Compare and Contrast: Airstream and Earthbound

[mutcth]

Warranty delays and the story of the trailer sitting at the factory for months awaiting repair is scary. For all of Airstream's quality problems, at least you can get stuff fixed by the factory - or from multiple high-quality independent repair shops who can do the bodywork or replace defective parts. (That might be on your own dime, but at least you wind up with a usable trailer.)

Gene does have a good point about teething pains - Earthbound started at probably the worse possible time. I also assume that supporting the warranty claims of 200 owners a year would be a lot easier than (what sounds like) the backlog of claims from previous higher-volume sales.

Tom

[newroswell]

Since the topic is Airstream vs Earthbound, I've been pretty critical of them here because I really believe they have burned a lot of potential Airstream owners with the space-age, eco-friendly, no-rot marketing. I've been inside several EB's at various dealers & RV shows. Honestly, if you really look at the construction, open the drawers and cabinets, a $60k EB has a hard time competing with the $28k trailer they're sitting next to on the dealer lot.

Australia will be tough row to hoe. They have a strong RV market that caters to their unique needs really well. Bad news in Europe, they'll have to compete against Airstreams there. If they can build something the Chinese will buy from an American company, more power to them.

[FC7039]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

...
Remember, Apple struggled for years until Steve Jobs came back in the late '90's, and eventually became a powerhouse, but in the mid-90's people were predicting Apple would fail.

Gene

Gene,

Are you saying we should buy their stock?

Gene

[Denis4x4]

I've owned a Featherlite car hauler with living quarters and a Featherlite four horse stock trailer, both 5th wheelers. Quite frankly, when it comes to the quality of materials and workmanship, Airstream would do well to take some lessons from Featherlite. Like every RV, my AS had some issues that were corrected over time. However, I still find it difficult to justify the AS price based on the perceived quality. I recently bought a Hallmark pop top camper that exceeded my expectations when it came to the quality of materials, design and workmanship.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by FC7039

Gene,

Are you saying we should buy their stock?

Gene

Gene

I would buy their stock when they sell me the Mac Time Machine (not the backup app) and I can go back to the late '90's and buy it at $15. I prefer stocks that pay dividends.

Gene

[joelin1]

Originally Posted by KirkBoy

No sir, I was requested to post a few photos of my new Earthbound Dillon because a few folks have shown interest in this particular SOB.
Regards,
Kirk

It's over one year already since you had your earthbound dillon . Can you give us some of your reviews please . Thank you

[KirkBoy]

Hi Joelin1,
Yep, it was a year in August. So far, we've taken the Dillon to Cambria (maiden voyage), Yosemite, and Newport Dunes RV park. This last RV'ing season was too short! We had 5 inches of snow on Memorial Day weekend and then it snowed again the first week in October. Since we live on a mountain, I really don't want to pull a trailer in snow, hence not very many trips. The trailer basically worked very well. There is quite a bit of room for 2 people and the amenities (shower size, counter space, storage space, etc.) are very welcome.

We've had a problem with mice getting inside and I thought I got all the possible holes this summer, but there was another one in a trap this last weekend. When the weather gets nicer, I have to look again for even the tiniest holes and caulk them up. This trailer seems so tight, but them varmints are pretty sneaky!

We had problems with the curbside brakes. The bottoms of the backing plates were bent in a bit (towards the centerline of the trailer) and I thought, huh, I wonder how that happened--no big deal. That is, until I pulled the wheels to do the annual bearing service. Both brakes were missing the star adjusting screw assembly and spring. The front brake's adjuster was totally missing and rear brake's adjuster was lying loose in the drum/shoe area. A couple of the brake shoe hold-down pins and springs were missing. Now, I don't know if the axle assembly was dropped before being installed and nobody noticed, or the delivery driver (from Indiana to California) did a big boo-boo or what. But I do know the dealer should have caught it when they adjusted the brakes during pre-delivery, so I assume they did not adjust the brakes even though that is one item on the PD checklist. There was no damage to the drums, wheels, or chassis, so my hunch is pre-assembly damage that nobody caught. Bottom line, no right brakes since I picked it up. Since I tow with a 3/4-ton truck, and the trailer is so light, I never really noticed half of the brakes not working. Earthbound was notified and they supplied me with 4 new complete backing plate assemblies that I installed in my driveway. It took awhile as Earthbound and Axis, the axle supplier, worked out who was going to pay. In the end, I don't know who covered the cost, but it was still pretty decent service. At least I didn't have to drag the trailer off the mountain and bring it to a dealer 150 miles away!

There are some fiddly bits:

The dinette table only has 1 leg and it wobbles. I think I can add another leg to help steady it. The newer models have different table legs.

The front cover over the propane tank/battery compartment is held on by 4 big rubber "nuts". It works OK, but is not as elegant as the swing-up cover on the newer units.

I thought I blew out all the water lines last fall, but I must have missed some in the bathroom faucet because it froze and broke internally. It was a cheesy chromed-plastic thing that folded down. I replaced it with a metal one from Home Depot that works much better. To replace the faucet I had to buy PEX tubing, PEX clamps, and the PEX crimping tool. Oh well, now I'm ready for any future PEX repair!

The refrigerator keeps things nice and cold, but it is annoying to have to open the door past 90 degrees to open the freezer compartment. This also lets out all the cold air. I would MUCH prefer a separate freezer door and don't really care about the looks!

Everything else is working fine and now we are parked until May or so when the snow goes away.

Kirk

[Gene]

Kirk, the food in the fridge and freezer stays just as cold when you open the door and the air that comes out makes little difference unless you leave the door open for a long time. Air doesn't carry much cold or heat, solid objects do.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your trailer.

Gene