Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

mtlakejim · 11-16-2017, 12:00 AM

CamoGreg,
There isn't much in this world that without some thought cannot be engineered to work. My first thought is that you did not take into account that the basement is not the full width of the trailer (in fact my original idea was to make the garage only as wide as the inside the frame rails and to use rectangular tubing on it's side for the floor area between the frame rails (done properly that would have given the basement an additional several inches of height--granted it would have required stronger materials for the frame). My original thought was the LENGTH of the garage is more important than the WIDTH (think kayaks and canoes). With that in mind it is easy to see where additional steps could be added inside the door so that the outside entry would stay at the same height as current (which granted is pretty tall now). As for the fridge, that will require some additional thought but good point. Given some time I am sure I can come up with a solution. After all the INITIAL response I got to the current design concept was "it can't be done" and "not enough people will want it". Since Grand Design first came out with an actual model, my push on the industry has been to make the garage LONGER. Even if it is not as tall (IE: even if you don't raise the kitchen floor to same level as bedroom) as the rear section. While the current floor plan is great for folks that have a motorcycle and nothing else, at 10' it still misses a LOT of people with canoes, boats or other toys that are long but don't require the height of the garage. Keystone did at least listen a little and made the garage 10' and the extra 6" over the Grand Design is the primary reason we chose the Keystone. Even at the lower price we WOULD NOT HAVE PURCHASED the Keystone if it's garage had been the same length of the Grand Design. The shorter garage of the GD simply does not meet our needs. At present we can carry our motorcycle or jet ski in the Keystone. We would love to be able to carry both at the same time. And I think that would be possible in an extended length garage (the jet ski doesn't require nearly the height of the motorcycle (with windshield). Just think being able to take a trip to Florida and having both your motorcycle and jet ski with you........

11-16-2017, 12:00 AM	#60
mtlakejim Montana Master Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Bee Branch Posts: 2,620 M.O.C. #20693	CamoGreg, There isn't much in this world that without some thought cannot be engineered to work. My first thought is that you did not take into account that the basement is not the full width of the trailer (in fact my original idea was to make the garage only as wide as the inside the frame rails and to use rectangular tubing on it's side for the floor area between the frame rails (done properly that would have given the basement an additional several inches of height--granted it would have required stronger materials for the frame). My original thought was the LENGTH of the garage is more important than the WIDTH (think kayaks and canoes). With that in mind it is easy to see where additional steps could be added inside the door so that the outside entry would stay at the same height as current (which granted is pretty tall now). As for the fridge, that will require some additional thought but good point. Given some time I am sure I can come up with a solution. After all the INITIAL response I got to the current design concept was "it can't be done" and "not enough people will want it". Since Grand Design first came out with an actual model, my push on the industry has been to make the garage LONGER. Even if it is not as tall (IE: even if you don't raise the kitchen floor to same level as bedroom) as the rear section. While the current floor plan is great for folks that have a motorcycle and nothing else, at 10' it still misses a LOT of people with canoes, boats or other toys that are long but don't require the height of the garage. Keystone did at least listen a little and made the garage 10' and the extra 6" over the Grand Design is the primary reason we chose the Keystone. Even at the lower price we WOULD NOT HAVE PURCHASED the Keystone if it's garage had been the same length of the Grand Design. The shorter garage of the GD simply does not meet our needs. At present we can carry our motorcycle or jet ski in the Keystone. We would love to be able to carry both at the same time. And I think that would be possible in an extended length garage (the jet ski doesn't require nearly the height of the motorcycle (with windshield). Just think being able to take a trip to Florida and having both your motorcycle and jet ski with you........