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Old 10-21-2016, 06:56 AM   #1
SOFLSCUBA
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Montana 3820 FK

We are thinking about getting the Montana 3820 FK. Love the floor plan but storage is a little small. Anyone have this model? What have you found so far?
 
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Old 10-21-2016, 07:11 AM   #2
dieselguy
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Here was a bit of discussion on this model from an earlier post. http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/...ad.php?t=67018
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Old 10-21-2016, 09:25 AM   #3
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We have seen it. Not for us. But if you folks like it, that is what counts.
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Old 10-21-2016, 12:18 PM   #4
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I was in the model at a recent RV show, you really need to like this drastic change, I could not live with the loss of so much storage space, but its up to you.
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Old 10-21-2016, 12:53 PM   #5
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The more storage, the more stuff you will take. Many years ago I took my wife and three teenagers on a 45 day, cross country trip. It's amazing how much stuff you can do without
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Old 10-21-2016, 04:27 PM   #6
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But still, we full time and carry way more stuff than will fit in that rig. It has the smallest basement I've ever seen on a Montana.
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Old 10-22-2016, 02:57 AM   #7
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DQDick, I think the basement is about the same as the 3750
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Old 10-23-2016, 08:04 AM   #8
bowlesj
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1st post - here we go. We love our 3820FK. My wife and I live in in it primarily full time as I work various contract jobs. We've had ours since April of this year.

The basement storage and even the inside cabinet space is quite a bit less than many other 5th wheel floor plans. However, we pride ourselves on living within our means in all aspects of our lives, including living space. That's it, that is the only take away on this unit for us.

We love the room separation. My wife too is a fine chef and she loves the room to maneuver in the kitchen as the buffet is an excellent pantry and additional counter space. She found the islands typically limited her access to the gas stove and limited floor space. While standing in the kitchen she can easily interact with guests and share the shows on television while preparing meals.

The front window - bug guts, hard to clean, too much light and heat, etc., are you kidding me? It's the easiest part of the entire rig to clean, it's glass. We, and guests, enjoy meals up in front where we can keep tabs on those coming and going on the driveway and we see eye to eye with the squirrels and birds! It is kind of dumb that there is no storage under the dinette seats, but there are other similar engineering lapses that leave one scratching their head, such as the washer dryer location in the bedroom, but none of them affect us.

The living room is awesome and we love stepping into it through the front door rather than into a kitchen. The bedroom in the rear is very quiet and the extra headroom in the bath is very welcome. I highly recommend the In-command system as it allows great remote control of the slides and awnings for troubleshooting and convenience. We have had no troubles with this system.

This is our first 5th wheel and we came from a 27 foot TT, one other TT and 2 pop ups prior to that so I guess we are used to doing with less space. Our long term neighbors all have storage units and can't believe we don't have one. Which brings me to the closets. They require a smaller hangar, but the typical trouser hangars from most dry cleaners fit great and we keep our off season clothes under the bed in tubs.

What I can't believe is how faithful people are to the Montana brand. Attention to detail and customer support is a joke. We knew this going in, as we really wanted this floorplan, but with my solid mechanical and electrical background figured we could fix just about anything that came along without running back and forth to the dealer. This has been the case on all previous trailers of which all were purchased new and had teething problems and never made it back to a dealer for warranty work. This unit is the worst ever and quite laughable in many instances. I have a list of 20 items that have mostly been worked off at this point. The PDI was done on an overnight stay and turned up 15 items that were able to be corrected at the post rather than hauled into a bay. 2 items were denied which were later agreed to by Keystone to be faulty but I have since corrected those myself as well since the dealers are amazingly cunning or complete idiots.

As far as access inside while on the road, the bathroom is accessible via the rear door and the buffet slide is a shallow Schwintek unit that is a breeze to pop out from the hall while at the head. Not as easy as a standard layout but pretty simple none the less.

At this point we are very pleased with our decision and the floor plan. If we didn't purchase this unit the rear den would have been our next choice and then the front living would have been next. Our unit has been voted best in the park by many people thus far and we tend to agree! Just keep in mind you better be handy to own one of these things or have lots of time and money to possibly have 'em in the shop. At least at this price point.

JMTCW Hope that helps Scuba.


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Old 10-23-2016, 09:06 AM   #9
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Would not work for us...
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Old 10-23-2016, 11:17 AM   #10
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Well stated, John. Glad you like your rig.
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Old 10-23-2016, 02:26 PM   #11
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John ... thanks for your alternate hands on review ... I just have to ask ... how do you and yours deal with the insanely small space between the fridge and table top? Do you just slide around with company, then shotgun back out? We are not big people by any means ... I couldn't imagine dealing with this issue if I were 50 pounds heavier. This is not just an off the hip remark ... we sat and finagled around in one at an RV show.
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Old 10-23-2016, 04:29 PM   #12
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The table does rotate. In fact we often leave it at the 90* position for better access on both sides for 2 people. With 4 persons the table is in normal position with my wife taking the easy exit seat for serving and table clearing etc. Rotating the table with place settings or cards on it is not that big of a deal as long as drinks are not too full or are picked up for the movement. The only seating position with limited TV view is next to the fridge. Thats my spot.

We added bumpers to the table edge to limit contact damage with the fridge door. Of course these rubber pads have been added in many places throughout.


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Old 10-23-2016, 06:05 PM   #13
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I guess Keystone must have "modified" the table position a bit as (looking at the photos in the link to my post) we saw no difference in however you turned the table ... uncomfortably close. Anyways ... enjoy your unit and be careful winterizing the water heater positioned 6 feet off the ground.
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Old 10-23-2016, 07:37 PM   #14
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Just last week we had took a tour of one in our resort in person last week and the booth in the kitchen is more spacious than people have been saying and I am 6-2 220 Lbs but Man the lack of storage outside and inside and for sure the bedroom is not as good as other floorplans ,if you are a part timer no problem but for a full timer like us NO Way and what made it worse was they had a washer /dryer in the "closet" in the bedroom so basically there was NO wardrobe closet so No Thanx but hey if it works for you else counts Right????
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Old 10-24-2016, 06:01 AM   #15
richfaa
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Full timers and long timers have a far different view of storage space. Lack of storage is a opt out for us.
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Old 10-25-2016, 04:49 PM   #16
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We have had our 2017 3820FK since August 5th. We have gone on two trips, each about 2,500 miles, and about 7-8 stops each. We love it. Sure there are small things that still need to be fixed, like a couple of the day night shades, that don't work properly, or an outside light that lost it's lens the first trip, etc. We have not run into a storage problem yet, and I guess if you are full timers, you need to tow a storage trailer behind you? :-) Seriously, I can't imagine being a full timer, so if that is what you are going to do, skip the combo Splendide washer/dryer in the bedroom, and do all of your laundry at the RV sites? I agree with the front windshield, I just bought one of those Camping World 7 foot collapsible ladders, that are only 4" x 4" x 7 feet, and get up and hit the window with windex once we are at every new destination, and then we can peer into everything going on in the world around us from that huge front window. We have had nothing but great compliments about our rig. Since we have two Golden Retrievers that travel with us, it gets a bit tight in the bedroom with the King size bed and them all wanting to share the same space, so after about 15 minutes of cuddle time with them, they have to go to their own beds on the floor at the foot of the bed. Also we keep the kitchen table at a 45 degree angle so we both can get in and out at all times with no troubles.
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Old 11-04-2016, 05:12 PM   #17
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We have owned a 3820FK for a little over a month now and are truly in love with it. We had it on our short list for about 8 months and had visited and revisited the floor model many many time before committing. Fact is by the time we went to purchase we knew more about it than our salesman did.

My wife is a great cook so the big kitchen was a must for her and quite honestly I benefit from all of gourmet meals prepared. The front window is great viewing, and the booth is truly real large and comfortable. I am 6'2" weight 230 and have 7 to 8 inches between my "gut" and the table. As others have said the table swings for easy access. For washing the front window I bought a squeege on an 3' handle that extends to 8'. Some soapy water in a 5 gallon pail and the window is clean in minutes.

The living room is very spacious and comfortable. We are considering removing one of the love seats from a slide out, and replacing it with a custom built table the will fit the interior. Under the table we will have to dog crates installed for the pups and the table top will act as a home for the bird. That solves vipers concern about lack of room in the bedroom. As the 5th wheel will probably be around a lot longer than the pups everything will be modular so that it can all be returned to original when no longer needed.

A big bathroom with high ceilings so showering is not a task. The bathroom door has a pivot hinge which allows you to open it without blocking off the entire hallway.

The bedroom is large and spacious, and I do love the king bed as opposed to the short queens we have had in the past. We opted for no washer / dryer so there is use of this wardrobe plus there is an 8' long wardrobe which passes behind the tv in the bedroom. So there is no lack of storage.

There is outside access to under the bed which we use for storage, as the bedroom already has all of the inside storage that we could want.

The pass thru storage under the kitchen is not as wide as other RV's but it is still plenty big, and I'm ok with not having the room to carry a ton of "stuff" that we don't ever use.

The biggest drawback to me is the awning. Because you have back to back full slideouts in the living room, you give up a LOT of outside sitting space to a slideout under your awning.

All is all a fantastic RV with a nice floorplan for our needs.
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Old 11-05-2016, 04:00 PM   #18
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Pete, I agree with everything you said. I am now just thinking the full body paint is nice, but does not compare to some of the motor homes I see out there, so I am considering having a couple of clear coats added and buffed between coats, to give it a more deeper look, like the motor homes have? Just need to figure out who can do the job?
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