Best TT for retired couple looking to travel

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
:) Hi, not trying to sway or convince anyone into buying an Airstream. We bought ours for our retirement. We are not campers. We are travelers. We like the fact that our trailer doesn't get blown off of the road in high winds, and we love that our trailer handles great in all conditions. We like that, unlike our house, it is simple and easy to maintain and functional. We like the fact that the storage in limited so we don't bring too much un-necessary junk with us. We have more than enough storage for two old people and one little dog. We also have no desire what so ever to have slide-outs. Ten years later, a similar trailer to ours cost about twice what ours did. There was a lot of thought going into buying our Airstream and this is going to be our one and only trailer.


Things that are maybe not so good; Some times camp ground sewer pipes are too high and things don't flow well up hill. Limited dealers to work on them. There are many places which you wouldn't let them work on your Airstream and there are many places who won't work on them either. Cold weather; I have camped in zero degrees weather at night with a high of 27 degrees during the day and it was fine, but used a lot of propane.


Airstreams are not for full timers, they are for those on the go. If you like sitting in one place for a long time, you should buy a park model, a mobile home, or a prefab house.

Robert, you don't need to justify your purchase to me or anyone else, You chose a fine trailer and it obviously was the right choice for your RVing style. Easy handling and great aerodynamics, minimizing your TV needs is the perfect application for an Airstream.

I know what you mean about sewer not flowing uphill. I have the same problem with my low-slung Aliner. You might want to consider either a macerator pump or the sewer solutions water assisted unit as they will liquefy your sewage and pump it uphill.

At one time I was thinking of FTing in a HiLo (before the company bit the dust) for just the reasons you mention, thinking that I would be towing 2,000 miles a month or more during my retirement. But since this will be my sole residence, and I will be bringing all my worldly possessions with me I decided on a conventional TT (with more room and carrying capacity) necessitating a little bigger TV. But I still wanted one that gets half-way decent fuel mileage and is economical to operate. I chose a TT rather than a fiver because I wanted to use the bed of my truck to carry a couple small motorbikes (and other gear) with us, plus DW has difficulty climbing stairs.

I already bought the 3/4 ton I will be using, an 08 F-250 6.4l supercab, longbed that gets around 20-21 combined mpg unfettered, 18-19 mpg pulling my Aliner, and I hope to get around 12 mpg pulling my FT TT with it. I'm planning on a 1,000 mile/month fuel budget (85 gallons or $300-$350/mo.) which means that we won't always be on the road, but will still be able to move quite often if we wish.

We are also planning on boondocking a lot. I don't know if this is in the OP's plans, but if so, additional weight and storage capacity of larger holding tanks, solar panels and batteries (or at least a generator and fuel) need to be taken into consideration - about 1,000 lbs worth in my case, for a big solar system. Everything in life is a compromise - you must give up something you have to get something you want.

When I initially read the post I incorrectly assumed that the jk123's in-laws wanted a trailer to travel FT during retirement, (prejudiced by my own plans.) But since this is probably not the case, a smaller Airstream may be exactly what they need for vacations and such during their retirement.

Chip