[A/S] Buying an Old Airstream Trailer - Buyer Beware!

["Richard Vroom" <rvroom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have wanted to buy an Airstream trailer 25' long for almost ten 
years. I have talked to many of my friends with Airstream trailers 
and motorhomes and they all said to head south to Florida to get 
one. They are cheaper there and many people use them like winter 
homes and never travel with them. I was told to try Airstream parks 
to get their "for sale" lists. In the end, I found one that I liked 
on the internet, that was fairly decent. It was a 1986 Sovereign 
with twin beds for $9000. I was sent lots of photos and the seller 
in Lanett, Alabama, seemed really nice. I gave a small deposit to 
hold it and my wife and I hopped into our Mercedes 320 ML SUV to 
look at it. The seller promised that it had no dents, solid floor 
and all appliances in working order and the price was right. We 
drove for three days to get there. I found that the smaller ones 
seemed more expensive and harder to find than the over 30' ones.

Finally, we arrived in Lanett to go over the trailer. I was surpised 
how nice it was. It looked new! There were a number of small scuff 
marks, but no dents to be seen. Even the carpet and sofa seemed in 
great shape. We went through the trailer as best we could. I have 
had many yachts and had sold my last one to get an Airstream. I was 
used to surveying yachts, but a novice at Airstream trailers. We 
could not connect water to test the water systems. We tried the 
furnace and air conditioner. All fine. The tires were supposed to be 
in good shape but had quite a few sun cracks but lots of tread.  The 
hitch looked fine and even had a sway bar. In the end, turned over 
the $9000 and found that we needed a leveling hitch get it to ride 
level. We forked over another $450 and off we went for a couple of 
week holiday in Florida. 

Our first night we could not find a camp site open in Georgia, so we 
pulled into where else but Wallmart. We turned the furnace on and 
went to bed. We woke up in the morning frozen as the outside 
temperature had gone to near freezing. The furnace wood start 
heating and then blow cold air after about 5 minutes. Problem number 
one! Then we found that the water pump did not work. Next the oven 
did not work. I had it looked at in Florida by a couple of trailer 
places and the propane regulator was changed and we were told the 
water system needed a new pump. These were replaced. I replaced the 
tires and I felt they were a might bit too sun cracked and found 
that the spare with an antique with no air and totally useless. The 
oven needed a new propane regulator and the furnace needed a new 
motherboard to work. Tires cost about $500 for 5 and another $500 
plus went to propane and furnace items. Finally we were more or less 
functional and had spent a good few days sitting in trailer repair 
places. The last items we had to replace in Florida were the radio 
and TV antenna that did not work.  I put a nice Alpine stereo with 
Infinity speakers tucked into the walls. Another $600 went into our 
new dream trailer. 

We decided to have the countertops replaced with a deep brown 
granite ones for kitchen and bathroom, in Florida along with new 
stainless sinks. The old counters were rather tired and the kitchen 
counter was so small, we opted for a single sink that gave us a 
decent counter top. About $1100 did the job nicely. The whole 
trailer took on a new elegance. A new small lightweight porcelain 
toilet was added to replace the tired plastic one for a coouple of 
hundred dollars. Our next plan was to do the carpet and curtains 
after getting home.

We loved the trailer and began meeting loads of people at each 
campsite. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. We had a wonderful 
holiday in Florida and enjoyed the new way of life. Learning to 
drive it and park was a skill we learned quite quickly. The trailer 
foloows us like you could hardly tell it is behind us. There is no 
problem driving 65 to 70 with only our six cylinder 215 hp Mercedes 
320 ML. A little more power would help on the hills.

The real shock was to hit us only when we arrived home. I bought new 
carpet and had the old one ripped out only to find that the floor 
was rotten in the bedroom at the back end on both sides. The whole 
floor would have to be ripped out and replaced. There was also rot 
new the door. Then we found more under the sofa in the front. We had 
no idea to look underneath the beds for rot. If we had flipped up 
the beds, we found that the previous owner had simply placed a board 
over the hole. It looked like rats had also gotten into the trailer 
and had chewed through the chip board floor after it had gotten wet. 
The easiest way to check a floor for rot is using a long nail or 
spike. Check the edges around the door and both front and back of 
the trailer first. This job cost us close to $2000 to have a good 
part of the floor removed and plywood put in place. I urethaned the 
whole floor before the furniture was put back in place. This I hope 
will help with some degree of waterproofing. The new carpeting was 
then laid transforming the trailer to like new condition for about 
$400. The problem had been caused by water running down the back of 
the trailer, hitting the steel beams that go into the trailer and 
running into the flooring. The water proofing had not been kept up 
all around the trailer. This would be one of the first and most 
important things I would check for in buying another trailer. I 
should have had a good trailer dealer run over the Airstream before 
buying it. On cleaning the trailer, I found dents in the top and a 
cracked air conditioner cover. The dents are disappointing but the 
air conditioner cover only takes a little more money. I wrote to the 
dealer selling the Airstream trailers in Lanett and never received 
any response. I have spent about $6000 to get the Airstream trailer 
in virtually new condition and in fact it is nicer than new as the 
interior decorating is as nice as our home. The trailer also has the 
colors and feel that we wanted for our new adventures on the road. 
For another $3000, I could get the aluminum all recoated at the 
factory and the whole outside would be like new. We have justed 
joined the Wally Byam Caravan Club as well. The Airstream club of 
Nova Scotia is taking us out to dinner to meet the local members.