18' vs 20'+ trailers and a look at the Keystone Hideout
- Outdoors Made Simple
- Dec 28, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 9, 2022
Michelle and Bree have been looking for a camper for Michelle and her 2 young sons. So far we've looked only at trailers under 18 feet. These tend to be more of the tear drop style with very small interiors. Today we looked at a Keystone Hideout which is just under 22 feet. This post will cover the key features of the Keystone Hideout 175bh and 176bh and also some pros and cons of going up to this class and size of trailer compared to those under 18 feet.
You can read about the process we used to identify Michelle's key features here, or watch the video.
In case you need a re-cap, Michelle's key features are
Bunk beds
Less than 5000 lbs GVWR
Bathroom with flush toilet
Compact
Ideally modern interiors
Here is the video walk through of the Keystone Hideout:
Keystone makes lots of different travel trailers but only two series, the Bullet Crossfire and Keystone Hideout, are small and light enough for our list. They have some nice layouts and features such as larger fridges and standard solar that makes them appealing. On the heavy side, these would require a larger tow vehicle. They are distributed widely so you are likely to find one to look at at virtually any major RV dealer. Note about names, these are the names of the trailers on the west coast, the actual name may vary depending on where you live and what dealer you visit.
Some basic specifications of the Hideout
The layout for the 175bh model
The layout for the 176bh model
Features that are the same between the two models
Bathrooms and bunks are the same on both models
Both models have a vent over the stove which is a really nice feature if you plan to cook inside. Even with the roof vent cooking smells quickly permeate a small space like this so an extra vent is a great feature.
Features that are different between the two models
175bh
The 175bh does not have a slide out. You lose some interior floor space without the slide out but don't have to worry about another moving part on your trailer. There is storage above the dinette vs drawers below on the 176. You also get a smaller fridge but more counter space. The kitchen storage has one drawer under the stove and a narrow but tall cabinet plus series of shelves next to the bathroom.
176bh
The 176bh has a slide out with the dinette. Instead of the overhead cabinets above the dinette, there are drawers below. There is also a 6 cu ft fridge with separate freezer in this but less kitchen counter space. Instead of the tall thin cabinet next to the bathroom, there are 2 drawers and a cabinet under the cooktop and sink.
Additional storage
Both models have storage under the benches of the dinette and a long deep storage compartment under the main bed.
You can also access exterior storage via 2 (in our opinion small) hatches on either side of the front of the trailer.
This checked a lot of the boxes for Michelle's required list. It has bunk beds, has a bathroom and the interior styling is pretty modern and clean looking. It has some features she didn't have on her list but would be nice to have like a fixed main bed with separate dinette.
One of Michelle's criteria was that it be small and compact. The 21.5 foot Keystone Hideout trailer doesn't really fall into the compact category but it does offer more features. Many people would consider this to be the smallest of the travel trailers. There are a lot of websites dedicated to larger travel trailers that can give you the pros of going bigger. Outdoors Made Simple is really focused more on simplicity and that is why we are biased towards smaller trailers. There are trade offs for this (seemingly minor) change in size even if you are going to stay within the range we cover (<24 feet and <5000 lbs GVWR).
What do you get and give up for this jump in size?
The key upgrades for an increase in size include:
higher interior ceilings, more interior storage, more space to sleep and eat, a bathroom with separate shower, and bigger holding tanks
1. Higher interior ceilings
Remember the Braxton Creek? It has 6.1 foot ceilings. The Keystone and other's in this class have much higher ceilings and therefore give you more overhead storage options as well as a larger interior feel.
2. More interior storage
With the extra length comes extra storage. The Keystone 175bh has a nice set of shelves next to the kitchen as well as extra overhead storage and storage near the bed.
3. More space to sleep and eat
These models often come with fixed beds (in the case of the models we looked at, fixed bunks, and a fixed double bed). In addition to the fixed beds, so sleeping for 4, there is also a dinette which could convert to an additional bed. They claim you can sleep 2 people here but likely only 1 more. If you only have 4 people, you can leave the table up all the time and have an interior seating space even when the beds are made up.
4. Bathrooms with separate shower and toilet
The smaller models all have what is called a wet bath which means that the whole bathroom is basically the shower too. In the larger models, they almost always have a separate shower which means your whole bathroom doesn't get wet if you shower. Admittedly, this is one of the features that just doesn't make sense to us for the typical weekend camper. How often do people shower in their campers? The amount of space that this takes up just isn't justified to us. Would love to hear from someone in the comments about why this is an important feature, because we know it really matters to some people!
5. Bigger holding tanks
With a bigger camper, you also generally get bigger fresh, grey and black water tanks. The Keystone Hideout has 27/30/30 gallon fresh/grey/black tanks vs. the Braxton Creek which has 21/18/17 fresh/grey/black. That means if you are going somewhere without water hookups you can go longer. Or you can just take longer showers and go for the same time!
6. Easier backing up
Wait what? Shouldn't a longer trailer be harder to backup? True you have more height and length to consider when parking your trailer but a longer wheel length will turn more slowly. While this might be a downside while driving (see below), when backing up slower response is actually helpful for making small corrections in your direction. The smaller trailers are notoriously harder to park and take more practice.
They key trade offs for the larger size:
Taller, wider and longer trailer, more storage and bigger tanks, bigger vehicle, less like camping.
1. Taller, wider and longer trailer
The trailer is just bigger, it will handle differently than a 8 foot high trailer, you will have more obstacles to deal with and more to navigate if you are in a tight camping spot. While a 22 ft trailer will not limit your camping choices much, there will be some spots or campgrounds that you can't it into. There are at lest 2 campgrounds on our list for next summer that don't allow trailers over 20ft.
2. More storage and bigger water tanks
It seems like more storage should be a good thing but while these trailers have more room to put stuff, they can't carry more stuff, especially with a single axel (one set of tires on the camper). Do you know how much your stuff weights? We weighed just the stuff we keep in the camper, not food or clothes or bikes, and it came to just over 500lbs! Add water to that, and these have bigger tanks, and you are already near 750 lbs. The Keystone 176bh carrying capacity is 785 lbs. That doesn't leave you much extra. We can fit our 500lbs of stuff easily into a pop-up camper. All the extra storage might buy you more room but be careful that you don't overload your trailer.
In the same vein, bigger water tanks can be handy when you are without hookups but they also mean more weight (see above). If you go home with full black and grey tanks from a camping trip you might have up to 500 lbs of water alone in the tanks.
3. Bigger vehicle
For us the huge deal breaker for a bigger trailer was the need for a bigger vehicle. We only have 1 car and want to keep it that way. While our car (Subaru Outback XT) doesn't get great gas milage, it does better than many of the larger vehicles that could tow 5000 + pounds. If we went for a bigger trailer, we would need a SUV or truck we wouldn't feel comfortable driving every day.
4. Less like camping
Michelle called the Keystone Hideout an apartment on wheels. That may be awesome for some people and exactly what they are looking for. Our personal preference when we go camping is to simplify our lives. That generally means bringing less and being outside even if the weather is not perfect. We want to be comfortable but we also want to feel like we are as much in nature as we can.
Our main goal is to encourage people to get outside, if a larger trailer with more amenities means you camp more - go for it! You might also consider what are the most important things to you and keep that in the forefront of your trailer search.
What do you think? Is bigger better?
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