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Detailed Review of 2024 Keystone Montana 3231CK

Detailed Review of 2024 Keystone Montana 3231CK

This review will continue to be developed as we continue to spend time in our Montana.

We will add more details, photos, and sections over time. We hope this helps anyone who is considering the 3231CK or any similar units.

A lot of this review will apply to any 2023/2024 models as many are constructed very similarly.

Highlights

The Montana 3231CK has an awesome floorplan for its class and size. We chose this unit primarily because of the floorplan, as most people do - especially the larger bathroom with the large sized shower and dual vanities as well as the gorgeous and very functional kitchen.

The technology is a little on the basic side, but has everything we need and we have found the camper to be very functional and comfortable as we have spend time in it.

All in all, we really love the Montana, despite some complaints and issues with its construction, features and quirks.

Towing

We are towing this unit with a 2020 GMC Sierra 2500HD AT4 4X4 Turbodiesel 6.6L

Our truck is rated for 18,500 lbs, and fully loaded we came in around 16,000 lbs in our Montana.

This camper tows smoothly, the brakes work well, and it feels very easy to pull. We are very pleased with the towability of the camper and have no complaints here.

Floorplan

Exterior

The 3231CK is a beautiful unit, with a lot of great extenral features but also a few things that could be improved on.

Below are some of the things we love about the exterior features:

  1. Frameless windows
    1. They open up angled down so you can still open windows when its raining
    2. They look really nice from the outside and seal nicely inside
  2. Propane hookup for a BBQ
    1. We have not tried this yet but the idea is great, it seems to be a low flow line with quick connect connectors on it, but we will need an adapter to try it with our BBQ
  3. Front storage for a generator
    1. We also keep all of our tools in this compartment
    2. There is nothing to hold the generator in place, so we mounted some U-bolts to the steel flooring, and ran some straps around it to keep it from shifting when traveling
  4. The passthrough storage
    1. It is huge, more than we could ever need, and very open
  5. Power outlets on the exterior
    1. Great for hooking up the block heater on our truck or power tools
  6. Hydraulic slides
    1. Except for the rear one which is electric, the two larger slides are hydraulic
  7. Hydraulic feet and automatic leveling

The automatic leveling system is amazing. You unhook from the truck, make sure nothing is obstructing the jacks, and hit auto-level.

It will do a little dance, dipping down at first (stand clear!), then dropping all the jacks and within about 3 minutes you are dialed in.

You can also manually extend or retract the rear jacks or front jacks as needed - like if you need to adjust your jack pads.

We re-level every week or so when we are on a soft surface or unlevel ground and within a minute or two, we are re-leveled.

It also has a setting to "return to truck height" which is REALLY nice when packing up and getting ready to hook up.

Interior

We were sold on this unit because of the floorplan and modern farmhouse style interior.

Things we love about the interior:

  1. The white cabinets and countertops
    1. The look is very modern and clean
  2. Kitchen island
    1. The island is very functional, with outlets on either end, nice mood lighting around the bottom of the countertop and a little bit of storage underneath
  3. Large, deep stainless steel sink
  4. Slide out countertop by the stove
    1. This is so handy when cooking a meal, having extra counter space or a cutting area
  5. Full size residential fridge
    1. The layout of the fridge/freezer works very well for us, we never have any issues with space
  6. Largest oven I have seen in an RV
    1. And it works very well, it takes a little getting used to lighting it but once you get the hang of it, it lights fast, heats quickly, and is easy to use
  7. Lots of counter space
    1. We never really run out of counter space, and if we do, we just pull out the slide out counter top by the stove
  8. Lights anywhere and everywhere you would want them
  9. Large bathroom
  10. Large shower, room to easily move around without feeling cramped
  11. Dual vanities
  12. Two step flush on the toiletCover for the handle opening in the screen door so bugs cannot get in
  13. The pull out hamper in the closet is surprisingly nice to have
  14. Washer and dryer hookups and location of the cabinet
  15. Storage on storage on storage - did I mention how much storage this unit has?

Things we don't love about the interior:

  1. The bedroom ceiling lights are very bright and harsh, it would be nice to have LED mood lighting in there like in the living area
  2. The pull out sofa bed is not very comfortable

Technology

Things we love about the technology:

  1. The smart TVs are very capable and we don't need any streaming devices
  2. The JBL sound system in the living room is very capable
    1. And its nice to have music going in the bathroom when you are getting ready in the morning, or ready to go out in the evening
  3. Lights everywhere you want them - we keep finding more lights
  4. Outlets EVERYWHERE you need them, and some where you don't
  5. Solar seems to work well, keeping the fridge going between hookups and keeping the slides powered as well
  6. The vaccuum built into the indoor stairs is way more handy than we ever expected - we don't use the vaccuum hoses, we just sweep the floors and sweep into the vaccuum - it sucks all the dirt in very powerfully and is such a nice touch that we didn't expect to love so much

Things we don't love about the technology:

  1. There is no ceiling speaker in the bedroom, this seems like an oversight - we turn on music throughout the camper and if you wanted to lay in bed and relax it would be nice to have an additional speaker there
  2. The sound quality on the TV in the bedroom is very poor, the TV is a "Connex" brand which we have never heard of, we are using a bluetooth speaker to make the TV audio bearable

Heating

The furnace on propane does a great job heating to a certain degree. In near zero temperatures, it just doesn't cut it and two space heaters are definitely needed. I am sure this is to be expected, no surprises here.

The furnace on electric does a great job in warmer temperatures (50 degrees and up), and between that and the electric fireplace there is really no need for anything else.

The one issue the furnace has is that it definitely does NOT heat the basement well enough to keep things from freezing. In near zero temperatures, we had to put a heat lamp down by the pipes as our water pump froze in the first night of freezing temperatures.

Cooling

We haven't run the A/C yet as we have only been living in the RV during cold months. We will update this section in the spring and summer.

Appliances

The fridge is wonderful. It has a nice top and bottom configuration which is great for our needs. It has a built in water line and ice maker which are very convenient when the ice maker's water line is not frozen.

The microwave is pretty standard, but works very well.

The propane stove/oven is very competent. It works way better than we anticipated. The oven gets hot fast and bakes fairly comparably to a home gas oven. Being as large as it is, we have had no issues with space for cooking anything so far.

We installed the top and bottom __________ washer and dryer in the bedroom. They are obviously a little smaller than home units, but have been doing a great job with our laundry. We just wash laundry and sheets a lot, so that we never have too much built up as the loads are somewhat small so we are now in a routine of running laundry every 2-3 days at most.

Tanks and Hookups

There isn't much to say about the power. It just works. We occasionally have a breaker trip if we run a hair dryer and microwave at the same time, but that's pretty standard.

The fresh water tank goes pretty fast if you don't work hard to conserve water when boondocking. This is nothing specific to this RV, it's just the nature of boondocking.

The black tank lasts a long time - we have been able to go about a week without getting full and we typically proactively dump it about every 5 days or so.

The grey tanks are actually split into 2 units. So far, it seems like the kitchen goes directly to one grey tank, while the bathroom goes to the other. This is actually a pretty nice feature in our experience. We aren't sure which one the washer and dryer drain into yet, but will update this once we find out.

We don't love how the water hose screws into the fresh tank, it feels a bit flimsy - but we haven't had any issues with it yet.

We wish there was a water filtration system in place, but we built our own so this is a non-issue at this point.

Construction

OK, let's be honest - the build quality could be better. That being said, for its price point we feel it is appropriate.

We started our search by looking at Forest River and Tandara (by Forest River) units. We looked at brand new units, which looked really nice inside, and then we looked at some used units.

After 1-3 years of use, the Forst River and Tandara units we saw were in horrible shape. The build quality was so bad that everything seemed to be falling apart, the feaux wood was peeling, and everything looked beat up and honestly, dingy.

We decided to avoid these models, and were recommended to look at Montanas. We did the same thing - looked at brand new units and then looked at some used units.

When comparing new to 2021 models, the Montanas seemed to hold up very well. We saw quite a few 2021 models that still looked relatively new, very little wear and tear was noticeable, the woods were still in good shape, and the wear and tear seemed apprioriate for the age.

This is ultimtely what made us decide to buy a Montana.

Overall, we feel the build quality is a 7/10. Are there things that could be better constructed? Absolutely. For the price point, we are happy with the build quality.

Things we like about the build quality:

  1. The countertops are decent quality for an RV
  2. The cabinets throughout the unit are made of thin, but REAL wood
  3. The cabinet doors and drawers for the most part open and slide nicely
  4. The faucet taps are beautiful and feel like quality taps
  5. The appliances are very good quality, we feel they really invested in food appliances in this unit and they are not only very functional, but holding up well
  6. The flooring is really nice quality, has a lifetime warranty, easy to clean and looks great
  7. The sofa and recliners are about the quality we would expect - not as nice as home furniture but should hold up fairly well - and we are glad they are not pleather so they don't start peeling
  8. The shower has real glass doors on it, and they are not thin, and a very nice showerhead/faucet - the showerhead/faucet feels a little cheap but works well regardless and we are happy with it
  9. The window coverings are decent thickness and roll smoothly so far
  10. The slides and jacks are almost all hydraulic Lippert units - Keystone did not cheap out on slides and jacks

Things we don't like about the build quality:

  1. The countertop in the bathroom has a "plastic" coating on top of feaux wood - I don't expect the countertop to stay in good shape very long, it will likely start to peel over time
  2. The sinks in the bathroom could have been sealed better
  3. The drawer slides could be a bit better quality, we had one sldie break within the first two weeks of living in the Montana - if it is the only one we have problems with anytime soon, we will be pretty happy
  4. The control panel is made of cheap plastic, cheap plastic buttons, cheap plastic light switches, and doesn't feel very sturdy
  5. Our biggest complaint about build quality are the closet pocket doors - the track for the "rear" sliding door is screwed into only 1/8" cardboard essentially (that fake wood-;ike paneling) and the weight of the door is far too heavy for this to stay in place - we didn't notice for a couple of weeks but the track pulled right out of the paneling right on delivery and we will have to get creative to find a better way to secure this
  6. The staircase feels sturdy, but the clips that hold it in place when you fold it up into the doorway feel like they bend a little each time you fold up the stairs
  7. The "backsplash" above the stove is literally a piece of wood framing around a thin sheet of plastic that is using double sided sticky tape to hold it to the wall - as you can imagine, this didn't last long and is hanging off the wall now

Good surprises

We love how much storage this unit has. There is way more storage than we could ever need and we keep finding more places to store things.

Three surprising storage locations in this unit:

  1. Above the stove there is a hidden storage area, the whole hood/vent pulls forward and has a few shelves behind it. Very clever design.
  2. Below the oven, there is what looks like a broiler - but is in fact just a drawer where we now store pans.
  3. On either side of the bed, under the mattress, the "box" that holds the mattress in place has carpeted gaps on either side - there are open spaces that are pretty deep where we can tuck away items we don't use often.

Bad surprises

The mattress in the bedroom was the hardest mattress we have ever laid on in our lives, and that was on its "soft side." It was taken out immediately and replaced with a Brooklyn Bedding mattress, which we are in love with.

The "coat closet" right by the door is too short height-wise to really be functional.

There are large holes in the floor under the bathroom sinks, that could have been sealed a little better - you have to be careful not to let anything fall through into the basement.

Specifications