Airstream Lessons
For anyone reading this with some sort of aluminum trailer lust, let me attempt to impart some of the RV wisdom I’ve gained out of this journey to date.
Allow me to present,
Things Nobody Will Tell You About RVing In An Airstream But Should Have
- The window design of this 28′ CCD is incredible. Four skylights, and lots of high windows that point to the sky. Why is high light important? Because in crowded RV parks, you often have your regular window shades down.
- The bathroom sink drains into the BLACK tank (sewage), not the grey tank. This apparently varies from year to year and model to model. This is important to know because bad things can happen when your tanks fill up, especially if you are parked somewhere with no sewer services.
- Tank sensors are unreliable.
- Turn off the hot water heater during the day to save on propane.
- It does not seem possible to carry books in such a way (even with bookends) that they do not fly all over the place while towing.
- Buy water. Even with Brita, random water can still be questionable.
- Black tank bio agent treatment is basically a requirement. You will enter a world of pain otherwise.
- Stabilizing jacks are a necessity, even if you’re just parked for a short time. Slight winds will rock the hell out of everything.
- The dinette is mostly stupid and awkwardly ergonomiced if you’re living alone.
- Buying a tiny upright (and finding a place to store it) is way better than trying to clean an entire vehicle with a hand-vac.
- Clothes do not stay on hangars while towing.
- Get the convection microwave instead of the oven. You will carry a microwave anyway, and take valuable counter space with it.
- You need less clothes than you think, as long as you are staying somewhere with laundry services. But you’ll need quarters — lots of them.
- Don’t store soap and food in the same cabinet. It takes approximately 97 years to “air out” a soap smell.
- Living in a small apartment prepares you for living in a trailer in unexpected ways.
- Living in an Airstream is way cooler than living in one of those ugly white box horriblethings.
- Good tow vehicles make horrible commuters. The fact that I am driving a 6000lb diesel pickup truck to the office every day is a disgrace. However, there is no good way to take the dog to work on a motorcycle, and no good way to travel with a different type of vehicle. At my current consumption, I’m going to be spending almost $600/month on gas. This assumes fuel prices don’t go back up, which I’m sure they will.