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franklyfrank · 10-09-2016, 08:28 AM

Here is my final 2 cents worth.
After turning 50, some twenty years ago I realized how much I appreciated to be comfortable. No more fishing trips to Canada flying around in tiny float planes, sleeping on rocks in tiny tents and no hot water for a week, not to mention the mosquitoes and black flies. Like they say, been there done that for twenty years. At this stage I would not buy a trailer based on what park I can or can not get in. If I can't fit our 30' in a particular park, we get as close is we can find a privet park with full hook up and day trip in.
My first boat was a John boat, now I go fishing in a 32' boat with full galley and a comfortable head.

J. Morgan · 10-09-2016, 08:31 AM

Is it just me or are there a lot of folks who consider an Airstream as pretty much only to be a glorified tent meant for base camp for nature walks, canoeing, and bird watching within walking distance of a campsite?

My favorite use (but not my only use) is a basecamp parked in a spot that allows access (via walking or driving) to regional attractions.

When doing this kind of "camping", being parked in the right camp with full hookups and enough space to relax, cook, shower, lounge, and otherwise function within a vein of normalcy while at "home" is kinda cool.

Gradiens super tenui glacie.

ckerrick · 10-09-2016, 01:16 PM

We bought a 25' Intl in 2013 (rear bed) and have traveled with it a lot. If we could do it all over again we would have bought the 27' for the additional bedroom space and ability to easily walk around both sides of the bed. That said, we've been really happy with 25' because it meets max standards for state and national parks and it's very maneuverable.

Gneiss Guy · 10-09-2016, 03:52 PM

Different strokes, etc. We also started as backpackers, but moved to an old motor home when our children were old enough for extensive touring. When the nest was empty, we went to a fifth wheel trailer, but eventually discovered Airstreams. When the kids were out of college, we bought our first Airstream, a Safari 25'. We loved it, but for one problem ... lack of comfortable seating. Due to a climbing accident, I require comfortable seating. This required us to move to a 30' trailer with dual recliners. We like it.

The 25' was more maneuverable, but there is really not a lot of difference. I can get into most Forest Service campgrounds and rarely try camp in national parks ... I too often find myself shoe-horned into a site that is too close to my neighbors.

We carry our bikes in the truck cap and our kayaks on top of the truck. We do not boondocks, however. I don't think I would have used my 25 for boondocking, unless I put a lift kit on it. No trailer can be all things to all people. Think it all through and decide what is best for your situation. Keep in mind that Airstreams last a long time and you may not always be young and vigorous.

Richard

Adam Geuss · 10-09-2016, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken J

I had bigger and went smaller - could even go more smaller now - we are hikers bikers - bicycle - outdoors ourselves - smaller is much better in my view - I like to cook outside as well - so smaller makes us spend more time outside :-)

Ditto for us. Traded the 2014 23' Airstream for a 2016 16' Airstream Sport. We are outdoors all the time ansd use the trailer for sleeping ( mostly). Small just works better for us. However we do not spend more than a week at a time camping and don't camp at all during the winter. I think if we were going to camp for weeks/months at a time a larger unit would be better. $$$ not an issue.

Whatever you buy, as long as an Airstream, you will be pleased. My opinion.....

Adam and Ros Geuss
2016 16' Sport
2017 Dodge Durango

franklyfrank · 10-10-2016, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

Is it just me or are there a lot of folks who consider an Airstream as pretty much only to be a glorified tent meant for base camp for nature walks, canoeing, and bird watching within walking distance of a campsite?

My favorite use (but not my only use) is a basecamp parked in a spot that allows access (via walking or driving) to regional attractions.

When doing this kind of "camping", being parked in the right camp with full hookups and enough space to relax, cook, shower, lounge, and otherwise function within a vein of normalcy while at "home" is kinda cool.

Gradiens super tenui glacie.

Reading your post I had to relate our very recent experience.
Last month we were traveling out west with the intent of visiting Yosemite Ntl. Park We were going from east to west and our original intent was to go over the Sierras to west side to set up camp. We changed our mind and began looking for a place on the east side. We found an available spot at June Lake RV Park CA. This is an RV park smack dab downtown of this most picturesque little tow with an Alpine lake surrounded by mountains. Our spot was 50amp full hookup, 300' from the local brewery, 150' from best Taco stand ever and within a block and half of restaurants, hardware store and two blocks from the most picturesque lake outside of Switzerland. We got lucky and we were able to stay an entire week. My wife wanted to stay for the entire month of September. This to date was one of my most memorable Airstream Experiences.
I had to back in our 30' International of a 20' wide city street into a 40 deep spot. It was piece of cake.

GeocamperAS · 10-10-2016, 07:11 PM

We have 2 Argosy's. A 1974 - 28' and a 1978 - 6.0 minuet (20')
Love the 20' when it's just my wife and I for weekends. The 28' is nice for extended trips or when the grandkids come along.
If I didn't have the room to park both, I often thought a 25' would be the best of both worlds.

VaTravelers · 10-10-2016, 10:02 PM

I have enjoyed this discussion. One thing I've noticed is not a lot of mention about the 28' International. It's 27' or 30'. Why is that?

**Rocinante** · 10-10-2016, 11:07 PM

We've come to the conclusion that we need to trade in our Airstream for a Tardis. We love the interior space of our 27FB, but want it inside something the size of a BaseCamp.

nickclifford · 10-10-2016, 11:20 PM

I snagged a rare 31' Land Yacht in California a couple of years ago, seems like loads for sale on this forum out of state but hard to find locally.. anyways, at first kinda wish I waited for a 26-28' or so. Now I totally love it, the space is luxurious and it still looks positively small when at the RV yard next to 5th Wheels & RV's etc. I have a popup for those campsites that only allow tiny trailers, (DL Bliss at Tahoe is my favorite) we can comfortably sleep 4 in that. If i had the money, I buy a 2nd much smaller AS for short weekenders ..

When my kids have grown up, think I'll look for 24'-26" length, can't imagine going any smaller, you'd be living outside ! 28' sounds like the ideal length but probably still too long for some campgrounds ?

msmcv51 · 10-11-2016, 05:47 AM

We now have our 25' 87 Sovereign for sale. My wife has always preferred more compact cars and trailers. Sooo we have turned our tow vehicle into a mini motorhome by putting a Camp-lite 11' camper in the bed. Now we can tow our Ford C-max when we travel. The Camp-lite has no steel or wood in it so no ROT or RUST. The two big problems in most other RV's.

franklyfrank · 10-11-2016, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VaTravelers

I have enjoyed this discussion. One thing I've noticed is not a lot of mention about the 28' International. It's 27' or 30'. Why is that?

Our first Airstream was a 2012 International, one day just for kicks I measured the outside length of the coach and it measured 27'. I was surprised and perturbed. I felt cheated. We visited our Airstream dealer just to look and measured a 30' coach and that measured 30', a full 3' longer. Looking at it closely we realized it had a lot more room and a very spacious lav in comparison.
We traded up within a month.

switz · 10-11-2016, 11:07 AM

We started with a 2013 25FB International Serenity. For many reasons, it was not the one for us. So we upped the ante to a 2014 31' Classic. That has become our summer home in the mountains and we tow it with a 2012 Ram 2500HD Cummins.

Then we acquired in addition to the Classic a 2015 23D International Serenity which we can tow with our 2007 Mercedes ML320 CDI diesel for short trips into any place we want to go.

We feel we have the best of both worlds, big for extended stays in a fixed location or long trips and short for shorter trips and tighter space fittings in older western parks.

Remember that Airstream sizes are measured from the front of the ball socket to the back of the bumper while everything else is measuring just the box size. So when calling into a spot, we say the 31' Classic is a 28' for comparison and the 23D is 20 feet long. And even those pseudo measurements would be long.

streaminwild · 10-11-2016, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by switz

Remember that Airstream sizes are measured from the front of the ball socket to the back of the bumper while everything else is measuring just the box size. So when calling into a spot, we say the 31' Classic is a 28' for comparison and the 23D is 20 feet long. And even those pseudo measurements would be long.

Thanks for letting me know this switz. My 30' will be called a 27' from now on for reservation purposes.

interstateflyer · 10-11-2016, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by switz

We started with a 2013 25FB International Serenity. For many reasons, it was not the one for us. So we upped the ante to a 2014 31' Classic. That has become our summer home in the mountains and we tow it with a 2012 Ram 2500HD Cummins.

Then we acquired in addition to the Classic a 2015 23D International Serenity which we can tow with our 2007 Mercedes ML320 CDI diesel for short trips into any place we want to go.

We feel we have the best of both worlds, big for extended stays in a fixed location or long trips and short for shorter trips and tighter space fittings in older western parks.

Remember that Airstream sizes are measured from the front of the ball socket to the back of the bumper while everything else is measuring just the box size. So when calling into a spot, we say the 31' Classic is a 28' for comparison and the 23D is 20 feet long. And even those pseudo measurements would be long.

That can go both ways. Unless you tell an RV park that you have a 25 or 27 when you actually rocking a 23, they quite often try to shoe horn you into a smaller and tighter space.

**Rocinante** · 10-11-2016, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by switz

Remember that Airstream sizes are measured from the front of the ball socket to the back of the bumper while everything else is measuring just the box size. So when calling into a spot, we say the 31' Classic is a 28' for comparison and the 23D is 20 feet long. And even those pseudo measurements would be long.

This is pretty cool. Not questioning your statement, but would love to find something that explains how the length of an SOB trailer is actually spec'ed out. When I look at specs on a few SOB trailer websites, they don't seem to address this...but I could easily be missing something totally obvious. Thanks!

explore more · 10-11-2016, 04:34 PM

Almost all SOBs measure box length, not the actual length of the trailer. We fit (barely) in 25' spots in our 30'.

DPRoberts · 10-11-2016, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocinante

This is pretty cool. Not questioning your statement, but would love to find something that explains how the length of an SOB trailer is actually spec'ed out. When I look at specs on a few SOB trailer websites, they don't seem to address this...but I could easily be missing something totally obvious. Thanks!

I've never seen an explanation, but their specifications tell the story. Even among other Thor brands, Airstream is the only one I've found that measures the trailers in hitch-to-bumper lengths. For example, I was looking at their Coleman-brand trailers, and the "250TQ", which one would assume is 25 feet long, is actually 29'7". Their 235QB is actually 27'2". So, they are telling the truth in the specs, it's just the naming conventions that are somewhat misleading.

Then again, in talking with other people about travel trailers, some people have assumed that the length in the name refers to the actual body of the trailer, not the "extra bits" like tongue or bumper. In that sense, one could view Airstream as the ones who are misleading customers and selling trailers that are smaller than people expect them to be. I guess it's just a matter of expectations.

One thing I'm finding to be increasingly helpful is that some (not many, but some) campgrounds are starting to list more specific measurements for their sites - not just "25 feet", but something like "motorhomes 35 feet, trailers 27 feet, paved driveway is 75 feet" , or something to that effect. These measurements, along with actual photos of the sites, make things a lot more clear. I hope more campgrounds go this route.

To me, the other interesting question would be whether campgrounds set their rules based on the "actual" trailer sizes for SOBs, or whether they just build some leeway into their measurements knowing that people are probably going to tell them a smaller trailer size than they actually have in order to squeeze into more (smaller) sites.

JamuJoe · 10-12-2016, 10:01 AM

You are doing well to analyze your planned use. We also are more the 'active outdoor traveler' type. Our trailer provides for comfortable cooking, sleeping and toilet facilities. We don't spend much time in RV parks, watch TV or host parties aboard. We've got 43,000+ miles on our 2011 FC23FB, and quite a bit of that in rough country. We often travel for 4-6 weeks. At times I've mused over a larger unit (generally after a week with 2 grandkids aboard

) but the overall agility and greater selection of suitable sites in Nat'l Parks leaves us very satisfied with our mid-sized 23. Many is the time when we've made a u-turn on a backroad or maneuvered into a great site that my First Mate has reminded me that we couldn't have done such with a larger trailer. The economy and agility of towing with our Jeep GC diesel is another big factor keeping us with the 23. There are always compromises, whatever you choose. Good luck in finding your best fit.

Safe Travels,
JamuJoe

rodsterinfl · 10-13-2016, 05:05 AM

Gneiss Guy wrote:

Quote:

When the kids were out of college, we bought our first Airstream, a Safari 25'. We loved it, but for one problem ... lack of comfortable seating. Due to a climbing accident, I require comfortable seating. This required us to move to a 30' trailer with dual recliners. We like it.

These kinds of needs are critically important but not necessarily a length issue. Something I found out when I researched for new seating in mine was that many owners of different models had negative to say about their seating, "the L Lounge is awful," "the couch is uncomfortable," "the dinette seating is deplorable." I ended up with a customized sofa from Villa similar to the 2012-2014 Classic. Many times more comfortable than the Flexsteel OEM. Not cheap. I would have preferred a stressless but did not want to alter the functionality of the trailer with sofa/bed/storage. It was a good choice.The point Gneiss Guy brings up is that some things don't/won't fit but they can be altered to meet your need when you pick your length.