View Single Post
Old 09-06-2013, 11:12 AM   #11
Berick
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 9
Well..... it's been just over 2 years since I wrote this post originally and I thought I would do a quick review of what we like/dislike about this trailer.

On the plus side.... we love the floorplan and think it's a fantastic layout. It's great on a rainy day if you want to visit inside with friends or family. I found the cabinetry to be top-notch compared to the crap we had in the Travelaire and I suspect it will last a long time and won't fall off the walls (such as the cabinets in the Travelaire unit we had). The Outback 298RE offered us tons of internal storage. The carpet and flooring is holding out very well. We live in Canada so the weather can get a bit chilly. That being said, with the Travelaire we had... it went through one winter and the linoleum all cracked and curled along the edges. The Outback is heading into it's third winter and so far so good! We also love the way this trailer tows.... it is very smooth and straight with the equalizer bars on. For a trailer this long, even with equalizer bars... there is usually a lot more sway! The ground clearance is also a huge plus!

For the negatives.... We had a leak from factory that was quickly remedied by the dealer under warranty and it has not come back since. Whoever installs the internal panelling on these trailers should be fired or the company needs to come up with a new method of mounting. This year the roof panel on the dinette slide came down by the light fixture. They had not mounted the edge of the panel to an aluminum stud and had just covered over the seam with a piece of trim. When the technician went to fix it, he also said the majority of the panelling (if not all of it) was held on with adhesive only. This was a nice little $600.00 fix-it bill that I believe was completely unnecessary! To top it off.... the wood panels in the bedroom under the bed that mount to the aluminum frame were all "stapled" and are working themselves off and away from the structure. Not sure who thought it would be a smart idea to staple panels into aluminum with a flat edged staple but it's an easy fix for me to screw a few screws in there to keep it secure. Not sure why they couldn't have at least used a spiral staple, ring nails or screws to keep panels mounted in place. I think it's kind of a no-brainer what happens to a flat edged staple that's put into aluminum??? The steps on this trailer are also another negative. The steps on our trailer seem very flimsy and week. The Travelaire had great steps and out of all the folks we go camping with I can honestly say ours are probably the worst for giving you that "secure" feeling. The water pump is also located in a fairly obnoxious location (on the slide side beside the bed). To winterize this thing you need to be able to contort yourself like Harry Houdini! It's near impossible to switch lines to winterize with RV antifreeze. I tried to instal a winterizing kit and had to give up because I just could not fit my hands and arms in there with tools. We had to take it to a technician and pay them to put a little 150lb guy in there to instal the kit. Another gripe is the flow-through storage at the front of the trailer..... why did they make the opening so small? The camp barbecue we have won't even fit through the opening and there is plenty of room to make this a bit larger. The power awning is a bit sketchy as well..... it does not take small breezes very well at all. A regular awning is way more secure than this particular setup and because of it's design I do not believe there are too many ways to help secure it (we tried anchoring lines from the corners to the ground but it seems a bit hard on the awning arms).

I know this sounds like a pretty hefty complaint list but this was not a cheap bottom grade trailer and the items mentioned are not something that should be coming with this kind of a price tag.

Keystone, if you read this forum all you need to do is;

1) SECURELY mount your paneling better.
2) Instal some BEEFIER STEPS
3) INCLUDE a winterizing antifreeze bypass kit installed in the trailer.
4) Make the opening to the flow-through storage a touch bigger (you have the room).
5) IMPROVE the awning.

These are the only real complaints I have on this unit. The panelling if it continues to keep falling apart is going to cost a small fortune to repair in the future so I hope they get that issue fixed asap.
Berick is offline   Reply With Quote