We are the new owners of a 2015 Keystone Raptor 332TS. We looked at a lot of toy haulers and this one had the floor plan we liked the best. It also met my weight requirements for towing. Below is my assessment after owning for a week. We haven’t even been camping in it yet. We have just been getting it set up for use. My main requirements were have at least a 12 foot garage and be at or under 16500 GVWR.
Fit and finish: Pretty good. I consider this a upper middle end 5th wheel toy hauler. The upper end we looked at was the Grand Design Models at about 15 K more money. Some things look very nice and some things were just ok. This is an aluminum framed RV with sandwiched foam insulation so it is difficult to find an exterior wall stud. Some things that were screwed into the interior wall material such as the 12 inch high diamond plate that lines the garage have come loose already since the wall skin isn’t strong enough for a screw unless you hit an aluminum stud. I plan on putting expanding anchors on those that have come loose already. The trim is nice and well fitted. I have added a couple of shelves already in areas that should have had them from the get go. One is the middle cabinet above the island and the other is the bathroom vanity. This was needed for linen storage.
Electronics: It came with a Samsung main TV, DVD player and Soundbar and the bedroom and garage and bedroom have off brand TV’s but they seem to work well. The head unit in the main cabin is a Sony. So some quality gear and some no name brand stuff. No complaints. A nice feature is the garage TV lifts out of its mount and can be installed in the pass through storage area for an outdoor TV. It is pre wired for satellite TV and has a conventional RV antenna that received several excellent quality digital channels at my home location. I have also installed a Xantrex 2000 watt SW inverter. I have ordered two ea. 15 amp Xantrex transfer switches to drive all the outlets except the GCFI’s. This will allow us to watch TV, make coffee, run toaster or microwave briefly without running the generator.
Converter: It has a WFCO 98100 100 amp converter and WFCO load center. The load center is well done. The WFCO 68100 converter has some nice features but it is still a WFCO. It has power factor correction and a boost button which forces it into boost for 4 hours. Two problems here. WFCO’s are known for being stuck in absorption mode (13.6 volts) and never going to boost and float mode. I know, I tried for months to get another one to work. It also needs to be installed with fat wire (#6 at least) and close to the batteries. It has # 6 wire but there is at east of 5-8 feet of literally wadded up wire at the converter and the converter is installed in a place where you cannot reach the boost button without emptying the pass through storage area and removing a bulkhead panel for access. Very poor workmanship and not thought out. To rectify this, I have unplugged the WFCO and installed a Xantrex True charge II 40 amp close to the batteries. In the future, I will install a hatch in the pass through storage bulkhead so you can access the boost button.
Batteries: The dealer installed only one Group 24 battery. This is typical. The camper has a very nice battery compartment with slots for three batteries. I had two one year old group 27 batteries so I was going to occupy the empty slots with them. Guess what? A group 27 will not fit the slots!!! What were they thinking? This is a boon docking trailer for goodness sake. Three Group 24’s is squat for capacity. I am so disappointed here.
Air conditioning: It has two ducted AC’s and I believe they are 15K with a single two zone thermostat. It took me a couple of days to figure out how to cool the dang thing down. It was over 100 here and I couldn’t get below 80 in the main compartment. Finally I adjusted the baffle in the rear AC which was leaking some. I opened two ceiling hatches some to let heat escape. I relocated the master bedroom sensor which was in the direct path of the bedroom vent, causing it to short cycle. I also set the thermostats a little cooler than I really wanted. It was an icebox in there today (68) and it was 103 here at mid day. I was unhappy but am now satisfied. Learning curve.
Tires: Tires are China bombs. I’ll be using this thing in a single location for up to a year so I’ll let them rot off there and then I’ll replace them. I hope they last the 10 hours it takes me to get it there. I have no personal experience with these tires but have read a lot of horror stories. On my last RV I ran LT all terrain (AT) tires with never a problem.
Hydraulic leveling system: So far I love it. It levels with the push of a button. It remembers the connect/disconnect location and it will raise one side enough for tire change. Time will tell.
Solar: It is not pre-wired for solar but I have scoped it out and plan to add 400 watts in the future. I had this much on my previous RV and it was sufficient. The roof real estate could easily hold 2000 watts!
Central Vacuum: So far during the setup and modifications this has been very handy.
This is it so far and we haven’t even got it out of the yard! The Microwave and the Fireplace were DOA during the walkthrough. The dealer has scheduled replacements. This isn’t the dealers or even Keystone’s fault and it will be fixed before we can use it in a month from now.
So far I am liking it and I will add more after we get a chance to use it.
2003 Forest River Sierra M-37SP Toy Hauler- Traded in
2015 Keystone Raptor 332TS 5th wheel toy Hauler (sold)
2004 Winnebago Vectra. 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee toad
