Moving to 5th wheel from Class A

[OutlawPilot]

Hi all! We've been in a '07 Damon (Thor) Outlaw for the past 3 years, full-timing as (then) newbies and have been LOVING the lifestyle! We chose the Outlaw for its unique floor plan offering a garage with a (loft) bedroom above it. When we discovered the Montana High Country 380TH/381TH we just fell in love with it and decided to trade in the Outlaw. We're just ordering it now and plan on moving in in April.

I can't say we're not nervous though! The Outlaw has been very good to us. Almost trouble-free! And being a motorhome, had its own mobility. We don't have a tow vehicle capable enough for the 381TH but we really just tend to spend 3 seasons in one place anyway, so we might just be done with hauling the house cross-country... for now anyway.

I've read about some questionable quality and reliability of trailers in general and Keystone specifically and hope that we don't end up regretting it. If things turn out well though we think this beautiful new fiver can be a home we'll be proud of for the next few years at least!

Looking forward to learning from you all here!

Anthony and Lisa

[DQDick]

Welcome to the forum! May your new rig bring you many years of wonderful memories.

[Lenny K]

Welcome to the MOC Anthony and Lisa. I wouldn't worry too much about the negative reviews. All brands have problems not just Keystone. Most of us have rigs that haven't given us many problems that we couldn't fix by ourselves once the warranty period is over.

[1retired06]

Welcome and hope the forum is helpful. Outlaw does have a good reputation.

[PackerFan]

Welcome to the MOC and wishing you many happy miles and adventures with your new rig.

[OutlawPilot]

Thanks for the welcome and the comments all. We love the floor plan of the 381TH and can't wait to get in it! I wish there was more info about this model out there.

[K0LCB]

We traded a 2007 Winnebago Vectra for a 2013 279FL

[phillyg]

We've owned every class but a B, and moved from an A to a FW last. All comes down to you and floor plans, and maybe if you already have a truck to haul a trailer. In our case, having one less chassis to be concerned with (already needed a truck) was important. OTOH, if money was no object, we'd probably own a high-end DP.

I've said it before and will say again, all RVs will have issues, some more than others. I can say Forest River support was much better than Keystone, but for us, Keystone's product has been better overall so manufacturer support has been less important.

[sdunkley]

Here is my feedback to Keystone about our 381TH:
I have a 2017 Montana High Country 381TH. I have had it for a few weeks. This is my 6th camper. Loved my Montana Mountaineer 347THT. (I love this one less the following items)
1. Have to return unit to dealer due to toilet won't flush; not venting. Fill bowl twice with water with an empty black tank and water would not go down tank. After some time was able to get water to go down. Appears vent pipe is all the way down into black tank.
2. Also, toilet won't hold water in bowl. May be related to issue #1.
3. Discovered bed lift shifts during travel and when lowering it hit ripped foot of bed enclosure and ripped molding in garage
4. Molding on bedroom slide out closet fell off; was not tacked down very well
5. Counter top between kitchen and front living ripped up due to recliner chair hits against it when returning to normal position
6. No gray water line tied with black waterline so no high flow flush with gray water after dumping black; have to use black water flush connection at central station. (low flow)
7. Blue LED on under skirt is out
8. Automatic Leveling is quirky; fails to level if not on fairly level ground
9. Had to fabricate protective enclosures around exposed plumbing in pass-through storage; just a bad design. (See Grand Design 376)
10.Hand-written labeling of converter (breakers) illegible.
11. No vent path for garage area. On my Montana 347THT had vents to outside air when traveling. Force air in and out of garage area. Nothing on this model.
12. Can't program remotes for Summit TV. Unknown manufacturerer. No code in any literature for the Sony BlueRay I installed for the substantdard DVD.
13. Soundbar (Chinese I believe) sounds like crap. Replaced with quality unit.
14. Vents either open or close; can't put in an intermediate position. (could on my Montana 347THT)

[OutlawPilot]

That’s a terrifying list! Some things are obviously not as bad as others but the lift issues sound pretty serious. I’m hoping they got that figured out for 2018.

I fully expect the entertainment electronics to be subpar and plan on replacing them myself. I too thought exposed pipes in the storage area wasn’t ideal. I’m not real handy but I’d love to see what you fixed up for that.

[sdunkley]

I'll get some pictures taken on covers I put over plumbing in the storage area. Just used a nice finish 1/4' plywood that my wife painted and used L-brackets and self-starting screws with my portable drill into the aluminum frame. Lose a little area, but gives me peace-of-mind that something not going to side into the toilet pvc pipe and break it. The issue with the toilet was the black water tank was IT WAS FULL CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS and blocking the vent. And after changing the gasket on the toilet did not fix that it would not retain water in the bowl a new toilet was installed.

--Sam