Actual carrying capacity of 2019 Classic 33

[Jhess]

Airstream published the base weight of the Classic 33 as 8261 lbs (includes LP and batteries). Given the GVWR of 10k, that yields a carrying capacity of 1739 lbs as published. However, I happened upon this link

https://www.windishrv.com/product/ne...33fb-940592-29

Which shows an actual photo of the trailer specs plate on the unit and it says the manufactured weight was over 8800 lbs! That would yield a NCC of less than 1200 lbs! Any actual owners out there care to report the numbers on your unit according to the specs plate and even better maybe someone weight their unit prior to putting anything in it?

If we’re going to purchase and full time in one of these, I think 1739 lbs (which I believe has to include your fresh water weight) is manageable but if it’s more like 1200 or less then I’m a little concerned.

What gives??!

[james.mileur]

Nothing on my 17 sticker to indicate the fresh water tank (full) weight is inside the manufactured weight.

[Dave-n-Janet]

Seems off a bunch...same dealer has plate for a 30' Classic with factory weight of 7962lbs vs Airstream spec of 7788lbs so only heavier by 174lbs.

Your example is factory weight of 8810lbs vs Airstream spec of 7788lbs or heavier by 1022 lbs. Wow...

[Jhess]

Just to clarify, I don’t believe manufactured weight ever includes the fresh water weight. My example of the 33 is where the base weight on the Airstream site says 8261 lbs not 7788 lbs. The diff between what the Airstream site says and the photo of the actual trailer is 8810 - 8261 = 549 lbs.

Assuming that the “manufactured weight” on the trailer does NOT include fresh water, why would Airstream publish a base weight that THAT far off (549 lbs)? That’s a net carrying capacity of 1190 instead of the published 1739 on the Airstream site. A full fresh water tank will weigh 451 lbs, so if the photo is right then this leaves only 739 lbs for cargo after filling fresh water! Could that really be correct?

[overlander63]

2018 33 Front Queen:

[overlander63]

2018 33 Front Twin:

[Coloradobus]

I see Airstream deception never ended. Our 2006 Bambi Quick Silver brochure information says trailer weighs 2,825 lbs with a 3500 lbs rated axle. But what Airstream neglected to state for our trailer, weight of 2825 lbs didn’t include options or fluids. The Bambi Q/S is Inernational trim. Options included
1) Spare tire and carrier
2) Air conditioning
3) Zip Dee Patio awning
4) TV
5) Stabilizer Jacks(4)
6) Power tongue Jack
7) Front window stone guard
8) Lower front stone shields
And.... to throw it out there, No Shock Absorbers so Bambi bounces free like a superball.
With added water and propane, Bambi weighed in at 3480 lbs without a single sock added.

[Jhess]

Wow! So my next question is: is this normal for Airstream to publish weights that are hundreds of lbs less than actual? In the case of the Classic, its not like they can claim that it depends on what options are selected because there are no option choices other than decor and whether you want the gas oven, which wouldn’t come anywhere near accounting for these weight differences.

I’m guessing they’re fudging on the Classic 30 weights too?

What bothers me about this is the net carrying capacity being so inflated according to the published vs real values. Makes me wonder why they don’t just use a 11k GVWR trailer frame at least on the Classic 33. Bummer!

Any Classic owners know how much their cargo actually weighs, particularly if you are full timing? How close to GVWR are you?

[overlander63]

Airstream weighs every single trailer before it leaves the factory, and prints the weight on those labels I pictured.

[Jhess]

@overlander63 Thanks for those pics. This is very disappointing.

I wonder how difficult it is to full time in a trailer this size with only 739 to 977 lbs of cargo capacity after filling the fresh water tank. Anyone with experience here I’d love to hear your thoughts. Am I being paranoid or does this mean nobody can safely full time in their Classic 33 without staying uncomfortably lean with their cargo? Maybe the 33 owners don’t use the fresh water tank because they’re staying only at campgrounds with water hookups? We very much plan on doing lots of boondocking or at least want the option to do so without fearing being overweight.

We don’t plan on having a rock collection or something obviously unnecessary and heavy. I can put heavier things in our future Ford F-350. However, I also don’t want to feel like we can’t even come close to filling our storage areas due to exceeding net carrying capacity.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Jhess

I wonder how difficult it is to full time in a trailer this size with only 739 to 977 lbs of cargo capacity after filling the fresh water tank. Anyone with experience here I’d love to hear your thoughts. Am I being paranoid or does this mean nobody can safely full time in their Classic 33 without staying uncomfortably lean with their cargo? Maybe the 33 owners don’t use the fresh water tank because they’re staying only at campgrounds with water hookups? We very much plan on doing lots of boondocking or at least want the option to do so without fearing being overweight.

Your stuff doesn't weigh as much as you think. When we fulltimed, all our stuff together was about 700 pounds or so, in an Airstream roughly the same size as a 30 Classic. Yes, it adds up, but not as fast as you might think.

[trepine]

Also being 100-200 lb over weight isn’t going to result in catastrophe. That’s literally 1-2% extra weight. The way things are engineered is for a wide margin of mechanical safety.

In addition not all the weight is on the axels to begin with, the tongue definitely takes a good chunk, so even at 10K lbs the axels are experiencing less than 5k.

Do I wish AS just used beefier axles? YES. But this will never really be a limitation for us.

[Jhess]

Yes, from what I’m gathering in this and another older thread, as long as neither of the axles are exceeding their rating (5k each) and the tongue stays within the recommended 10-15% of total weight then we should still be safe. I suspect that Airstream and other manufacturers just keep it simple and conservative by setting the GVWR to the sum of the axle weight ratings, ignoring the fact that the tongue will carry a nice chunk of total weight. They probably know most folks won’t bother to weigh the load on the individual axles so they just add their ratings together and ignore the load carried by the tongue to minimize the chance of someone overloading an axle.

Maybe I got that right. Anyone else agree?

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Jhess

Yes, from what I’m gathering in this and another older thread, as long as neither of the axles are exceeding their rating (5k each) and the tongue stays within the recommended 10-15% of total weight then we should still be safe. I suspect that Airstream and other manufacturers just keep it simple and conservative by setting the GVWR to the sum of the axle weight ratings, ignoring the fact that the tongue will carry a nice chunk of total weight. They probably know most folks won’t bother to weigh the load on the individual axles so they just add their ratings together and ignore the load carried by the tongue to minimize the chance of someone overloading an axle.

Maybe I got that right. Anyone else agree?

Airstream did that for a while, but people complained the gvw of the trailer was higher than the total axle rating, and didn't want to hear about the tongue carrying part of the load.

[Jonesuh]

interesting----I'm not at my rig so I don't remember the exact numbers but I have a 30 2018 twin classic---brochure showed roughly 7800+ lbs---the sticker on my rig shows ~~8800+lbs---when I took rig to JC for work on my ALDE last March and ask them to weigh my rig they did had my gear some water in all 3 tanks came back about 8400 lbs I think they just misprinted my weight when they shipped it---I have reweighted at Escapees smart weigh to get hitch right not close to 9000 lbs
go figure

[Jhess]

Wow that’s crazy. When we purchase ours I’ll have to get it weighed before putting anything in just out of curiosity.

@Jonesuh when you weighed yours did that include the tongue?

[Al and Missy]

I have had two Airstreams, albeit older ones. They have both been 300 pounds +/- over the published weight, even accounting for options. I called Airstream and asked what the options were. I was told that the base weight includes batteries and propane tanks, but not the actual propane. Awnings were standard on my Classic but an option on my Safari, if I remember correctly.

If your sticker includes weight for fresh water and holding tanks, recognize that it is unlikely that the fresh water tank and the holding tanks will all be full. Generally water moves from the fresh water tank to the black and gray tanks.

That said, we found it easy to get well over the allowed cargo weight by carrying a lot of things we thought we needed and didn't use. After weighing a couple of times we pulled everything off and left a lot of stuff at home.

Al

[Jhess]

I do not believe the sticker includes fresh water or full holding tanks. It is supposed to be the “manufactured weight”, which includes everything in that specific trailer including options but no water or propane. Also my calculation for the water weight was based only on the fresh water tank. It’s sounding to me like this weight nor the published weight is really that accurate. Maybe they just weigh sample units of different configurations, put that in a database and then just pick the closest one when generating a sticker. Maybe they don’t always properly place the trailers on the scales. Maybe their scales often get out of calibration. Who knows? Bottom line is you can’t really trust that weight on your sticker.

Thanks for the info on the +/- 300 lbs.

[Al and Missy]

On my trailer there is a plate on the outside that supposedly lists the manufactured weight, but a sticker inside that lists the base weight and weight for things like water, propane, etc and shows a net cargo carrying capacity (CCC). That is the sticker I was referring to. I think it is required by NHTSA.

Also I meant 300# more or less i.e. not exactly 300#, not +/-300#. That may have been obvious from the context, maybe not.

Al

[Jhess]

Oh ok. I wasn’t distinguishing between the sticker and plate. I was referring to the plate.