Montana 0 degree promise issues

[JRtate]

I hope all that buy a Montana 5th wheel thinking that this unit will hold up in Sub-freezing temperatures reads this. We purchased a 2015 Montana 5th wheel and were bragged to by the salesmen several times about the 0 degree factor. Within 20 hours in sub-freezing weather in Colorado, my water lines froze inside the storage compartment. When everything thawed, the water pump was cracked. We were never told we had to keep the thermostat at 74 and if we were to do that we would roast inside the RV. When I opened the panel covering all of the water connections and water pump, I found a 4"x12" gap where I could see daylight around one of the landing Jacks. This gap was within 18" of all of my water lines. The salesmen don't educate the consumer on this and their promise only works under ideal conditions. If you plan to take a Montana to a cold weather environment, plan on having some issues and plan on putting a space heater in the storage compartment. I would like to see Montana take their 0 degree promise off of their products. It is misleading to the consumer. When I contacted the manufacturer, I was informed there are no guarantees below 32 degrees. Same old song and dance. The consumer is sold on one thing, but gets way less than promised.

[porkchop]

I do not have a Montana, so nothing at stake, but the statement is not, in my opinion, misleading to an informed and semi literate consumer.
You mean you never looked inside this box to see the lack of insulation or a source for heat and did not notice that you could see daylight until after the damage was done? What were you thinking would happen? Magic? Did you ask any questions or head for the hills while waiting for the fairies to appear?

[Bill Kitchen]

We have camped a number of sub-zero nights but NEVER de-winterize the trailer until after the May 1 weekend and even then check the weather forecasts. We use a 2 stage porta-potty and bottled water and never put liquids down the sink or toilet bowel.

We shower at the club house and use there toilet whenever possible.

Bill

[Legacy2015]

Originally Posted by porkchop

I do not have a Montana, so nothing at stake, but the statement is not, in my opinion, misleading to an informed and semi literate consumer.
You mean you never looked inside this box to see the lack of insulation or a source for heat and did not notice that you could see daylight until after the damage was done? What were you thinking would happen? Magic? Did you ask any questions or head for the hills while waiting for the fairies to appear?

Unless you have a Montana I don't see how you can comment. We had a Forest River travel trailer and they have in our experience was an amazing customer service. Yes we had a nice size list of warranty work to be done and they even repaid to hsve an authorized repair person come to the RV park that we were staying at to fix a couple warranty items. Wonderful experience even after to help provide part number for odd items within the trailer etc.. But we made the mistake of buying a new 40' Montana Legacy 5th Wheel and had a smaller size warranty list and the quickest we could get any authorized dealer to repair was 2months which ended up being 5-1/2 months because simple items as pantry shells had to be special ordered from Montana even though they are in production with the same 5th Wheels but replacement warranty items came from a different location than where they are building new and they don't share between divisions from we were told from Montana. They are also rude and don't give you warm fuzzies that they even care. And anytime you want to fix something that they don't know how to fix, Montanas favorite saying is "if you do that it voids the warranty" without hearing the everything we have to say. We have also have experienced where dealers and even Montana tell you what they think you want to hear. We never get the full story from Montana and ste always referring you to someone else. We are sorry we bought a Montana Legacy and Montana is wrong about several things they say about their line. We have quad steps towards the front and also towards the back, but they aren't equal distance between ours. The last step into the trailer is way to large of a step if you are under 6' tall. Do you think they care. NOPE, absolutely not. And yes they have told us things that our trailer has and it does not. You shouldn't have to recheck every single thing they say and publish on or in their burchures. It should be correct and tested over and over before publications. They also put out recalls like we feel they should when they know they have a problem that affects the safety of adults or children. I would take a Forrest River over a Keystone Montana anytime.

[porkchop]

Like I said before, "I don't own a Montana" for a varity of reasons. Be an informed consumer!! It is YOUR responsibility to educate yourself before hand>

Bill

[wingnut60]

No matter what the brochure/salesman says--if you expect to be at the same comfort level at 0d as at 45-60d, it is your mistake. Cold is the absence of heat--if you leave any type of enclosure without heat, the inside temp will eventually come to match the outside temp. If you don't want that to happen, you have to provide a heat source that can counter the outside temps sucking the inside temps down. Even then, placement of water lines near the outside walls is always a problem.
I lived in WY for 10 years--coming from TX, I found all this out the hard way, and it wasn't in a fiver, either.
As to the rest of the warranty issues, you are becoming aware of the industry lack of standards/customer service...not necessarily only a Montana domain. Buy a $150k DRV and see if it will stand up to 0d with no heat source--there is a reason that you see 100-250gal propane tanks next to fivers/TTs in cold climes, along with skirts/hay bales around the perimeter.
Joe

[Legacy2015]

Originally Posted by porkchop

Like I said before, "I don't own a Montana" for a varity of reasons. Be an informed consumer!! It is YOUR responsibility to educate yourself before hand>

Bill

Please do yourself the favor just for new knowledge and call Montana's customer service and verify what they say. Keystone Montana has a 4 season package that is on our 5th Wheel. If they state that your trailer had this package, it would include this package that's been tested and approved for 0• degrees weather. Somehow it has Heaters in the tanks. However, you do need to wrap your outside hoses properly so the water doesn't freeze before it get to your trailer. If you call customer service there and they will tell you the same. The problem is that they seem to have poor manufacturing habits with their personnel whatever the situation will be but when you buy a brand new trailer you will most likely have several pages of warranty work to be done on stupid things that you shouldn't have to tell them about. Their quality control doesn't seem to be doing their job very well either. When you buy a trailer that is tagged $96,000, it shouldn't have Piss-poor manufacturing or customer service like they do. Ours has some pretty bad designs too. For that money it should be a solid grand trailer. So you just hope and pray that they have installed the optional package properly and you don't have any issues when your trailer is in 0• degrees weather. And you most likely won't know until you test it.

[Legacy2015]

Originally Posted by Bill Kitchen

We have camped a number of sub-zero nights but NEVER de-winterize the trailer until after the May 1 weekend and even then check the weather forecasts. We use a 2 stage porta-potty and bottled water and never put liquids down the sink or toilet bowel.

We shower at the club house and use there toilet whenever possible.

Bill

Keystone Montana has an option for four seasons. And this package can handle very cold. It has been tested and approved for 0• degrees. Yes, it might be hard to believe. You can call them and they could explain in details how it works. So of your doing that much camping in 0• degrees weather, you might think about upgrading and buying one of these. Of course you will need to specially wrap your hoses outside going to your trailer, but the inside of your trailer will be safe to use the water.