Any Rockwood 231KSS owners?

Traded in our 23SS last year for the 23IKSS. Very pleased with this upgrade.
Travelled about 8000 km round trip from Alberta to Grand Canyon and back with a fair bit of meandering along the way. Towed very well behind the tundra.

We've had a few issues and all have been taken care of through the warranty. The biggest issue was the flooring was gouged by the sofa slide. Forest River had the flooring replaced. We were pretty nervous about how that would turn out, but the local repair facility did an amazing job. Could not find a fault in their workmanship or materials.

Another issue was the mattress on the rear bunk did not lay flat. When the bunk is in the down position there is an approximately 1 to 2 inch difference in height between the bunk and the back of the trailer. So my wife ended up sleeping off level. She didn't tell me about this for the month we were on the road. Not a complainer I guess. LOL.

Anyway, last fall when we raised it as a warranty issue, FR didn't have a solution and wouldn't do anything. We met with a rep this spring at the spring RV show and he mentioned that there was now a modified mattress and advised us to try for a warranty claim again. Happy to say FR shipped the replacement mattress and we received it in Match this year.

So, we've had a few warranty issues, but we are very happy with our trailer and the service from our local dealer, Holiday RV in Redcliff, Alberta.

bmflyfish wrote:
What kind of hitch do you use? I cannot find an accurate hitch weight for the camper. Forest River says the hitch weight is 514lbs, while a dealership in Illinois says it only 314lbs. I am trying to decide if I need a WDH.

We use a basic Pro Series WDH with friction sway control. Yes, you absolutely need one and you need the sway control. If a dealer told the IKSS is 3141 they are clueless. Our "yellow sticker" weight was right about 5200. That's the empty camper as built with all optionss. GVWR (max it is rated to weigh fully loaded) for the trailer is about 6400 lbs, so that is what you want to work from in determining your hitch. We have 1,000 lb bars with our hitch, which is about right.

The dealer included the ProSeries as part of the purchase. They installed it and got it setup correctly so everything is level and weight on the truck is properly balanced between the axles. On windy days, the sway control absolutely makes a big difference. I'm satisfied with our hitch, but there are other "higher end" setups out there. With friction sway control, you need to take the sway bar off to back up. Its just 2 cotter pins to remove it, so not a huge deal. The Equalizer has a lot of loyal users on these forums and has a built in sway control rather than a friction bar. If I were to buy a higher end hitch, I would get the Blue OX. Less noise, easy hitch up, good performance built in sway control, can backup with out removing anything.

Its worth a trip to a CAT scale when you get your rig. We found that the tongue weight, when fully loaded was approaching 800 lbs and the axles were 5250. With that kind of tongue weight, you need the WDH to get some load shifted to the front axle of the tow vehicle for proper steering.

What kind of hitch do you use? I cannot find an accurate hitch weight for the camper. Forest River says the hitch weight is 514lbs, while a dealership in Illinois says it only 314lbs. I am trying to decide if I need a WDH.

Camper Sue wrote:
This post has me grinning from ear to ear! We are waiting for our Roo 23IKSS to arrive within the next couple of weeks. We loved our pop up and she has traveled with us from Canada to GA. We were ready for all the extras the hybrid has to offer but still wanted our tent ends to enjoy the fresh air and scenery. LOVE the size with the 2 slideouts, so much storage and we got the air mattress sofa so that we can turtle comfortably when necessary. The best of both worlds, can't wait to start our camping season with our first trip heading to Key West for 8 days and renewing our wedding vows on the beach in honor of our 25th wedding anniversary. So we will be celebrating all the way around :B

This post has me grinning ear to ear! Congratulation on the 25 years and new camper. Key West is AWESOME! The Keys is where my wife and I spent our honeymoon.

KMP44 wrote:

bmflyfish wrote:
Ordered a 2015 231KSS today! Hopefully we will pick it up the first week of June in Orlando, Florida.

Sweet! Now you can start getting all those camping trips booked!

The wife has already declared that we are going to live at her favorite camping spot this summer. We are having to work out some logistics since we are headed to Boston for a couple of weeks for the 4th of July. Since we bought the camper from RV Direct, we were going to drive down to Orlando to pick it up, but with our trip to Boston we may be picking it up in Albany, NY. We are excited!

This post has me grinning from ear to ear! We are waiting for our Roo 23IKSS to arrive within the next couple of weeks. We loved our pop up and she has traveled with us from Canada to GA. We were ready for all the extras the hybrid has to offer but still wanted our tent ends to enjoy the fresh air and scenery. LOVE the size with the 2 slideouts, so much storage and we got the air mattress sofa so that we can turtle comfortably when necessary. The best of both worlds, can't wait to start our camping season with our first trip heading to Key West for 8 days and renewing our wedding vows on the beach in honor of our 25th wedding anniversary. So we will be celebrating all the way around :B

bmflyfish wrote:
Ordered a 2015 231KSS today! Hopefully we will pick it up the first week of June in Orlando, Florida.

Sweet! Now you can start getting all those camping trips booked!

Ordered a 2015 231KSS today! Hopefully we will pick it up the first week of June in Orlando, Florida.

bmflyfish wrote:
The 231kss we looked at appeared to have a ton of inside space.

if you really want inside space, especially with your Golden, there's no hybrid with as much inside space, as the 21SS.
but you lose any kitchen counterspace and it has less inside storage, compared to both the 23IKSS and the 23SS.

bmflyfish wrote:
I am glad to hear that your experiences has been positive.

How much outside space does the kitchen slide take up under the awning? The pictures I have seen appear to be not that bad. I do like the idea of place to put a wagon, tricycle, or whatever to get out of the way or out of the rain like I did under the rear bunk of the p/u.

The kitchen slide isn't very deep - about 24" so it takes some awning space, but we've found the trade-off to be well worth it. The awning is 17' long and even with the slide open, its still wider than the awning on our popup. We still get the picnic table under the awning and have room for a couple chairs too. Bikes, wood, and whatever else go under the bunk ends.

The jackknife sofa is good for little ones. One pull and its setup. If you want to be able to sleep bigger kids or adults, the air bed option for the sofa is the way to go. But more hastle to setup every night.

As for Forest River vs Jayco - I think they are pretty comparable, and the specifc dealer involved can make a big difference either way. But for us it came down to the floorplan - Jayco had no answer for the IKSS. The island kitchen with 2 slideouts was what drove our decision. 40 nights of camping later, no regrets. We like it better now than when we bought it.