Re: [VAL] plans for new Airstream motorhomes

["Tom" <thomm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have given thought to your points and you would certainly need extra 
support.  In fact, making a pop-top Airstream would require quite a bit of 
extra reinforcement, maybe to the extent of making the ribs out of 
extrusions rather than "formed" aluminum done in a stamping process.

I would love to see an Airstream trailer made that did *not* require the use 
of an interior skin that today helps the integrity of the unit as a whole as 
we know it.  It really would be possible to use extruded ribs, the type used 
on aircraft today, to bear the load along with one gauge thicker aluminum 
skin like the older trailers were made of in years gone by.

While we are at it I'd also like to see Airstream go BACK to using "clad 
aluminum" so that the owners of newer trailers could also have them highly 
polished as are lots of the vintage trailers we see now and then.  Airstream 
isn't using a "clad aluminum" today, too bad for us who have to "settle" for 
a dull finish compared to the shiny, mirror-like look of the older vintage 
trailers.

Anyone hear have Airstream's ear so we can put a bug in there to beg, plead, 
etc. with them so they go BACK to using "clad aluminum"?  The clad aluminum 
does more than look good, it also provides corrosion resistance if you 
decide not to polish it with a very thin coating of oxidation which in turn 
protects the metal from the environment.

Tom Meeker
WBCCI 5303