19 or 22 foot CCD

[mrchinup]

We are having a hard time choosing between a 19 ft CCD and a 22 ft CCD. We like the 19's bath and fridge, but it is a smaller unit. The 22 CCD, we like the extra room and the double axle, but don't like the bath and fridge. Which one would you choose if it was between these two? Any feedback would be great. Thank you George

[Van]

Originally Posted by mrchinup

We are having a hard time choosing between a 19 ft CCD and a 22 ft CCD. We like the 19's bath and fridge, but it is a smaller unit. The 22 CCD, we like the extra room and the double axle, but don't like the bath and fridge. Which one would you choose if it was between these two? Any feedback would be great. Thank you George

As the owner of a small trailer, i would go with the larger one. If you bought the 19', it wouldnt be long before you would be wishing you had "just a bit more" room.

[jordandvm]

I would agree with Van! We orignally ordered the 19' CCD (our 1st RV (ever) ordered, site unseen at George M Sutton's RV dealership in Eugene, OR , saw the 16" and 22', and changed our minds to the 22' CCD based on actually seeing the 22 'in a show in our home town) We could take the 22' home in a week, vs waiting till June 1, to see our 19' CCD we ordered in March! We ordered the 22' at the show! Now that's crazy!!!!.....just chalk it up to impetuous buying! But now I'm wondering whether we bought large enough....retiring in Sept.! We've only had 5 nights in it, I'd give it a 9/10 for comfort/needs met! We are a couple of "DINKS", Dual Income, No KidS, and it is perfect for us! Well, if this fits your needs.... buy it! Money is no object with A/S'ers, right?
Jim
Jim

[Silvertwinkie]

George. Although your question is really one that you'll have to answer in the end, I'll give you my opinion.

Keep in mind that this was as of the 2004 model year. 2005 could have brought changes that I am not aware of yet...

The 22' also has only one battery

The 22' also has electric tank heaters compared to forced air like the rest of the units

The 22' dinette floor is have consumed by the streetside wheel well (non CCD) and curbside (CCD).

The 22' is nice unit and we considered it when upgrading from a 19' Bambi to what we wanted...a 25' Safari. The perks are that the 25' Safari is not a huge weight difference, has a dry bath, has 2 batteries, has a HUGE fridge and with the 25C, 3x the storage of the 19 and 22 foot units.

A 25' unit costs a bit more than a 22', but well within reason IMHO. One other thing to consider is the front bed and interior space. When camping the bed on the 22' is in the front...typically by the road. Some don't mind that, while others do. Having owned a 19' Bambi, the interior space was about 16'. The 22' I am assuming is about 19' of interior space since our current 25' unit has about 22' of interior space.

So the Reader's Digest of what I'm saying is to skip the 22' and go straight to a 25' if you can. We did and it was the right move for us...maybe you as well.

Eric

[j54mark]

If at all possible, try to spend some time in each of them, just sitting. Imagine yourself doing whatever it is you do while camping.

I'm not at all sure that the size alone is a determanent in this case as in some sense the bathroom in the 19' is larger.

Mark

[Pahaska]

Consider what you will need to tow the various models. What do you have now or what do you intend to get to tow the trailer.

The 19' can be towed by a lot more vehicles than the 22; the 22 typically takes a very healthy SUV or a pickup. I towed my 22' with a 1/2 ton pickup with a 5.3L engine and it was just adequate in the mountains. When you get to the 25, you are into heavier tow vehicles, a pickup, Tahoe, Suburban, or the equivalent..

[stephen.s1]

Of course we all have different ideas about what makes a comfy trailer. Ours ran like this; We went to a dealer prepared to buy a new 19' Bambi. He insisted we look at a 21' Sovereign that he took on trade the previous day. We were hooked on the Sov.; more room and less than half the price....

After cruising with the Sov for 3 years, we're seriously looking for a 28' SO Safari. Yep, that means a larger tow vehicle too... Ah well. Bigger (in our case) is definitely better! And, if you're wondering, we are average sized folk.

YMMV, but you asked...

[mrchinup]

I have a 1998 dodge ram 1500 5.3L, which runs great so far. I'm really not sure how much time we will spend inside the camper yet. We like to be out and about hiking or looking around. I was wondering how many people use their camper showers, if there are showers in the camp ground. And does a double axle trailer pull better than a single axle trailer. A 25 would be to big for my truck to pull, or it would be a consideration. We want to go on a 3 or 4 month cross country trip next summer. Has anyone been in a trailer this small for that long of a time? Thanks for all the feedback, George

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by mrchinup

I have a 1998 dodge ram 1500 5.3L, which runs great so far. I'm really not sure how much time we will spend inside the camper yet. We like to be out and about hiking or looking around. I was wondering how many people use their camper showers, if there are showers in the camp ground. And does a double axle trailer pull better than a single axle trailer. A 25 would be to big for my truck to pull, or it would be a consideration. We want to go on a 3 or 4 month cross country trip next summer. Has anyone been in a trailer this small for that long of a time? Thanks for all the feedback, George

I wouldn't be so quick to discount your 1500. I have a Chevy sedan that I simply installed 3.73s and cooling items. Tows our 25' Safari just fine. According to the Dodge site, the 1500 can tow between 6300 and 6500lbs minus gear, people, etc in the truck. My sedan was rated at 5000lbs and the 5.7L V8 and trans do just fine.

Given the fact that you have a better frame on that truck and can easily and fairly inexp do some updates to it, I'd look closely at your truck and what can be done to tow a 25' unit if a 25' is to your liking. For being out 3 or 4 months, I would consider seriously a larger unit than a 22' coach. Of course that is just my opinion. Keep in mind that the 25' CCD is not a lot heavier than a 22' CCD. There is a difference, but it is less than 1000 lbs gross weight.

I would NOT fully discount the truck towing a 25 footer. It can be done safely if you do the right things. I do it with less than what you have to start. PM me if you'd like to talk about it offline.

[j54mark]

Our own shower was a major consideration for us in buying an RV. I pulled our '87 Sovereign 25' a considerable number of miles with a 1/2 ton Chevy pickup and, by judicious loading, kept the combined vehicle weight within limits. A new Classic 25' would be tougher.

I am a strong believer in getting the coach you want, and then getting tow vehicle to match. These things are just too expensive to sit inside and wish you'd bought a different one.

Mark

[Cstar]

I am from the Goldilocks school of trailer selection. The 19' was just a little too small the 25' was just a little too big, but the 22' was just right!

Very simplistic and somewhat misleading. Life is full of compromises. Pick the one you like the best. Don't try to over analyze the decision. Do your research (this forum is a great resource) and make the decision based upon your needs and your taste. It will probably be the correct one.

Corky

[crazylev]

Greetings.

Here are a few things to consider:

When we camp, we like being OUTSIDE as much as possible, even if it is to hot or to cold. We just like being out doors when we camp. How much time you spend IN your AS is something to consider. How much stuff do you bring with you.

We pack the bare minimum, but enough to feel like king and queen. This translates into weight. Most of our weight is food and intoxicants.

Even though the coach has a kitchen, I still like to fire up my Coleman 3 burner white gas stove, and BBQ'er, charcol, of coarse. I like my old gadgets. Who wants the lingering smell of bacon inside, when you can do it outside. It is comforting to know if we absolutley can't cook outside, hey, we got a kitchen.

Given this, if money were no object, we figured it wouldn't matter if we had a 10' or a 50' trailer.

With a 19' trailer, you can easily go just about anywhere to camp, you don't need a Peterbilt to pull it, we use a VW Eurovan (Weekender) camper 201hp 2.8. Though we are for now only towing in the midwest until I win the lottery and buy a Toureg V10 TD.....My "tow" vehicle and 19' CCD have a combined total of about $70k.

We were not planing on a new tow vehicle right away. Again, money. We were lucky to have at least the Eurovan to pull the Bambi for it's initial few years. When we go the van, we never ever thought about getting a travel trailer, and we did not even know AS was still making trailers and motorhomes.

If you have kids, than you would probably want something roomier, a 25' six sleeper would be nice. I don't know why AS decided to put 2 batteries on both the 19' and the 25', but not the 22'. Maybe they changed that forr the coming model year.

The 19' CCD that we have has a very small bed. It is a small military excercise to turn over during the night with out doing a Three Stooges routine of smacking your loved one. "Hey, wake up and go to sleep!" "Remind me to kill you later!" I think the 25' has a slightly larger bed.

I love the larger AS's especially the 25' CCD, which would probably be our 2nd and hopefully last coach. Unless you look into a slide out, you just gain more lenghth, and about 5.5 inches in width.

If it were me, I might consider either the 19' or the 25', depending on your needs. With the 25' be prepared to have a decent tow vehicle to pull it around.

Jonathan

[Rhodie]

My husband and I were in same situation and have ordered the 19' CCD. We liked the floor plan better and the bathroom, also the flat screen tv can be swiveled to face bed or dining room table where in the 22' were not sure where you can view it from except the desk. I especially like the dining table in front of wrap around windows, I will bring knitting machine and enjoy the view when were not fishing and playing outside!

I love the desk in the 22' for laptop along with the bigger bed and extra room in kitchen area, but when entry door is open it covers one dining room window which bugged me.

Kids are grown so it's just us 2 and a JR pup, we're not tall so we should fit on the bed (Ernie the pup is a bedhog tho), and it will be easy to pull with anything we would ever own, this will be pulled with our Tundra. If we had a growing family I would opt for 22' or more, as 19' would feel tiny with more than a few people, but for us it really suited our needs. I think it's really cute too! We're still waiting for it, will be 6 more weeks at least, but we got that new option for window awnings over back and side windows
which is great for additional sun protection.

Hope this helps, it's a tough decision as there's not much different in price and 3 feet is considerable if size is an issue.

Good Luck from San Diego, where there are none of these on the road!

[mrchinup]

Thanks for all your help. We decided to buy the 25 after going thru all 3 today. It won't be in until late august, that is the bad part. We can't wait to join the Airstream family and meet some new friends. Now we have to get the truck ready to tow the extra weight. We also know we will need new truck in a couple of years anyway, that helped with our decision. Thanks again for your help, Eric i will take you up on your offer. Thanks george