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Mollysdad · 07-05-2019, 02:05 PM

If I was buying new, I'd worry more about the interior layout than the exterior size. That shower you can't turn around in will grate on your nerves long before you have trouble finding a campsite. Or the nice large bed that you can't change sheets without looking like a Cirque de Soliel' act. Look at counter space, exterior storage, dinettes. Don't overlook twin beds vs. queen. Yes, you may be blocked out of some sites in a campground, but you'll move to another. (You'll find some places a 25' won't get into.)
Once you stray from state and national parks to private campgrounds, you'll have no trouble. I've stayed in State parks where it said "30'" and the total site was 50' long.

NoResults · 07-05-2019, 02:16 PM

I got a case of two-ft itis. That is where you want something bigger and later buy one thats 2 ft bigger.

I thought I would get it done in one swoop. Went from 23 to 27. Perfectly happy with my 27 Globetrotter twin.

Dave

Wayne&Sam · 07-05-2019, 02:19 PM

We loved our 20', but went to 25' in 2014. We love it and have never been shut out of a site due to length. I'm sure 27' feels bigger, but the 25' feels like a MacMansion as it is. We've never said "If we only had a little more room".
YMMV.

Wayne&Sam · 07-05-2019, 02:23 PM

If you go by the adage "The third trailer you buy is the one you keep" (which seems to hold true), remember this is your first.

Wayne&Sam · 07-05-2019, 02:30 PM

BTW when we travel it's two people and two dogs.

mikeinca · 07-05-2019, 02:51 PM

It's simple physics. There will be a few places you can go with a 25' trailer that won't fit a 27'. By the same token, you can almost always find an alternative site for that 27 footer.

We had a 25' Flying Cloud and traded it in for our current 30' Classic. There have been a couple of occasions when the larger trailer has been a little more problematic but overall we are extremely happy with the increased room and amenities. We have yet to go somewhere where we couldn't find a spot that would accommodate us.

My thought for the OP would be that you won't find that many occasions where the extra 2 feet of length is going to be big problem. If you prefer the floorplan of the 27' go for it. I don't think you will regret it.

franklyfrank · 07-05-2019, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

If you go by the adage "The third trailer you buy is the one you keep" (which seems to hold true), remember this is your first.

Interesting Comment.
In short succession we changed trailer 3 times.
28' International was traded for a 30' International and two years later went to a Classic 30'.
We moved to the 30' because with 2 dogs the 28' which is basically more like 27' was bit tight and the increase in size of the head was huge.
The subsequent move to the 30' Classic was my wives desire due to the front recliner and again more room for the dogs. I like and enjoy all the bells and whistles.
A 30' trailer is not what I would call a large trailer and I have been able to shoehorn it in everywhere we wanted to go so far including a delightful little RV park smack dab downtown June lake Cal. right next to a Brewery and a Taco stand. Full disclosure, we rarely boondock an occasional National park and a deserted fire road where I can back into.

Daquenzer · 07-05-2019, 05:05 PM

https://www.us-parks.com/tips/rv-and...er-length.html

pteck · 07-05-2019, 05:56 PM

I have a 27FB and prior to purchase, I was concerned about size and getting into various campgrounds. Many of which in CA are older and tighter. In my extensive travels, I've not found that to be the case. I can comfortably fit just about anywhere.

I've had on a couple occasions booking sites, where I universally say I have a "25 foot" trailer. Several challenged me if this is receiver to bumper length, "did you include the tongue", on the phone and wanted to make sure I understood that if I was longer and did not fit in the site, I may not be able to stay. I always fit by some margin. It's probably a reaction to many SOB that quote sizes without the tongue.

Not mentioned yet in this thread, but it's also important to understand maneuverability when taking the tow vehicle into account. Part of my successes is due to having an incredibly maneuverable tow vehicle, with a 112.2" wheelbase. An F250 for example starts at 142" wheelbase, all the way to 176″. That is going to be a big material difference in the sites one is going to be able to maneuver into, regardless of trailer length. I've literally gotten into sites where a Ranger has stopped by in the morning, impressed I was able to get into at all, quoting that he's never seen a trailer of my length get into a site due to tree/curb/driveway positioning.

Tow vehicle length is something to consider in the overall picture of "fit".

Atwebs · 07-05-2019, 05:56 PM

We had several times when our 21’ Starcraft Hybrid was banished to smaller and less accessible sites because they “saved” the bigger ones for bigger rigs! Most of these were KOA type of camps. Since we moved up to a 27’ Airstream, we seem to get far better sites!

Piggy Bank · 07-05-2019, 07:51 PM

I agree with all of the previous comments.

Where we live, it seems everyone else has humongous fifth wheels. Even our 27 looks puny next to them.

We had a 25 (rear bed) twin that was damaged in an accident. At that time we traded to a 27 (front bed) twin.

(we also looked at the 28 but I didn't care for the bathroom or kitchen in it)

The 27 drives the same according to my husband who does all the driving.

Inside there is so much more room. It's the little things:
That 6 inch space at the foot of each twin bed for backpacks and shoes.
That second hanging closet in the bedroom area.

The double-wide closet-it's huge
The foot-wide pantry-holds so much (the skinny pantry in the 25 is not that great, to be honest)
The wider kitchen drawers-hold a lot more
The glass door/under sink areas by the doorway-great for extra paper towels and plates.

The inside is much roomier when we have along 2 additional adults and 2 dogs, as we do when our daughter comes along.

Mrjkq · 07-05-2019, 08:09 PM

What I like most about our 25' is the ability to put it most anywhere, I sometimes wished we had purchased the 28' as we love that floor plan but our 25' is in many respects the perfect size Airstream.

uncle_bob · 07-06-2019, 07:17 AM

Hi

When you look at various sites that try to list "what fits" in this or that campsite .... there is a *lot* of variation. First layer is that most manufacturers rate a trailer by the *inside* dimension. That instantly makes the AS about 3 feet shorter than "the other guy". Next is the "they all fit X feet" listing. If every site on the list says "this number of feet", they didn't bother to measure anything. You will have to dig deeper. The flip side is where they *did* measure and the number (to the nearest inch !!!) is the length of stick that would fit. Note that a trailer is not a stick

Lots of variations and always a bit of need for further checks. Pictures of the site are one way to validate things. User reviews are another ....

Bob

HiHoAgRV · 07-06-2019, 09:08 AM

If you are a “I want to go to the Grand Tetons” type, any size will fit. If you are a “I want to go to Signal Mountain campground in the Grand Tetons”, well it might be tight if all the big sites are full. If you are a “I want to go to Signal Mountain campground in the Grand Tetons and my favorite site is XXX” then you need to choose a trailer base on length.
We are the first type campers and have always found a site, even towing a 34’ trailer.

nryn · 07-06-2019, 07:48 PM

27’ here. As far as I can tell a 27’ will fit into about 90% of national park campgrounds (estimate) and virtually all private campgrounds. There are NP campgrounds that prohibit lengths greater than 25’, but few parks as a whole. The parks I found during research that prohibit >25’ were mostly in the southwest.

I could get by with a 25’ but with a family of 4 the extra storage is really useful.

uncle_bob · 07-07-2019, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nryn

27’ here. As far as I can tell a 27’ will fit into about 90% of national park campgrounds (estimate) and virtually all private campgrounds. There are NP campgrounds that prohibit lengths greater than 25’, but few parks as a whole. The parks I found during research that prohibit >25’ were mostly in the southwest.

I could get by with a 25’ but with a family of 4 the extra storage is really useful.

Hi

..... but .... when they prohibit anything over 25', what are they referring to? Is it bumper to hitch? or is it inside wall to inside wall? Roughly 90% of the trailers out there are rated by inside wall to inside wall. Your 27' AS likely is "under 25'" by that method.

So how do they come up with these numbers? Well, I know how at least one place did it. We were out at a state campground in May that was being rebuilt. Yes, camping in the half that was not (yet) under construction was a bit challenging. While walking the dogs we got to check out what they were doing each day for a number of days.

Towards the end, in come a couple of great big 5th wheels. My dim brain clicked on "it's open now !!!". Not so much. They spent a couple of days parking them and backing them into various sites. My guess is once that trailer was in and out of the site, it got stamped as "ok for this length".

Bob

nryn · 07-09-2019, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

..... but .... when they prohibit anything over 25', what are they referring to? Is it bumper to hitch? or is it inside wall to inside wall? Roughly 90% of the trailers out there are rated by inside wall to inside wall. Your 27' AS likely is "under 25'" by that method.

As far as I can tell it depends on the park. Some do bumper to ball. Some do total length including the TV or have max lengths for both TV and trailer. It’s true that at most campgrounds—National Park or otherwise—I’m completely dwarfed by fifth wheels and bus-sized motorbikes.

Lodging, including campsites, at most major US National Parks are now run by private companies. Given how hard it is to secure a reservation at a national park, I’d call beforehand to make sure. But that’s me.

HHPJ · 07-10-2019, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkentb

Hi all, my wife I are looking hard at Airstreams for our first travel trailer. We really like the layout on the 27 foot models, but we’ve heard that anything over 25 feet can limit your options on where to camp. Thoughts on 25 vs 27?

If any of you pull a 27 or larger, have you had to pass up some camp sites because your rig was too big?

Interesting fact is that the 25 is actually 25 and 11 inches. The 27 I believe is 28... the small print is never good news...

pteck · 07-10-2019, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HHPJ

Interesting fact is that the 25 is actually 25 and 11 inches. The 27 I believe is 28... the small print is never good news...

Yup. And the Airstream 28 model is actually 27' 11" which is 1" shorter than the 27FB at a full 28'.

How AS marketing figured that one out, no clue.

That said, outside of Airstream, for SOBs it is almost industry standard to quote internal box length.

So I do the same and tell every reservation that my 27FB is a "25 ft travel trailer". I've always been able to fit with at least a few feet margin, so the campsites recognize the internal box measurement standard and additionally leave some margin on the table to avoid logistics problems that would leave unhappy campers.

Zybane · 07-13-2019, 04:08 AM

I think if you are going to spend a lot of time in an AS (I've lived in mine for a few years now), 27-30 ft is the sweet spot. I could have gotten by with a 27 but prefer the extra "living area" of the 30 for the GSD etc.

Never had an issue parking in a spot labeled "25' max". They usually are quite conservative in that area.