RV Review : 2011 Forest River Sierra 355QBQ

This is one of the most innovative RV's I've seen in a while. Superb value and affordable for the common man.

When you think of innovation, you always tend to hear about Jayco or Keystone, but doing the quick video review of the Forest River Sierra 355QBQ Fifth Wheel RV really gave me some surprises. There is quite a bit of innovative ideas in this unit.

Here are some of the distinguishing as well as unique features that define this unit :

• Four (4) Slideouts
• Bunkhouse
• Additional 1/2 bath
• Water filtration system ( I may leave this off in future overviews as this is cool, but most should be able to add this ).
• Black tank flush ( so important, I'll keep doing for awhile )
• Adjustable Electric Awning
• Outdoor Kitchen

For those who prefer a link to the video : Video review of the 2011 Forest River Sierra 355QBQ Fifth Wheel RV Recreational Vehicle.

RV Review : 2011 Palomino Puma 27KFQ Travel Trailer

This little travel trailer gets my vote for one of the most unique travel trailers I've seen in a great while. In some ways, it looks sort of ordinary, but check out the some of the differentiators:

Unique or Differentiating Features :

• Bunkhouse
• Pull out / Slide out / Outdoor kitchen. This is like a "kitchen in a drawer" and what Puma has done is to tuck the kitchen into a slide - like the spice racks in many kitchens, but on a larger scale. You literally pull out an entire kitchen, sink, burners, oven, micro and refrigerator.
• A kitchen skylight is fairly unique.
• EZ lube axles - anything that reduces or simplifies life so you don't have to pack bearings sounds like a winner to me. I need to do an article on these EZ lube things from Forest River.
• Other than the rv outdoor kitchen, there are no slides on this unit. That helps keep it lighter and lower cost.
• I have to list this. Puma actually listed this as a feature : phone jacks.
• I also wonder - as nice as this outdoor kitchen is, maybe a camper manufacturer should consider eliminating the inside kitchen or greatly simplifying - maybe an inconvenience on inclimate days, but...

For those who want to see a link to a video : Palomino Puma  27KFQ Travel Trailer Video Review

RV Video Walkthru : 2011 Jay Series 1206 Camping Trailer

Here is a No Talk Video Walkthrough of the 2011 Jay Series 1206 Camping Trailer, also called a pop-up. I like to think of these as a tent with wheels. I think your car can even pull them. Or at least an SUV.


Noteworthy features are:

• light weight,
•  low cost, 
• 6 gallon hot water heater, 
• fresh water tank, 
• water purification system,
• the outdoor mini kitchen.

I find it amazing that a little tiny popup trailer has all of these amazing features!!! You could almost live in this - except it has cloth sides.

Instead of the embedded player, here is the youtube link for the Jayco Jay Series 1206 Popup Camping Trailer.

RV Video Walkthru : 2011 Jayco Eagle SuperLite 304BKS with Outdoor Kitchen

Good looking little RV travel trailer from Jayco called the 304BKS. One of the neat features about this travel trailer is that it is an RV with an outdoor kitchen. Those kitchens look great for hot summer days when you want the heat outdoors or days when everyone is outdoors having fun and you want to make sure no one is cooped up in a camper making dinner while missing out.

It has a number of features that are not really found on a smaller travel trailer and I'll list JUST A FEW here...

• RV outdoor kitchen
• Large Queen size bed
• Bunk house
• Super slide
• An actual tub in the shower
• RV electric awning

The rest of the features you can read about, but I thought these were at least noteworthy to get an idea of the unit.

I tried to keep the video right at a minute. To get the best perspective for an RV, I think you can get a better idea when I turn the camera sideways. What do you think?




For those of you who prefer a link : Jayco Eagle Super Lite 304BKS RV with outdoor kitchen

RV Innovation : Outdoor Kitchen's for Travel Trailers

When Sheri and I visited the Austin RV Expo we were struck at how many RV's had outdoor kitchens. There were other innovations, such as the V front end for travel trailers and it is great to see the continued innovations.

Most of the outdoor kitchens had a sink, microwave, refrigerator, range and some sort of  slide out surface. At least one or two had big screens along with the kitchen.

We took some short video of a couple of representative travel trailers and here it is. Make sure you click on the bottom of the video and let us know what you thought of the post.

Outdoor House : The Kitchen

When you think of an RV ( recreational vehicle ) and an outdoor house, realistically, it would be hard to cook inside if you have a great deal of people visiting - even more than for about 5 or 6 would be tough with three burners and a small oven.

So an integral part of our RV outdoor house would be to have a kitchen outside that serves for when we are entertaining, grilling, or just want to make sure that the smells, smokes, and bustle of cooking is not in the smaller RV but outside. That has other benefits like not raising the indoor temperature of the RV. Also, who wants to be inside cooking and be separated from the fun and conversation.

The RV manufacturers understand this. While they might be targeting tailgating, they are certainly designing RV's with outdoor kitchens. This fits so well with what Sheri and I think about outdoor house and the RV! Here is a link to just one RV design with the outdoor kitchen. (We are secretly partial to the big daddy toy haulers so we hope this trend takes off.). I'll put in a picture so you can see the kitchen without clicking.

There are many, many, many ideas we have (we cut out pictures from magazines and off the web) for living outdoors (under a roof of course) and having an outdoor house with an outdoor kitchen.

At the bottom of this short writeup, I'll attach a picture where the kitchen blends in so nicely, that you really have to look to find it. That's how we want to do it. Of course, we'll need some dry goods storage, but we'll touch on that later.

We want to here about YOUR outdoor house and outdoor kitchen ideas! So don't be shy about posting. Links are OK too!