Quote:
Originally Posted by thrifty bill
The thing about pretty much any traditional trailer (like an Airstream) is they are wider than most molded fiberglass trailers. And at 22 feet long, only the largest Bigfoot and the largest Oliver have that kind of length.
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Our
Escape will be 21' 4" long, so that's pretty close to Airstream's 21' 8".
The 22FB's published width is only 7' 3.25". Or, 7' 3 1/4" as the more conventional all-fractional notation would have it.
This appears to be a unique trailer in Airstream's current lineup in this respect. Even the "little" Sport 16 is a full 8' wide. With the exception of the Basecamp, I believe all their other offerings are either 8' or 8' 5 1/2". The narrower width of the 22FB was a big part of the appeal to me.
As vehicles get wider, it takes more concentration to handle narrow old bridges and skinny highways. I don't know if it's just my imagination or if more people are now driving larger vehicles than they know how to handle, but I seem to find more and more vehicles creeping over on on my side of the center line.
I was grateful last month for the full size (dually?) pickup driver who was on a stretch the historic Columbia River highway, driving with his mirrors folded in. The "guardrails" there are low basalt walls and everyone tends to maintain a goodly shy-distance away from them. In this case, I'm not sure that I would have cleared if he didn't have his mirrors in.
The bridge across the Columbia at Hood River is another skinny one.
I think I can handle a larger vehicle and/or trailer, (don't we all?
), but personally I like having the extra grace of a skinnier trailer and being able to use my stock mirrors. It's more relaxing.