New Member Here

[Longwell]

Hi there. We just joined a couple of days ago. I (Larry) just retired and she (April) will retire in 5 years. We have been researching fulltiming for two years already and have narrowed our searches (to this point) to either Montana or Americana.
We would love to hear your opinions about the differences between these two RVs.
We will be fulltiming as soon as April retires and plan on being ready to go before that happens.
We look forward to "talking" to you.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Hi Larry and April and Welcome to the MOC.

Lorraine and I are full timers as are many other of the MOC members.
Pretty quick any number of the MOCers will be along offering their advice and I can feel safe to say they will all have positive things to tell you about our beloved Monty's.
I must admit that I know nothing about the Americana line and therefore can't make any comments good or bad. One thing we do know is we love our Montana and unless something drastic happens our next rig will also be a Montana. In my opinion you will not find another 5th wheel that gives as much bang for the $$$$ as Montana.

[jrgwdenner]

Welcome, Larry and April. This is THE place to find out about Montanas. As wish Glenn, we're not familiar with Americana. I would definitely recommend that you buy your rig a year or so before you start fulltiming so that you can get everything in tip top shape before you start fulltiming. We took a long trip to Alaska last summer and made sure that we'd had our rig broken in before we started our adventure.

[richfaa]

Larry and April..We did a lot of research on the Americana.I assume you know about the web site and have received the CD. As you know it is a Souped up Forest River Cardinal. We were impressed with the unit in many ways but at the end of the day we chose the Montana 3400 and will order one next month. Note the the Montana now comes standard with the Mor-Ryde Suspension which was one of the big sell points for us with the Americana. Take your time..look around this forum. Compare item by item and dollar for dollar..Don't forget Dealer support and Company service. In fact you may find some of our post on the Americana website...richfaa

[prariepoodle]

Welcome Larry and April to the Moc, All I can tell you is that after living in our Montana for over 2 years that we love it and if I had to get another one it would be a Montana. As with anything else there are things that are going to go wrong and when it did we fixed it ourselves. Good luck on what ever you choose because it is you that has to be happy.

[Joyce H]

Welcome Larry & April to the MOC forum. We researched for a couple years before making our decision. Our research included travel trailers, fifth wheels, and motorhomes. Well here we are on the Montana owners website so guess that tells you our decision. We purchased our first Montana in April 2003 used it mostly on weekends until retirement in September 2004. We have spent approximately 8 months a year in the Montana the last two years. Just 3 months ago we traded up for our second Montana. Guess you can see we are sold on the product as well as the customer service. Keep us posted on your decision!

[dsprik]

Larry & April, we too researched for two years. Started out with motorhomes for one year, then discovered the financial, space, and convenience advantages of a fifith wheel, last April. After walking into a Montana in July, Cheryl instantly fell in love with the floor plan of the 3400RL. I was very much impressed with the head room of the slides, relative to all the others, as well and the build quality, and the other features that you normally find in a much more expensive 5ver. After spending the last 6 months on this forum, as well as several others, We are absolutely convinced that:

1. Montana, by far, puts out the best unit for the dollar.
2. Montana/Keystone customer service and responsiveness to consumer problems is second to none.
3. The "family" atmosphere and incredible volumes of helpful, if not lifesaving, info that this MOC forum provides.

Other than those factors, it was a close race... NOT!

Welcome to the forum. I think you'll fall in love with the people here.

[Northstar]

Welcome Larry and April, We have been full timing almost a year now and love our Montana. Of course nobody makes a perfect coach, because of that you will want good customer support when you have troubles with your coach and I believe Keystone really stands behind their product. Good luck on your choice.

[gkbutler]

Welcome Larry and April. We are probably the rookies of the fulltimers as we started three months ago today!!!! We did a lot of research before we bought our unit and found out that the Montana really fits our needs. Not to mention that I can stand up in the Montana ( I am 6'1" and don't hit my head in the bedroom) and couldn't in the other units we looked at. We absolutely love ours and when the time comes, we will definitly get another one.

[Parrothead]

Larry and April
Welcome to the MOC. You have come to the right place. We have the 3400 an lived in it for 9 months before retiring. We plan to fulltime in it in the future. We love it and this forum. Keep sharing with us. This is our 3rd fifth wheel and we fell in love with the Montanas the first year they were out. We set out to buy a 3295 and came home with the 3400. Montanas have been the number one selling fifth wheel for quite a few years. The numbers should tell you it is the right one.
Happy trails....................

[stiles watson]

One thing about this forum. You will never hear a prejudiced word about our affection for the Montana. We are all completely rational and objective. Emotions never, ever play a part in our decisions. WE ARE ALL CALM and COMPLETELY SANE IN OUR ENTHUSIUM. Oh, excuse me, I got carried away for a moment. There, have myself back together again.

There may be a few aliens amongs us, but most of us are really earthings. And a nicer bunch of earthings you will never find. Informative, friendly, helpful, supportive, straight-forward, creative and synergistic are just a few of the adjectives describing them. And oh yeah, the Montana. Best deal on wheels. Karumba!! Shazam!! May one appear on your door-step.

Gee, do the rest of you think I might have been in Hong Kong too long already? Welcome to the forum.

[dsprik]

Stiles, "Shazam" one my way please! (3400RL - I can email the Genie my option list if that will be helpful???) Also, could use a tv, but don't want to over-tax the bottle. If this is too far of a Shazam for your genie from Hong Kong... if he could even just get it state-side, I'll meet him part way...

[sreigle]

Welcome aboard, Larry and April! I think you're doing this the right way by researching and asking questions.

If you were considering Cardinal, Everest, Snowbird, King of the Road, Excel, or a few others we've looked into then maybe I could help contrast the differences. But, I'm afraid I know very little about the Americana.

What I can tell you is that Montana is the number one seller in North America for five years in a row. There must be a reason for that. Montanas seem to bring a premium at tradein time, although dealers will try to steal it from you. And you'll find very few used Montanas on the lots and if you do you better grab it quickly as it won't be there very long. All that says something to me.

We are on our second new Montana. Our first was a 2001 2880RL. This one is a 2003 3295RK. We took delivery of this one in July, 2002, about 40k miles ago. We've been fulltiming in it for 34 months. We've not been without problems but it has held up very well overall. We had some shackle problems after the warranty had run out but Keystone replaced them with the newer, stronger ones at no charge to us. While they were working on those they decided to pull out all our slides and put the new seals on them. Again at no charge. Then they went looking for anything else they could find that needed fixing.

By now you probably figured out I am sold on Montana and Keystone and the above tells you why. If there is another fifthwheel in our future it very likely will be a Montana.

Good luck to you. There are many good choices out there, and not all of them are Montanas.

[Dustytuu]

Welcome to MOC website, Larry & April.
We did a year of research before we bought our Montana. We love it. We made the right decision.