CHARLIE8210

After fully reading the 5 pages (so far) of this thread, I offer the following to support some of the previous comments regarding Chapters and the National Board. One other thing that the Airstream Club did a couple of years ago was to energize and charge the various Units (Chapters to you) to get more acquainted with their Unit-area dealers, media organizations and other marketing channels to more aggressively and smartly get the Airstream Club story out to existing and prospective Airstream owners. Airstream, at the factory level, is also very active in this effort. We 'FOUND' FMCA at the manufacturer level because the Thor Diesel Club had materials in our Coach's warranty and operational materials. Nothing was said or provided at the dealer level. It seems to me that manufacturer and dealer level marketing channels need to be explored by FMCA and their Chapters.

On our 'shakedown cruise' from Elkhart back to UT, we took in 2 FMCA Rallies; Wisconsin Badgers and Thor Diesel Club's inaugural Midwest Region Rally. We had a great time at both and listened to a lot of 'war stories'. At the Badger's Rally, most of the people we talked to seemed unenthusiastic about the proposed change. The Thor Diesel Club has already stated to the membership that, regardless of FMCAs vote, they will NOT take towables as either members or Rallyers. It seems to me that I read somewhere that individual Chapters will have that same right, but the wording of the Amendment did not address it. In any event, we will vote NO!

Well 'fellow travelers', my wife and I sold our last Airstream, our 3rd since 1993, and we bought a new 2017 Thor Tuscany 45'er in May. We will be retiring in June 2019, and we are seriously looking at full-timing. Our RV travels since 1993 have averaged 7,240 TOWED miles/yr and 48 nights/yr. That's with both of us working full-time! We are looking forward to the various Forum columns on FMCA and understanding the different issues pertaining to motorcoach RVing. We're already getting acquainted with the difference between towing a 30' Airstream to driving the Coach and towing a 2104 Ford Fusion Hybrid, especially when it comes to choosing campgrounds and sites therein!!

This issue of attracting younger members reminds of what faced the Airstream Club (WBCCI) several years ago. Membership was declining and average member age was going up (sound like FMCA?). Some of the members who owned the now discontinued Airstream Class A's suggested that membership be extended to Thor-manufactured Class A's to keep members and recruit new ones. This was soundly defeated by more than 2-1! Instead Airstream went on a 'tear', advertising the Airstream Club aggressively through dealers and other marketing venues. Membership and attendance at Rallies has increased to challenge such levels back in the 70s! Jim and Michelle are correct; figure out why new and younger members aren't coming in and why we're having trouble retaining members. When we sold our last Airstream in 2016 and joined FMCA, we wanted to be with Coach owners, EXCLUSIVELY! GS is not the route FMCA should take!