Cougar 290RLS

Three slides on the shortest body that carries them

Every other three-slide Cougar is at least 35 ft 8 in long. The 290RLS fits its three slides into 33 ft 8 in, 8 of 16 shortest across the lineup and 6 ft 4 in inside a 40-foot pad. It belongs to the plain Cougar subline, so it carries the larger tank package (75 fresh, 76 gray, 38 black, 189 gallons in total) rather than the 144 gallons of the Half-Ton and Sport plans. Dry weight is 10,567 lb, 10 of 16 lightest, and the pin carries 2,060 lb, which works out to 19.5% of dry weight; only three plans in the lineup put a larger share on the pin. Set against the Half-Ton 28RLI, the rear-living plan one rung down, the 290RLS costs 1,388 lb of dry weight and 625 lb of pin, and in return adds a third slide, 45 gallons of tank volume (189 against 144, arithmetic on the tank sizes), and 512 lb of carrying capacity.

Keystone's tagline is 'Rear Living, Stackable W/D Prep, Three Slides'. The named features are a queen bed of 60 by 80 inches, a full wardrobe slide with drawers, a booth dinette, a shower with skylight, a 5,500 BTU fireplace, a 16 cu ft refrigerator, electric four-point leveling, dual-heated holding tanks, slide toppers, and full pass-through storage. Carrying capacity is published at 2,333 lb, 6 of 16 highest, and that number is the one the washer and dryer prep quietly argues with.

The rear living tradeoff is about what sits behind the axles when the slides go out: the living room is at the back, and one of the three slides is the full wardrobe slide. Appliances installed in the stackable prep add weight where the prep is drawn, and that weight comes out of the 2,333 lb before any luggage does; that is arithmetic on the published capacity, not a measurement of any unit. The 316RLS gives up 543 lb of that capacity for its king bed and oversized bathroom, so the 290RLS is the rear-living plan in this subline with the most left over for a washer, a dryer, and gear.

Walk it in this order

A numbered chain, because each step sets up the next on a rear-living plan with three slides.

1. Start at the stackable washer and dryer prep with all three slides closed. If appliances are going in, the closed-slide aisle past them is the one you will use at every fuel stop, and their weight subtracts from the 2,333 lb published capacity.
2. Walk to the rear living room and sit where the fireplace faces. With the slides out this is the room; with them in, note how much of the rear floor stays open, because the living room is the space the slides define.
3. Open the full wardrobe slide and its drawers, then measure the queen bed. Keystone gives it as 60 by 80 inches; the 316RLS two feet up the lineup goes to 70 by 80, so decide here whether the shorter body is worth the narrower mattress.
4. Finish outside at the pass-through storage with the leveling system deployed. Electric four-point leveling and dual-heated tanks are on the feature list; find the leveling controls and the tank-heater switches and make sure you can reach them with the slides out.

The published table

Where to go if the 290RLS is close but not right

Each row keeps rear living and changes one thing. Differences are computed from the published figures on both records.