[VAC] Read it and weep

[Bill Worden <fantods@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

An interesting article from Design News 8/7/200 for those that may have
missed it.

Dayton, Ohio
Picture an Airstream trailer, those sleek aluminum  recreational vehicles
that have criss-crossed Ameiica's roads for nearly 70 years. Look how the
Sun plays off the curved metal surfaces as it slices down the highway. Now
picture its owners. Look how the sun plays on their graying hair as you
pass them with barely a tap On the accelerator.

Like other recreational vehicle makers, Airstream now faces a demographic
dilemma. Older folks towing large full-time trailers with large vehicles
keep the company rolling along. Yet a huge untapped market of younger
buyers awaits if only Airstream, a division of Thor Industries can build
smaller trailers that appeal to them. Airstream may have an answer to this
quandary in a new line of trailers that are easier to tow, buy, and
maintain. "we believe we've come up with something that will appeal to age
groups from the Baby Boomers on down," says Rex Miner, Airstream's vice
president of product development. The new models represent an update of the
"Bambi" trailers that Airstream introduced more than a half century ago-and
partially revived in 1998 in a 19.5-ft version. The very latest Bambi,
which debuts this month, isn't your Grandpa's trailer. More like a camper
at 16 ft long and eight ft wide, this single-axle model has a tow weight of
3,500 lbs. and weighs about 2,000 lbs. when empty. 'Anybody with a mini-van
or large sedan can tow it," says Miner, who adds that it's actually shorter
than most mini-vans. It will carry a pricetag of under $20,000.   .For'
those who designed it, the Bambi 16 represents a design problem at the
intersection of  marketing and engineering: How to appeal to younger
consumers without changing Airstream's signature styling and aerodynamic
performance? The company 's engineers rose to the challenge with a design
in which old meets. New. Old" is embodied in Bambi's overall package.
Airstream barely tinkered with the aerodynamic shape it has used for 70
years.
 . "From the underbelly to the roof, there's not a flat surface anywhere,"
says Miner. The shape conforms well enough to existing Airstream models
that the design team even used some of the same wind tunnel results from
testing back in the  1970's. 'The shape is virtually unchanged, so we
believe those results are  still  valid,"  says  Miner.  Also unchanged is
the Airstream monocoque-hulled aluminum construction -in which the wiring
and insulation take up space between the walls. And the Bambi still uses
the company's time-tested rubber torsion suspension system, which replaces
the moving parts of a conventional
 shock absorber with stack of elastomeric bearings.

"New,", meanwhile, appears in the many subtle changes that take weight and
cost out of the Bambi 16 while making it less maintenance-intensive than
larger trailers of the past.

Chassis developments. Starting from the ground up, Airstream's design team
first came up with a new sectional frame for the Bambi 16. Made entirely
from formed steel components joined by a fastening system from Huck Inc.
(Waco, TX), this new
frame represents a major departure from the welded structural steel
construction
Airstream uses on its other trailers. The Bambi 16 consists of three main
sections - a center suspension section, a front section with an A-frame
leading to the tow vehicle, and a rear section.
The new frame style, inspired by European trailer designs, offers some
compelling advantages,  according  to  Bob  Foley, Airstream's director of
engineering. For one thing, it weighs about 20% less than a welded frame of
the same size. It also costs about 30% less. At the same time, he adds,
it's every bit as strong. "We faun the strength into the frame," he says,
pointing to ribs and other integrated structural elements.
And because its sections are modular, larger two-axle Bambi models will be able
to share frame elements with the Bambi16. Creating a chassis for a larger
double-
axle  model  would require  only  an additional suspension section, Foley says.

For corrosion resistance, Airstream's engineers choose an e-coat process rather
than the hot-dip-galvanizing used by European manufacturers. "We found cost
problems with galvanizing," Foley explains. But. our frame supplier already
had e-coat capabilities in house."      '

Good Design. Airstream engineers identified even more weight and cost saving
opportunities inside the cabin. "We took out a lot of overdesign" says
Foley. And
they did so by putting in more plastics. Foley reports Airstream replaced metal
galvanized parts with ones thermoformed from ABS and PE in areas that don't
interfere with Airstream's signature aluminum styling. We put the plastic
in places you can't see it," Folly says, citing wheel wells, holding tanks
and covers as the first parts to undergo conversion to plastics. While not
in place yet, the company may also add a thermoformed shower surround
to replace fiberglass. All the new plastic components forced Airstream
engineers to embrace solid modeling on a larger scale than any past
project. . Every new component was modeled in Mechanical Desk top," Foley
reports. .

The new Bambi's small size also let
the designer adopt a one-piece oriented
strandboard floor, which replaced more
costly tongue-and-groove flooring. "Get-
ting the seams out gets the cost out," Foley
says. Vinyl tiles in the new Bambi take the
place of heavier carpet in past models
Other aspects of the interior remain the
same as previous Airstreams, though many
of the appliances and systems have been
scaled down to fit the smaller space. In
some cases, though, this downsizing con-
tributed to further weight and cost savings.  For instance, the new Bambi
employs direct discharge furnace that eliminates the need for ductwork
under cabinets.

User friendly. Given the age of the buy-
ers Airstream is courting, the Bambi's
designers sought to maximize. creature
comforts. The Bambi is pre-wired for
sound, solar power, portable satellite, and telephone hook-ups. And it can
optionally carry an air conditioner. Since some of these hallmarks of
digital civilization need to mount on the roof, the trailer retains the
load-bearing top of its larger predecessors.
lt also has been engineered for low
maintenance with details such as smaller,
quick-mounting LP bottles and a simplified
"wet bath" for easier cleaning. To keep
exterior maintenance to a minimum, the
trailer employs a fluoropolymer clearcoat
from PPG Industries (Pittsburgh). Accord-
ing to Miner the coating, which Airstream
has not used in the past, helps the Bambi
retain its shine without much work. 'All it
needs is a wash and wax," he says, noting
that the Bambi can even be run through a
typical car wash. And accelerated weather-ing tests show that the clearcoat
lasts long enough for Airstream to bump up its warranty on the exterior
from 12 months to 3 years, Miner adds.
Coupled with the weight and cost cuts,
low maintenance completes the picture of
a trailer that's always ready to leave its lit-
tle spot of driveway and hit the road, says
Miner. "Just hop in and take off."