Which travel trailer?

[Mulie87]

The wife and I have narrowed it down to two travel trailers, this will be our first one for dry camping and hookups. We will camp year around and for hunting.

Keystone half-ton

Grand Design Transcend

On paper the half ton has more and is also more expensive. But i read reviews and people say go with GD because they have less issues. I’d love to hear from any of you that might own either of these trailers.

[Russ McDonald]

I have a 2007 Keystone Spinter and it has been great but the quality on anything Keystone has gone to crap.  Gramd Design is a good trailer from what I have heard and their customer support is pretty good.

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[Mulie87]

Thanks Russ. That’s pretty nuch what I’ve been hearing. 👍

[ghosthunter]

Stick built trailers are all having a issue with quality . Look carefully and make sure they fix what you find. Try all the systems to insure they work as they should.

I bought a fiberglass trailer to get better quality and resale down the road.

[KFhunter]

 

They had a massive market demand and built a flood trailers as fast as they could, flooding the market with absolute junk

Buyer beware!

I walked through some $150k 5th wheels brand new and crap was falling off the walls from dealer transport to an rv show, I got there when they were pressure washing them and hadn't had time to stick the trim and things back on

Garbage all!

[KFhunter]

I just found out the hard way they didn't seal the awning structure to the walls on my TT,  water ran down inside the rails and damaged the wall where its screwed in

[Mulie87]

 Ow that makes sense. They took short cuts.  Ow I’m nervous that I’ll get a lemon now matter what.

[ghosthunter]

Ow that makes sense. They took short cuts.  Ow I’m nervous that I’ll get a lemon now matter what.

I, know you had two picked. But I would look long at fiberglass. No leaks.
If you need a large one look at big foot.
21 ft or less , Escape (used), scamp,lancer, Casita

[Mulie87]

Ok, I’ll take a look. Hadn’t thought a out fiberglass.

[Magnum_Willys]

Grand Design is tough to beat !

[Russ McDonald]

Yeah my tt is fiber glass.  Had a aluminum one a while back nothing buy issues.

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[asmith]

We went with the rockwood ultralite when we bought our first TT earlier this year.  Amish built, and a bit better in quality than most others, even though as mentioned above the market was flooded with crap due to high demand. 

It took is 4 years to finally pick ours out.  I would suggest hitting up a couple shows and actually walking through as many as you can. 

[Mulie87]

Thanks Asmith. We’re actually planning on going to the rv show at the Tacoma dome Oct 6th for the reason you stated. Lome you, we’re pushing 3yrs of looking.

[TVHunts]

Of your two selected options, hands down the GD is superior by leaps and bounds IMO.

Also, it doesn’t matter what brand or skin you have if you have to maintain and reseal caulk joints. Especially if you don’t keep it inside or under cover.  Fiberglass skin doesn’t mean you won’t have leaks.  Look for it on fiberglass trailers while you drive around, you don’t have to see many before you see one with a rippled skin which indicates leaking. 

At a minimum, invest in a Adco cover if you can’t keep it under cover.  They last around 3-5 years and aren’t cheap but well worth the investment.

[getreal711]

I have a GD momentum 5th Wheel toy hauler I have been living in full time for the last year. Their quality is superior to most other models I have experience with. And warranty items were fixed asap and customer service is great.

[Mulie87]

This is great info guys, thanks.

The trailer Will be kept outside and take a beating from our wet weather. I was thinking I’ll have to put a cover on it for protection from snow, rain, sun.

I’m definitely now leaning towards GD. My neighbor across the street just replaced his Keystone Montana 5th wheel (which was plagued with issues) with a GD Momentum, and he loves it. You guys are definitely confirming my thoughts on GD. Thank you.

We’re looking for a GD Transcend 245RL. Not many close to Puyallup, soninstead of driving all around this state to see one. So we’re gonna wait and go to the Tacoma Dome rv show in a couple weeks to see one…and others.

[follow maggie]

The grand designs are nice. I’d love to have one. Pretty much all of them have troubles, the difference between the good brands and crappy brands is if they honor heir warranties. Keystone has a very wide reputation for nit honoring their warranties. The idea that the fiberglass units done leak is very false. There are lots of places for them to leak, and they do- windows, doors, any kind of penetration, corners, slide outs, joint between he roof & walls, etc.   Definitely get a good quality cover made to fit your unit and it will last a long time w/ easier maintenance.

I’m jealous about the rv show. I loved going to hat before I moved.

[CarbonHunter]

I bought a GD Momentum in February and I can’t get them to correct the warranty work. I’ve had warranty claims in since early June and so far they have only fixed the snow seal on the roof. I’ve escalated it to the regional service manager at GD and he won’t even give me the time of day.

I would make sure you spend several hours going over the RV before you take delivery and I would not buy it from RV Country.

[Mulie87]

Copy that Carbon Hunter. You’re not the first perdon to say not to buy from rv country.

[Mudman]

We have 2021 Coachmen.Forest river 27'Toy.  I feel its as much about the construction type as the Brand.  Many manufacturer different types.   Look for AZDEL, Composite/laminate materials.  Aluminum frames, TPO roof membranes.   Avoid wood frames.  Avoid EPM rubber roofs.  Avoid at all costs any Particle osb floors.  Our TT is aluminum frame AZDEL wall floor with TPO roofing.  Well built.  Still it is a TT and ALL ALL have stupid issues.  Swelling, shrinking, sweating, cabinets falling apart trim piece crap, loose fixtures etc.    Look for type of heated floor/tanks.  AVOID 12volt only refridge unless ya hooked up to power mostly.  Power suckers kill batts quick.

[Mulie87]

Thanks mudman, that’s a lot of good info. I’ve heard a lot about switching from 12v to 6vt batteries.

[Russ McDonald]

Thanks mudman, that’s a lot of good info. I’ve heard a lot about switching from 12v to 6vt batteries.

That is good the only issue that I have with that is if one of your batteries crap out your done till you gwt another one.  I went with high end agm deep cycle 12 volt dual batteries.  The issue you is you don't increase your amp hours when you tie batteries in series like 2 6 volt batteries.  2 6 volts im series if there were 200 amp hour will only get you 200 amp hours total at 12 volts.  Take 2 12 volt batteries in parallel that have 200 amp hours a piece like mine gives me 12 volts and 400 amp hours.  If I loose a 12 volt battery I am still good but will have less capacity.

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[CarbonHunter]

I’ll second “avoid the 12vdc fridge”. One of the stupidest ideas ever for a trailer next to the pressurized fill on the freshwater tanks.

[lee]

Lots of great advise in this thread.

Only thing I can think of to add is: Of the Floor plan, I made sure to find a floor plan that allowed access to the bathroom and fridge when the slide is in. Nothing worse than temporarily stopping to eat lunch or grocery shop, .... and have to put out the slide to get in the fridge or take a leak in the bathroom.

Also, I was recommended to not get a floor plan with the fridge located in the slide out. Many reported problems of fridges not cooling properly due to the exhaust design when located in a slide out side wall instead of the roof.

Finally, which ever brand RV you get, it is vital that you perform at least 2 roof membrane inspections per year and touch up any suspected leak spots with an approved sealant. Dicor for my RV. I have owned my RV since new in 2013 and every time I have inspected the roof I have found a suspect spot,.... or 2, 3, 4......

Lee

[Mulie87]

More great advice. Thanks Lee.

[birddogdad]

pm sent

[Robinhood]

I have owned my GD 240ML for two years now, and I love it. I have only had a couple small problems and they were fixed right away.

[Falcon]

I am on my second grand design 5th wheel.    Had a Reflection 5 years ago, and upgraded to the Solitude 2 years ago.   I have been happy with the quality and customers service backed up by Grand design.
They are not cheap, but worth the extra investment IMO.

[Mulie87]

I have owned my GD 240ML for two years now, and I love it. I have only had a couple small problems and they were fixed right away.

Excellent. That’s the model were looking at.