used it to cut a piece of plywood. There's more curve than I realized, so it takes a big piece of plywood, but I had a scrap long and wide enough. Check that it fits before stuffing it in the bolster. Stuffing it in the bolster was a challenge (sand the plywood edges before trying that), but it got done. Try to make it high enough (really it will be an oval with a flat bottom) to equal the height of the mattress and topper so the pillows won't disappear into the space. The mattress will slip down and has to be pushed up a half an inch or so every day.

If you have a 27', lengthening the bed may make it hard to get from the hallway to the sides of the bed. Check the available distance carefully before doing anything.

I hope that cave-stored trailer works for you. Spelunking for an Airstream! That's a first.

Gene

[palmtreegirl]

Well, I'm not sure I will extend the length, I'm more worried about the width....If I get the trailer, I'll make a post about widening the bed.

[mstephens]

My one and only "tip" about the AS lift-up bed:

I got 2 feet of nylon web strap about 1-1/2" wide. I doubled it to make a loop, and screwed the loose ends to the underside of the bed plywood about 2" in from the edge and in the center between L/R.

This loop handle hangs down in front of the plastic bins. Grab the loop and the plywood flips up easy as pie. Without the loop, you have to get a grip on the plywood (rough) and lift.

[palmtreegirl]

Great idea!

[Scott J-24]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

If you have a 27', lengthening the bed may make it hard to get from the hallway to the sides of the bed. Check the available distance carefully before doing anything.

Gene

We have the 27' and the first mod we made was to replace the 'trailer queen' with a fill size queen bed. Fits great and no problem getting around the foot (or sides) of the bed to the hallway. Highly recommend this upgrade!

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, our sideways rear queen bed works just fine for us. My wife is tiny and just crawls over me to get out. We did add a memory foam topper.