xlite 21rbs & tow vehicle

[ranch.manager]

have been looking at TT fro a few months now and have narrowed it down to the xlite 21rbs. Its just the two of us, so it has adequate size. Any other owners of the 21 rbs? Any comments about yours would be greatly appreciated before we pull the trigger.

The dry weight is 5238, and our tow vehicle is a 2011 tundra 5.7l 4X4. I've read in the Tundra forums of others pulling much heavier trailers, but am not comfortable doing so. We will pull it much farther than around the corner for the weekend. Thoughts on this combination welcomed.

Thanks, excited about ditching the tent and moving up to a TT.

Chris, his bride, and one spoiled dog!

[Festus2]

First, welcome to the forum. Second, the Tundra and XLite21rbs combination won't present you with any problems so you should be able to go "farther than around the corner". Travel safely and enjoy your new RV.

[JRTJH]

to the forum and to Keystone RVing. Your XLite 21RBS is a great floorplan for two people to travel and have the comforts of home while on the road. If there were one thing I'd change (If I were Keystone) is to somehow make the bed a "fold up sofa" while maintaining the sleeping comfort. That would allow for increased day-time living while still providing a comfortable place to sleep when the sun goes down.

You didn't say much about your Tundra. It comes with many options that would enhance its use as a tow vehicle. If you have the towing package and heavy tires, you should be set to go with your choice of trailer. If you don't have a towing package already installed on your truck, I'd suggest you talk to the Toyota dealer about things such as transmission coolers, 7 pin wiring, brake controllers, etc. Depending on which rear end is installed in your truck, you may be limited in towing capability. All of that information is available from the dealer (with your VIN) and much of it is posted on the sticker located on the driver's door jamb.

Good luck and again, welcome to the forum.

[ranch.manager]

The truck came equipped with the tow package and is prewired for the brake control.
Would a weight distribution hitch be preferable to bags in the rear?
Thoughts on anti sway device.
So much to learn.

We looked at those with Murphy beds in them. The bed was only 74 inches long, my feet hung off the end.

"The average man learns from his own mistakes, the wise man learns from the mistakes of others, the fool never learns."

[Western Traveler]

Welcome to the forum,

We purchased a 2014 Cougar 21RBSWE which is marketed as a 1/2 ton Towable out here and took delivery in December. I think the only difference between the two trailers is the front cap and the tank capacities, the W/E tanks being larger.

Just the two of us and we love the trailer and layout! The mattress was an upgrade from the 2013 that we saw at the RV Show. We use large pillows to kick back on the bed if feeling lazy but there is clearly a deficiency for comfortable seating if one wants to sprawl at night at the settee. The cushions are thin and flatten out while seated (we are NOT large people) we have targeted them for better foam upgrades this year. In the meantime I use one of those hammock type chairs that folds up and slides into a canvas sleeve when things quiet down at night and the DW heads for bed.

These are smaller units and everything is a trade off and we want to sleep on a REAL mattress. This is a huge upgrade from our tent which we were using since selling our 32' TT a few years ago.

There is a lot of storage space in them and they are rated for 1900# cargo if I recall correctly. We don't carry half that. Another nice thing with this size trailer, the axles and tires are the same as found on a few of their larger units.

Ours comes with a "Polar Package Plus" which is a MARKETING GIMMICK so be aware! We have used it in the low 30's so far and it did great but there are countless threads here that dispute Keystone's claims of a 4 season unit. Our salesman was a great guy and told us these are "3 season" trailers before we pulled the trigger.

Be aware some rear bath units have an issue with the rimless toilets splashing water when traveling, ours is one of them (rear kitchen units often break dishes) We will try saran wrap on our next trip to see how that works.

We have the sliding rear carrier on the back and plan on stiffening it up at the hangers a bit but it has been trouble free on our last two trips out.

We are currently changing out the interior lights to LED's as standard 12V are a huge drain on the batteries and when on shore power the loud hum of the converter is annoying.

We are heading to Sedona and the The Grand Canyon next week so we have been using it but it is still very new.

Your TV should be fine, mine was not. We have a 2003 F150 5.4L 4X4 that did not perform as I expected after making a few mods. We are now towing with my signature vehicle (see my thread "A towing Story") if interested in that.

We use a Reese/Draw-tite dual cam straight-line WDH. Almost overkill for this small a unit but we travel the Rocky Mountain states and want a steady non white knuckle towing experience.

Remember trailer MSRP is way over what they can be purchased for!

Happy trails...

[JRTJH]

With the tow package you'll be good to go. As for hitches, you will definitely require a weight distribution hitch. As for sway control, you can buy a "less expensive WD hitch and add a friction sway control as an option, you can buy a more expensive WD hitch with built in sway control provided by the distribution arms or you can buy one of several other optional types of sway control. Ideally, the cheap way will most likely work for you in most environments. However, if it doesn't, you'll have a used hitch that's worth about half what you just paid. Equalizer makes a great WD hitch with built in 4-point sway control. I would suggest looking at that hitch system as a good investment.

As for air bags, they will only serve to lift the rear of your truck. They do nothing to increase payload or carrying capacity. With a good WD hitch, you probably won't need to even consider air bags.

I understand your disappointment with the current offerings in sofa beds. Ideally, if Keystone would create a folding queensize bed that's comfortable for sleeping and functions as a sofa, they could make a "killing" with the concept. What's currently available is not good at either being a sofa or a bed and fails on both counts. At least that's my thoughts on them....

Others will probably have some suggestions regarding hitches, but the equalizer 4-point sway control is a good starting point, I think.

[coop]

Congrats on your new TT. We have a 2012 21rbs and I started out towing it with an f150 with a V6 engine, no issues. I wouldn't attempt to tow without a load levelig hitch, the tounge weigh on this one seems to be more than the 2 previous TTs we pulled and as far as a sway bar is concerned, you'll never regret it (except for the noise that it make) We bought ours for the same basic reason you did, it's mostly the DW and myself so it was the right size for us and it seemed to be a little higher end than a lot of the other models we looked at. The only thing I really want to change on ours is the access to the hot water bypass, you have to lay on the floor and reach throgh an access panel to get to it. I think I am going to put a trap door in the storage area under the closet so I can reach it from the top.

Enjoy.

[ranch.manager]

Thanks
You stated you started pulling it with a v6 ford, what is your tow vehicle now?

[ranch.manager]

Western Traveler
Thanks for all the information, lots learned. Agree MSRP is way over stated. I've found the dealers in the north are thousands of dollars cheaper than the local dealer. They don't like to have that discussion here locally, but you buy them to put them behind a truck and pull them somewhere. Going north sounds like a good reason for a road trip. With 1200 hours of leave on the books, why not!
Have been toying with upgrading to a diesel, just not sure I want to yet.
We are going to look at the xlite 25RET this weekend as a possible second.
two feet longer and 5800 pounds dry so only an additional 600 pounds. Seems the weight keeps going up.

Thanks again for the input

[coop]

Its a 2013 F150 with a 5.0 V8, the only reason I upgraded is I wanted a 4 wheel drive truck and with this years weather I'm glad I did.

[hckyplyr72]

I'm new to this forum too. We have a 2012 24RLS X-lite we purchased new a few years ago that we love. I've been making some small mods to it. We found that the dinette and couch were not very plush for family sleeping with us. So...we took a king foam mattress cover, cut it in half, put covers on them and viola. They are very comfy now. When not in use we keep them rolled up under the bed. NOTE: check the screws that hold the couch down. On our maiden voyage with family my brother and his wife were sleeping on the fold out couch. She rolled over him to get out and they were both flipped over. The screws holding the couch down had come loose.It was pretty funny!

I also made a custom stove cover for added counter space (as I did in our last Forest River TT) along with custom shelving, DIRECTV, subwoofer and a VIZIO sound bar. The difference is amazing.

Make sure you add some roof vent covers as they make a big difference. No matter how hard it rains nothing comes in. We also replaced the factory shower head with the brushed nickel body spa RV shower kit from Camping World. It does make a difference!

The quality of the Cougars is better than most TT you will see. My brother has a new Coleman TT and the finishes are not nearly as nice and he paid about the same. This pic was taken before I added the sound bar. Make it yours just keep weight in mind.

One last thing. The TT came with this tiny Legend TV that had to go. I already picked out a larger TV to replace it. I told Camping World I would do the deal if they would put in a bigger TV. After some odd stares the manager said no prob. They replaced that tiny TV with a 32" LG at NC.

Have a great camping season.