Picking up new 2008 25 FB SE - Things to check

[Gene]

Evan, look under Airstream Trailer Forums, 2008 Model Year Quality, for info on what people have found to be problems. You may have discovered that thread by now, maybe not. I'm always finding more subforums and threads.

Congratulations on your new Safari. You have excellent taste in your choice of a model.

I've had a number of items fixed by the dealer on warranty and am working with the people in Jackson Center to authorize more fixes that the dealer thought wouldn't be covered. So far, JC has been open to satisfying us, we'll see how it goes. I am aware some dealers are willing to fight for the customer on warranty issues and some aren't.

We were in Victoria several years ago and toured the entire island and had a wonderful time.

Gene

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Evan, look under Airstream Trailer Forums, 2008 Model Year Quality, for info on what people have found to be problems. You may have discovered that thread by now, maybe not. I'm always finding more subforums and threads.

Congratulations on your new Safari. You have excellent taste in your choice of a model.

I've had a number of items fixed by the dealer on warranty and am working with the people in Jackson Center to authorize more fixes that the dealer thought wouldn't be covered. So far, JC has been open to satisfying us, we'll see how it goes. I am aware some dealers are willing to fight for the customer on warranty issues and some aren't.

We were in Victoria several years ago and toured the entire island and had a wonderful time.

Gene

Hi Gene,

Thanks for your post. I appreciated your helpful responses to my concerns as we were waiting to pick up our unit.

Yes. I have to say that the 25 FB SE makes a lot of sense in its layout. I must compliment your good taste as well
Many of my worries were prompted by some of these quality threads I had read including the 2008 model thread. As it has turned out, our unit is not perfect but nothing has turned up yet that would require a trip from home to the dealership. ( A significant expense & hassle for us too - ferry trip to mainland etc.) I was actually just thinking of writing a post to that thread to summarize our experience to date. We are going camping this W/E & it's supposed rain for part of the time so maybe I should hold of until the W/E is over & I can post pictures to fill things out.

I washed our trailer this week & found one small leak over the Curbside rear pano window. (A small amount of water was running down the inside of the glass after hosing the unit down) The source for this was pretty obvious (I think). A small area of caulking was missing from the seam just above the site of the leak which I repaired with PARbond. I haven't retested the area yet, but I'm pretty sure I got the leak fixed.

I'm curious about the battery disconnect switch in that ours stays lit in both settings but the Service manager at SUtton RV told me that that is normal for this solenoid switch. It struck me as odd but I accepted that as true...I wonder now ...hmmm I'll have to check that more carefully. I can hear the solenoid trip on & off as I cycle the switch but it seems goofy that the red light is on in both positions.


I'll be sure to post a proper report with pictures to the other thread after we get back.

Glad you enjoyed our little island in the sun (er) Rain.

cheers

-evan

PS... You wouldn't happen to know how to release the slideout pantry sliders by any chance? I want to add a thin layer of backing to allow us to load the shelves a little more easily without the boxes & bottles falling backwards. I can't seem to trip the release mechanism despite a number of tries.

[Gene]

Evan,

We came to Victoria after driving up the Oregon and Washington coasts. Since we live in the high desert, steady rain for a couple of days is quite a change and we welcome that for the first days—it's a novelty—, then we don't welcome it, then we get tired of it, then we start to hate it. I think we had 2 weeks of rain. By the time we got to Victoria, it had stopped and the weather was nice. It was sunny when we went to Bourchard Gardens. That was the year Tofino ran out of water.

The only place I found a leak was the utility door on the front curbside. It was just a few drops. I put visqueen on the carpeting in there so the carpet wouldn't get wet and taped it down with duct tape. While I was trying to get as far in as I could, the two wires on the door snapped off the door. The dealer re-attached them.

Our battery disconnect switch did the same thing and seemed goofy to me too. Why have a lamp that does nothing? Then I found the light went out when there was a load on the system (just turn the ceiling lights on) and the battery was disconnected. That made no sense because if the battery is disconnected, why would I have light? I asked about it and they found a short in the system and fixed it. I haven't paid any attention to it since because I forgot to test it.

I don't know about how to release the pantry slide out. It seems to me you'd have to have a pretty firm backing so as not to bind anywhere. That might add more weight than it's worth. E-mail the dealer and ask them. Or, get some fairly wide aluminum flashing and bend it to an "L" and put on each shelf—how you attach it is another question. Since it's inside the shelf it should not bind, it's light, it's shiny, but watch out for the edges, they can be sharp.

Gene

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by eheffa

I'm curious about the battery disconnect switch in that ours stays lit in both settings but the Service manager at SUtton RV told me that that is normal for this solenoid switch. It struck me as odd but I accepted that as true...I wonder now ...hmmm I'll have to check that more carefully. I can hear the solenoid trip on & off as I cycle the switch but it seems goofy that the red light is on in both positions.
-evan

Hi Evan--

It is normal for the battery disconnect switch to stay lit in both settings (at least in my 2007 Safari). See more discussion of this here.

-- Bill

[Gene]

Silvergate, very interesting thread you referred to and I tend to agree with you about leaving it on unless I'm going to change the batteries. Sometimes I plug into shore power, sometimes not since the solar panels will keep the batteries charged (unless there's a foot of snow on the panels). I plug into shore power when I turn on the refrigerator before a trip.

I still am perplexed why the light stays on in both positions.

Gene

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, my battery disconnect indicator light is only on when the solenoid is locked into the power on mode; Switch it off and the light goes off. Makes sense to me that that's the way it should work and that is how mine works. Maybe, just guessing, the light stays on in both modes on trailers equiped with solar panels?

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Evan,

We came to Victoria after driving up the Oregon and Washington coasts. Since we live in the high desert, steady rain for a couple of days is quite a change and we welcome that for the first days—it's a novelty—, then we don't welcome it, then we get tired of it, then we start to hate it. I think we had 2 weeks of rain. By the time we got to Victoria, it had stopped and the weather was nice. It was sunny when we went to Bourchard Gardens. That was the year Tofino ran out of water.

That was a first. Tofino is normally one of the wettest places on the planet. We don't tend to have too much rain here compared with Vancouver. Today was the first day I've ridden to work in the rain (cycling) in probably 3 months. I'm glad you could see the island without all the gray clouds & rain.

The only place I found a leak was the utility door on the front curbside. It was just a few drops. I put visqueen on the carpeting in there so the carpet wouldn't get wet and taped it down with duct tape. While I was trying to get as far in as I could, the two wires on the door snapped off the door. The dealer re-attached them.

What is visqueen? Did you fix the leak?

One of the things I would wish for is more exterior storage with a bigger access door(s) (I would think the very rear streetside storage area under the dinette bench would be more useful accessed from outside.) I bought a new BBQ with the hope that it would fit through that exterior storage door but it won't clear the door itself...hmmm maybe I should try crawling in & snapping off the wires ?

Our battery disconnect switch did the same thing and seemed goofy to me too. Why have a lamp that does nothing? Then I found the light went out when there was a load on the system (just turn the ceiling lights on) and the battery was disconnected. That made no sense because if the battery is disconnected, why would I have light? I asked about it and they found a short in the system and fixed it. I haven't paid any attention to it since because I forgot to test it.

I don't know about how to release the pantry slide out. It seems to me you'd have to have a pretty firm backing so as not to bind anywhere. That might add more weight than it's worth. E-mail the dealer and ask them. Or, get some fairly wide aluminum flashing and bend it to an "L" and put on each shelf—how you attach it is another question. Since it's inside the shelf it should not bind, it's light, it's shiny, but watch out for the edges, they can be sharp.

Gene

I have a sheet of fluorescent lighting diffusor that is quite rigid and smooth that would fit in the "rear" (side-backing really) of this pantry shelving unit. It would be so much nicer though to secure it with screws from the back- if only I could figure out the mechanism to release the slides...

-evan

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by SilverGate

Hi Evan--

It is normal for the battery disconnect switch to stay lit in both settings (at least in my 2007 Safari). See more discussion of this here.

-- Bill

Thanks Bill. That was an illuminating and helpful thread.

I have enjoyed your "blog-style" reports & found them both entertaining & useful. I have the same EQ bars you have & was inspired by your PVC storage solution to make up a couple of similar storage tubes for our unit. I had planned to mount them under the trailer beside the sewer hose storage pipe but wasn't sure how easy it would be to pull the bars out of that if mounted. If I could find a few springs to pop them out when releasing the caps, then I might be able to make it work. Thanks for the inspiration.

-evan

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, my battery disconnect indicator light is only on when the solenoid is locked into the power on mode; Switch it off and the light goes off. Makes sense to me that that's the way it should work and that is how mine works. Maybe, just guessing, the light stays on in both modes on trailers equiped with solar panels?

Thanks Robert.

I agree that that makes sense. Who would design a switch that illuminates red in both settings? I don't have the Solar panels so that isn't that reason in my case.

-evan

[Gene]

Visqueen is plastic. Comes in rolls, can be black or clear. Useful stuff. Can cover a hole in the roof, window, etc. The Canadian version may have fur on it.

I like the idea of storing the Equalizer bars in a PVC tube. They are less a problem than the head which is bulky, heavy and inevitably gets grease on either my hands or gloves (when I remember to put them on). I plan to get a locking pin for the head for those times I am not going far, but won't leave it on all the time since I don't want to back into someone's car with it and the grease on the ball will pick up a lot of dirt particles.

As for the battery disconnect light, I just checked it. No shore power, but solar is operating. Turn the switch to off, light goes out; fan was running, goes off. Turn switch on, light comes on, fan does too. What happens with shore power—that's for another day.

Gene

[NWStreamer]

Hello fellow Airstreamers.
I am brand new to this forum and fairly new to A/S. We have a 2007 Safari 25' FB that we have probably put under 2500 miles on it. I have read several threads and I'm not exactly sure where to pose this question so...I thought I would try here. We love our 25FB however, after returning from a beautiful week long trip on the Oregon Coast, I have been laid up with and old back injury for days. I believe the culpret might linked to trying to make up the bed. We met our friends on this trip who recently purchased an 2008 Safari SE 27' FB. WOW...what a difference 2 feet make. If a 27' FB had been available when we purchased ours, I would have bought it. So, here's my question...is it worth trading up and could anyone give me any suggestions on the best way to go about this. I would hate to take a huge hit. Our A/S is in excellent condition. Hardly used.
Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[altamont]

I cannot recommend the 27 FB enough. I also added some memory foam to the bed and find in more comfortable than our $5k mattress at home. Easy to use the bathroom at night without waking the wife. The extra closet space is notable too.

On the down side (and maybe good for you) is that the 25' doesn't take as much TV as the 27 (which is just 1 inch shy of 28) and many people HAVE to have a smaller AS to match their TV safely.

Originally Posted by NWStreamer

Hello fellow Airstreamers.
I am brand new to this forum and fairly new to A/S. We have a 2007 Safari 25' FB that we have probably put under 2500 miles on it. I have read several threads and I'm not exactly sure where to pose this question so...I thought I would try here. We love our 25FB however, after returning from a beautiful week long trip on the Oregon Coast, I have been laid up with and old back injury for days. I believe the culpret might linked to trying to make up the bed. We met our friends on this trip who recently purchased an 2008 Safari SE 27' FB. WOW...what a difference 2 feet make. If a 27' FB had been available when we purchased ours, I would have bought it. So, here's my question...is it worth trading up and could anyone give me any suggestions on the best way to go about this. I would hate to take a huge hit. Our A/S is in excellent condition. Hardly used.
Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by NWStreamer

I have been laid up with and old back injury for days. I believe the culpret might linked to trying to make up the bed.

Sorry to hear about your back, NW, and welcome to the Forum.

We have the same 25' model. I severely injured my back many years ago and as a result my wife makes the bed. The only time I made the bed was the first night we had the trailer and it wasn't fun. Pulling up the mattress corners to get sheets under it on the curbside is a test for any back.

We bought the 25' because we had a 1/2 ton truck and believed the 27' was a little too much for the truck. Others will disagree. Depending what the payload, etc., on your Tahoe is, you may or may not be able to tow a 27' safely. Any sale of a recent model probably will result in a loss of money. Buying a 27' may mean buying a new truck, though 3/4 ton trucks are probably cheap now. You won't get much for your Tahoe.

Suggestions:
1. Do back exercises a lot. The more I exercise, the better I do, though I can't say I like exercise.
2. You said "we". Have the other one make the bed.
3. Never change the sheets (not advised).

Gene

[Minnie's Mate]

Check the stats on your 1/2 ton Tahoe. You might be within the tow capacity with a 27' FB. I don't know the weights of the 25' vs. the 27', but it shouldn't be that much of a difference. Sorry, the Airstream website doesn't have the info on it for the Safari/Flying Cloud anymore.

I have a 30' Safari and it is within the limits of my wife's Expedition even though we don't tow it with the Ex. It has a capacity of 9,400 LBS and our 30' Safari has a GVW max of 7,400 LBS, IIRC. We could tow with it, but I don't think I would be as satisfied as I am with my 3/4 ton diesel F-250.

[Gene]

I think the 27' is 400 lbs. more than the 25' and the tongue weight is 80 lbs more. I'm not home, so I'm doing this by memory. We compared these two pretty closely because we liked both of them. Besides weight, length is a consideration. When you go to public lands, options for trailers more than 25' start to drop and in some campgrounds there's nothing for trailers longer than 25'.

Gene

[NWStreamer]

Thanks to "altamont", "CrawfordGene", and "Minnie's Mate"! Great info. I did some checking and found out that we might already at our safety limit with the 25'. You know we were total novices when we bought our Airstream. We had to go out and buy a tow vehicle for it. The salesman who sold us the A/S told us that the Tahoe would be more than capable. In fact, he said a Nissan Pathfinder would do the job. (The Pathfinder has a towing capacity of 6000lbs.) We went with the Tahoe because we were told it could handle 8400 lbs. But, since then everything I'm finding says 7700. It's so confusing. We did talk to a Chevy service person, yesterday, who said we should probably buy an external transmission cooler (about $300) which would ensure we don't "blow" the transmission due to overheating going up steep hills.

That being said, you're right "CrawfordGene" it wouldn't make sense to trade the Tahoe too. So, we will try to work out the bed issue. I would love to have my husband change the bed linens but....his back is killing him too. WE ARE A MESS! Someone had recommend a "Travasak". Have you ever heard of them? What do you think?

BTW...I LOVE this Forum. I have learned so much great information. I wish I had known about before we bought our 25'...(which we DO love!) I just wish the bed was easier.
-Cheryl

[NWStreamer]

Originally Posted by altamont

I cannot recommend the 27 FB enough. I also added some memory foam to the bed and find in more comfortable than our $5k mattress at home. Easy to use the bathroom at night without waking the wife. The extra closet space is notable too.

On the down side (and maybe good for you) is that the 25' doesn't take as much TV as the 27 (which is just 1 inch shy of 28) and many people HAVE to have a smaller AS to match their TV safely.

Thanks for sharing...I just bought a memory foam pad for the bed. Anxious to try it out. I think you're right about out TV. After doing some checking we would probably be pushing it a bit. Probably not too safe.

Thanks again!

[NWStreamer]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Sorry to hear about your back, NW, and welcome to the Forum.

We have the same 25' model. I severely injured my back many years ago and as a result my wife makes the bed. The only time I made the bed was the first night we had the trailer and it wasn't fun. Pulling up the mattress corners to get sheets under it on the curbside is a test for any back.

We bought the 25' because we had a 1/2 ton truck and believed the 27' was a little too much for the truck. Others will disagree. Depending what the payload, etc., on your Tahoe is, you may or may not be able to tow a 27' safely. Any sale of a recent model probably will result in a loss of money. Buying a 27' may mean buying a new truck, though 3/4 ton trucks are probably cheap now. You won't get much for your Tahoe.

Suggestions:
1. Do back exercises a lot. The more I exercise, the better I do, though I can't say I like exercise.
2. You said "we". Have the other one make the bed.
3. Never change the sheets (not advised).

Gene

Hi Gene-

I'm sorry to here about your back, as well. UGH!

You are right about the exercises...although I agree with you...I don't much love the exercise part. A week a go I was at about 20 % movement. After stretching, yoga and icing (and going to the Chiro 3 x's this week) I am at about 80%. Huge improvement.

You said "Have the other one make the bed". My husband injured his back a couple of days ago. It must be contagious. Or maybe he doesn't want to make the bed either.

Thanks for the great info!
-Cheryl

[NWStreamer]

Originally Posted by Minnie's Mate

Check the stats on your 1/2 ton Tahoe. You might be within the tow capacity with a 27' FB. I don't know the weights of the 25' vs. the 27', but it shouldn't be that much of a difference. Sorry, the Airstream website doesn't have the info on it for the Safari/Flying Cloud anymore.

I have a 30' Safari and it is within the limits of my wife's Expedition even though we don't tow it with the Ex. It has a capacity of 9,400 LBS and our 30' Safari has a GVW max of 7,400 LBS, IIRC. We could tow with it, but I don't think I would be as satisfied as I am with my 3/4 ton diesel F-250.

Thanks Tom-

After reading what you said I called the serviceman at my local Chevy dealership. He said that we might be a little to close to capacity with 27'. I think you saved us some future headaches.

Thanks again!
-Cheryl

[msmst25]

I'm glad to hear of your good experience dealing with Sutton RV, because I just put down a deposit on the Safari 25 SS/SE. I'm going to pick it up on Monday, and I'm trading in my 2005 22' Safari LS. I'm about 3 1/2 hours away from Eugene, so it's still quite a haul if we have any problems. I'm planning to spend 3 days in the trailer on the southern oregon coast the week after I pick up the trailer, so I can always drop it off on the way home if any problems arise.