I should probably start a blog, but I know I'd stop writing once traveling in our new GT becomes routine. So now I'm just making some posts to point out my observations, likes and dislikes with this trailer. I'll just add on to this post as I go for anyone interested.
We looked at a 2016 30' Classic (I did not want to be towing a big trailer again, plus the dinette was the only bed arrangement for my daughter). We also found a 2019 Serenity which was nice and had been sitting in an RV park as an occasional home for the owner. It was pretty and we liked the way the front bedroom was arranged. But it was a 30 Amp single AC unit and virtually all the people who commented on my post abut a single AC trailer told me to go with a 50 Amp 2 AC trailer. We found our 25' GT locally and it was only 2 months old. The owner had taken one cross country trip and then they decided they were going to do a lifestyle change and the Airstream would not be part of it.
We've taken 2 trips so far. First was to Tomoka State Park for 3 days, and now we've just returned from a 1 week trip to Topsail State Park in Destin. So here are a list of Likes and Dislikes.
Dislikes:
Big issue so far seems to be the compressor fridge. While initially it seemed to be working fine (would cool down in 4 or 5 hours and hold temp), on our Destin trip it would barely cool. It would get up to 50 degrees inside on the fridge and in the 20's in the freezer. I've been part of a couple of posts on this subject and am trying to figure out if the fridge is defective, suffers from lack of ventilation for the cooling coils, or just performs poorly in humid conditions where the cooling fins tend to ice over. I've just let the fridge defrost overnight, dried it out and started it up to see how it performs today.
Coach batteries. I realized that simply switching the coach to Store mode does not really disconnect the batteries. After a couple of days in storage, the batteries had dropped to 11.6 volts. I'm wondering if the previous owner may have left the batteries connected too long and possibly ruined them. Need to investigate.
Not really a dislike, but the front bedroom is a bit clumsy to get around in. I sleep on the wall side, so I don't have a night stand for my glasses, phone and a water cup. We solved that by putting an adhesive attached wire basket on the wall and that seems to be ok. My water sits on the floor and has a lid. Still, no 110 outlet on my side, so phone charging has to get done elsewhere. My wife took the window side, but she really needs to climb over the bed to get in. She seems fine with that so I guess it's ok. Getting to the overhead storage also requires kneeling on the bed.
Cabinets and storage - yes, there are lots of storage places buried in this trailer. But not all of them are very accessible without kneeling on the bed, or crawling under the tables. It's good storage for infrequently used items. Also, the several of the hinges have popped off when opening the cabinets. They pop back on, but really?
The pull out bed is a good idea, but as others have mentioned and you see in GT tours of this model, the 2 cushions do not want to stay down in their spot and my daughter is always struggling to keep the bed flat. I'm thinking of trying some velcro to help with that.
No microwave - This trailer has the gas oven only. In 30 years of camping I think we've used an oven once. We ended up buying the smallest, cheapest microwave we could find (a $59 Black and Decker) and it sits on top of the gas burner tops. We rarely use the burners either, so it's not really a problem, but it does steal valuable counter space. But we use the microwave a lot for bagged veggie and snacks. I wish this trailer had come with the convection/microwave combo. Maybe I can retrofit it but it is not really at the top of our list.
Power awning - I want simple. I don't want all sorts of motorized stuff that can break and gum up our trip. That was part of the reason the Classic we looked at turned me off. Too much powered stuff to break. The ZipDee power awning is ok, but I just see it being a PIA. I wish it were a manual awning. I am OCD about pulling the awning in because of pop up storms and my wife loves having the awning out. So it's not unusual for the awning to go in and out 3 or 4 times a day. The awning did hiccup once only going out a little bit and stopping. I retracted it and it worked fine after that (so far)
Things we like:
Overall build and quality. Sure, there are a few things they messed up at the factory. The kitchen sink trap was not tightened down and leaked a bit. I already mentioned some of the hinges. I hooked my Dish Satellite system up and had to disassemble the entire electronics shelf and fish around to find the satellite cable (found a thread on this forum that helped with that hunt). But basically this is so head and shoulders above any other RV we've owned we are really happy with it. My wife loves the interior colors and furniture. The stock mattress is very comfortable. Not sure we are even going to get a memory foam topper like we have for every camper we've ever owned. Even though the bed is a bit awkward to get around, my wife bought one of those Beddy's covers and we really like it. (
https://beddys.com ). Not cheap, but very convenient.
2 ACs in a small trailer like this intuitively seemed a bit excessive, but I guess off all the things Airstreams are known for, being well insulated is not one of them. Our first night at topsail was very rainy and humid. I set the AC on both units to 70 with the fans on low (so the AC would not be cutting on and off all night which tends to wake me up). We woke up and all the vents were covered with condensation. The mirror in the bathroom was fogged. The shower door and fridge door were covered. We ended up bumping the temp up to 71 on both units and setting them to "auto". The condensation went away and the system is quiet enough that it did not wake me up when kicking on and off.
Bathroom. At first I did not care much for the bathroom arrangement with the shower on one side and toilet on the other. But after using it for a while, we'd just pull the curtain by the fridge, leave the toilet room door open and shower. You can stop out for towel which we hung in the toilet room from adhesive hooks a bath mat between the two areas gives you room to stand. I'm an average size guy and the toilet is a bit tight. It's ok, but larger people may find it a problem. The sink, vanity and storage is great in the bathroom. Best we've had. The shower is fine, again a bit tight by not the worst I've had. Definitely want to invest in one of those teak floor mats for the shower. It is a bit slippery in there.
On demand water heater. Here's one of those things like the awning. It seems like a great high tech idea, but will it be a problem? If I had my choice, I'd have gone with a standard 6 gallon propane/electric water heater. We've never run out of hot water with these systems and since we don't really boondock the electric HW system is fine. All that said, the on-demand HW system is really nice. We just set it to 112 degrees and set the water full hot for washing our hands or showering. Sometimes I'll set it higher to wash something like my cast iron griddle. The down side is we are now dependent on having propane, something that was never an issue before. We really only used it occasionally or for the fridge when going to our campsite. Now we have to have it. Plus, with the 30 pound cylinders, we have to get the tanks filled somewhere as opposed to all the places you can exchange 20 pound tanks.
I can't remember having to refill propane in our campers. We never use the oven. Hardly ever use the gas burners. The furnace? What's a furnace? We live in Florida. We always kept 2 ceramic electric heaters in our campers to warm things up when necessary. Except when it got into the 30's, we'd never use the furnace.
ProPride Anti Sway hitch - The previous owner made a big deal about including this hitch with the deal. He said it was the best there is and was very expensive. I don't want this thread to become a hitch food fight. There is already one going on in the towing section. So far my observation is the hitch can be a bit tricky hook up if you are not on flat ground, but it does tow the camper very well. I have about 1000 miles on it so far and like it. I think it needs a bit of adjustment as the trailer porpoises a bit. I'll have to spend some time working on that.
I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out, but this is all that comes to mind now. If we'd had a choice between this 25' GT and a 27' with the standard bed arrangement, I think I'd have gone with the 27' all other things equal. Hard to say. I really wanted a smaller trailer because State Park spaces are tough to find these days and while that extra 2' may not sound like much, it's not nothing. My truck pulls the trailer like a champ. I tried to stay at 65 on my ride, but it seems to handle 70 no problem. I even had to punch it up to almost 80 to get past some semis and it was solid as a rock. When I'm in the right lane and a big semi blows past me it hardly pushes me at all. A huge difference between other trailers I've towed. A lot of that may be my truck. Maybe the ProPride hitch.
For context, we are a family of 3, 2 adults a 12 year old daughter and 3 dogs (the cat stays home). We are basically weekend warriors and try to get out once a month with a few 1-2 week trips thrown in. We rarely travel more than 100 miles from our house, although we just got back from Topsail in Destin which is a bit over 400 miles from us. We love Florida State Parks, hanging out in the woods, springs and beaches. Next year, we're hoping to get some more time to do some mountain camping in Georgia, Tenn and places like that. We've had pop ups, 25 to 30 foot travel trailers and hybrids, and 3 motor homes including a 40 Discovery 40 G bunkhouse which we sold a couple of years ago.
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