Hey
2014 Outback 250RS towed by a 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 SRW. Previously owned a 2009 Outback 230KRS towed by the same truck as well as three truck campers carried by the Ram as we go back and forth between livability and portability.
After spending a month in our camper in June the pendulum swung back in favor of livability. Living in Colorado and spending a lot of time in the northern Rockies we were concerned with a trailer's cold weather functionality. We ended up at the Keystone factory in Goshen in June where a guy (I'll call him Tim Domiano, the Outback product manager, because that's his name) toured us around the Outback's. When queried specifically about the cold weather protection afforded by the "Arctic Barrier," Tim regaled us with a story about someone living in their Outback through a Montana winter and their only complaint being how much propane they used. "Cool," we thought, a trailer that can be used in the cold. This was a major selling point to us. We bought the trailer from a local dealer in Indiana, having it delivered to us in Colorado in July.
Fast forward to early October. After our power jack broke and it took Keystone a week to figure out how to get one from their facility in Oregon to us a day's drive away in the Tetons, we got stuck in a blizzard on I-80 in Wyoming on our way back to Colorado. We spent the night in a vacant lot in Rawlins, WY. When we pulled in for the night I was concerned to see slush coming out of the cold water tap despite a temperature only in the mid-20's. I turned on the water heater, we left the slides closed and the temperature remained in the mid-60's all night in the trailer.
We woke up the next morning to find that the water lines were sufficiently frozen so that we had no water. The temperature bottomed out at 21 degrees that night. We drove back to warmer weather in Colorado and found that the system pressurized with no problem.
I was concerned, however, at the lack of the robustness of the Arctic Barrier. I contacted my customer service representative. She advised that the Arctic Barrier did not mean that the trailer could be used below "...30 or 35 degrees or whatever freezing is..."
I contacted Tim, the product manager, laying out the problem to him. Tim did call me, however, he spent about an hour tap dancing around the issue of how cold the Outbacks are safe to be used in. He ultimately couldn't tell me that they were safe anywhere below freezing. Living in the Rocky Mountains that's sort of a problem. Tim tried to tell me the same story about the person living in their trailer in Montana all winter long who's only concern was how much propane they used, but was quick to say that the story of someone who can live in a Keystone product in Montana all winter wasn't meant to imply that you could be out in it below freezing.
So, here we are, new to the forum, thoroughly disgusted with Keystone, their Arctic Barrier gimmick and their trailer that wilts anywhere below freezing.
Anyone have any ideas on how to make it usable down to the mid teens or should we just put it on craigslist?
Sorry for the length.
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