Owners experiences sought

[bacil]

So,

my research is slowly approaching its final stages and i am now torn between 3 trailers.

Ultimately we have decided to spend little more on the trailer than our original budget while towing vehicle will stay 2015 3500HD. Now i need your help, i am looking for any real life comments about the following units.

1. NORTHWOOD ARCTIC FOX ARCTIC SILVER FOX 27-5L
2. KEYSTONE RV AVALANCHE 300RE
3. OPEN RANGE 3X 3X309RLS

These are the three units and layouts we chose for our FT traveling, we plan to travel all around northern america including AK, BC, Yukon terriotires etc. hence we are looking and good insulation, decent furnace. Also we would boondock whenever we can so tank capacities are important to us as well us battery and solar capability.

Can someone please share some real life experiences with these units ?

[justme]

ChuckV1 wrote:

mystikalkat wrote:
Hello anyone here ever owned a 2011 Cabo 341 by Carriage?
Are all Carriage brands made with enclosed heated underbelly and heated tanks?

As well are G384FLT Kz Durango Gold has heated storage, the underbelly and heated tanks, I think this is becoming somewhat the norm in the higher end 5th wheels now days ...
Safe Travels

I can see day light when looking in the basement behind the wall in the storage area for the Landmark and Bighorn trailers. Evidently the material they use on the bottom of the frame is not sealed well. Heartland claims to be all weather, but I don't see how they can be without sealing the bottom cover. Heartland is a high end builder so watch out.....

[ChuckV1]

mystikalkat wrote:
Hello anyone here ever owned a 2011 Cabo 341 by Carriage?
Are all Carriage brands made with enclosed heated underbelly and heated tanks?

As well are G384FLT Kz Durango Gold has heated storage, the underbelly and heated tanks, I think this is becoming somewhat the norm in the higher end 5th wheels now days ...

Safe Travels

[mystikalkat]

Hello anyone here ever owned a 2011 Cabo 341 by Carriage?
Are all Carriage brands made with enclosed heated underbelly and heated tanks?

[shepstone]

Our Open Range is a very solid rig, but it is an older unit (2011) You definitely need to get on the OR website, it is a site dedicated to OR only, & there is a wealth of information on there and a lot of support from other owners for any issues that may come up. One of the points that sold us on ours is that it has complete accessibility with all slides closed and the island is moveable. So the kitchen, living and dining room, bathroom and bedroom are all available without having to climb over counter tops and partially or fully extending slides. It also helps that it is a wide body rv. This for us is a great advantage when on the road and stopping overnight at Walmart or rest area’s

[bacil]

Thanks, i keep going back and forth between the rigs. SO all feedback i get is really important. And i will check that Durango.

[skidooman93]

very happy Open Range owner here, its not a 3X but they use quality components and their attention to detail is really good. But its still an RV not an automobile. Someday the RV industry needs to look at the auto industry for their quality control. Autos aren't perfect but the RV industries quality control is 3rd world compared to the auto industry.

[desiphil]

AF is well built no doubt. But I still think they've cheapened up a bit in the last 10 years, but you can say that about all manufacturers. The OR has 3" thick walls and dual panes. Both of these brands (IMO) are significantly better than the 3rd. Now they don't make that 3X309 anymore so you'd have to find used or a new one that's been sitting on a dealer lot forever.

[ChuckV1]

bacil wrote:
for the W/D we decided it is not that important, but i would have been nice feature. Also i am still worried about water consumption.

Now i just run across one more rig we like layout of its Roamer RF347RES does any one of you know it ?

I still think you should look at the Kz Durango Gold Line, we have a G384FLT an has the washer an dryer setup right off the kitchen which is really handy ... It is also rated for full time living an has tons an I mean tons of room an is well built an the price is well below the more expensive high end 5th wheels an is just as well built ...

Safe Travels

[bacil]

for the W/D we decided it is not that important, but i would have been nice feature. Also i am still worried about water consumption.

Now i just run across one more rig we like layout of its Roamer RF347RES does any one of you know it ?

[justme]

wellp, DW says she wants a separated WD, so I'm only looking at rigs that allow for that. We had a combo in our previous unit and she says that she will never go back to a Combo again. So guess what, this is important for us. Too bad Artic Fox can not catch up to folks like us... The build a nice unit, but not for us...

[Cummins12V98]

I honestly don't know but you could look it up. Bosch 500 series washer and FisherPaykel drawer type dish washer.

I do know the washer is VERY water efficient.

I can carry 100 gallons of fresh water.

Ok looked it up dishwasher uses less than 3 gallons water and it's capacity is surprisingly large.

[bacil]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"not having a washer dryer in our rig has never been a significant inconvenience at all. "

Full timed 3.5 years without a W/D, was not too much of an issue. Now full timed 2.5 years with and we would NEVER go without them!!!

Also have a dishwasher that we would not be without it either.

I have question there, how is your water consumption ? eg using either W/D or dishwasher when not on hookups ? that should eat through the watertank pretty fast when boondocking or dry camping ?

[Cummins12V98]

"not having a washer dryer in our rig has never been a significant inconvenience at all. "

Full timed 3.5 years without a W/D, was not too much of an issue. Now full timed 2.5 years with and we would NEVER go without them!!!

Also have a dishwasher that we would not be without it either.

[bacil]

blueglide wrote:

bacil wrote:

TXiceman wrote:
Justme and bacil, we have been full time now for 5 years and do fine with a Splindide 2100XC combo unit. It is not hard to learn to use the unit to use it to its best advantage. I would not want separate units due to the weight and extra space.

Ken

Thanks, problem is that there is no space for W/D in the AF at least not by design.

Full timing currently in AF 32-5m. Our rig is setup for washer/dryer but we choose to use laundromat. Arctic Fox rigs are heavy to begin with and we didn't want to add more weight for what we deemed to be marginal benefit. Honestly, among all the adventures and experiences we have had....not having a washer dryer in our rig has never been a significant inconvenience at all.

We are looking at 28-5L just to correct my statement :-), anyway as i said we are used to use laundry in marinas from our time on boats so this is only tiny issue 🙂