Airstream Caravel 16RB tour
- Outdoors Made Simple
- Feb 8, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 8, 2022
Bree is helping her Aunt Jane find a travel trailer for herself so she can camp with our family.
Jane's key features are
Fixed Bed
Less than 3500 lbs GVWR
Bathroom with flush toilet
Compact
Dining table
Indoor kitchen
Now the exciting part, we are actually getting out to look at some trailers!
Our first stop is the Airstream Caravel 16RB.
You can see a video walkthrough here:
Airstream makes 2 -16 foot models in the traditional silver bullet shape, the Bambi and the Caravel. While these have the exact same layout, the Caravel has some upgrades from the Bambi.
Some basic specifications of the Airstream Caravel.
The layout for the Caravel 16RB
The Carvel has a wet bath and sleep 3 though they claim they sleep 4, to me that seems unrealistic with the bed sizes. The convertible dinette is a slightly larger than twin bed (40 x 91) and the fixed bed is a slightly smaller than double bed (48 x 78). They both have 23 gallon fresh water tanks and a combo black/grey tank that holds 30 gallons.
The exterior has a manual awnings over the front and the Caravel has an option for awnings over all 4 sides which if you are camping in the sun is a really nice feature. They also have an access compartment for storage at the rear as well as this handy little storage compartment for your cranks. It comes solar enabled so you could plug in a solar panel or you can get optional solar panels on the roof. It also has an exterior shower.
Pros for the Carvel
This trailer is beautifully laid out for something this small - it feels spacious - especially because the ceilings are higher than a lot of models in this size category.
It has some really nice touches, for example the heavy curtain that separates the bed from the rest of the camper.
Of course the big wrap around windows are amazing and with the Caravel you get them in the front and back.
We also like that there are a lot of fans, there is a fan in the bathroom which is a nice feature, a vent over the cook top which is truly vented to the outside (some of these vents are not actually connected to anything) and a general vent inside.
The ducted air system helps keep everything warm in the winter as well so you could get a lot of camping milage out of this even in cool weather.
Cons for the Caravel
The biggest con for airstreams is how expensive they are. This thing is pricy! Spec’d out for Jane, we got a quote for $75,000 for the Caravel. To some extent you get what you pay for in the RV industry but you pay a big premium for Airstream because of the brand.
While Airstream is a high quality trailer, the components they use are the same manufacturers as any other trailer. Therefore, you are not necessarily going to have less problems with these. For example, we have friends with an Airstream and they have had constant problems with their fridge, its the same fridge as in many other trailers at the size point they have.
The Caravel is heavy (in our book) for the size. It is substantially heavier than the same sized Bambi, because of things like front rock guards, higher ceilings, upgraded finishes, etc. Jane doesn't want to have a large tow vehicle and this might be too heavy to meet that requirement.
A few less obvious features that surprised us
While there are a lot of windows, many of them don’t open. Only one section of the front and back wrap around windows open. Many other trailers in this class have multiple window that open fully (like our Alto).
The beds are tiny in this. The claim that this sleeps 4 seems a bit of an over statement to us. The fixed bed is not quite a double and the front dinette converts to basically a twin.
The fridge is a 2 way electrical fridge only. So it doesn’t run on propane. Our Alto is also like that but we added lithium batteries and a lot of solar to make sure we could run the fridge if we are off grid. The Airstream solar option is only 90W and they don’t have a lithium battery option. With a standard RV battery, you won't have a lot battery to run a fridge on a hot day. You may end up running a generator or needing to add additional solar panels.
Jane has a lot more trailers to look at so check back next week for the NuCamp Tab 400!
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