New to Montana not to Keystone

[Montie]

Hello. Just took delivery of our 2025 3231CK last Saturday. Just me the wife and a dog (pug named Hodor). We upgraded from a 2019 Hideout fifth wheel. Nothing but problems with the Hideout and I swore off keystone but DW fell in love with this floor plan and style of the Montana. We considered a Solitude 370DV (same floor plan) but it was to big for our parking spot. The more I researched the Montana and the reputation I got more comfortable with getting another keystone. I learned a lot from the first trailer so hopefully this will be a better experience for us. This thing is a spaceship compared to the Hideout. Lots of bells and whistles to learn. Anyway hoping to learn a lot more from you all in the near future.

[ScottnSue]

Congratulations on the new camper and welcome to the Montana group.
Bunch of nice folks here that are always willing to help out if needed.

[Mikendebbie]

Welcomed and congrats on your new fifth wheel. The resources for help and advice here run deep. Don’t be a stranger!

[DutchmenSport]

Welcome and congrats on your new Montana! I hope it serves you well.

Considering you have one camper under your belt now and experienced multiple problems with it, start right now doing some pre-preventative maintenance on your new Montana before maintenance or repairs are essential.

For example ... you know there are drafts caused by holes in the underbelly of the camper. And you know those drafts blow up through the grate in the steps leading to the upper floor level. So, take the time right off the bat and begin sealing up all those holes and gaps. This will improve your furnace efficiency, your air conditioner efficiency, and eliminate drafts on the lower floor.

Take the time right now to add a sealers, calkings, glues, nails and screws around trim pieces, check the supports in your kitchen and dresser drawers and strengthen them now before they fail bouncing down the road. Reinforce the closet clothes bar to eliminate future bending or it even coming off the wall or the shelf it's supported by from collapsing. Go around the outside of the camper and UNDER the camper right now and make sure all the screws are tight. You'll be shocked how many actually are not in anything solid. Take the time right now to make sure your wheel fenders (those plastic things) are attached well, and stop the screw holes from cracking out before they even start.

You know the vunerabalities, you experienced all once before. So, work ahead of the game, remember all those things that went wrong with your previous camper and check those items on the new one, make new supports, fixes, or whatever to ensure the same problems won't happen again.

Contrary to all best intentions, the first year of ownership will unearth stuff that needs repair. If you jump ahead right now and address the known issues that happened to your last camper, you have a better chance at a good success rate with your new camper.

I wish you all the best in the world. And I certainly hope your issues are nill!

[AZ Traveler]

Nick,

Welcome to the forum!

[Foldbak]

Welcome to the MOC

[dbrandon44]

What is the actual usage of the vents in the stairs? Somebody said that you should block those off for cool air and to keep it warmer inside.

[AZ Traveler]

The vents provide fresh air for the furnace.

[Mikendebbie]

Originally Posted by dbrandon44

What is the actual usage of the vents in the stairs? Somebody said that you should block those off for cool air and to keep it warmer inside.

Lots of folks block off the stair vents in the SUMMER to keep hot air from the basement from coming in. Maybe someone in the forum can advise you for what to do to limit cold air infiltration but you should not block them off now. We don’t have much winter camping experience.

[Foldbak]

Mine are blocked off to keep from pulling hot are in when using the AC. So far no issues using the forced heat.

[newadven2023]

Originally Posted by DutchmenSport

Welcome and congrats on your new Montana! I hope it serves you well.

Considering you have one camper under your belt now and experienced multiple problems with it, start right now doing some pre-preventative maintenance on your new Montana before maintenance or repairs are essential.

For example ... you know there are drafts caused by holes in the underbelly of the camper. And you know those drafts blow up through the grate in the steps leading to the upper floor level. So, take the time right off the bat and begin sealing up all those holes and gaps. This will improve your furnace efficiency, your air conditioner efficiency, and eliminate drafts on the lower floor.

Take the time right now to add a sealers, calkings, glues, nails and screws around trim pieces, check the supports in your kitchen and dresser drawers and strengthen them now before they fail bouncing down the road. Reinforce the closet clothes bar to eliminate future bending or it even coming off the wall or the shelf it's supported by from collapsing. Go around the outside of the camper and UNDER the camper right now and make sure all the screws are tight. You'll be shocked how many actually are not in anything solid. Take the time right now to make sure your wheel fenders (those plastic things) are attached well, and stop the screw holes from cracking out before they even start.

You know the vunerabalities, you experienced all once before. So, work ahead of the game, remember all those things that went wrong with your previous camper and check those items on the new one, make new supports, fixes, or whatever to ensure the same problems won't happen again.

Contrary to all best intentions, the first year of ownership will unearth stuff that needs repair. If you jump ahead right now and address the known issues that happened to your last camper, you have a better chance at a good success rate with your new camper.

I wish you all the best in the world. And I certainly hope your issues are nill!

This is great advise. We have had our Montana 5th wheel for a year. The first year was tough because of all the broken items that needed to be fixed. Several returns for warranty work. Don't hesitate to take it back during the first year. Make the dealership fix the mistakes.

[432bartman]

Congratulations on the new rig

[Montie]

Thanks for the welcome and advice. Yes I plan on being much more proactive with the new trailer. We spent the last weekend cutting drawer and cabinet liners and organizing our stuff. This gave me a good chance to look things over and make note of adjustments and minor issues. Because we sought out this particular model we ended up buying from a dealer about 5 hours from where we live so the plan is to address much of the issues myself. After picking up the trailer we camped a couple days near the dealership so if(and as it turned out when) any immediate issues turned up we could get it back in for service. We were about 5 or 6 hours into our first day/night with the new Montana when we heard a “pop” noise followed by rushing water. As fast as I could get up to go shut off the water outside the water was already all over the kitchen floor coming from the refrigerator. The water line blew off for the ice maker. Luckily during the walkthrough I noticed the ice maker shut off under the sink in the island. I closed the valve and we were able to clean up the water and pull out drawers and run a fan to dry things out. Still I would have rather not had a flood in the new cabinets. I never had a serious water leak with the last trailer so this was a new experience. The dealership has been great and accommodating to us. We have a 60 day appointment to address any further issues or adjustments needed. We are going to get a couple trips in before that so we hope to give it a good shake down.

[Sparatacus]

Welcome!