Offroad Travel Trailers in the US?

profdant139 wrote:
Great video, and a beautiful trailer -- well done! My only suggestion would be to flip the axles in the not too distant future, so that you can take the trailer on bumpy forest roads (slowly).

The airstreams use a dexter torsion axle (independent suspension), so there aren't any leaf springs, making it impossible to flip the axle unfortunately. Fortunately they make lift blocks to go between the axle and the frame, and I plan on installing those.

profdant139 wrote:
The only other problem with an Airstream is that the skin is so lovely that it is a shame to scratch it up by towing it on narrow roads through dense brush. But that is just going to happen, and you will have to get used to it. That is the price of back-country camping.

I won't be towing the airstream down any narrow trails with brush. I'll park it somewhere else and take the van through there.

It's got little drag bars in the back, but I may contemplate putting rollers on it. When we bought the airstream we gave up on the dream of living in it in the backcountry. However, we have the van and tents for that.

profdant139 wrote:
Also, with that curved roof, where are you going to put the solar array?

Still working on the details on that, but it's been done quite a bit. I'm a fan of flexible panels, but they're not as efficient as the rigid glass ones.

profdant139 wrote:
Brilliant decision to buy a used trailer -- I am sure you got it at a huge discount, Airstreams deteriorate much more slowly than most trailers, and all of the "new trailer" bugs have already been worked out.

Agreed. Buying new would be a bad decision for us. The one exception seems to be Airstreams, they don't seem to take much of a hit when you resell them. We saw plenty that were 2-3 years old, which retailed for 90k new, and they were being sold for $80k+. Not much depreciation there.

We're looking forward to the trailer. it should be a great home for us, but a terrible backcountry exploration trailer. :)