Keystone has come out with an RV first: a 2-story travel trailer!
Who wouldn’t want to have a second floor bedroom? It’s great, if for no other reason than to have somewhere to send the kids when they misbehave.
Actually, when it comes to bed space, there is only so much room to stack people in your average 30-foot travel trailer. Whereas, the Keystone Outback Loft will handle lots of people.
With room for mom and dad, plus a tribe of 5-6 kids, the Keystone Outback Loft might be the perfect RV for your family. The king-sized dinette means there is plenty of room at the table. Include the folding sofa and the queen-sized bed that lowers in the garage, and you can sleep quite a crowd.
That’s right, with the Keystone Outback Loft you’ve got your own garage! That means you can bring along a whole stack of bicycles — one for each person in the family. Don’t forget the 4-wheeler, there’s room for that too.
A Look Inside The Keystone Loft
So far, we’ve highlighted bed space for 6 inside the Keystone Outback Loft.
Now let’s head up the carpeted staircase to the enclosed observation deck.
With a wraparound sofa, you’ve got bed space for 2 to 3 more up there.
When your teenager decides they want to be alone, you’ve even got entertainment for them in their own little corner of the world. A 13-inch flat screen TV is mounted to swing out — allowing everyone to watch the movie in comfort.
The upper level is enclosed with the same durable material used in the manufacture of tent trailers. With large dark tinted windows, you have a great view in all directions.
Considering A Keystone Outback Loft Travel Trailer?
Before you run right out thinking this is the perfect RV for you, there are a few things to think about.
For a family with a bunch of kids this seems to be a great unit. However, the average adult will find the staircase to the upper level both steep and narrow. With hand holds limited to one plastic handle attached to the upper level floor, climbing up and down is awkward for most and dangerous for anyone with limited function. My wife, with her arthritic knees, had a heck of a time coming down the stairs.
The garage on the Keystone Outback Loft is big and spacious with a handy curbside ramp for loading. I find the weight limit for cargo a bit confining though. It’s rated to only carry 680 lbs of cargo for the whole trailer. By the time you include enough food and clothing for your group — and kitchen cooking utensils — there’s no capacity left for your 4-wheeler or the bicycles. If you’re driving with your waste tanks full, you’ll be overloaded.
Keep in mind this is a travel trailer. How you load a travel trailer will greatly affect how it tows. You must maintain 10% of the total weight as tongue or hitch weight, or the trailer will sway and weave back and forth all over the road. This might be a bit difficult if you load a 4-wheeler in the RV’s garage which is placed behind the axles. This puts all the extra weight at the wrong end of the RV. Additionally, the loft is placed at the rear as well, adding even more weight to the wrong end of the RV.
With an MSRP of almost $30,000, I would be concerned whether the longevity of the pop-up second story will be adequate to justify the price. Your average tent trailer is about a third of the cost, and will endure accordingly.
Before I purchased a Keystone Outback Loft, I would do some serious homework first. Do you absolutely need the space or observation ability that is gained with the second story? Can you comfortably live within the low cargo capacity?
This might be the right choice for some, but the average family may find it too limiting.
I’ve been involved in RVing for over 50 years — including camping, building, repairing, and even selling RVs and motorhomes. I’ve owned, used, and repaired almost every class and style of RV ever made. I do all of my own repair work. My other interests include cooking, living with an aging dog, and dealing with diabetic issues. If you can combine a grease monkey with a computer geek, throw in a touch of information nut and organization freak, combined with a little bit of storyteller… you’ve got a good idea of who I am. To date, I’ve shared my RV knowledge in over 300 articles here at The Fun Times Guide! Many of them have over 25K shares.
