Finally got it!

TimC · 12-18-2021, 09:26 PM

About 6 months after placing the order I was finally able to pick up my Cougar 26RBS today! So far everything looks great. The dealer I went through actually did a really good job going through every system with us. We didn’t really need them to show us how to work things, but was nice to see everything worked. Only thing not tested so far was air conditioning, but not sure how that would get tested when it’s 20 degrees out. So far I’m very happy with the trailer. It’s miles ahead of my old one in quality (so far).

The F150 towed it great. I’ll definitely be doing a lot of managing of the weight, but overall was pleased with the towing experience.

One thing I found super interesting was the tongue weight actually came in less that what Keystone stated. Dry tongue weight is supposed to be 880lbs with empty propane tanks and no battery. I brought my shurline tongue scale and it weighed in at about 840lbs with a lead acid battery and full propane tanks. Perhaps I need to get my hands on another tongue scale to see if mine is off or something. I definitely did not expect it to be lighter than the stated dry weight.

notanlines · 12-19-2021, 03:36 AM

Tim, we're all glad things went well for you. Now you just need to put that 20 degree weather behind you! Realistically, the only accurate weight will come from a CAT scale near you. Shurline scales are generally used to get a ballpark idea of the weight.

TimC · 12-19-2021, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notanlines

Tim, we're all glad things went well for you. Now you just need to put that 20 degree weather behind you! Realistically, the only accurate weight will come from a CAT scale near you. Shurline scales are generally used to get a ballpark idea of the weight.

Yup, CAT scale will be in the near future. I would expect the Shurline to be a bit more accurate than that though. If Keystone’s numbers were accurate the tongue weight should’ve been somewhere around 950-1,000 with the propane and battery added. I’d hope the Shurline wouldn’t be that far off.

Warm weather comes next month. Taking a trip to FL.

**flybouy** · 12-19-2021, 12:31 PM

There's several reasons the SherLine could be off. Any oil leaking out of it? I use mine a lot and verify it with an occasional trip to the Cat scale.

TimC · 12-19-2021, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flybouy

There's several reasons the SherLine could be off. Any oil leaking out of it? I use mine a lot and verify it with an occasional trip to the Cat scale.

Nope, no oil leaks. Everything looks to be in good condition. I’ll just have to do as you do and verify at the cat scale.

Gary R. · 12-19-2021, 05:43 PM

Hi there Tim,

Congrats on the new Cougar, and it does look sharp behind that F150!

Have fun and take care!

TimC · 12-19-2021, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary R.

Hi there Tim,

Congrats on the new Cougar, and it does look sharp behind that F150!

Have fun and take care!

Thanks! I think we’ll really enjoy this trailer.

mikec557 · 12-19-2021, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimC

About 6 months after placing the order I was finally able to pick up my Cougar 26RBS today! So far everything looks great. The dealer I went through actually did a really good job going through every system with us. We didn’t really need them to show us how to work things, but was nice to see everything worked. Only thing not tested so far was air conditioning, but not sure how that would get tested when it’s 20 degrees out. So far I’m very happy with the trailer. It’s miles ahead of my old one in quality (so far).

The F150 towed it great. I’ll definitely be doing a lot of managing of the weight, but overall was pleased with the towing experience.

One thing I found super interesting was the tongue weight actually came in less that what Keystone stated. Dry tongue weight is supposed to be 880lbs with empty propane tanks and no battery. I brought my shurline tongue scale and it weighed in at about 840lbs with a lead acid battery and full propane tanks. Perhaps I need to get my hands on another tongue scale to see if mine is off or something. I definitely did not expect it to be lighter than the stated dry weight.

Congrats Tim. We've had the same model (western edition) for a little over a year. It's the best Floorplan we've ever had. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

donhaller · 12-20-2021, 06:47 AM

Congratulations on your trailer! Exciting for sure. We just got a new Outback in November and can't wait for warmer weather.
I just bought a Shurline scale to do this very thing and didn't think it was supposed to be that large a tolerance! The paperwork says they are accurate to about 2% in the middle ranges and about 3% at the fringe ranges of the scale.

**flybouy** · 12-20-2021, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donhaller

Congratulations on your trailer! Exciting for sure. We just got a new Outback in November and can't wait for warmer weather.
I just bought a Shurline scale to do this very thing and didn't think it was supposed to be that large a tolerance! The paperwork says they are accurate to about 2% in the middle ranges and about 3% at the fringe ranges of the scale.

I can only speak to mine. I bought mine quite a few years ago as a kit with the scale and two guages with different capacity readings. I measure mine against a Cat Scale and it's typically within 30 lbs +/- of my tongue weight ( 1,000 to 1,300 pounds). If the tongue weight is that close too the load capacity then either I need more truck or less trailer.

The scale itself is a very simple device. It measures the hydraulic presser created when force is applied to it via a scaled mechanical pressure guage. Like any pressure guage they can get out of calibration for a number of reasons. Impact to the guage, a leak.or air bubble in the hydraulic oil, etc. I keep mine in a large tote type box in my truck wrapped in foam .it's worked for me for well over a decade. YMMV

TimC · 12-20-2021, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donhaller

Congratulations on your trailer! Exciting for sure. We just got a new Outback in November and can't wait for warmer weather.
I just bought a Shurline scale to do this very thing and didn't think it was supposed to be that large a tolerance! The paperwork says they are accurate to about 2% in the middle ranges and about 3% at the fringe ranges of the scale.

I haven’t yet ruled out that it was accurate. I see no reason it wouldn’t be. It’s been stored in an area where it was held in place very well, so shouldn’t have been bumped around. No drops of it, no sort of damage/leaking. And it’s been good in the past. Only reason I’m questioning it was because I expected the tongue to be a bit heavier.

donhaller · 12-20-2021, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimC

I haven’t yet ruled out that it was accurate. I see no reason it wouldn’t be. It’s been stored in an area where it was held in place very well, so shouldn’t have been bumped around. No drops of it, no sort of damage/leaking. And it’s been good in the past. Only reason I’m questioning it was because I expected the tongue to be a bit heavier.

I'm going to be weighing mine in the next couple weeks. It will be interesting to see if mine falls where I think it should. Empty tongue weight is supposed to be 1,100lbs

**flybouy** · 12-20-2021, 11:29 AM

While empty tongue weight may be interesting it's basically useless. Other than a transport driver and the "proud new owner" taking it home it's highly unlikely anyone will ever tow it in that configuration again. For a travel trailer load it up to go camping and weight it at a cat scale. If your trailer weight is below the rated gross trailer weight and the tongue weight falls somewhere between 10%-15% your good.

After nailing that down, use the SherLine scale and you'll have a baseline using that. I would suggest then using the tounge scale and recording a weight with the fresh water tank full. Then drain the FW want and fill the waste water tanks and record that. Now you'll know how those tanks will effect the tongue weight so if you need to travel with those tanks filled it will not be a suprise.

BTW, I don't think a 40 lb. difference in published vs actual tongue weight is a worry. Where folks get "sideways" is believing the published weigght and use that as a maximum limit for their truck payload capability. Then that number will be 150% or more after the trailer is loaded and the weight of the hitch is added in. Then that "880lb. Tongue weight" becomes 1,200 to 1,400 pounds and end up with heavy pendulum swinging behind the truck.

TimC · 12-20-2021, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flybouy

While empty tongue weight may be interesting it's basically useless. Other than a transport driver and the "proud new owner" taking it home it's highly unlikely anyone will ever tow it in that configuration again. For a travel trailer load it up to go camping and weight it at a cat scale. If your trailer weight is below the rated gross trailer weight and the tongue weight falls somewhere between 10%-15% your good.

After nailing that down, use the SherLine scale and you'll have a baseline using that. I would suggest then using the tounge scale and recording a weight with the fresh water tank full. Then drain the FW want and fill the waste water tanks and record that. Now you'll know how those tanks will effect the tongue weight so if you need to travel with those tanks filled it will not be a suprise.

BTW, I don't think a 40 lb. difference in published vs actual tongue weight is a worry. Where folks get "sideways" is believing the published weigght and use that as a maximum limit for their truck payload capability. Then that number will be 150% or more after the trailer is loaded and the weight of the hitch is added in. Then that "880lb. Tongue weight" becomes 1,200 to 1,400 pounds and end up with heavy pendulum swinging behind the truck.

I wouldn’t say empty tongue weight is useless. It gives me the starting point, and how I load it up might change based on what that number is. I did factor in what I believe will be the added weight after loading it up when determining if I could keep my truck within it’s capacities. Just found it very interesting to be lower tongue weight than published. I’ve read plenty of tongue weight being higher than published, so just didn’t expect my results. Gives me a bit more wiggle room though, so I’m good with it (assuming it’s accurate).

I get what you’re saying though. People don’t fully appreciate the amount of weight they add to a trailer, especially with those big pass through storage compartments. Not the case for me though, as I’ve been doing this quite a while I have a pretty good idea how much weight we’ll add. Of course, that will be verified with scales.

I do agree about taking the various weights to see the impact of filling the tanks. I did that with my old camper. I was very paranoid about how much weight the fresh tank would add to the tongue, and even more so about how much weight the black and/or gray would take off the tongue. Turned out it was very little difference in tongue weight, about 50lbs variance between fresh tank full (forward most tank) and black tank full (rear most tank). That trailer was set up nicely for traveling with water and using tanks on the road. They were all fairly close to the axles. Seems I’m not so lucky with the Cougar, at least as far as the fresh tank goes. Looks to be quite a bit further in front of the axles than my old camper. Haven’t quite paid enough attention to pinpoint the exact location of the other tanks yet, but I suspect it’ll be a bigger impact there too. Oh well, I’ll survive.

LHaven · 12-23-2021, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimC

Only thing not tested so far was air conditioning, but not sure how that would get tested when it’s 20 degrees out.

BTDT. With a hairdryer and a can of "freeze spray" (in a pinch, you can use computer-duster held upside down) to play on the thermistor, you can test any HVAC function in any ambient temperature.

TimC · 12-23-2021, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LHaven

BTDT. With a hairdryer and a can of "freeze spray" (in a pinch, you can use computer-duster held upside down) to play on the thermistor, you can test any HVAC function in any ambient temperature.

I understand that, but I’ve also been told that running an air conditioner below 60 degrees can damage it. I’m no HVAC expert so I’m not sure how accurate that is, but that’s why I didn’t even attempt to test the AC. This was something I was told by my house inspector back when my wife and I bought our first (and current) house about 8 years ago. He was pretty adamant that I make sure all breakers for the central air unit were off when it starts getting cold out to prevent accidentally kicking it on. I figured that’s easy enough, and I don’t need AC at those temps anyway, so I never really questioned it. Perhaps I should look into it more so I can test the AC unit. Or, maybe I’ll just wait until next month when I have it in FL.

LHaven · 12-23-2021, 09:28 AM

OK... that's a new one on me, especially since heat pumps are nothing but reverse air conditioners, and they work find with cold temps on both sides.

TimC · 12-23-2021, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LHaven

OK... that's a new one on me, especially since heat pumps are nothing but reverse air conditioners, and they work find with cold temps on both sides.

Good point. Perhaps I was given bad info. I’ll have to research it more.

linux3 · 12-23-2021, 06:54 PM

I do like that floor plan. If shipping weight is 660 lbs I would think tongue weight with full tanks and battery would be around 800 lbs. Shrug.

As I said, I like the floor plan but I guess prices have gone crazy.

KJJ · 12-23-2021, 09:07 PM

Congrats on the new TT! We picked up our new Passport 238ML this time of year and after taking it to FL from MI we discovered a roof leak due to a bead problem. MFTR, dealer, and the new owner all missed it. Ask your dealer to show you how to check it. Otherwise enjoy it!

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