After a year of full-time RV travel, today we share everything that broke on our Airstream. Some repairs were minor, while others were major, but that’s real life when you live and travel 365 days a year.
A Reality Check:
The purpose of this post is to be a reality check for anyone considering the full time RV lifestyle. Our intent isn’t to either promote or discourage the full time RV lifestyle, but to provide some insights into full time travel. Additionally, this isn’t meant to place blame on Airstream. We still believe that Airstream trailer are the best RVs you can own, but just like every RV they are going to require maintenance and repairs while on the road. As we look back on our repairs, we decided to divided them into two main categories: minor repairs and major repairs.
Minor repairs include:
Cabinet latches: This is a common repair for just about every Airstream owner. While they are easy to replace and relatively inexpensive, it can be frustrating how frequently this plastic latches break.
Missing Rivets: For us this was not a common repair in our Airstream, but we did have a few popped rivets. It’s going to happen, but is a relatively easy DIY repair.
Awning hooks: This wasn’t so much of a repair as it was a replacement. We arrived at our destination, only to find the awning hook was missing. Our assumption is that it just vibrated loose during our travels.
Stovetop grates / Burners: These repairs were identified after we purchased the Airstream. Not sure how the part came to be missing but again it was a minor repair.
Shower door sweep: We actually repaired this door sweep twice during the first year. It is our opinion that the quality of the parts aren’t made for full time use. If we only used the Airstream a few times a year, I am sure we would not have had to replace the part twice within a year.
Bathroom door knob: This is similar to the shower door sweep, in that the part isn’t built to the same level of quality as a residential door knob. The problem with trying to upgrade to a better door knob it that the Airstream bathroom door isn’t the same thickness as the typical residential door.
Power jack switch: This repair was another simple DIY task that required replacing the switch on the front power jack.
Outdoor shower leak: We never use the outdoor shower, but because we didn’t want to chance having a water leak cause damage to the Airstream we went ahead and replaced the outdoor shower.
Kitchen vent: This is plastic part that likely broke due to exposure to UV rays as well as vibrations. We went to a local Airstream dealership and purchased a replacement from their parts department.
Batteries: This repair was not unexpected, and just like tires, batteries have a useable life span. They were approximately 5 years old when we replaced them and can say that we were very happy with how long they lasted.
Surge guard: This replacement was do to a faulty power pedestal at a RV park we stayed at during our travels. While we can’t pinpoint the exact cause, we would say that it was likely due to low voltage, poor electrical connection, and an over heating of the power cord head.
Major repairs include:
Water pump: Replacing the water pump is really a gray area of being minor or major repair. However, we always carry a spare water pump when we travel just as a precaution.
Deadbolt: This deadbolt repair was due to an error on my part when I was doing maintenance on the Airstream. The repair was a little more difficult and required a few more tools but with care, we should not have any more problems with the deadbolt.
Air conditioner: This repair was the result of a faulty capacitor. The challenge wasn’t in replacing the part, but finding a part. Everywhere we looked, nobody had the part on hand. In the end, I was able to find a used capacitor at a local RV dealership which got our AC up and running again.
Fresh water tank leak: This problem arose one day when I noticed water dripping from the belly pan. After some investigation, I located the leak and made a semi-permanant repair using JB weld (water proof) epoxy. Eventually, we will need to replace the fresh water tank.
Roof leak: This was perhaps the most frustrating repair during this time period. We sent months trying to track down the roof leak and eventually did get it repaired. So far so good…no roof leaks.
Conclusion:
As we stated in the beginning, we aren’t trying to discourage anyone from traveling full time in their Airstream. We just wanted to share with you our experience and hopefully provide you with some insights. However, our two best pieces of advice we can provide is to (1) maintain a well stocked toolbox with the essential tools needed to work on your Airstream, (2) carry an assortment of the most critical spare parts that you will need to keep your Airstream on the road. While we aren’t RV technicians, we were able to fix all of our problems with just a few tools, spare parts and some basic handyman skills. We hope this post is helpful. Let us know if you have had any of these maintenance / repair problems with your Airstream and how you were able to fix them.
Happy Camping & Safe Travels
Rick & Lisa
The Wright Life
Comments