Montana Fifth Wheel

[cummins2014]

A little write up in the RV magazine rating the Montana Fifth Wheels in the top eight for cold weather camping . I never felt my previous 2008 Montana was very good in sub freezing weather. Apparently they have improved with their Arctic package.

[StirCrazy]

JAC1982 wrote:
We looked at every 5th wheel offering from Keystone when shopping... even the real cheap ones, and then Cougars and Montana High Countrys and Montanas. Each one was progressively nicer than the last and we settled on the MHC.

thats was my point, as you "go up" in the lines they have different interior finnishing, and apliances but thats pretty much the only differences. when I shoped I let layout and functionality decide which one and it was a desision between the cougar and the high country.. the cougar won.

Steve

[JAC1982]

We looked at every 5th wheel offering from Keystone when shopping... even the real cheap ones, and then Cougars and Montana High Countrys and Montanas. Each one was progressively nicer than the last and we settled on the MHC.

[cummins2014]

StirCrazy wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:


A Montana is simply an upgraded Keystone Cougar imo.

I dont even think its that. I think montana and cougar are interchangable only different color packages and some lay outs. you look at the construction and they apear the same. we were going back and forth between a montana and a cougar when we bought ours and didn't realy notice any difference in construction at all.

having said that I have camped in my Cougar at about 10F and aside from the furnace running about 50-60% of the time it was all good. artic packages are pretty subjective I find, they take the absolute r value of every material they put into the construction and add it all togeather even if its r value doesnt work quite as well in the way it is being used. personaly I wish they would just use spray foam in the floors and cealings also. as little as 2" in the floor and say 3-4" in the cealing would make a world of difference, but they would have to figure out how to get the same amounts in the slides also.

Steve

This may hold true now, I think when Cougar first came out they were a step down from the Montana, same as the High Country is today. Same a few years ago on the Big Horn , compared to the Big Country , not much difference ,both had the six point level -up, the molded rear caps , leather interior, well synthetic anyway , etc.

[StirCrazy]

Ron3rd wrote:


A Montana is simply an upgraded Keystone Cougar imo.

I dont even think its that. I think montana and cougar are interchangable only different color packages and some lay outs. you look at the construction and they apear the same. we were going back and forth between a montana and a cougar when we bought ours and didn't realy notice any difference in construction at all.

having said that I have camped in my Cougar at about 10F and aside from the furnace running about 50-60% of the time it was all good. artic packages are pretty subjective I find, they take the absolute r value of every material they put into the construction and add it all togeather even if its r value doesnt work quite as well in the way it is being used. personaly I wish they would just use spray foam in the floors and cealings also. as little as 2" in the floor and say 3-4" in the cealing would make a world of difference, but they would have to figure out how to get the same amounts in the slides also.

Steve

[JAC1982]

dieseltruckdriver wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:
But, I think part of the problem is, people expect it to be like their house in the winter. No trailer right off the lot is that well insulated.

Snipped and trimmed.

I don't know about that, early last spring we were in ours at 7 degrees F. with a 35 mph wind coming from the back/street (slide) side of our 5er and we weren't chilly at all. Yes we ate some propane, but we were very comfortable and the furnace was cycling. I didn't think we could ask for anything more from it.

Sure you were comfortable but you probably ate a lot more propane than if you were in your house 🙂 That was my point... you can stay plenty warm in a trailer, you'll just use up more resources to get there than you would in a house.

Reminds me of one of my first apartments when I lived in Chicago. It was a real junker, but cheap. I kept the heat at 55 because it was so poorly insulated (you could put your hand on the wall and it would be freezing) and old single pane windows, and my gas bill was still $150/mo. Moved to the next place, similar style/age of building around the corner but with better windows and insulation, and my gas bill was cut in half and I was comfy at 70. That was my first lesson in "you get what you pay for".

[afidel]

cummins2014 wrote:

Arcamper wrote:
Our 2016 Montana Legacy has done fine at 24 degrees supplementing the furnace with an electric heater and we were very comfortable. I have a temp probe mounted between the holding tanks and they never got close to freezing running the furnace maybe 10 minutes per hour. I don't have much to compare it to but it stays a lot warmer than our 2007 Laredo did in the same temp. Also our camper has over 300 nights spent in it and about 18,000 miles with no major issues and has never been back to the dealer since the day we bought it. Good quality or just luck? Who knows.

That must be one heck of a electric heater to only allow 10 minutes per hour on the furnace in 24 degrees , or its sitting fairly close to the thermostat .

I'm using my trailer as a home office, with Reflectix in all the windows once it gets up to temp I doubt the furnace runs even that much with the fireplace going. I can often get through an hour meeting without the furnace running at all. The thermostat is as far from a vent as it can physically be. I am running a few fans to push the hot air down from the ceiling (wish I had a vent in the living room, a Fantastic Fan on reverse would be perfect and quite).

[cummins2014]

dieseltruckdriver wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:
But, I think part of the problem is, people expect it to be like their house in the winter. No trailer right off the lot is that well insulated.

Snipped and trimmed.

I don't know about that, early last spring we were in ours at 7 degrees F. with a 35 mph wind coming from the back/street (slide) side of our 5er and we weren't chilly at all. Yes we ate some propane, but we were very comfortable and the furnace was cycling. I didn't think we could ask for anything more from it.

I am sure you ate some propane ,been there :B I have hunted in that kind of weather in Wyoming I know, but we stayed warm . Didn't freeze up anything , but the drain tube on the water tank, wouldn't drain ,until I got to a little warmer area on the way home , and it thawed out.

[dieseltruckdriv]

topjimmy wrote:
Man I can tell you are from the Dakota's you are used to that weather you are like my Dad that would walk around in a T Shirt outside in a Blizzard we use to call him The Snowman but most of us in a 5er at 7 degrees with 35MPH winds are going to freeze our Butts Off without CRANKING the Furnace and fireplace you are Hard Core dude!:B, the Arctic Pkg on most of these 5er's is just Thermofoil in the underbelly and heated tanks

We had the temp set at 70 so it really wasn't cold in there, but yes, my cold tolerance is quite high. DW, not so much and she was comfy too.

Edited to add:
This was last April. It is NOT supposed to get that cold in April.

[goducks10]

Ron3rd wrote:

GDS-3950BH wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:
A little write up in the RV magazine rating the Montana Fifth Wheels in the top eight for cold weather camping . I never felt my previous 2008 Montana was very good in sub freezing weather. Apparently they have improved with their Arctic package.

Having owned a Montana previously, and taking into account my brother has a 2019 Montana High Country, they have improved nothing. Its all a load of BS just the same as the spew Keystone puts in their brochures and on their website.

RV magazine is owned by Camping World, Camping World is a Keystone dealer. Not hard to figure out.

A Montana is simply an upgraded Keystone Cougar imo.

So an F250 is just an upgraded F150?

I'm not a big fan of Keystone but a Montana is a completely different animal than a Cougar.

[Ron3rd]

GDS-3950BH wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:
A little write up in the RV magazine rating the Montana Fifth Wheels in the top eight for cold weather camping . I never felt my previous 2008 Montana was very good in sub freezing weather. Apparently they have improved with their Arctic package.

Having owned a Montana previously, and taking into account my brother has a 2019 Montana High Country, they have improved nothing. Its all a load of BS just the same as the spew Keystone puts in their brochures and on their website.

RV magazine is owned by Camping World, Camping World is a Keystone dealer. Not hard to figure out.

A Montana is simply an upgraded Keystone Cougar imo.

[topjimmy]

Man I can tell you are from the Dakota's you are used to that weather you are like my Dad that would walk around in a T Shirt outside in a Blizzard we use to call him The Snowman but most of us in a 5er at 7 degrees with 35MPH winds are going to freeze our Butts Off without CRANKING the Furnace and fireplace you are Hard Core dude!:B, the Arctic Pkg on most of these 5er's is just Thermofoil in the underbelly and heated tanks

[dieseltruckdriv]

JAC1982 wrote:
But, I think part of the problem is, people expect it to be like their house in the winter. No trailer right off the lot is that well insulated.

Snipped and trimmed.

I don't know about that, early last spring we were in ours at 7 degrees F. with a 35 mph wind coming from the back/street (slide) side of our 5er and we weren't chilly at all. Yes we ate some propane, but we were very comfortable and the furnace was cycling. I didn't think we could ask for anything more from it.

[cummins2014]

Jim and Barb wrote:
We have an 07 Montana and when he gets around about 40° outside air temp we put our thermostat on 68 and throughout the night it kicks off and on about every 25 to 30 minutes. It also has an arctic package unbelievable arctic package for what an igloo ice cooler I guess. NOT IMPRESSED Ide do it differently

Having a 2008 Montana I know exactly what you are talking about.

[Jim_and_Barb]

We have an 07 Montana and when he gets around about 40° outside air temp we put our thermostat on 68 and throughout the night it kicks off and on about every 25 to 30 minutes. It also has an arctic package unbelievable arctic package for what an igloo ice cooler I guess. NOT IMPRESSED Ide do it differently