Not your dad's Airstream

Hannibal wrote:
Good grief! How high can you stack bovine biscuits in an attempt to glorify an old outdated trailer? So stable it needs a $3k hitch to keep it from flying off the road, rolling multiple times risking lives all around. A $140,000 AS has a particle board floor. The fuselage requires regular maintenance to keep it from leaking down to the particle board floor. Appliances are the same as the Walmart trailers. The chassis and running gear will rust and wear out just as fast as any other. I like a new trailer every 5-7 years. Cousin’s ‘87 24’ stick and tin Walmart special is still serving him very well. He tows it on a $40 tri-ball, stable and safe.

You like having a payment. You’ll buy, what, 4-5 when you could have had one. Will have spent far more. Senor Spendthrift.

They’re far easier to tow. Wanting a hitch not obsolete in design is a choice. As it’s equal in importance to the vehicle pair it’s cheap at twice the price. Sway is eliminated.

While your trailer jigs back and forth all day. A Hensley stands out. Rock solid. No movement not initiated by TV. But, not yours. Wearing out that cheap leaf suspension in a year. There are 30-year old AS that have suspensions still test within spec. Yours won’t make it 5,000-miles.

You don’t want one, fine.

My thirty year old SS is nicer than what you have. Always was and always will be. The difference is that I bought mine for less than you paid for whatever you have And even with changes along the way, I’ll still have less into it.

A 10-15 year old AS is still new. But depreciation has bottomed. That’s the time to buy one for a typically poor American. What little it will need can be spread out as time, funds and DIY allow.

That’s a FAR better trailer than whatever is brand new on the RV lots.

And your cousins trailer won’t pass a moisture intrusion test. Nor is it stable at typical highway speeds when the rig encounters severe crosswinds.

The ones I almost don’t notice. As 5’ers, big trucks and rigs like your can’t stay on the road.

Crosswind resistance is the crown. That’s the single largest cause of driver loss of control. Which you can’t control for. Mario Andretti can’t control a rig when the Drive Axle gets loose. Design matters. Frou-frou doesn’t. AS still has the basic design which hasn’t been improved by anyone in sixty years.

So, if your definition of going camping is watching TV somewhere else, have at it.

If you really wanted to travel, you’d have been a serious student. You weren’t. You took the higher risk & more expensive route.

Enjoy.

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