Very good info!Stina said:Hi; I live in Winnipeg Manitoba, from my experience, the best true four season travel trailers out there are the "roughneck" trailers built in Alberta, Canada. We bought our 2007 30ft NT30b unit for under $20,000. They're designed to operate without issue from -40F to well over +100F (-40C to +40C). I don't believe they come with slide outs but have 6" thick roofs, 6" vented floors, and 3" walls with double glazing. They have 2-40K btu furnaces, AC with a heat strip, oversized shower, 9 or 10 cu ft fridge, central vac, TV etc... they are also wired as an office, with, computer desk, phone, and satellite jacks. The frames and axles are way oversized; ours is a 14" HSS frame and 2-8,000lb axles for a 30' unit, because they're always taken to remote places that other trailers just don't go, such as the oil patch in Alberta and BC, or northern Saskatchewan, or Manitoba. The tanks are also oversized, and enclosed in an insulated area within the steel frame, with a 3/4" plywood bottom, that is spray foamed underneath to seal the tank cavity. The tanks, are all heat traced, and some of the furnace heat is vented into the tank cavity and the gate valve area to aid in preventing the tanks from freezing. The roughnecks are a heavier animal, you need a one ton to pull them because of the tongue weight, but you don't even know they're behind you, and they're basically bulletproof. There is nothing light duty about these units.
Hope the comments help, they are from experience.
Thanks, Stina.
vmyoung61 said:Try Sundance by Heartland.
So these brands are all suspect because they are all part of the same company:
Keystone, Dutchman, and Kodiak. I think there is another brand in the group, but I don't remember it.
OldLittleFoot said:Then I found the specs for the Kodiak Cub. The advertising promised a heated underbelly. I drove 150 miles just to see it. The underbelly was covered. The view from inside was excellent. Three big windows surrounded the U-dinette. Toilet and shower were there and as a bonus, it was a dry bath. It was heavy. I would need a bigger tow vehicle. It had square corners. It would suck power to tow.
The Keystone/Dutchman/Kodiak representative said (after I bought it and found the plumbing froze at 29 degrees F) the Cub was not intended to be a 4 season trailer. It was intended to extend the season. The plumbing should not be used in temperatures below 32 degrees F. Of course none of this was explained in the advertising brochure or in the User Manual or anywhere on their website. What does extending the season mean? What does having a heated underbelly mean? How much does a heated underbelly extend the season if it can't handle 29 degrees F? Obviously I had assumed too much.
In fact, the underbelly is not heated. It is covered with a corrugated plastic sheet. There is no insulation in the underbelly. There is a 2" duct from the furnace to the floor, but no heat flows through the duct. There is not the slightest airflow through the totally inadequate duct.
OldLittleFoot said:Winter RV'ers,
I bought a 2018 Kodiak Cub 20 ft travel trailer I now regret.
?
The lure of winter camping was too much. I went home found a good used tow vehicle and bought them both.
...
The Keystone/Dutchman/Kodiak representative said (after I bought it and found the plumbing froze at 29 degrees F) the Cub was not intended to be a 4 season trailer.
...
Here is the resolution to the 2018 Kodiak Cub KD176RD18 4 season failure.
After carefully documenting the issue and all communications with Kodiak/Keystone/Dutchman, about two dozen lawyers failed to call me back. Two who did refused to help.
The Wisconsin Department of Consumer Protection took two months to write a letter to Kodiak. Kodiak wrote back that they would do nothing. WDCP wrote me saying Kodiak would do nothing.
I contacted the Wisconsin State Journal SOS journalist Chris Rickert. He call Sunny Island RV where I bought the trailer. Within 24 hours, Sunny Island RV manager Jeff Tegner called me back and asked me to bring the trailer back. They would make it right.
It took more the $2000 and 4 weeks to seal, insulate, and install tank heaters. Sunny Island RV covered most of the cost. Kodiak paid $300 because the heat drop from the furnace was not cut through to floor to heat the belly.
On March 1 I tested the trailer in my driveway. It worked. The temperature outside dropped to 20 degrees F. The temperature in the belly remained a constant 45 degrees.
Two weeks later we made our first winter trip in the trailer. We camped in the best campsite at Wisconsin?s Wyalusing State Park for 5 days. From the bluff campsite we watched the eagles soar below us.
Conclusion: The pen is mightier than the law. Don?t buy Kodiak, Keystone, or Dutchman. They are lying, cheating, frauds.