For years I’ve been hearing that Airstream Trailers are less toxic that other brands of trailers.
That may have been true at some time in the past, but it’s not true today.
Over the weekend Larry and I went to an Airstream showroom and the toxic odor in the new models was terrible.
Airstream trailers have a classic aluminum frame with a very beautiful design, but the materials used in today’s Airstream interiors are the same toxic materials used in other trailers.
So if you want an Airstream, look for an old one and renovate the interior with nontoxic materials. Don’t get a new one.
Having purchased several of your books over the years, I am always so appreciative of and interested in your quest to reduce toxins. I also have written several post on RV’s and other topics. I would be interested to know if you were able to specifically obtain information from the sales manager or Airstream in general to delve into the materials issues. After much study, for years, and visiting and touring virtually every brand of trailer within 200 miles area of our home, we decided the Airsteams were less toxic and less problematic than other models. Many units we simply could not step in. Now, we ordered ours in late 2016, as the dealer did not have in stock anymore the small unit we wanted. Thus, we wound up getting a 2017 trailer. I have always thought it smelled stronger than the 2016 and earlier units we had visited. Everywhere I can actually see the wood is still plywood and not OSB or particle board, as used in many/most other trailers. The flooring and the cabinet facings look a little different from the 2016 styles/materials. My husband is fairly handy but we would not be able to totally renovate an older model, and the few used models we found either smelled musty or had shower leak or other issues. I just wonder if there is something significantly different now that we can’t see but can smell. PS I did notice in the last newsletter that y’all just bought a motorhome to renovate. We will be interested in following that story very closely, perhaps for some ideas others of us can apply. Thank you!
I didn’t ask them about specific materials—they were all just so toxic I could hardly stand being in them. So materials may have changed from the past.
I’m actually working on a separate blog for our tinyhouse-toxicfree-motorhome remodel so I can give you all the details. It will be at tinyhousetoxicfree.com.