AirStream expedition trailer - possible?

[Bloomer]

Took the family camping for a few days as part of 100s in the Hills this summer. We have a m416 with RTT (kids use) and REI Kingdom ground tent. This past camping trip was the first and last for my wife, unless (according to her) camping involves an AirStream that has a bathroom. Wondering if anyone has seen or heard of an AirStream expedition/offroad style trailer? Not looking for something to drag up a remote mountain side trail, but something with enough clearance and AT tires to get through deep puddles and wash outs to a base camp setting.

Any pictures would be great.

Thanks

 

[ntsqd]

I grew up with my grandparents dragging first their 19' and then 23' Airstreams down dirt roads every summer. No fancy "Expo" stuff on those, just quality trailer tires (back when you could get those) and a load equalizing 2" ball coupler.

 

[the gimpey one]

You would be off buying a pop up with ac and a toilet. Then change the suspension for higher clearance.

 

[greentruck]

A good suspension shop should be able to help you out if it's just a standard axle and leaf suspension. Pretty straightforward to lift a trailer. Then it depends on what the wheelwells have to offer in terms of clearance for bigger tires at the new ride height. So you sort need to eyeball things and how they'll change in relation to each other to determine feasibility with a particular trailer, but I have no idea about Airstreams specifically. Another issue would be dual axle, whose spacing tends to limit max tire size.

Big bulky hardshell trailer have, umm, certain disadvantages on the trail of course. You may want to consider one of the Australian-pattern trailers. With these, they retain a way to stow much of the living space, then expand it. Way more than glorified pop-ups, these things are really nice. The Kimberley Kamper has seen a few imported. A big lid covers everything, then flips 180 as it opens to form the floor of the main room. Up on top of the camper is your nice fully made up bed. The shower/bathroom is built in somewhere, but basically it's a hard-floored luxury camper.

Then there are the "crank ups" although these are way fancier than US versions not designed for the trail. Check this one out:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/aw...-i-wonder-if-they-sell-this-in-the-us.805212/

Other potential leads for Airstream alternatives:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/offroad-trailer-manufacturers.117355/

 

[fireball]

Bloomer - how about an off road TD and a pop up privacy shelter for bathroom and changing purposes? Best of both worlds?

I never understood the bathroom in the tiny trailers. I was always taught not to $hit where I ate Or slept!

A pop up with a suspension upgrade and some decent tires also sounds like it would work well for your application.

 

[ntsqd]

My wife found and bought our PETT toilet* on her own. I suggested it at one point before we actually had it and she told me that it would be arriving in the next couple of days. We take it with us in both the off road tent trailer and in the pop-top camper. When truck-shell camping once I brought a small tent and set it up in that. Which worked, but was a less than stellar solution. Something to do with getting out of the warm sleeping bag in the middle of the night to go over to that tent.

So depending on her willingness to compromise away from an actual travel trailer I would suggest one of these toilets, and something that will allow privacy w/o her having to go outside.

*PETT toilets are a simple plastic seat that holds a disposable plastic bag with some special powder in it. Can buy the powder separately for use with other seating options. I really like this system as it allows for disposal in a normal trash can. In bags with that powder in it the filled bag is not classed as Haz-Mat and no dump station needs to be found like with a "porta-potty."

 

[tag3]

My daughter uses a luggable loo lid on a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out.

 

[Martin A]

can't say I've seen one but i have a dream. I have 1973 20 foot argosy I am in the early stages of building. Wife is of the same thinking as yours. Shell is ready to lift to replace the wood subfloor which had some funky mold thing happening. Thought i could use it as is but we started to get sick in it .As the deconstruction started it plans got bigger. Right now its stripped right down to the bones. You can see the process on the Air stream forum. Once i get the frame out from under it I plan to replace the torsion axels with axels with a greater drop. I also plan on adding lift by adding 2inches to the bottom of the frame in the section were the axels are tapering to front and back. I'm hoping to relocate the tanks directly over the axels and perhaps hatches in the floor for storage.The belly is pretty soft. Seeing I have the luxury of pulling it with a tundra 5.7 I plane on going with a heavier gauge metal on the belly. This is my plan so far . Systems will be modern and finish highly functional.It weighed in at 3500lb so I have a little room to play with. Its almost as old as i am and I'm confident it will stand up.My wife thinks she's going glamping but I'm building it a little more functional.
Come to think of it, airstreams may be one of the original overland vehicles. Check out the creator of the airstream Wally Byam and the caravans he led. They pulled these trailer through some pretty exotic places.
Wally byams creed http://www.airstream.com/history/ Just found this.

 

[Estancio]

You specifically ask for Airstream…so here is the only unit they made which was even remotely fit for your needs. Called a Basecamp and was only made for about 3 years. If you can find a used one, it might work for what you said the wife wanted. But it does NOT have a toilet. The pop-up, fold-out camping tailers are a much better option for off road use.

 

[cruiserdan]

The Kimberley Kamper has seen a few imported. A big lid covers everything, then flips 180 as it opens to form the floor of the main room. Up on top of the camper is your nice fully made up bed. The shower/bathroom is built in somewhere, but basically it's a hard-floored luxury camper.

The Kimberley export model that came into the US does not have a bathroom. I am not aware of any of the privately-imported RHD models having one either. When we are dry-camping in ours we have a porta potty and a shower tent we set up away from the main tent. We also have a factory "shower annex" that can be zipped to the main tent body.

 

[greentruck]

The Kimberley export model that came into the US does not have a bathroom. I am not aware of any of the privately-imported RHD models having one either. When we are dry-camping in ours we have a porta potty and a shower tent we set up away from the main tent. We also have a factory "shower annex" that can be zipped to the main tent body.

Thanks for setting me straight, Dan. I suspect I confused older material on the KK with some of the newer models I've seen over the last few years. I'll probably remain a dreamer in terms of a rig of this sort -- we're on a PETT budget here -- but I can't help watching...

 

[MT Dweller]

We have a 1960 Caravell that we had gutted to the core and refurbished. Its got a lift over stock and larger tires. We have taken it on many rough roads camping in MT. I'll post some more details, but here are some pics...towed by the F150 not the Cruiser.

 

[greentruck]

We have a 1960 Caravell that we had gutted to the core and refurbished. Its got a lift over stock and larger tires. We have taken it on many rough roads camping in MT. SNIP

Nice, classic trailer. It really is a lot easier to do one of these on a single-axle trailer. Not that you can't do a dual axle, just that there's complication you don't have with a single axle modification.

 

[Source3]

How about a 17' Casita Delux (liberty, spirit) with a Dexter Torsion Axle swap with a 45* downdrop which gives you a 6" lift. Or a 22.5* and a 1" spacer? I was going to go this route but talked my wife into an offroad teardrop (Moby 1 or SoCal). Maybe drive out to Expo West in May 2015 and check out what is available (http://www.overlandexpo.com/west/). Expo East is in a couple weeks.

Another option is the Escape Travel Trailer, no rivits to pop out of rough roads.

 

[cruiserpilot]

How about a 17' Casita Delux (liberty, spirit) with a Dexter Torsion Axle swap with a 45* downdrop which gives you a 6" lift. Or a 22.5* and a 1" spacer? I was going to go this route but talked my wife into an offroad teardrop (Moby 1 or SoCal). Maybe drive out to Expo West in May 2015 and check out what is available (http://www.overlandexpo.com/west/). Expo East is in a couple weeks.

Another option is the Escape Travel Trailer, no rivits to pop out of rough roads.

I saw a Casita trailer behind a fullsize 4x4 truck 2 days ago in Austin. It had a slightly modified suspension, as it sat level behind the truck.
It looked exactly what you are talking about. The trailer looked to be 15-17', I couldn't be sure. This would really be worth looking at.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Read the reviews for the Casita before you buy. They have issues when used on road, never mind off road. If you want a hard side trailer look at Arctic fox.

We have a small pop-up that suits my wife well enough that she actually goes with me. No flush toilet but the Lug a Loo seems to work out.

If you go the pop-up route be prepared to invest some money in the suspension. you can start out with a simple spring over conversion and some 1/2 ton hubs. That will get you into a reasonable size tire and wheel. We started that way. here is the build thread;
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/19110-The-Goony-Bird

This year we had to replace the axle with a 3/4 ton axle and new springs. The stock axle was bent and the springs were kind of "W" shaped after a few hundred miles of gravel roads at 50+ mph.

I've also spent a lot of time screwing and glueing the cabinetry back together.

 

[5ForFighting]

Try looking at Nash trailers - made by Northwood, same as the Arctic Fox but lighter. They have 17 and 18 footers but we went with a 23F for the large bathroom and no slideouts - definitely something you want to avoid if you're going off pavement.

Their claim to fame is an in-house built "off-road" chasis.

 

[5ForFighting]

We flipped the axles and put on bigger tires (225s).

The built in LP generator, ducted A/C and heating are nice as well.

 

[5ForFighting]

 

[5ForFighting]