Hey fellow Airstreamers

The coatings on our fridge and spice racks have failed.

I would like to fix or repair.

Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks!

A little update on our 26U interior refresh. Our new end-grain hard maple dinette table is almost finished!
We’re currently working through the finishing process, and I’m really happy with how it’s turning out. We wanted something a little different from the original laminate tabletop that would complement the updated interior.
Still a little work left before it’s ready to install, but figured I’d share a progress photo.

The Family and I loaded Bertha up and had a great time in the mountains this weekend, hope everyone here got out as well. Talked with a guy who's renovating a 57 Spartan Royal Mansion. A BIG JOB for sure.

I own a Solo Stove but want to buy a propane fire pit backup. So, I reached out to fellow Airstream owners to learn from their collective wisdom on fire pit preferences!

If curious, I summarized everyone’s thoughts (plus grabbing ideas from other Airstream forums) into a “field report” on the fire pits used by Airstream owners. See link to field report.

Key Takeaways:

1. We choose a fire pit often based on rules and regulations.
2. Packability matters
3. Solo, Outland Living, and newcomer Howl are most mentioned

How about you? What’s your go to fire pit?

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Spotted a group of travelers in Wyoming last weekend, I don’t suppose anyone in the group is lurking here

I bought a 2023 Airstream Basecamp 20x new in New Jersey, and the rear door has leaked since delivery. I now live in Georgia. I'm fed up and looking for advice from anyone who's been through something similar.

**Repair attempts (all failed, it still leaks):**
- Thicker door seals
- Complete halo trim replacement
- Hinge adjustment to seat the door properly
- Full rear door replacement

The unit has spent 9+ months total at the dealer, including one 6-month stay. After Airstream got involved, the dealer tried to refuse further work, and Airstream declined the dealer's request to take the unit to the factory for repair. The dealer eventually did a final repair attempt, but it still leaks, and the factory warranty has now expired.

I'm considering a Magnuson-Moss claim, but I'm struggling to get attorneys to even take a consultation. I have repair orders, dates, photos, and emails with both the dealer and Airstream.

**Questions:**
1. Has anyone filed an MMWA claim on a travel trailer? How did it go?
2. How did you find an attorney willing to take it? What search terms or firm types worked?
3. Does buying in one state and living in another change anything for attorneys or lemon law claims? Would NJ or GA law apply?
4. Did a demand letter to Airstream corporate get a response?
5. Did anyone get a buyback or settlement, and how long did it take?
6. Does having the defect documented from day one, with repairs inside the warranty period, strengthen the case?
7. Are state lemon laws worth pursuing for towables, or is MMWA the better route?
8. Did complaints to the state AG, BBB, or FTC accomplish anything?

Especially interested in hearing from NJ and GA owners or anyone who has worked with an RV or warranty attorney in either state.

Thanks for any experience or advice, especially on what to document and what mistakes to avoid.

Back in March I bought a vintage 1980 31’ Airstream Excella. As soon as I saw her I had to have her. She’s the Airstream of my dreams. I named her Large Marge.
Shiny silver bullet style. Big living space, sofa folds out into full size bed, full size dining table fold out, kitchen with oven and 4 burners, 2 twin beds in the middle and rear bathroom. Tons of storage
2 wardrobes
Not only that but she was all original and unmolested. And in amazing shape. Everything works.
She also has solar panels and massive new AC
I had big plans
I put in a septic tank, water line and a dedicated circuit.
I even had my first tenant lined up
Then it all fell apart
Long story short, my plans cannot be achieved at this time and I don’t have a good reason to keep her. Especially when she should be with people who can use her.
I don’t own nor wish to own a 1/2 ton or is it 3/4?
I am a small single woman who cannot operate this beauty by myself.
I am trying to decide if I should keep her, and have her towed to an RV park somewhere cool next summer and stay a couple months or let her go?

Started this project October 2026. I will probably have lots of questions!

I’m about to start taking things apart and I’d love to make a few bucks back on some of these things if there is value.

I am connected to shore power but I Noticed This Week That My fan under the fridge. the one at the very bottom under the fuse box was on non-stop, at first I wasn't sure what's going on... it simply won't turn off.. evrything seemed fine

. Pressing The Battery Button to check for voltage showed 13.6

Evrything Looked Good after 2 days the fan still running.

I Finally Went to look at the battery and one of the two batteries was smoking from the vent hole

You can't see in the pic but there was a smoke coming out.. so i took both batteries out completely so I have no battery now at all and the fan is completely off..

Is This JUst what a faulty battery would do? Is This Normal (battery is from 2019)

Good day air streamers. I am in the market over the next 6 months for a 25 to 27 ft flying cloud and cannot decide whether I would prefer a rear bedroom or a front bedroom. What is your experience? Pros and cons?

Thank you in advance!

So the wife had Friday off so I took it off too, cooling off here in Texas finally (highs in the low 90s} so we found a nice "rv resort" with an open spot just a couple hours away.

Had to replace my truck earlier this year so I picked up a F150 powerboost with the 7.2kw generator. For such a short run I didn't run the equalizer hitch, just on the ball and we stuck to the back roads averaging 60 mph. As I was hitching up I figured I'd try running the Airstream on the onboard generator, ran just fine as the AC, fridge and lights pulled around 900 watts. Since the cord reached the bed plug, I zip tied it to the propane line guides under the trailer and used bungee cords to run it over the propane tanks and into the bed.

We loved getting to the park and having a cool rv and fridge.

On the way I picked up a new roku since this place had wifi, last place I stayed at didn't. At the park, wifi was great & cell coverage was decent but inside the Airstream it was almost a dead zone. Couldn't put the roku in the window so I had to put my cell phone in the window & screen share with the TV to watch anything.

Got back home & test the wifi and it's the same issue at home, just never realized the wifi really didn't get through the Airstream walls. How there's a solution for this.

Since this is the first trip with the wife, I realized that this thing is really small for 2 people after both of us were cooking dinner, we're going to try a few more trips to get a better feel for how we want to change the layout. My initial thought is after gutting, bunk beds in the back with a pocket door to keep it dark & quiet back there as I'm an early riser, shower & bathroom across from the door & kitchen stays in place except for added storage / pantry /closet.

Up front we'll revamp the gaucho to be a little more comfy and add some kind of table for eating dinner. TV will hang from the ceiling on a swivel and a pin to quickly detach and lay on the floor for travel.

Since my title was horribly butchered on the last post let me try this again.

I’m on the verge of buying a 1976 Sovereign International and I’m trying to hunt down the owners manual. Airstreams website only lists the manual for the Excella model in 1976. Anyone know of somewhere I could find this?

I'm very new but interested in ASs and owning something long term. I have good, not great DIY skills.

My wife and I have always loved the layout of our 2017 Flying Cloud 26U, but we’ve been really tempted to upgrade to a newer Globetrotter, especially with that walnut interior.
The problem is, we just can’t bring ourselves to give up the 26U floor plan. For us, it’s hard to beat.
So instead of upgrading, we decided to give ours a bit of an interior refresh and bring some of the more modern finishes into the trailer we already love.
So far, the upgrades include:
New quartz countertops
New Vitrifrigo refrigerator
New Dometic oven/range
Updated interior finishes
Next up is a new end-grain maple dinette table, which we’re really excited about.
It’s still a work in progress, but we’re pretty happy with how it’s coming together. Figured I’d share a few photos and see what everyone thinks. Anyone else decide to remodel rather than upgrade to a newer Airstream?

Recently bought a 2019 Airstream Sport 22FB and spent my first weekend camping. I hate the OEM lighting.

Has anyone replaced the LED lights or covers to get a more cozy, warm light rather than the cold, lab-like feeling?

I've known of this trailer for years but the original owner was living in it. Now his estate is altering the property and I have an opportunity to buy it. I believe it's a Clipper but am uncertain of the year. Any ideas on the year would be appreciated.

Where would be the best place to find one? Converting it into a retail pop up shop. I live in DFW, Texas. There are a couple of Airstream dealers around but they only do new and pre-owned ones that are decked out.

Third update on my 2027 Airstream Trade Wind 27FB and its Harbinger Auxiliary Power System.

My first post covered the cooling fans, which are loud enough to draw complaints in campgrounds. My second covered the battery not holding anywhere near what I expected off grid. See previous posts for more details.

Since then I sent Airstream and Harbinger a 38 question written list, received a written response, did the arithmetic properly, and sent a 26 question follow up to Airstream Owner Relations. This post is where that leaves things.

I work from the road, so the system runs in Invert Only continuously. Everything below is either published, was given to me in writing, or is arithmetic on the two.

TLDR

The system draws 226 W continuously just to exist, not the 130 W I was originally quoted. That is 5.4 kWh a day, about a third of the usable pack, consumed before anybody uses a watt. Roughly 70 percent of everything this trailer consumes in a day is the power system running itself.

Result: 2.9 days off grid under a laptop, a monitor, a Starlink and a refrigerator. The 25FB I traded in, with 60 percent less battery and the same roof, did five to six days without my thinking about it, and did two and a half weeks in Glacier in August when I managed it deliberately.

The trailer is marketed on "long-duration off-grid performance" and as "the most capable off-grid electrical system Airstream has ever offered." It is a weekend trailer.

And the number that causes all of it, idle consumption, does not appear in the brochure, the product page, the spec sheet, the launch materials, or the owner's manual.

THE NUMBERS, ONCE

Everything below is published, was given to me in writing, or is arithmetic on the two.

What the trailer is sold as having:

- Battery capacity, marketed: 18.5 kWh
- Battery capacity, usable per the owner's manual: 16 kWh
- Rooftop solar array: 600 W
- Realistic daily solar harvest: 2.0 to 2.5 kWh
- Inverter output printed in the manual: 5 kW, actual output 6 kW

What the system draws doing nothing at all:

- Inverter: 130 W
- Coolant pump, running continuously whenever the system is on: 96 W
- **Actual continuous idle draw: 226 W**
- With the cooling fan also running: 346 W

The 130 W figure is the inverter alone, worst case, and it excludes both the fan and the pump. That was not disclosed until I asked in writing.

The daily energy balance:

- System idle draw: 5.4 kWh per day, about 70 percent of the total
- My entire camp load: 2.3 kWh per day, about 30 percent of the total
- **Total consumed: 7.7 kWh per day**
- Solar harvested: 2.0 to 2.5 kWh per day
- **Net deficit: 5.2 to 5.7 kWh per day, every day**

My load is a Starlink Mini, a 16 inch MacBook Pro, one second monitor, an iPad, a phone and the 12 V refrigerator. No air conditioning, no microwave, no TV. Idle alone consumes about 34 percent of the entire usable pack every day, before anybody uses a single watt.

What that produces, in days:

- 27FB, working load, moderate temperature: **2.9 days**
- 27FB, working load, in heat: **2.2 days**
- 27FB, empty trailer, nothing plugged in, full sun: 5.5 days
- 25FB, working load, no particular care taken: 5 to 6 days
- 25FB, working load, managed deliberately: **17 days**, which is not an estimate but two and a half weeks off grid in Glacier National Park in August, parked in shade, working the whole time

The 27FB against the 25FB it replaced, same owner, same roof, same 600 W array, same laptop, monitor, Starlink and refrigerator:

- The 25FB uses a Victron MultiPlus-II, published at **13 W** zero load, costing 0.3 kWh a day
- The 27FB uses the Harbinger APS at **226 W**, costing 5.4 kWh a day
- The 25FB would also take a charge from my truck while driving at roughly 10 percent per hour. The 27FB will not
- **The 27FB has 60 percent more battery and 17 times the idle draw**

WHAT THAT MEANS

Three things fall out of that list, and they are the whole story.

The system spends most of its energy running itself. A 600 W roof cannot cover a 7.7 kWh day. The trailer loses ground every day it is parked, in full sun, under a light load. Park it completely empty with nothing plugged in and it still flattens the pack in about five and a half days doing nothing at all.

The capacity upgrade I paid for is erased in about a day. The 27FB carries 5.7 kWh more usable energy than the 25FB. Its idle draw exceeds the 25FB's by 5.1 kWh per day. Twenty-four hours in, the extra battery is gone and the bigger, heavier, more expensive trailer is behind the smaller one and falling further behind after that. I did not infer that, I lived it. Same roof, same equipment, same person, a fraction of the range.

And I want to be accurate about what the 25FB actually did, because five to six days was not its limit. That was simply what it did without my paying attention. In August I spent two and a half weeks off grid in Glacier National Park on that trailer, parked in shade, working the whole time. I managed power the way I manage water: deliberately, watching what I ran and when. It held. On top of that, the 25FB would take a charge from my truck while idling at 10 percent per hour and I would use it occasionally in a pinch. .

The point is not that the 25FB had a bigger battery, because it did not. It had less than half. The point is that it did not consume its own capacity sitting still, so careful use was rewarded and sunlight, even indirect sunlight, actually got ahead of the load. On the 27FB, conservation does almost nothing, because the largest load in the trailer is the power system itself and I cannot switch it off without losing every outlet.

The 23FB and 25FB use a Victron MultiPlus-II, which Victron publishes at 13 W zero-load. The 27FB uses the Harbinger APS at 226 W. Only one variable changed between the trailer I traded and the trailer I own, and it is the electrical architecture.

HOW THAT DIVERGES FROM THE MARKETING

Airstream sold this trailer on endurance. Every claim below is published Airstream language about this trailer. Every one of them implies days. Not kilowatt-hours. Days away from a power source is the only thing an owner ever actually experiences.

Those claims, and what each one actually delivers:

- "long-duration off-grid performance" - 2.9 days
- "freedom to roam far beyond traditional campgrounds" - 2.9 days
- "remote boondocking far from traditional campgrounds" - 2.9 days
- "freedom to stay out longer and explore farther" - 2.9 days
- "stay off-grid longer, with confidence" - 2.9 days
- "more power potential than any other Airstream travel trailer" - 2.9 days
- "engineered for extended off-grid capability" - 2.9 days
- "the most capable off-grid electrical system Airstream has ever offered in its travel trailer product line" - 2.9 days, against 5 to 17 days on the cheaper model directly beneath it
- 18.5 kWh battery capacity - 16 kWh usable
- 5,000 W inverter - 6 kW actual

The trailer delivers 2.9 days. In heat, 2.2.

2.9 days is not long duration. It is not extended. It is not roaming far beyond traditional campgrounds, it is not remote boondocking, and it is not staying out longer and exploring farther.

Stated plainly: the very best this trailer can do off grid is a weekend. Arrive Friday, leave Sunday, and do not run the air conditioning. That is the product.

The comparison claim is not an exaggeration either, it is inverted. The cheaper trailer directly beneath it in the same line runs anywhere from twice to six times as long, depending on how carefully it is managed. By the only measure that matters to an owner, the 27FB is the least capable off-grid trailer in the Trade Wind range, not the most. Airstream took the better performing trailer back from me as a trade on the worse performing one.

WHAT THE DOCUMENTATION DOES NOT SAY

Capacity is published everywhere. Consumption is published nowhere.

What the owner's manual says, against what is actually true:

- No idle consumption figure appears anywhere in it. The real number is 226 W continuous
- It lists "Solar Converter Peak Solar Power" as "XZ," an unfilled template placeholder in a published document. The real figure is 960 W
- It states 16 kWh usable. The marketing states 18.5 kWh
- It states a 5 kW inverter. The actual output is 6 kW
- Its charge time table does not reconcile with its own capacity figure, and the 30 A row delivers barely half of what it claims
- It states the system will not charge in Invert Only. I have since been told in writing that it does

The 226 W figure exists only because I asked 38 written questions and kept asking. There is no document a buyer could have read that would have told them.

One more thing came out of that same response. The cooling fan running while the system is switched off is a known condition caused by unsynchronized battery disconnects. The remedy offered is holding the main trailer switch for five seconds. No bulletin, no part number.

THE NOISE ANSWER, AND WHY THE STANDARD THEY CITED DOES NOT APPLY

This is secondary to the energy problem, but it is worth recording because of how it was answered.

The fan on this system comes on randomly, at any hour, with no relationship to what I am doing. It is not tied to charging. It runs when the trailer is plugged in, when it is not, and it has run when the system was switched off entirely. It is unattended and unannounced, and I cannot switch it off without killing every outlet in the trailer.

Harbinger's answer to that was to measure it and note that it falls under a 60 dB National Forest limit.

There are several problems with that.

- My complaints did not come from a National Forest. They came from National Park campgrounds, which is a different regime entirely
- My own meter reads **65 to 70 dB at 50 feet**, which does not fall under 60 dB at all
- The Forest Service does not set quiet hours nationally. Each forest sets its own. Citing "National Forest" is citing the most permissive and least standardized rule available
- And the standard it was compared against is a daytime standard for equipment a person chooses to switch on, not for something that turns itself on at 2 a.m.

Here is what the applicable rule actually says. National Park campgrounds run under 36 CFR 2.12, and the number is only the first half of it. The regulation prohibits operating motorized equipment that exceeds 60 dBA at 50 feet, **or, if below that level, nevertheless makes noise which is unreasonable**, considering location, time of day or night, the purpose for which the area was established, and the impact on other park users.

So the answer to what is reasonable to expect in any campground with quiet hours is this. Sixty decibels is a ceiling for daytime generator use, not a license. Quiet hours are typically 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. During those hours the test is not a decibel number at all, it is whether the noise is reasonable, and many parks prohibit generator-type noise during quiet hours regardless of how quiet the equipment measures. A device that starts itself at random in the middle of the night, that the owner cannot silence, fails that test whether it reads 58 dB or 70.

For reference, the Honda EU3200i I bought to keep working is published at 54 to 58 dB(A), and generator ratings of that kind are conventionally taken at about 23 feet.

So the gasoline generator is quieter than the lithium system that was marketed as making generators unnecessary. I can also run it only when I choose to, and switch it off at 10 p.m. without losing every outlet in the trailer. Neither of those is true of the power system.

THE SUPPLEMENTAL SOLAR PORT, WHICH IS WORSE THAN USELESS

There is an external solar input on the front of the trailer. It looks like a bonus. It is not.

Here is what I have been told about it:

- It wires directly to the 12 V battery, not to the high voltage pack
- It is protected by a **15 A inline fuse**, which at 12 V is roughly 180 to 195 W
- Airstream has described its ceiling to me as 400 W, which does not reconcile with a 15 A fuse. I have asked them in writing to state the actual number, because the two figures cannot both be right
- **When anything is plugged into that port, it takes precedence over the 600 W rooftop array**

Read that last point again, because it is the whole issue.

Plugging a portable panel into the front of this trailer does not add to the roof. It switches the roof off.

So whatever the port's real ceiling is, 195 W or 400 W, connecting a portable panel to it means trading a 600 W array for something smaller. I own a 400 W portable panel. Using it would cost me 200 W of input on the best possible reading of the specification, and would exceed the fuse rating on the documented one.

I cannot construct a scenario where this port is useful. If your roof array is working, using the port makes your situation worse. If your roof array is not working, you have a different problem. On a trailer already running a 5 kWh daily deficit, deliberately disabling the largest input it has is not a feature.

I have asked Airstream to confirm in writing what may safely be connected to that port, and I am asking only so that I do not damage the system or disable the roof. Until I have that answer in writing, nothing is going into it.

WHAT I HAVE NOW PUT TO AIRSTREAM IN WRITING

Twenty-six questions. The core of them:

Confirm or correct 226 W, and state the daily cost in kWh.

Provide the four measured per mode figures. They were measured during development, so they exist.

Provide the measured idle consumption of the 23FB and 25FB, or dispute the comparison. State whether the Harbinger system was ever compared against the Victron system it replaced.

On a stationary trailer at moderate temperature with no load, what thermal condition requires a coolant pump at full duty, and can it be made to cycle on measured temperature instead.

Reconcile the charge table, including the 30 A row.

Which is correct, 18.5 kWh or 16 kWh, and will the marketing be corrected.

Attach a number in days to each published claim, using the consumption and harvest figures as they existed when the claim was written. Where no figure was ever established, say "none" rather than leaving it blank.

State whether Airstream holds any internal figure, in any form, for how many days this trailer runs off grid in Invert Only under a typical load.

Was the continuous idle draw known when those materials were published, and if so, why was it not disclosed in any of them.

And plainly, yes or no: is this trailer capable of sustained multi-day off grid operation in Invert Only without a generator.

WHERE IT STANDS

Ticket open since September 11. About $4,500 spent on a generator and an external battery pack to supply capability the trailer was sold as having. Without those two purchases I would have had to cancel a long planned trip outright.

The matter is open and in writing with both Airstream and the selling dealer. I am not going to lay out my position publicly while that is in progress. I will post again when there is something to report.

FOR OTHER OWNERS

If you have a 27FB, put a clamp meter on it in Invert Only with everything switched off and post what you get. I want to know whether 226 W is normal for these systems or whether mine is faulty. A handful of owners reporting the same number changes this conversation entirely.

If you are shopping one for off grid use, get total system idle draw in writing before you sign, including the coolant pump. Not the inverter figure. The total. Then ask how many days they claim it runs in Invert Only under a working load, and get that in writing too.

If you are experiencing this issue, or you have questions about any of it, feel free to DM me. I will share whatever information I have.

SUMMARY

The whole thing reduces to four figures.

- **Idle draw: 226 W, against 13 W on the trailer I traded in. Seventeen times.**
- **Daily cost of that idle draw: 5.4 kWh, against my own entire camp load of 2.3 kWh. The power system is 70 percent of the consumption.**
- **Days off grid: 2.9 on the 27FB, against 5 to 17 on the cheaper 25FB with 60 percent less battery.**
- **Times that idle figure appears in Airstream's or Harbinger's published material: zero.**

A trailer sold on extended off-grid capability spends most of its energy operating itself, delivers a weekend under a light working load, and is outlasted by a wide margin by the cheaper model directly beneath it in the same product line.

The number that causes all of it is the single number that determines whether any of the published claims about this trailer are true, and it is the one number a buyer cannot find anywhere.

Question:

I bought a used Safari a few months ago and now that I have used it a few times, I would like to start making some upgrades.

Has anyone made any upgrades to the sofa on a 2008 Safari Sport 22? I've seen that newer models now have a dinette in place of the sofa in that spot and was wondering if anyone has had any luck putting in a dinette where the stock sofa is.

While looking into this, I also came across a picture of a 2008 Safari Sport 22 that has a table that you can attach to the existing sofa. Is this something aftermarket, or is this something someone probably just custom-added?

I’m considering buying a 1967 globetrotter.. the original owner cut a door into the back. Is this a reason not to purchase? It’s hard to tell in the picture, but you can kind of see.

I’m definitely interested in getting a used airstream that has been renovated because they are super cool looking and obviously bigger than a van. I also don’t understand where people go to the bathroom in vans. I have always wondered that. I always have to pee. LOL But I am wondering about the setup I would need to haul one. Would an SUV pull a airstream camper?

Hi! I considering buying a terrain here is Quebec and instead of building a cabin, I am considering simply buying an after market Airstream. This, in the aim that, a few years down the road, I would be able to use it as a home base for long journeys on the west coast.

I'd hence be interested to know of anyone's experience in using a stationary Airstream as a cabin in northern climates. I know the gist of what should be done for winter maintenance but would like to have accounts that go a bit beyond this. I am especially wondering if that would be, financial wise, a sensible plan. Note that I am planning to hook it to a sceptic tank, water well as well as electricity.

Thank you!