Honest review of the 2023 Keystone Cougar 30BHS - a unique bunk model trailer with an outstanding living space
Today’s RV review is of the 2023 Keystone Cougar 30BHS which is a bunkhouse that works for people who need a bunk model trailer, and people who don’t. What do I mean by that?
I wanna bring my grandkids
When I was selling RVs a lot of people who had grandchildren had this grand vision of those youngsters going camping with them and experiencing the job of RVing. The sad truth is, many of those people would come back later with the realization that their grandkids would much rather stare at their phones and text people sitting right next to them than be out in nature experiencing the joys of camping.
So, I got a lot of trade-ins on bunk model trailers from people for this reason. This Cougar would be one that I don’t think would be as likely to be traded in. Why?
A very unusual bunk situation and L-shaped dinette make the Keystone Cougar 30BHS great for groups or couples
Most unusual bunks
Bunkouse RVs often have a few things in common. A u-shaped dinette and only mediocre living space. These are great if a lot of people are sitting inside but not all that great if they’re not. Further, if a camper spends a bunch of its time not needing to sleep a lot of people the space designed to accommodate a lot of hind ends at meal time isn’t such a great couples’ camper.
This one is a great couples camper with some extra sleeping space. In fact I might almost argue that this is a better couples’ camper than some couples’ campers. How many times can I use that phrase in one paragraph?
The secret is that the upper and lower bunk are stretched across the back of this trailer parallel to the back wall. That’s unusual.
When not being used for sleeping the lower bunk flips up and now you’ve got a surprisingly large amount of storage that features two doors to the outside. You could absolutely load in two ebikes here or other larger cargo.
In fact if the Griswalds had had this trailer aunt Edna wouldn’t have had to sit atop the Family Truckster in the rain. Yes, it’s big enough for a person. Or two.
A free-floating table can be used indoors or out and makes the interior of the Cougar 30BHS very usable
Sit down and flex
If you’re a regular reader of mine you may have gathered that I don’t like dining tables that are mounted on poles of any sort. Not that I expect them to levitate, but I like when the table is free-standing and can serve multiple purposes.
This one can.
Along the back wall in front of the bunks is an “L”-shaped seat. The included table is a free-standing model that can be used with this seat to accommodate meal service. Further, there’s an ottoman to bolster the seating capacity (you did catch that pun, right?) so now you can legitimately seat five or six people around the table. Six could work with a camp chair from outside.
But this also mens that the space works well as an office space. Or you can move the table over to the theater seats and Netflix and chill 😳.
I like things that can do multiple things and this configuration can do multiple things well.
More living spaces
The kitchen in this rig has a really solid amount of counter space extending all the way from the entry door, near the rear, to the front of the living space. There’s a nice, large sink and the obligatory three-burner propane stove with a proper 22” oven.
This is one Cougar that’s absolutely after my heart.
You even get a choice of either 12 volt DC fridge or the old standard propane-electric gas absorption RV fridge.
Bathroom splits
Something that I really like but I know is polarizing is that the bathroom literally bisects the trailer. There’s the living space in back and the bedroom in front and, between them, the bathroom.
This does result in a spacious place to take care of world decisions and the shower is rather spacious too. The sink, over on the road side, actually has a surprising amount of counter space as well and there’s even more cabinet space than in many travel trailers.
But I also know that bathrooms that bisect RVs are not everybody’s favorite.
A king-sized bed and bedroom door are some of the nicer features of the Keystone Cougar 30BHS bunkhouse trailer
Bedroom
Ahead of the bathroom is a bedroom with another Cougar benchmark feature, a king-sized bed. Now you could swap this out with a queen-sized mattress if you’d like such as the GhostBed RV replacement mattress we put in our own rig.
The king-sized bed does cut down on the space around it (no kidding, right?) so a queenie might not be so bad.
I don’t like the little cubbies along the sides of the bed as they’re just deep enough that that whatever that gets waaaaaaay back there is going to be difficult to reach. I’d be happier if these were drawers or just shorter.
Each side of the bed does get both USB and household power outlets, though, so that’s good.
Solar, boondocking and power
Since I mentioned the power outlets it’s good to note how Keystone does solar and power. All Keystone products, no matter how affordable, get at least 200 watts of solar in something the company calls their SolarFlex system.
In addition, for 2023, this actually comes from Keystone with two 100 amp-hour lithium batteries that incorporate internal heaters.
The way Keystone is doing things, you can add factory-supplied bits to the SolarFlex system including bigger batteries, more solar panels and an inverter and those pieces and their installation are covered under the company’s warranty.
There are a variety of configurations under the SolarFlex umbrella from a simple one with just 200 watts of solar and inverter prep to incredible systems with 1200 watts of solar and dual inverters. The number of choices makes Keystone a leader in this area.
That’s a big deal as I think that a lot of RV dealerships still aren’t very familiar with solar and high-performance battery systems so simplifying it and standardizing systems is a huge step forward.
Keystone has an Innovation Lab that inspired things like the Blade Pure air conditioner that has filtered air using residential filters that are easy to find
Innovation lab
That SolarFlex system is just one of many things that Keystone’s Innovation Lab has come up with.
This also has something called a Blade Pure air conditioning system that Keystone reports provides about 20% increased air conditioning performance. But it also features a filtration system like you might have in your home and that system even incorporates filters you would likely find at a local hardware store.
Almost no RVs have filtered AC systems yet we take them where there is dust and bugs and all of that.
Keystone also has a wiring system where all their offerings are wired intentionally such that a blue wire on this rig does the same thing as a blue wire on your neighbor’s rig.
This might sound like a no brainer but is, again, highly unusual in the RV industry. Further, being intentional about the wiring makes diagnosing an issue that may arise easier but also means that there is a much lower likelihood of an issue arising in the first place. The fuses, too, are the more expensive automotive-style bus fuses which are higher in quality but available at any auto parts store if something goes awry.
Cougars also use a composite laminated floor called Hyperdeck flooring which uses all man-made materials for a lesser chance that there would be an issue.
More to like
There are a few more items worth mentioning such as the tankless water heater and the standard Goodyear tires (we have a podcast interview with Goodyear about trailer tires here).
These models are also certified for 0°-100°F performance and the underbelly is heated and enclosed plus there are 12 volt heating pads on the holding tanks.
I also like this outdoor kitchen with a small bar-sized fridge and a propane flat-top griddle. While there is no sink they did put a hot and cold outdoor shower right next to the kitchen so it really can be used with a bowl as a sink.
A few misses
As much as I like this rig there are a couple things I don’t like. The key thing that puts on a frown is that, for all the premium features in this rig, they still use a worthless vent fan in the bathroom. Bleh.
I’m also not a fan of there being two sewer dump connections although they’re not horribly far apart, but that also means they could have plumbed them together.
Lastly, whoever decided to emblazon this with “half ton” should be taken out behind the wood shed. Even if you can find the unicorn half-ton truck that can tow this, I would much rather have more truck to control this rig.
Plus you know a rig like this is going to invite people who bring people which adds more weight to the tow vehicle so I am calling a big “nope” on that half ton designation. I don’t think the name of any RV should imply how it’s operated.
And I realize there are RVs with “light” or “lite” in the name and I think that’s stupid too. Nothing that weighs three tons is light.
Conclusions
I really like this trailer as something that can offer a lot of realistic good use for a lot of people. Further, the flexibility of this floor plan means that you’re not pigeonholed into a single use case and you don’t have to immediately think of how to modify the RV just to use it the way you want to.
Overall a really good choice for a lot of RVers. As long as they don’t have a half-ton truck.
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