New Raptor 332TS owners

[CJW8]

We are the new owners of a 2015 Keystone Raptor 332TS. We looked at a lot of toy haulers and this one had the floor plan we liked the best. It also met my weight requirements for towing. Below is my assessment after owning for a week. We haven’t even been camping in it yet. We have just been getting it set up for use. My main requirements were have at least a 12 foot garage and be at or under 16500 GVWR.

Fit and finish: Pretty good. I consider this a upper middle end 5th wheel toy hauler. The upper end we looked at was the Grand Design Models at about 15 K more money. Some things look very nice and some things were just ok. This is an aluminum framed RV with sandwiched foam insulation so it is difficult to find an exterior wall stud. Some things that were screwed into the interior wall material such as the 12 inch high diamond plate that lines the garage have come loose already since the wall skin isn’t strong enough for a screw unless you hit an aluminum stud. I plan on putting expanding anchors on those that have come loose already. The trim is nice and well fitted. I have added a couple of shelves already in areas that should have had them from the get go. One is the middle cabinet above the island and the other is the bathroom vanity. This was needed for linen storage.

Electronics: It came with a Samsung main TV, DVD player and Soundbar and the bedroom and garage and bedroom have off brand TV’s but they seem to work well. The head unit in the main cabin is a Sony. So some quality gear and some no name brand stuff. No complaints. A nice feature is the garage TV lifts out of its mount and can be installed in the pass through storage area for an outdoor TV. It is pre wired for satellite TV and has a conventional RV antenna that received several excellent quality digital channels at my home location. I have also installed a Xantrex 2000 watt SW inverter. I have ordered two ea. 15 amp Xantrex transfer switches to drive all the outlets except the GCFI’s. This will allow us to watch TV, make coffee, run toaster or microwave briefly without running the generator.

Converter: It has a WFCO 98100 100 amp converter and WFCO load center. The load center is well done. The WFCO converter has some nice features but it is still a WFCO. It has power factor correction and a boost button which forces it into boost for 4 hours. Two problems here. WFCO’s are known for being stuck in absorption mode (13.6 volts) and never going to boost and float mode. I know, I tried for months to get another one to work. It also needs to be installed with fat wire (#6 at least) and close to the batteries. It has # 6 wire but there is at east of 5-8 feet of literally wadded up wire at the converter and the converter is installed in a place where you cannot reach the boost button without emptying the pass through storage area and removing a bulkhead panel for access. Very poor workmanship and not thought out. To rectify this, I have unplugged the WFCO and installed a Xantrex True charge II 40 amp close to the batteries. In the future, I will install a hatch in the pass through storage bulkhead so you can access the boost button.

Batteries: The dealer installed only one Group 24 battery. This is typical. The camper has a very nice battery compartment with slots for three batteries. I had two one year old group 27 batteries so I was going to occupy the empty slots with them. Guess what? A group 27 will not fit the slots!!! What were they thinking? This is a boon docking trailer for goodness sake. Three Group 24’s is squat for capacity. I am so disappointed here.

Air conditioning: It has two ducted AC’s and I believe they are 15K with a single two zone thermostat. It took me a couple of days to figure out how to cool the dang thing down. It was over 100 here and I couldn’t get below 80 in the main compartment. Finally I adjusted the baffle in the rear AC which was leaking some. I opened two ceiling hatches some to let heat escape. I relocated the master bedroom sensor which was in the direct path of the bedroom vent, causing it to short cycle. I also set the thermostats a little cooler than I really wanted. It was an icebox in there today (68) and it was 103 here at mid day. I was unhappy but am now satisfied. Learning curve.

Tires: Tires are China bombs. I’ll be using this thing in a single location for up to a year so I’ll let them rot off there and then I’ll replace them. I hope they last the 10 hours it takes me to get it there. I have no personal experience with these tires but have read a lot of horror stories. On my last RV I ran LT all terrain (AT) tires with never a problem.

Hydraulic leveling system: So far I love it. It levels with the push of a button. It remembers the connect/disconnect location and it will raise one side enough for tire change. Time will tell.

Solar: It is not pre-wired for solar but I have scoped it out and plan to add 400 watts in the future. I had this much on my previous RV and it was sufficient. The roof real estate could easily hold 2000 watts!

Central Vacuum: So far during the setup and modifications this has been very handy.

This is it so far and we haven’t even got it out of the yard! The Microwave and the Fireplace were DOA during the walk through. The dealer has scheduled replacements. This isn’t the dealers or even Keystone’s fault and it will be fixed before we can use it in a month from now.

So far I am liking it and I will add more after we get a chance to use it.

[GaryWT]

Congrats and good luck.

[hdrolling]

We just got our's not long ago as well and have been in it for almost two weeks.

I couldn't wait and had to get rid of the tires, installed the Maxis and now if I feel like going a little further away than we are I'll feel confident.

Also the stock bed didn't work for us at all, we tried but couldn't hack it and we motorcycle tent camp with air pads and still couldn't stand the bed. I put a RV King sleep number in last week and it's been great so far.

Our also had a Winegard RoadTrip Mission satellite dish on the roof that works very well.

My wife insisted on a a washer/dryer so we put in a splendide 2100xc, right out of the box the heating element didn't work but one phone call and they shipped a new element out and it took me 20 minutes to replace.

I also have had to tighten the garage diamond plate here and there.

Now i just have to see what the issue is with the rear awning LED's and we'll be set.

Other than these few things we have had zero issues with anything else and that's with two small kids jumping around everywhere.

Congrats on the new camper!

[suddensam]

Great right up on your new 332TS. I've had mine for a couple of months now and just finished up our first long weekend using it. So far I am very happy with the trailer but have had a few issues to work through as should always be expected with a new RV.

As for the batteries I was able to get 3 group 27 Universal AGM batteries into the trays but it was not easy. It took some cutting, foam sealer removal, and a bit of foul languege to get them in. One big benefit of sealed AGMs is you can tip them on their sides, no way to get these in without turning them on there sides. The top tray is the most difficult and required cutting a notch out of the tray support on the left hand side. It wasn't hard to cut with a die grinder but I wasn't all that excited about taking a cutting tool to my brand new trailer. Now that they are all in I'm very happy with the setup but as you stated it is a big fail on Keystones part for essentially blocking access to the trays with the minimum size door.

The biggest issue I've had so far with trailer is the automatic power transfer switch. On delivery the generator side would only transfer about 25% of the time. It was root caused to a sticking solenoid so Keystone sent a replacement transfer switch (the whole process for the warranty took over 5 weeks). This new one lasted less than 24 hours. While plugged into a 20 amp 120V circuit, with the fridge and battery charger being the only things putting a load on it, it just clicked off. The shore side was dead and this was at about 5 PM on a Thursday evening before we were scheduled to leave for a long weekend the next day. I ended up buying a different brand transfer switch from bestconverter.com (they are local in Nampa Idaho about 20 minutes from my house) and installing it my self the next day. Since it took 5+ weeks to get it warrantied the first time I was willing to spend the $150 to get it fixed immediately and still enjoy the weekend and know that it would be ready to go for the other trips planned in the next few weeks.

[hdrolling]

Originally Posted by suddensam

Great right up on your new 332TS. I've had mine for a couple of months now and just finished up our first long weekend using it. So far I am very happy with the trailer but have had a few issues to work through as should always be expected with a new RV.

As for the batteries I was able to get 3 group 27 Universal AGM batteries into the trays but it was not easy. It took some cutting, foam sealer removal, and a bit of foul languege to get them in. One big benefit of sealed AGMs is you can tip them on their sides, no way to get these in without turning them on there sides. The top tray is the most difficult and required cutting a notch out of the tray support on the left hand side. It wasn't hard to cut with a die grinder but I wasn't all that excited about taking a cutting tool to my brand new trailer. Now that they are all in I'm very happy with the setup but as you stated it is a big fail on Keystones part for essentially blocking access to the trays with the minimum size door.

The biggest issue I've had so far with trailer is the automatic power transfer switch. On delivery the generator side would only transfer about 25% of the time. It was root caused to a sticking solenoid so Keystone sent a replacement transfer switch (the whole process for the warranty took over 5 weeks). This new one lasted less than 24 hours. While plugged into a 20 amp 120V circuit, with the fridge and battery charger being the only things putting a load on it, it just clicked off. The shore side was dead and this was at about 5 PM on a Thursday evening before we were scheduled to leave for a long weekend the next day. I ended up buying a different brand transfer switch from bestconverter.com (they are local in Nampa Idaho about 20 minutes from my house) and installing it my self the next day. Since it took 5+ weeks to get it warrantied the first time I was willing to spend the $150 to get it fixed immediately and still enjoy the weekend and know that it would be ready to go for the other trips planned in the next few weeks.

Just curious looking at your pictures, your batteries are where my second propane tank is. Did you relocate yours somewhere else?

[suddensam]

Originally Posted by hdrolling

Just curious looking at your pictures, your batteries are where my second propane tank is. Did you relocate yours somewhere else?

No, I did not relocate them. That is the front drivers side compartment. The door you see to the right of the batteries is the drivers side pass through.

[PARAPTOR]

I ended up buying a different brand transfer switch from bestconverter.com (they are local in Nampa Idaho about 20 minutes from my house) and installing it my self the next day. Since it took 5+ weeks to get it warrantied the first time I was willing to spend the $150 to get it fixed immediately and still enjoy the weekend and know that it would be ready to go for the other trips planned in the next few weeks.

Excellent opportunity to switch out the original transfer switch with a EMS transfer switch with surge protection to protect your Raptor against issues with Shore power as well as your on board generator. Yes your generator!! And provides a remote monitor to view power status as well as error codes. Search for say ems and should bring up my installation comments

[suddensam]

Originally Posted by PARAPTOR

I ended up buying a different brand transfer switch from bestconverter.com (they are local in Nampa Idaho about 20 minutes from my house) and installing it my self the next day. Since it took 5+ weeks to get it warrantied the first time I was willing to spend the $150 to get it fixed immediately and still enjoy the weekend and know that it would be ready to go for the other trips planned in the next few weeks.

Excellent opportunity to switch out the original transfer switch with a EMS transfer switch with surge protection to protect your Raptor against issues with Shore power as well as your on board generator. Yes your generator!! And provides a remote monitor to view power status as well as error codes. Search for say ems and should bring up my installation comments

I have seen your posts about the generator power. If I could have gotten a transfer switch with EMS in one day I would have gone that route. My current setup has the Surge Guard 34560 installed on the output of the transfer switch. This leaves the transfer switch exposed but the rest of the electrical system is protected from both shore power and the generator. I also installed the remote display inside just above the stereo.

[gtsum2]

My stereo plays through sound bar by using the aux input on the sound bar. D. In is the source for the TV