Hideout 295BHS Questions

JeffVeeEff75 · 04-21-2020, 12:47 PM

Good afternoon all,

I recently purchased a 2019 Keystone Hideout 295BHS fifth wheel trailer and I have had a few issues early on. We have only had two camping trips, each about 4 days in length, and I have been a bit disappointed with some aspects of the new trailer. I am wondering if others have experienced similar issues with this trailer or model.

The first issue is with the fridge and freezer. The first trip out the whole unit (fridge & freezer) stopped working on electric on the second day of the trip. I switched over to propane and it worked for another day and then it also stopped working on propane on the third day of the trip. I took it in to our local dealer (where we purchased it) and after three weeks received the trailer back. Upon my return home, I plugged the trailer in and ran the fridge for 3 days on electric and then on gas for 2 days. All seemed fine. Left for our trip a few days later and after 2 days, the unit stopped working again on electric. Luckily, it did work for the rest of the trip on propane and seems to still be okay. Now I am scheduled to return to the dealer for another repair. Is there something I should be looking at or asking for them to be looking at?

The next issue is with the sliding "barn style" door in the rear of the trailer at the bunkhouse. No problems with it on the first trip, but after arriving to our destination on our second trip, we found the door off the bottom tracks and with the 4 screws completely dislodged from the top of the door that hold it on the overhead track. I can only guess that there is some serious bouncing going on back there during towing and the small button that secures the door during travel was not enough to hold it in place. Any thoughts/ideas on how to approach this with the dealer?

Along the same lines as the above issue, there is a small shelf in a cabinet in the back bunk room that completely fell apart. It had 4 pairs of shoes on it, so definitely no issues with too much weight. The shelf literally fell through the floor and destroyed all of the small staples and side panels & supports. Again, any thoughts/ideas on how to approach this with the dealer?

Finally, I purchased a small 2 bike rack that mounts on the ladder in the rear of the trailer. i followed all directions for mounting the rack and securing the
bikes. After about a 2 hour drive, I found that the bikes were nearly falling off the rack and the ladder was significantly bent. Needless to say, I won't be using that going forward, but I am wondering if anyone can recommend an alternative. I looked at the bumper mounted hitches and bike racks, but I'm not sure the carrying capacity of the factory bumper. Any recommendations?

Thanks all!

**flybouy** · 04-21-2020, 12:57 PM

Regarding the fridge, if it's gas or electric then the electric is 120 vac. Were you connected to shore power?

Bike racks on the back of a trailer is a bad idea IMHO. Too much bouncing back there for a factory number or the ladder mounts as you found out. Solution? Have a shop weld a hitch to the rear frame. It won't stop the bouncing but it won't end up dragging on the highway behind you.

JeffVeeEff75 · 04-21-2020, 01:04 PM

Yes...we were connected to shore power on all occasions. I have a surge protector connected to make sure it wasn't the provided electricity.

Great idea on the welded hitch. I am wondering if I will find anyone open in southern California to do that work right now.

Thanks again.

jsb5717 · 04-21-2020, 01:18 PM

Ditto on the hitch receiver. Bummer about the ladder...hard lesson learned. There is a lot of bouncing at the rear of the trailer...can't be helped. But you can still use a good, solid bike rack in a good receiver. Use a hitch stabilizer like this to reduce movement then strap the bikes tightly to the rack. It will all still bounce a bit but will travel OK. I hauled bikes like that for several years and never had an issue.

**flybouy** · 04-21-2020, 01:39 PM

Find out what they did to "fix" the fridge. If they replaced the control board it's not unheard of for them failing in succession.

**JRTJH** · 04-21-2020, 03:55 PM

Bikes on the rear of most travel trailers will bounce. It's a matter of physics that the rear of the trailer goes "up and down" and some trailers do that more violently than others. Yours seems to be one of the "more violent motion" types...

I'd say that if you weld a receiver on the frame, you're going to "strengthen the mechanism" but you're not going to reduce the bounce.... You can buy a stronger bike rack, tie them down tighter with bigger straps, but they are still going to bounce just like they did before, only they won't bend the ladder or break the bike rack. The bikes are still being subjected to that violent bouncing..

So, if your bikes are something you want to "not damage by shaking the hell out of them" you might consider a roof rack for the tow vehicle and simply move the bikes to a "smoother part of the rig"...

Yes, you can "make it work in spite of the bouncing" but I'd ask, "if there's a better way to carry them without subjecting the bikes to that potential damage, why not just move them?"

**sourdough** · 04-21-2020, 06:22 PM

You need to be aware that that "ladder" is barely capable of supporting your weight to go up and down it, gingerly, infrequently. I use a 10' step ladder to access mine and then just use the top steps making sure I'm not trying to put lots of stress side to side, on the steps etc. If you will look at how it is secured to the back of the trailer; how few attachments; how minimal; you can understand how not only is it now suited for carrying anything on it down rough highways, but barely capable of supporting a person for maintenance purposes. Treat it with care and look for other ways to carry bikes.

JeffVeeEff75 · 05-14-2020, 08:37 AM

I just wanted to provide an update on the repairs and hopefully get some more advice on the fridge/freezer.

All of the minor issues with shelves and door have been repaired by the dealer. The fridge/freezer continues to be an issue. The first repair was deemed by the dealer to be an issue with wiring and a faulty ground. The second repair was deemed to be due to a faulty fan that was allowing the unit to overheat. I will now be taking it back for a 4th attempt at repair as it still is not working.

As a reminder, it seems to work fine on propane, but only works sporadically on electric. At the moment, it does not work on electric at all. As soon as I switch to propane, it seems to kick on and work fine.

Any advice on what I should be telling or asking of the dealer? I have had the new trailer out on 3 trips and each time the fridge/freezer has failed. I have lost hundreds of dollars of food and gone through a lot of propane where I normally would have been on shore power. At what point should they be looking to replace the unit?

Thanks in advance!

Logan X · 05-14-2020, 10:49 AM

I’m no expert and this is just my guess. If it sometimes works on electric and always works on propane, I would think the only thing to try (or the first thing I would try)would be to replace the mother control board. It is not very expensive and it’s easy to do, about a ten minute job.

The board would be something like this-

https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Elec.../dp/B00IDW3K2M

**sourdough** · 05-14-2020, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffVeeEff75

I just wanted to provide an update on the repairs and hopefully get some more advice on the fridge/freezer.

All of the minor issues with shelves and door have been repaired by the dealer. The fridge/freezer continues to be an issue. The first repair was deemed by the dealer to be an issue with wiring and a faulty ground. The second repair was deemed to be due to a faulty fan that was allowing the unit to overheat. I will now be taking it back for a 4th attempt at repair as it still is not working.

As a reminder, it seems to work fine on propane, but only works sporadically on electric. At the moment, it does not work on electric at all. As soon as I switch to propane, it seems to kick on and work fine.

Any advice on what I should be telling or asking of the dealer? I have had the new trailer out on 3 trips and each time the fridge/freezer has failed. I have lost hundreds of dollars of food and gone through a lot of propane where I normally would have been on shore power. At what point should they be looking to replace the unit?

Thanks in advance!

I don't know your relationship with the dealer; service manager, general manager/owner etc. but it needs to be very close, very personal and very soon. A dealership typically wants to get you in and out as quickly and cheaply as possible on warranty work. I say that not meaning that they want you to pull in, repair it then send you on your way but rather, in the bay; do the first thing that comes to mind, pull it out and give it to you as repaired....maybe, maybe not. I've had my share and more of "maybe nots".

I would advise you to not just "leave" it with them then take it back. Remember that every month that goes by that they keep it, give it back then you try it, then it fails, your warranty is running out. At that point you can deal with the manufacturer thru the dealer but I would still try to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

Make yourself known, very well known, to the SM/GM. Make sure they know the history of what's going on, the failures of their repairs, the costs you incur due to their failures along with the inability to use the unit etc. Tell them 4 times is enough - face to face; in fact 3 times more than enough. Give them your expectations; timeline to repair, expected repairs (fully functional) and if that requires a new fridge they need to work that out with Keystone/Norcold?? Don't let the round and round continue....

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