Picking up new 2008 25 FB SE - Things to check

[hshovic]

I bought mine 400 miles away at Airstream of Spokane...
So I tried it for 4,000 miles.
I brought it in 7 months later with a list.
* door would not shut well
* floor vinyl came up in places
* leak in rear window
* noise in stereo
* pump would come on at random times
* some rivets fell out.


and, to have a road-side awning installed.

They did a great job, fixing everything, and I haven't
had a problem since.

[NWStreamer]

Originally Posted by 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.

Congrats on your new purchase! I'm still dreaming of one day trading up to the 27'. How was Sutton on the Trade? Were you happy with the deal? That's one of my concerns

I just got back from the Oregon Coast...started in Astoria and went down as far as Depoe Bay. It was absolutely gorgeous! Have fun

[NWStreamer]

Originally Posted by hshovic

I bought mine 400 miles away at Airstream of Spokane...
So I tried it for 4,000 miles.
I brought it in 7 months later with a list.
* door would not shut well
* floor vinyl came up in places
* leak in rear window
* noise in stereo
* pump would come on at random times
* some rivets fell out.


and, to have a road-side awning installed.

They did a great job, fixing everything, and I haven't
had a problem since.

Just curious...what did they do to fix the noise in the stereo? My dealer traded out a new sub-woofer and it hasn't helped. So I unplugged it. Probably not the best fixed but it was driving me crazy .
Thanks.

[bernermom]

Originally Posted by 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.

We have a 2008 25' SS SE and really love the floor plan. I think you will be very happy with it. The only downside is the bathroom is quite small, hard to sit down and shut the door. I just shut the door to the beedroom instead.

Also, there is not a hook for a hand towel by the sink, and we just found that 3M makes a brushed nickel hook that attaches in a way that it can be removed later. It goes very well with the SE.



Best of luck!

Diane

[millvalleyca]

Originally Posted by bernermom

We have a 2008 25' SS SE and really love the floor plan. I think you will be very happy with it. The only downside is the bathroom is quite small, hard to sit down and shut the door. I just shut the door to the beedroom instead.

Also, there is not a hook for a hand towel by the sink, and we just found that 3M makes a brushed nickel hook that attaches in a way that it can be removed later. It goes very well with the SE.



Best of luck!

Diane

I agree with Diane....the 3M products work great!
I had to remove and reposition some of my hooks and there were absolutely no residue left or damage to the wall.
We've also put up pictures with the stuff and after a year they're still up.
Dennis

[cosmotini]

Dittos on the 3M hooks. Last year I put 2 on each side of our bedroom wall for hanging clothes, PJs, robes. They've never failed and people think they came with the trailer.

[hshovic]

On the stereo fix: Ah, there was a story.

Here it is: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f450...reo-36282.html

A tale of subtle electrons.

And a final chapter: The high pitched whine continued, until I called Airstream. They sent a new radio. They also sent me the wiring diagram for the stereo. Now I am finally happy with the way it sounds but sadly am in a "give me peace and quiet, as I am retired from the rat race" mode (just retired from the biggest company in the world), so don't use it so much now..

And a final final chapter, I got a rock. No, not in my head, but a "Rock" wireless stereo speaker that looks like one. I put the wireless transmitter
in the stereo compartment, and plugged it in to the factory output.

But then I like peace and quiet now, so go figure...

The wife says, "boys and their toys.."

[NWStreamer]

Originally Posted by hshovic

On the stereo fix: Ah, there was a story.

Here it is: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f450...reo-36282.html

A tale of subtle electrons.

And a final chapter: The high pitched whine continued, until I called Airstream. They sent a new radio. They also sent me the wiring diagram for the stereo. Now I am finally happy with the way it sounds but sadly am in a "give me peace and quiet, as I am retired from the rat race" mode (just retired from the biggest company in the world), so don't use it so much now..

And a final final chapter, I got a rock. No, not in my head, but a "Rock" wireless stereo speaker that looks like one. I put the wireless transmitter
in the stereo compartment, and plugged it in to the factory output.

But then I like peace and quiet now, so go figure...

The wife says, "boys and their toys.."

Thanks Hank! That was very informative reading. I started at the beginning of the thread and...I have to admit...at times I was terrified. I had visions of my husband and I completely tearing apart all the wiring and then then not knowing how to put it back together So tell me, you made reference to another forum http://www.airforums.com/forums/f450...xed-39321.html

Is that the final end all. Did that fix the problem?

Thanks again, Cheryl

[Gene]

So far I've avoided using the DVD player or the 10 disk CD player. It took me a while to figure out how to turn off the Sony stereo receiver. DVD's and multi-CD use have seemed unnecessary for the time being. But I know I have to figure out those things before the warranty runs out. So far, no strange noises, but perhaps the subwoofer isn't even hooked up or the volume is turned down.

I have always wired up our systems at home without a lot of problems and have wired entire houses for 120v. I've fixed auto wiring, not always sure what I'm doing because auto wiring is "interesting". But the electronic equipment sold in recent years is so confusing, the instructions written by sadists, and with too many options, that I am becoming obsolete. I've learned never to buy a Denon receiver—great sound, totally frustrating instructions and a remote that guarantees bursts of anger. That receiver was the most aggravating electronic purchase I've ever made and there have been a lot of them.

So, there seem to be several themes running through this and associated threads:

1. Airstream is not an electronics company and doesn't have enough expertise within or hired from without to design a good system.
a. The same seems true of all electrical work. I've read about unprotected wires running through walls, the notorious jack and brake wires situated under the propane cover and other electrical issues.
b. The dealers are even more in the dark because they rarely have auto electronics specialists.
c. The people who actually build these things are as confused as I am, and perhaps more confused than I am, and as a result miswire components.
2. Airstream is cutting corners by installing cheap subwoofers, cheap main speakers, and not installing things like filters, proper grounding, etc.
a. Cutting corners always ends up costing money through complaints, fixes, time spent by employees answering questions even though they don't have answers, and poor reputation.
3. Like in many other Airstream items, there are design issues.
a. Speakers right over the dinette have the sound too close.
b. When the AC or furnace or fan is running, the sound has to be turned up; when off, turn the sound down. There is a solution to the latter issue—a sensor could detect increased amps to all those fans and automatically boost speaker volume (that doesn't mean I know how to do it).
c. Not isolating circuits and wires so as to avoid induction problems is a pretty basic mistake.

Of course the company is responsible and we shouldn't have to fix these things. They do read threads on the Forum, though I don't know which ones. They seem slow in figuring out how to solve problems though. They are also very tight lipped about being upfront about what they are doing, so the assumption is they aren't doing anything. I don't know what they're doing, but I don't think they are entirely unaware of the real world.

Fixing Airstream's mistakes or trying to get them to fix them seems to be a major avocation. I don't need another problem in my life, so reading about this one has been a bummer.

Gene

[jgreager]

Originally Posted by NWStreamer

Thanks Hank! That was very informative reading. I started at the beginning of the thread and...I have to admit...at times I was terrified. I had visions of my husband and I completely tearing apart all the wiring and then then not knowing how to put it back together So tell me, you made reference to another forum http://www.airforums.com/forums/f450...xed-39321.html

Is that the final end all. Did that fix the problem?

Thanks again, Cheryl

I found these discussions to be so very helpful in diagnosing our SubWoofer problem in our 2008 Safari 25FB SE. First off - I was able to validate that the sub is hooked up to the rear speaker out instead of the subwoofer - I bought a splitter and hooked up the sub to the SubWoofer out on the back of the stereo. Also, I found an inline fuse (1amp 250V) down by the subwoofer (had to get under the bench to get to this, and had to unscrew the speaker box to do this...that fuse was blown- and I went to my local stereo shop to get a new one, didn't have a 1amp, so I put in a 7amp - figured it was worth the risk of ruining the speaker since it isn't that high of quality in the first place...once that was in - my subwoofer started working for the first time. Then, I took the recommendations from a couple of these posts about grounding and went to Radio Shack and bought a grounding loop isolator (and since it was male to male rca's had to go back and buy a female to female couple to connect it) once I installed the ground loop isolator between the subwoofer out cable (on the ground near the speaker) and the subwoofer rca female adapters, everything is working great! I am so happy to have our subwoofer operating as you would expect and not have all the terrible feedback during cd and dvd play. Thank you all for being so generous with your posts!