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love vintage · 08-27-2006, 04:21 PM

Such a request would be akin to..... asking to borrow our 1961 Chevy Impala!

You jest. Never, nada, non, nyet etc.

Becky B. · 09-02-2006, 06:10 PM

Just a quick update on the borrowing of the Airstream dilemma.....My sister said that next year they are going to take their motorhome to the Oshkosh airshow. She said she felt way too much pressure about my coach. While they were camping, there were tornado warnings & hail warnings, so she almost had a heart attack! WHEW! The pressure is off of me! I did, however, have my brother skirt around the issue of borrowing Bessie for Labor Day. Thanks to all of your responses, I had the guts to tell him that I have way too many hours of work in her to let him borrow her. He was fine with that & said I was right. Actually, he said "Just wait till I get my own Airstream! It'll be nicer than yours!" Just in a joking way, though. So, the anxiety I had for next year is gone, and Life is Good!

streamer23 · 09-02-2006, 06:19 PM

Glad everything has worked out for you.If your brother does get his own Airstream,he will have quite a task to make his better than your"Bessie".

dieterdog · 09-02-2006, 06:24 PM

Hi All,,, seems the majority is not in favor of loaning out their silver treasures,,, or cream ones either. i do not know of a soul who would dare ask. even my daughter has mentioned that after i die,, she wants the Bambi and the tow vehicle to pull it with. will keep that in the back of my mind when it comes to writing my will. guess the oldest daughter will get the Safari,,,, so,, only after i am not of this earth,,, donna

pinkflamingoes · 09-02-2006, 08:00 PM

Good. You did what you knew was right and they both respect your love for the trailer...they'll make fine airstream owners! I'm glad this wasn't a big nasty fight for you. Whew!!

myboyburt · 09-02-2006, 09:36 PM

We would *never* loan out "The Tube". She is too important to us.

Of course there is an exception - we'd loan her out to my parents anytime. They gave her to us (a gift, no money) and know how to tow and maintain her. They also know how special she is to us and value the amount of time and money we've put into her to make her "ours".

Mom says a 1993 25' Excella is the perfect Airstream; enough room for two, light weight enough for most full size trucks to pull, fits nicely into most State & National Park campgrounds and has a big window that actually opens in the bathroom. I tell her we will not be giving it back.

gryphon · 11-09-2006, 01:14 PM

NO, NADA and NEVER AGAIN!!
We lent out our Airstream to some friends to use hunting so they would not have to tow both their SOB and Horse trailer back to colorado.
We moved our Airstream to the local campground. Although the promise to lend, was with the provision it stayed with us.
They stayed in it for 10 days. They did not dump the black water tank and when they left it had overflowed to the floor of the bathroom. It took me 2 minutes to figure out why the carpet was wet. They have an RV and should have known to dump the tank.
I explained to them that an Airstream was like an MAC to a PC. Slightly different. They could not operate the heater either ( it was already on and just set to a low temp) and turned on the fantastic fan even through the opening was covered by a foam pad. And left it running. (this with temps dropping into the teens)
so no I will never lend my trailer to anyone that takes it out of our sight.

gryphon

Boondocker · 11-09-2006, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gryphon

NO, NADA and NEVER AGAIN!!
We lent out our Airstream to some friends to use .....They did not dump the black water tank and when they left it had overflowed to the floor of the bathroom. I........... and turned on the fantastic fan even through the opening was covered by a foam pad. And left it running. (this with temps dropping into the teens)......
gryphon

You need a better class of friend. No part of this is right.

audiobox · 11-09-2006, 01:36 PM

Yes. We'll be lending out Blimpy and 'Stella right after I start lending out my guitars. Which will be right away never.

Look what R2 and 3CPO went through. That's what happens when you let your metallic pets off the leash...

Craig

Fyrzowt · 11-09-2006, 01:39 PM

No...Well, let me think about it a minute.
NOPE!

bobandcarla · 11-09-2006, 03:19 PM

NEVER! Sorry, Love Ya, but NEVER!

klattu · 11-09-2006, 03:37 PM

Anyone that has respect for you would not ask...NO

This is not a hand tool or a cup of sugar

muddy_hollow · 11-09-2006, 03:41 PM

Unless your sisters friend is smok'in hot and puts .....

Forget that, no way no how would I lend my rig out.

Doug

Uberlanders · 11-09-2006, 04:04 PM

.....hot piping meals on the table! Good one Doug.

janetb · 11-09-2006, 04:14 PM

Becky, you are clearly a kind and generous sister! But you've done your repayment bit and you were used! If you're close enough to your sister to loan her a treasured possession, you should be able to tell her how crummy you felt about the situation and that you don't want to repeat it. And if she's as thoughtful as you are, that should be enough...You've been given some terrific reasons in this thread not to go there again!
And thanks in advance for getting this going--We won't have our new silver fantasy until the end of the month and they're already lining up out there! We've made a no-exception policy to any loans. Liability, angst-- just a couple of reasons we give...Now we have more. Yay.

Minnie's Mate · 11-09-2006, 04:18 PM

For those pondering a response to this question, I think Nick's response near the bottom of page 5 is propbably the best.

If my sister ever asks me, or anyone else for that matter, I will either use his answer or will fake hyperventalating (or maybe for real), run grab a paper bag to breath into, and then say, "whew, I thought that was going to be the big one for sure, now where were we, oh yes the Airstream...no, I don't loan it out to anyone."

If that didn't seem to settle the matter I would then relate the story of the brush against a guard rail coming out of a campground the first time I towed it and didn't swing wide enough, the deer that ran into it the second time we used it, show them the photos of the small amount of damage both incidents did and then tell them how I spent $600 in diesel fuel and $300-$400 in over the road incidentals to take it back to the factory and return two weeks later to retrieve it after they made $9,700 in repairs for just those two little accidents and then ask them if they are willing to fork over that kind of money if they should damage it since my insurance won't cover me loaning it out.

That's why I don't loan my Airstream...well that's the published reason. The real reason is that I'm just as posessive as everyone else on this thread is.

Minnie's Mate · 11-09-2006, 04:24 PM

Oh yeah Becky, if anyone ever does ask in the future you can simply say that the only time you loaned it, the borrower loaned it out to a total stranger and it came back with damage that was never repaired so you made it your policy to never loan it again.

BTW, I won't even let my wife drive the tow vehicle when ours is hooked up. I have seen her drive...not a pretty sight.

Chuck · 11-09-2006, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uberlanders

.....hot piping meals on the table! Good one Doug.

oh, yeah. I'm sure thats what he meant.

the thread reminds me, though: I did lend out the Trailer to my in-laws once...BUT, I must qualify by saying that MIL is extremely concientious, and they didn't tow it. I towed it 2 hours to a spot where they wanted to spend a week. They followed in their car, and stayed with the trailer...I set it up for them, (full hookups), turned around, and came home. A week later, the Mrs. and I picked up the trailer, and spent a week in it by ourselves.
This meant 2 weeks that my inlaws would otherwise have been spending with me in my house...minimal risk/maximum benefit.

dbradhstream · 11-09-2006, 04:37 PM

"What? I'm sorry ... what? I ... oh nothing. For a second there I thought you had actually asked to borrow Silver Sally. That would be so absurd what with my, I mean, HER separation anxiety and all. That's just absolutely ridicul ... what? You DID ask to borrow Silver Sally? Hmmmmm, I'm afraid that's out of the question ... I can't just ... She's one of the family ... well, I know, so are you ... but I ... I ... I ... can I just give you one of my kidneys instead?"

InsideOut · 09-06-2007, 07:28 PM

I'm in a fine pickle now...

So now we have two Airstreams...which, unless you are a multi-Airstream owner (or at a least an obsessed single Airstream owner), is a very difficult concept for more most people to understand. "Why on earth do you need two campers????" But that's a whole different story....

I thought it would be fun to take both to a rally next summer and let my parents join us...we would travel together, camp together, we would be able to "fix anything" that may go wrong and at least supervise their stay. We even thought I would tow one while Mr.InsideOut towed the other. I suggested it to them (my first BIG mistake) thinking they would enjoy the vacation together and get a flavor for trailer camping in-style. They are in their 70's and camp in a pop-up several months a year (they live in AZ and escape for the summers). I think it's time they upgrade and thought once they tried it they would agree. How naive can I be?????

Here's where it stands now...they want to go with us.

Okay, so we started this....I'm not 100% okay with it, but it was our idea. Under the circumstances listed above, we can do this. Four days on the road and a week camping...what can go wrong???? (yeah, I know...don't go there)

What can go wrong is....they have now asked if they can take it out for "a couple of weeks" after our outing! Their reasoning is, "after 10 days, they'll know how everything works", they "will be so close to wherever (it doesn't matter) it would be a shame to not spend some more time exploring!" and "we usually go to (blank) every summer and will already be halfway there..." and "blah blah blah (I tuned out after the first couple of reasons)" All very logical comments until it's MY Airstream!

NOW WHAT??? We didn't commit, I was dumb-struck - I should have figured, but didn't see it coming. We kinda stumbled around with the "Ummms", "Ahhhhs", "we'll see" (which always meant "no" when I was a kid) and "we'll have to look into our insurance" (no - can't use that one because we suggested the co-trip to begin with we'll have to deal with that anyway) and "geeez, we have another rally to go to" (ooops, can't use that one - we have two trailers!). So now what?

Do we:

Let 'em take it.
Tell them we are okay with the whole thing only if we are there with them and tow to/from and set-up, etc. so only for the 10 days we planned
Cancel the whole trip - at least for them? Which we could kinda do...being that Birdy is not roadworthy yet - hope to be by next summer but we could have some "unforseen delays" come up that won't allow us to commit to a completion date...

Here I was, staunchly set in the "hell-no" group"...now what?

Shari