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Originally Posted by JRTJH
A ladder positioned alongside the RV and leaning over the roof is about the only way. As people demand that trailers get longer and also demand the ability to tow them with SUV's and half ton trucks, the manufacturers have to cut the weight somewhere. Removing roof ladders, making 3/8" roofs "suddenly become 1/4" roofs and replacing heavy weight suspension components with lighter weight "medium duty" parts, along with replacing 30 lb LP bottles with 20 lb bottles and going back to the "spring steel lump" mattresses and 3" foam cushions (rather than 5" foam) are all ways to "provide what sells." Nobody will confirm that it will "be comfortable, or last" just that it sells...................
It wasn't too many years ago that a 31' travel trailer was as long as you could buy, and 10,000+ pound GVW's were commonplace. Most of the RV's that length weighed in excess of 8500 pounds. Now a 31' "lightweight" weighs in at 5000 pounds or even less. That extra 3500 pounds (nearly 40% weight reduction) had to "disappear somehow".................
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trailsport07
Well that sounds just plain dumb. If you choose to pay for a higher end travel trailer. You should get what is expected on the trailer. Like full walk on roof and upgraded suspension even a ladder should be standard. You should also get real wood and better made features inside. If you want an Ultra light then buy an ultra light trailer, knowing that is what you are paying for. There are those of us that have the trucks to tow the heavier trailers or buy the truck for the job. That is why we have such tow vehicle. I bought my F250 diesel to tow my camper better. This would totally make me look into other brands.  Keystone is really screwing things up here. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trailsport07
I want a quality built product
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Trailsport07,
At the risk of being "redundant", please reread my previous post in this thread. You simply can't have the same durability, quality of components and construction standards in a 10,000 pound trailer and in a 4500 pound trailer. Something has to be "cut" to reduce that much weight.
In today's mass produced, assembly line market, "quality" is defined as making the right cuts on the molding and using the "industry standard" building techniques. Quality does not necessarily mean that the line worker holds "EVERY" piece of molding in the exact spot when he "hits it with the staple gun". On "high end" models, those "gaps" are "carefully inspected" and "hand treated" to cover them, on mid line and low end (entry level) units, it's pretty much left to the dealer to satisfy the customer at the point of sale.
As for your expectation of getting a "quality RV" from the industry reports, Keystone is the leader in customer and dealer satisfaction, so even though there's always room to improve, not much of the competition can boast the successes that Keystone has achieved.
You make the comment that Keystone made a "BIG MISTAKE" by dropping the Cougar travel trailer and only offering the light weight models. Are you aware that in 2014, the first year that the Cougar travel trailer was not offered, Keystone sold more Cougar travel trailers than in any other year of their history? All of them were the "light weight" version.
Are you aware that currently Keystone can't build the Cougar Half Ton WE and the Cougar XLite travel trailers fast enough to keep up with the demand? Would you call it such a "BIG MISTAKE" that in September 2014, Keystone announced a $6 million investment in a new 120,000 square foot complex adjacent to their Goshen, IN facility that will be dedicated to the construction of ultra-light travel trailers. I wouldn't call that a "BIG MISTAKE" but rather a realignment of manufacturing to meet consumer demand.
As a comparison, if you really want a "traditional weight, luxury" travel trailer, Keystone does make the Carbon and Impact. If you want a "light weight"
trailer, there are a number of different models available.
Comparatively, the Carbon 33 is 35'5" long, empty weight is 8985, payload is 4015 for a GVW of 13000 pounds with a empty tongue weight is 1315. The Bullet 308BHS is 35'6" long, empty weight is 6160, payload is 1440 for a GVW of 7600 pounds with a empty tongue weight is 700. Or we could compare the Sprinter 311BHS, a "mid level full weight" that weighs 7967 empty, payload of 2683 for a GVW of 10650 and a empty tongue weight of 885.
Do you really expect to have all the features like thick mattresses, walkable roofs, equal insulation, same construction, same appliances, same "quality" in both trailers? If you do, then where would you think the weight could be eliminated? Oh let's not forget the $20,000 difference in price. The Sprinter is only about $12,000 more than the Bullet. Should they have the same "quality" and the same features?
Are you now looking at Keystones again? Last I heard, you were satisfied with your Jayco.