Antenna Project

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How do you like the fifth wheel?

My wife spent a couple days with her cousin at the camp grounds down the road from here near MIS in a 37 foot fifth wheel and she said it was bigger than our house (right!). And she is driving me up a wall about getting one?

 

OT

Since both of you are savvy, it’s also with genuine respect for how you’ve presented yourselves on this forum; the following:

(Edit: and it jumps around because I kept adding to it).

I’m a third-generation aerodynamic design, all-aluminum aircraft construction travel trailer owner.

Silver Streak

Other brands were Avion, Streamline and the best known (rescued from oblivion), Airstream (AS was the entry level bargain-brand).

Don’t take me as being critical in the following so much as holding open a door like a carnival barker: 99% don’t know this exists. Or why.

If you want to travel, it’s one of these trailer types. And a great family vehicle. If all one does is trundle down to the lake, then a 5’er. Drive south just to watch TV all winter? Versus continuing across the Gulf Coast? Big difference in spec.

A 70k total lifespan versus a 250k span before overhaul underlies design.

A 5’er is less stable AND one is trapped into owning an oversized pickup. (Being stuck with a pickup at all — the least stable passenger vehicle out there— is a genuine penalty. AND a greater risk of crippling injury or death).

The lifespan mentioned is a big issue. Maybe 10-years on average for a conventional as wall & roof delamination are “when, not if”. Buy a moisture meter with probe. That clock ticks louder every year.

Big? Really? Harder to heat & cool, “more” to have to constantly clean. When the hours in bed, and then maybe on the couch are included, what for? So a pair of fat people don’t have wait for the other to pass by first? Lacks storage? For what? All one needs are some clothes and food. Start engine. Leave.

The point to a camper is to chase shirt-sleeve weather. Being outside is the thing. Awnings out. Windows opened.

That’s the real downfall of conventionals: being blind to what’s outdoors. The ratio of glass to floor space is terrible. Few windows, and bad sightlines from within. The test isn’t walking around inside, it’s in sitting. Looking. Following the path of a bird outside. Watching the sun come up in one direction and turning to watch leaves and mountains come alive in the other.

Since this 5’er is purchased already, it distinctly needs:

- LED exterior lighting
- New breakaway switch
-Torsion axles (preferably with TUSON antilock disc brakes)
-TUSON DirecLink brake controller
-TUSON electronic trailer-mount antisway
-Uprated LT tires (never ST)

Ever heard: Do It Once, And Do It Right?

I also recommend DIY polycarbonate interior storm windows. Cut, gasketed,
and secured with mirror clips. This gets one past the 30F envelope in comfort.

I can run rings around any 5’er out there with my 35’ travel trailer. Do double lane-change emergency maneuvers that will roll any 5’er. Continue down the road in winds that place a 5’er out of service. Etc. A Hensley-patent hitch makes it BETTER than a 5’er.

(FWIW, I’ll go up against anyone as to experience and understanding design. Anyone. I’m not loved in some quarters of the RV world).

One needn’t much concern ones self with passing big rigs. The shape prevents crosswinds from piling up and gathering force down the trailer length. Passes over and “pulls” rather than pushes. A gentler action.

It’s adverse cross-winds that initiate loss-of-control accidents. Natural or man-made. Overcorrection at the wheel is the final straw. Best test this pronto. What I can do at 55-mph, one can’t with a 5’er . Etc. “Skill” is only helpful, not determinative.

The Airstreamers I piss off believe themselves good at the wheel. But their vehicle selection ALONE puts them into the Alcohol + Teenagers + Firearms test category: Once is all it takes. Bad spec is bad spec where the trailer is more stable than a pickup tow vehicle. And it’s not needed.

I average 15-mpg. Rigs with trailers of 27’ or less with a well-chosen TD car or SUV can hit the 20s.

Back to ongoing expense: I’ve no reason to concern myself with roof leaks, etc. Maintenance of penetrations is SOP, sure, but mine at 29-years is far newer than a ten year old conventional. And built better with better quality furnishings, etc. They’re bargains. Will be worth much more at sale time (age 75 or so). Maybe more than I paid (just not what I spent).

Brand new isn’t at all necessary. Depreciation and Condition meet on a graph at about 10-years. The trailer may need next to nothing. And once Depreciation bottoms, Value slowly rises.

The best tow vehicle needs extra-short rear overhang plus fully independent suspension. Spec is driven by solo use. Rig Stability drives spec. All the rest follows.

I saw all the US, most all of Canada and much of Mexico while growing up. A car. Five of us. Pulling a trailer as heavy as the one I own. Those cars weren’t better-built or more powerful than today’s (Chrysler 300 today far better than New Yorker with all the HD/Police Spec equipment then), but they’re still a better choice than the latest pickemup.

Get the mental gears meshed and be sure that being parked is the main thing. That’s the 5’er advantage. Parked. Use determines tool.

I have less into purchasing both the TT and TT than the majority have into a used version of the latter. (I also know what I’m doing). With fuel mileage as much as 50% higher (solo & towing with the fuel economy edge provided by serious application of rules) . . .

. . consider that staying at Wal-Mart overnight with the riff-raff of three counties around

Or

Yet another night in the RV section of Flying J

is avoided on budgetary grounds as rig selection can free up more $$ to travel with. I’d rather be at an RV Park, myself.

RVs are maintenance-demanding. But where there’s a world of difference in design and initial quality, so too are headaches greatly diminished. And out-of-pocket expense. (Free money).

Buy a crapped-out fleet COE International (typical RV)? Or a low-miles, owner-op spec, long hood Pete where you are friends with the owner (and it’s cheaper than the fleet truck you do it my way)?

Some long threads on www.airforums.com about HAM Radio in an Airstream.

This trailer type has every budget represented. For me it’s my retirement. There is no other property.

Sell it all.

Don’t like todays neighbors? In an hour from the decision you could be setting the cruise out on the big road.

The 5’er owner will be struggling with a slide-out mechanism. Etc.

Cue up 1955. Dinah Shore. “See the USA in your Chevrolet . . . .”

Or, (my favorite), the driving Billy May arrangement from 1958 with Frank Sinatra in, “Lets Get Away From It All”.

Start ‘er up boys. There’s a whole continent out there.

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Due to my divorce I had to sell my Avion.
I'll get another one someday. It was a thousand times better than my old Airstream although it was much heavier but I didn't mind the extra weight.

 

My current one parked in Corpus Christi after return from West Texas a few years back. Awaiting a better site. (Now in Fort Worth).

1990 35’ Silver Streak

They’ve all gotten harder to find.

Many, many models of these brands sold in Texas during the golden era (1955-1985). You let me know if you’re looking. I’ve inspected a fair share of them over the years. PM me whenever you wish.

National Craigslist searches are how I keep up. $12-15,000 usually gets a nice one these days (original & unmolested). I see asking prices up to $30k but that can be wishful thinking (cosmetic upgrades). I bought mine from a guy who didn’t learn to winterize his plumbing. Big discount for damage. (But none above floor).

An AS goes for another $10k more than the above for same condition, even though it will need $10k more in work than the upmarket cousins.

OTOH, I’d never turn down a nice AS. Huge community. Factory support. Best aero & suspension.

Hope you aren’t far off from another one, Rebbe. (And I think you’d find your trailer not very much heavier than AS in a comparable year/model. Avion knew what they were up to. Both Streamline and Avion were probably lighter than AS in the late 1960s. CAT Scale tells the story. Frankly, “weight” isn’t what matters. “Aero” is the thing).

As this is a CB radio subforum post about antenna project, I’ve had some fun thinking about a folding mount at roof center. Motorized, right? (Ha!). (Unlike the AS owners we aren’t afraid to walk around on our roofs. “Chicago Crimp” in 5005 Anodized. Thick stuff).

Instead, for now, I have a MIDLAND 18-258 glass mount CB Antenna on the way to replace the missing original. The first owner up in Seattle had it that way (factory was El Monte, CA). It’ll go back up on the large window next to the front door. And the venerable Uniden 76 to go with it for now just inside at the top front of that window with the factory wiring/mount package.

“The Campground Radio”. For the clubs and rallies.




In the Airstream Caravans of the 1950s you’ll see 102” whips in use. Those old cast iron GE ball mounts. More info on that site.

I also picked up the MIDLAND glass-mount antenna for that brand weather radio. Living in hail & tornado country makes one a bit more wary.

The white model commonly sold for about $40 at RV dealers and the like is surprisingly good. That’ll go on the sidelight of the trailer-rear bedroom jalousie window. It’s performance (unless mounted on the glass itself) requires the exterior antenna for best reception. Sometimes what’s happening a ways away is necessary to know.

I’m not upgraded the Streak to 50A service yet, but a dedicated wire pull for a radio power supply is pencilled in. To go into the overhead dinette cabinets. Radio(s) would be outside of that enclosure. (Think I’ve got my military-trained pilot son interested about Amateur just enough that a Yaesu FT450 is tentatively planned).

Santa Fed Ex Claus just showed up today with the RM Italy KL7505-V from DNJ Radio. That’ll be for something well removed from the little 76 and it’s tiny antenna.

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