Tom & Phyllis,
Thank you so much for the compliments on the photos and furniture arrangement. Those are some of my first attempts with my new digital camera. The furniture arrangement came about because RC has been complaining since day one about the lack of living room space in this unit. Then when he found out my sister had bought a
3400RL nearly exactly how we wanted it off the dealer’s lot and he would stand it there was just no living with him. With the new arrangement in our
3295RK it does have a larger/roomier feeling. Plus I like being able to dine and look out the door.
The coffee table and end table came directly from Keystone. They were the standard ones used on the 2003's and early 2004's I believe. Now my sister has a
2004 3400RL and her end table has Queen Ann style leg and a drawer in it. The coffee table available is on the same design. Neither table came with the
3295RK but I ordered each of them as extras. You can do that with any of the units. For me a coffee table and an end table are a must. If you order the end table now I believe it comes with a brass lamp?
The differences in the Big Sky were numerous in the
2003's and the
early 2004's. Now the differences aren't as great because Jeff Rank is continually trying to improve the product and make it more desirable to its customers. I will list the differences below in mine at the time and indicate where they are no longer different.
1. High Gloss Gel Coat as you mentioned.
2. Different Graphics
3. Aluminum Wheels (although you can order Aluminum Wheels on a regular Montana they aren't quite as nice as the ones on the Big Sky.)
4. The carpet is thicker and so is the padding.
5. There are only two Interior color choices in the Big Sky and those fabrics are of a fancier quality. They are also more delicate and depending on what you do when you camp they may not be the best suited. My favorite color combo is the regular Montana's Desert Sunset.
6. Our desk has a wooden top instead of a plastic laminate top.
7. Solid surface counter tops in the kitchen. (Now all Montana's have that in the kitchen/galley area.)
8. Real leaded glass in the cabinets in the main living area instead of plastic.
9. Wooden cornices and Lambrequins around all the windows.
10. Upgrades lighting in the main living areas. They are crystal like and so is the light kit for the ceiling fan. (On some of the new ones I see upgraded lights. It seems dependant on the models. The new floor plans seem to have fancier lighting I think?)
11. Black appliances. (Now I believe all of the appliances are black for all Montana's.)
12. Upgraded cabinet hardware. (Again I believe they are in the process of changing the hardware for the new 2005's.)
13. A wooden paper towel holder.
14. A wooden spice rack and knife holder behind the cook top.
15. Lino (which is now standard in the Montana's.)
16. The dining room table has a leaf and the chairs are upholstered completely. They are very high backed.
17. A wooden letter holder with key pegs.
18. Different trim on the slide out fascias in living area and bedroom. (Now they are much nicer on the regular Montana's and the Big Sky's. They are completely covered in Oak.)
19. Raised panel Oak cabinets with cathedral arches.
20. An upgraded Coach with a camel back design.
21. A high backed recliner or recliners if you have a floor plan that has the rear bay window.
22. The shower door in the bathroom has a mountain design in etched glass with brass trim. It's very nice.
23. Solid surface counter top on the bathroom vanity. (Regular Montana's don't have that yet.)
24. Different drapes in the bedroom that are designed with a ruffled valance and a jabot each side of the windows. I really like them and they do not get in the way of the day/night shades.
25. Extra accent pillow in the bedroom and they are fancily trimmed.
26. The closet mirrored doors have a brass surround.
27. All the other doors on the closets and dividers are six paneled doors instead of flat paneled.
28. The extra height (as you mentioned) which includes taller cabinets at least in this floor plan.
29. A Sky Light high on the wall opposite the door which lets in quite a bit of light and gives a nice view of trees and such if you're in a camp ground that has trees or say you're near mountains.
30. Lino in-front of the sink and garden tub with a walking path of carpet.
31. A porcelain toilet that has two pedals for comfort and is a bit taller.
31. Brass floor registers for heat ducts.
32. An Upgraded mattress for the bed. We have no problems with ours and find it very comfortable.
I think that's just about it.
I love both floor plans and if they would have had the
3400RL back then in we'd probably have gotten it but RC was really stuck on a Big Sky so maybe not? He's 6' 3" and at the time it also gave more head room in the bedroom.
The
3295RK has the most storage and cabinets of any of the floor plans. If you are going to full time or have a lot of stuff, you can't go wrong. Prior to the new floor plans the
3295RK was their biggest seller.
The
3400RL is beautiful. It doesn't have an extra closet as I do and the double privacy doors which I like for sound barriers. RC and I can go into two different rooms and watch different shows or listen to different radio stations or play different CD's without annoying one another. If you’re in the bedroom you can close that privacy door and someone can come in and use the bathroom including the shower without disturbing or seeing you in the bedroom.
The
3400RL has quite a bit of cabinet space but not nearly as much as the
3295RK. My washer and dryer are in a cabinet in the bath area while with the 3
400RL that provision is in the living area near the front door and would eliminate the coat closet if you utilize it for a washer and dryer. I still have a coat closet although it's pretty small in depth. I also have tall cabinets above and below it that I store quite a bit of stuff in.
The
3285RK has the curio cabinet which I thought was dumb but now like. While traveling I always stored the snacks paper products so we could have quick access to them. Now I also store all the table condiments and dressings as I have the table there. In the top of I store all the extra linens for the sofa bed.
When we travel with two other people, rather it be another couple or one of our children and a friend I can rearrange things and they are able to keep all their clothing and personal things away in cabinets in the living area and actually feel they have their very won room and not impossing on our privacy & vise versa.
The
3295RK has a complete cabinet in the water closet where I can store all my chemicals, personal hygiene products and toilet paper. The
3400RL only has a shelf. My sister really wishes she had the cabinet and is thinking of adding one in there. It'll be another project for us sister to do together.
We're the handy ones in our families.
With the
3400RL you can NOT get the Garden Tub even though the literature says you can. I love our Garden Tub, not for the tub feature, although it is nice for our Grand daughter, but it's larger and if anything backs up from over flowing tanks, or forgetting to open the gray tank while running the washer, there is quite a bit of room in there before it would overflow onto the floor. Also a great place to soak things. Even to wash dishes in like I did this winter when our water froze up in the kitchen.
So although I really like the
3400RL I am extremely happy with my
3295RK. Just wish we'd waited a couple of weeks longer to order and we would have gotten the 28 upgrades Keystone made to the Montana's right around then. The one level bedroom & bathroom is something I wish we had and the deeper rear mirrored closet is something I wish we had too.
The pin weight it very heavy on the
3295RK while the pin weight on the
3400RL is considerably lighter, in fact I think it's the lightest of all of the Montana's. The
3400RL is almost two feet longer than the
3295RK and much heavier. While we have all the extra weight of the gel coat, being a Big Sky and all the other upgraded features, mine is lighter than my sister's
3400RL regular Montana.
Rear kitchen models ride much rougher on bad roads. I have had things dishes and things break a bit during really severe road conditions and don't know if they would have with a center kitchen model? I now have taken steps so we don't break anything.
As usual I have gone on and on. I'm sure I have given you far more information that you wanted. I'll bet you are sorry you asked? LOL
We no longer have the
3295RK for sale and are pretty sure we are keeping it. Personally if it sold I think I would just want another
3295RK Big Sky with all the improvements that Keystone has made since they built ours. I would just hate to give up the storage space. We plan on at least semi-full timing it in the future and RC and I have a lot of equipment for our outdoor hobbies. Having all this space comes in handy, especially when we camp near the ski resorts in the winter.
With all the new improvements to the regular Montana I am anxious to see what Jeff Rank comes up with to make the Big Sky an upgrade. It should be very interesting.
I don't think you could go wrong with either the
3400RL or the
3295RK regardless on whether you choose it in a Big Sky or Regular Montana model. Both will serve you very well indeed. You'll surely be happy.
Take care and I know you'll be very happy with the Pullrite 16K Super Glide. The company is also a dream to deal with if you need help or have a problem. They helped us on our first trip out down to Florida because of an boo boo RC made.
I will be wishing you the best of luck on making your choice and the price negotiation.
Samantha
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