Raptor 356/415

[HD0707]

New member but not new to rv life. This will be our eight rv. I'm looking at the Raptor 356 or 415. Any pointers I need to know about the Raptor and are you happy with the gas/elect fridge. Our current 5er has the residential fridge and we like it, but not seeing any in the Raptors. Thanks

[chunker]

Originally Posted by HD0707

New member but not new to rv life. This will be our eight rv. I'm looking at the Raptor 356 or 415. Any pointers I need to know about the Raptor and are you happy with the gas/elect fridge. Our current 5er has the residential fridge and we like it, but not seeing any in the Raptors. Thanks

I think you can get it but not sure what the cost is. It's not mentioned in the option list but I thought I saw it shown in some literature. In SOB it's cost neutral because the smaller cost of the residential is made up with inverter, extra wiring, and batteries. Figuring most toy haulers spend some time off the grid an absorbent fridge is what's needed unless you have a really big solar and battery setup. We do some off grid while enroute an I insist on absorbent. If your garage is another living space and you never leave an RV park, you may want a residential. YMMV.

EDIT I can't find any reference to the residential refer so probably disregard that part. In the motorhome side of things, a lot of people swap them so lots of threads on irv2 for example. But that would be real expensive on a new trailer.

[JRTJH]

The 'lure" of a toyhauler for most people (to which it's marketed) is the ability to use the 100+ gallon fresh water supply, extremely large waste tanks and "head off the grid" for extended "play time with toys". The "marketing strategy seems to focus on that "off grid, extended stay capacity feature" more than the "load street bikes and move from campground to campground feature".

That's not to say people don't or can't use them in campgrounds and only with hookups, but that's not the "market to which Keystone focuses their toyhaulers".

Having a "shore power dependent refrigerator" would not perform well in the "dry camping environment" to which Keystone is currently focusing their toyhauler products.

I don't suspect that you can find any Keystone toyhauler line with a residential refrigerator either as standard or as optional equipment.

That said, the Montana High Country line does have a toyhauler floorplan that comes with either an RV refrigerator or a residential refrigerator. It's the 380TH/381TH model.

[HD0707]

Thanks for the replies. I'm ok with the gas/elect even though I do not dry camp. All my past rv's except the one I currently own had absorbent and I never had any problem's but they were smaller. On another forum I'm on I've seen several complaints about them not cooling good and was wondering if it was because there 18 cu. ft. instead of 8 or 9.

[JRTJH]

This is my opinion (and I haven't got any extensive "studies or facts" to back it up)….

The reason many people have issues with larger absorption refrigerators not cooling properly is two fold. First, the manufacturers install them in slides with "barely adequate rear ventilation" and, second, most people "graze the refrigerator". They tend to stand in front of it, door open, surveying things inside while all the "cold air falls out the bottom".. Then they close the door, a few minutes later, someone else "grazes", then in a bit (before the refrigerator that's already hampered by poor, barely adequate ventilation) someone opens the freezer and says, "Hey mom, the ice cream is mushy".....

If the refrigerator is installed with a roof vent or with adequate augmentation fans behind it and if the owner "learns how to open the door, purposely get what's needed and close the door (without grazing)" there's usually little problem with even the largest absorption refrigerators.

Again, this is my opinion and probably isn't shared by everyone.

[s10slammed]

I just picked up a new 415 myself. Have it all loaded and ready to try out the first time this weekend. I do not think you can go wrong with either. I prefer the larger garage i feel it leaves more on the table for options in our future for larger toys etc

[LewisB]

What John said - both posts. We have the 18 cf absorption refrigerator and it seems to work really well so far. Love our 353TS toy hauler!

Here's a side note: our previous Raptor was a 3 axle - our new one is a 2 axle. We're essentially hauling the same stuff. But the two axle goes faster uphill (I picked up almost 10 mph on a local 8% grade) and we get better mileage. I'm thinking the lower rolling resistance of one less axle has made a significant performance increase. This is a seat-of-the-pants observation; I have absolutely no repeatable data to back this thought up.