KZ Sportsmen 280BHSS

2112 wrote:
A tight thrown on the other hand is. My first hard side was a Sportsmen bunkhouse with a cramped restroom and Hated It.

A what? :h Ha Ha! Just figured out you meant "throne". :W

I find the concern of access to the restroom and fridge with slides in to be not much of a concern. My current model blocks the fridge and it's no big deal to open the slide enough to pass, get what you want from the fridge or panty and close it on the way out. To me it wouldn't be the deal breaker.

A tight thrown on the other hand is. My first hard side was a Sportsmen bunkhouse with a cramped restroom and Hated It. That's the first thing I look at when shopping now. Like Dutch said, sit on it and make sure it works for you before you purchase.

I'm on my second KZ and have been very pleased with both. The 2002 Sportsmen held up well.

DutchmenSport wrote:
Small details can turn, what appears to be, a really great looking camper, into a real PITA when you start using it for real!

With one of those PITA details being a short queen bed that's only 75" long, a real deal breaker for many of us, especially now that more manufacturers are waking up to that fact and are finally installing 80" full length queen beds.

Although the slide is not a deep as some, make sure you have the dealer pull the slide in and see how hard it is to reach the bathroom and use the kitchen. If the slide block the bathroom door, you won't be happy having to extract the side while you are traveling. Check also the clearance between the sink peninsula and the sofa when the slide is in. If you cannot pass this spot, you won't be able to reach the kitchen area or the bathroom. Also, with slide in, you have access to the main bathroom via one door only. Are you OK with someone crawling over someone to get out of bed in the middle of the night, then squeezing between the sink and couch, and then squeezing to get the door open to the bathroom and hopefully, won't wake up the kids sleeping in the bunks?

Looking at the photos of this camper on-line, looks like the plug for electricity is in the very back middle. The water hook up is near the front. Check this out. And find out where the valves are for the holding tanks. If they are under the slide, you'll be crawling under the slide to drain your tanks if you have full hook up's. Also, where is the drain valve for the fresh water tank? Most are in very bad locations under the camper.

The outside camp kitchen is really nice. I do like that.

Don't know what dealer you're using, but here's a link to a dealer that has a pretty good set of photos of the camper. Cycle through them. Click here. So don't know how long this unit will be on-line until it's sold and the dealer takes the link down.

KZ is manufactured in Northern Indiana. I've been by their plant a few times. If you treat the camper well and don't abuse it, it should serve you well for a long time.

Good luck!

Edit: I just noticed looking at the photos again and the floor plan.... check out the bathroom "potty". Not so much an issue for the ladies, but for the men...???? Sit on the throne? Do you have room to separate your knees? (you know what I mean!) With the door shut ... you might be cramped! Check it out. Our Springdale had a very confining potty. Luckly, it was just my wife and me. I could never shut the door. I needed the "knee" room, as the other knee was up against the bathroom sink. In this floor plan, one knee will be up against the tub. Hey, it's just something to think about! Small details can turn, what appears to be, a really great looking camper, into a real PITA when you start using it for real!

Seems like a plain interior and a low fresh water capacity to me but those two issues can be overcome. Will it fit into your favorite or proposed favorite campsites?