Hornet 32RLSS

[hauntedsoul]

Hi all. The wife and I are thinking of swaping our Roo23SS for a Hornet32RLSS. We love the open floor plan. What do you think?
I have seen a lot of Horror stories about Keystone. Should we wait till another manufacturer comes out with that floor plan?

[Festus2]

You will hear "horror stories" about all RV's - including Keystone. Go to any RV Forum and you will read about them. You should realize that forums like this are a place where disgruntled owners - Keystone owners - can vent their anger and frustrations because they have ended up with a lemon. These people are in the minority. There are, however, a large number of people, including myself, who have had no problems with their Keystone except for the odd minor item and are quite happy with the product. All units have small things go wrong from time to time.
If you are looking seriously at a Keystone - or any RV - do your homework. Buy from a reputable dealer and one who will stand behind what they sell. Give it a thorough and rigorous inspection and if there is something you dont like --- get it fixed before you part with your $$$$$.
Cant give you any suggestions regarding "waiting till someone comes out with a similar floorplan". You could wait forever or for a few months. Who knows? If you really like the Keystone floorplan and simply cannot find another unit like it, then I would give it serious consideration with the provisions I outlined above. Keep us posted and welcome to the Forum!!!

[hauntedsoul]

Thanks for the good answer
I have a dealer 2 miles away for $1200 more than rvdirect. what do you think? he has been around for 30 or so years nice guy. $1200 is alot of cash but if it means a little better attention its worth it dont you think?

[Festus2]

I don't have access to book and current market prices for RV's - but I am sure that someone on this Forum could give you a fair price that you should be paying for the unit you are considering. Like dealing with any salesperson -- you can always negotiate downwards - tell them that this is what I am prepared to pay. If he doesn't accept it, walk away...... it wont be the last you will hear from them. They want your $$$$$$. Do you have a trade-in or will it be a cash deal? Those factors effect the negotiations. You will soon find out how "nice" your dealer is when you start asking him to fix or replace items on your RV before you give him $$$$$. Are you sure you are going to get $1200 worth of "attention"? Tell him to match or better the price of rvdirect.

[Flyguy]

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Looking at the Hornet trailers I see a few things that I personally don't like in a trailer, first, I don't care for the wavy aluminum siding, it can leave air gaps between the aluminum and the luan plywood that's behind it and this can trap water and condensation and rot the plywood in time, I prefer fiberglass bonded to the luan plywood, leaves no gaps between the two unless the fiberglass delaminates from the plywood. Secondly I prefer an aluminum cage structure for the trailer walls and roof, the Hornet uses wood 2 X 2's on all the framing, another place for moisture to collect and rot the wood in time, but this is just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt. Pricing wise a new 2010 32RLSS should go for about $25,000 IMO and there are many floorplans that equal the 32RLSS, I was looking at the Flagstaff 831KRSS and 831BHSS and also the Rockwood 8313SS and 8318SS, those floorplans look similar to the 32RLSS. I know that these trailers can be had for about 24K to 25K brand new 2010's so the 32RLSS should be in the same price range. There are other Keystone trailers that have the fiberglass sides as well, have you checked out the Cougar and the Laredo and the Outback trailer lines? Not to take you away from the Hornet but there's so much to consider when buying a new trailer that you should take the time to do your homework, ask yourself "can I live with the cons because no one has trouble living with the pros", and every trailer has its pros and cons.

[ColeNight]

Hi,

I'm new to this group and a 1st time RVer. I spent many hours doing on-line searches about the various TT manufacturers and purchased the RV Comparison Guide (Randall Eaton). I comparison shopped across 5 different local RV sales businesses and a great number of on-line businesses. I paid particular attention to the reputation of the Manufacturers. In the end I purchased a Keystone Hideout 23RKS.

I have been quite happy with the salespeople at Thompson Family RV (Davenport, IA). They were very helpful, and not the least bit pushy as I asked many, many questions and traveled back and forth between the 5 local RV places. One question I had was "Do you have much of a problem getting parts from Keystone (time wise)?" Thompson carries both Keystone and Jayco as part of their main lineup.

His answer was quite interesting: "We had a lot of problems with Keystone about 1 yr ago with the substantial downturn in the economy. A considerable number of the RV component suppliers began having problems or went out of business. Keystone had a great deal of difficulty supplying some parts. They had to really scamble to find new suppliers. This produced a number of very long delays. We now have no problem with parts from Keystone. By contrast, Jayco is just now dealing with the same problem. We are seeing a lot of delays with Jayco parts. Both of these companies are very solid and have been very responsive and timely in the past. Jayco, like Keystone, will eventually get the supplier problems worked out."

By the way, I also looked very closely at the history of Thompson Family RV. It is rock solid and the BBB gave it a score of A+. Well, that is my input on this issue. Whatever you buy, I hope you are as happy with your purchase as I am.

Cole

[Flyguy]

Excellent post Cole, if everyone researched their purchases as well as you have there would be a lot more satisfied customers in the end. This also explains the parts delay and I’m afraid that Keystone has born the brunt of scorn unnecessarily.