Hi all. New member here. Not only to the forum but to RV'ing in general. Long story short, we are looking for our first RV. We will be living in it, for a while or forever. Hopefully the latter. We have been looking at tons of RV's and have finally settled on a fifth wheel. I am extremely impressed with keystone products. Fifth wheel and travel trailers. We are looking at the Montana series of fifth wheels. Since we are still in the looking stage, any thought's from you guys and gals that have been doing this for a while? We have not purchased a truck yet. Still waiting to see which fifth wheel we choose. Money is an issue. We will be buying the fifth wheel new leaving little money for the truck. So it will have to be used. We are planning on staying in one place for a while so we wont be towing to often anyway. Any thoughts on trucks? From what I can tell the Montana we are looking at is about 13,000 Lbs. Anyway, sorry for the long post and hope to hear from someone soon. Thanks in advance.

Montana's are believed to be a good value for the dollar. Be sure to check the Keystone user forums for information. As for a truck, go by the GVWR of your selected 5ver. If you are thinking full time you'll need a larger unit. The GVWR will be the shipping weight plus carrying capacity. All are over 16,000 lbs. You should be thinking a used diesel dually for a truck. Good Luck

If you plan to full time in NJ, be forewarned you will be cold all winter. RVs have the insulation value of R7 or so. Basically a double pane window is about as good. If you can get south of the MasonDixon line all winter you will be better off.As for Montana? Their OK, but I think they have slipped some in the last few years. As a comparison and in the same price range look at Cedar Creek, Cardinal. Both IMHO offer more for the dollar.

We have a 2007 Montana we bought new July 2007. Could not be more pleased with it. There is a very active Montana Owners Club (MOC) forum with lots of full timers who are very happy with theirs in all types of climates. Of course, there are also some who have had problems to varying degrees. I think they are as good as any in the price range. You need to check weight ratings of the trucks carefully. Truck payload ratings have really gone up a lot over the last number of years. I would definitely recommend a 350/3500. The pin weight of the trailer would determine if you can get by with a SRW, or if you need to go with a DRW.

Our "next to last" fifth-wheel was a Montana--the smallest: 2955. We had a good experience with it. Could not find the "right size" and floorplan so moved over to a HitchHiker II (NuWa)--no longer in production.However, this post is to tell you about the very active Montana Owners Club forum. We are still active and have some good friends who are Montana owners. You will find much about the current models of Montana units on this web site:Montana Club Owners Forum

I am extremely impressed with keystone products.Not to be too disrespectful, but if you truly believe that, then you need to keep shopping and looking at other manufacturers.

Keystone Montana | Good Sam Community

Mile_High
Explorer
Jul 29, 2015
We had two Montanas, second one was flawless (2007), first one not so good (2003). However, it sounds like you are still way back in the floorplan stage, so I wouldn't stay with any specific brand. Pick a few floor plans you like and sit in them a while to get the feel, it will come to you, but not before several exhausting days where you just want to give up.

Brandwise - with a few exceptions, they are all pretty much the same - almost homogenized with the same frame, suspension, etc, especially within a specific price range.

Truckwise - you're a ways away from determining that. Take the factory pin weight and ad 1,500 lbs if you like to haul water, add yourself, hitch, and any gear in the truck, and find a truck that will handle that payload.
bassin39
Explorer
Jul 28, 2015
Thanks again everyone. Unfortunately the 3711 is out of our price range. But I just booked a room in Hershey for the September RV show. Can't wait.
richfaa
Explorer
Jul 28, 2015
Don't get too impressed with any brand. You will be disappointed. The Montana is no better no worse than any other brand in the price range.We have had two of them. We have had problems. We are long timers and we use the RV hard. If I thought there was a better brand in the price range we would have it.
steiny93
Explorer
Jul 28, 2015
we just went through the buying process this spring

ended up with a montana 3711; did the hard compare to the heartland / solitude / some a flavor (altitude maybe)

for the money I thought the montana line gave you a pile of features that others didn't include for the dollars; but it's pretty much a personal preference deal

been very happy so far
NWKomfort350
Explorer
Jul 27, 2015
I like this floorplan.
Jayco North Point 3777RLBH

http://www.jayco.com/products/fifth-wheels/2016-north-point/377rlbh/
rehless
Explorer
Jul 27, 2015
We have a 2012 Montana Mountaineer 29 footer. Would never buy another Montana.
One tire wearing unevenly, maybe bent axle, water heater not working on electricity right out of the gate, repaired three times and I only use the water heater on gas now. Shoddy work.
Gib3633
Explorer
Jul 27, 2015
We had a 38 ft Montana weighing 15,500 lbs. The only real problem we had was the suspension isn't heavy enough for the trailer even with the wet bolt system. The bushings are too thin to start off with and we bent the axles twice. After that we upgraded it to IS Suspension and Disc Brakes and that sure made a different animal out of it.
That being said Montana will not speck one out that way. So if you have to spend an additional $6,000.00 I would price a Big Sky because they offer those most important options on the Big Sky. Speaking from first hand experience.
ACZL
Explorer
Jul 27, 2015
bassin39 wrote:
That's been our major problem. Finding a good floor plan. I absolutely LOVE the front living. But my 20 year old daughter "may" move down to Florida with us to continue her schooling. So I would like her to have her own room. The montana 351BH has a great rear bunk/den area. Perfect for a family type room, office or spare bedroom. With its own half bath. But i don't like the sofa in the kitchen area in the "main' area. So the search goe's on. Now we are looking at some of the rear living with the bunkhouse in the center of the RV. Anyone know any brands with the "side" bunkhouse's. We are looking to spend up to about $55,000.00.

I know Cedar Creek offers a side bunk option and not sure if it was K-Z or Crossroads had one as well. Most BH will have a center kitchen/dining/living room in the center of coach. If your in no big hurry to buy just yet, mark your calendar for the Hershey RV show in Mid Sept or so. If you can go, see if you can stay for it's entire run at a local hotel and look at the 5th wheels that will be there. Take a notebook for each of you and w/o seeing what the other person is writing down, write down the likes/dislikes of each 5er/5er BH you go into (make sure to incl make & model #). Once done, make a spread sheet to compare at home and then start to narrow things down from there. Sadly, don't think you will find what you may be looking for in the $55,000 range. If you buy new, rule of thumb is 25-30% off MSRP is what you should be paying for it.
bassin39
Explorer
Jul 27, 2015
That's been our major problem. Finding a good floor plan. I absolutely LOVE the front living. But my 20 year old daughter "may" move down to Florida with us to continue her schooling. So I would like her to have her own room. The montana 351BH has a great rear bunk/den area. Perfect for a family type room, office or spare bedroom. With its own half bath. But i don't like the sofa in the kitchen area in the "main' area. So the search goe's on. Now we are looking at some of the rear living with the bunkhouse in the center of the RV. Anyone know any brands with the "side" bunkhouse's. We are looking to spend up to about $55,000.00.
C-Bears
Explorer
Jul 27, 2015
It is good to do your homework in advance. Do not just follow one source of information. One thing to keep in mind is that RV's, no matter what brand, are not built to the same quality standards as automobiles. The other thing to keep in mind is, generally speaking, "you get what you pay for".

Prior to purchasing our first FW we did tons of research. We went to numerous RV shows and found a floor plan that worked for us. We made sure the floor plan we liked was produced by a RV brand that had been in business for an extremely long time.