Today’s RV review is of the Forest River Surveyor Legend 203RKLE travel trailer. Seeing this floor plan reminds me of shopping for our first new RV in 2015. We went to the California RV Show in Pomona with our list of must-haves and wannas, and one of the RVs that really tickled our fancy was the Grand Design Imagine 17MKE.
What we liked about that floor plan was that it wasn’t a huge trailer but offered both a couch and theater seats along with a looooooooong kitchen counter. It was almost perfect for the way we planned to travel—until I started looking deeper.
What turned me off on that floor plan is that the Murphy bed couldn’t be brought down with the slide room in. Bummer. You also weren’t supposed to use the slide room on that model with it retracted, so no sitting on the couch. So, effectively, you had to extend the slide to use the trailer in any meaningful way. And, I didn’t realize that then, but that’s the basis of why I bring this up in my reviews here. Who knew?
Forest River Surveyor Legend 203RKLE
That Grand Design floor plan was truly a unicorn in those days, being the only one like it. Since then, others have also seen the floor plan and adapted it to their own collection. For example, we’ve looked at the East To West Alta 1900MMK. Grand Design even moved this floor plan to the Grand Design Transcend Xplor 200MK, which is the company’s more affordable line of wood-framed, aluminum-skinned trailers.
I don’t know this, but let’s assume the folks over at Forest River’s Surveyor division had been reading my reviews and saw that I didn’t buy that Grand Design years ago simply for the reason that I couldn’t use it for quick overnights and layovers and that sort of thing. What they’ve done with their interpretation of this floor plan is make it fully accessible with the slide room in.
Murphy bed
You can put the Murphy bed down in the front of the trailer even with the slide room in. And it’s a proper queen-sized bed, to boot—none of this shortie nonsense. Which leaves you another option.
Something more than one of you has shared here is that you just don’t like Murphy beds. I can understand that, and the ones that somehow have to fold or bend can leave you with strange lumps in places you don’t want strange lumps. The fact that this bed can come down and stay down even with the slide room in means that you could swap mattresses for one you prefer that may not even accommodate the folding.
Or, you could put a foam topper on here and not have to worry about the folding aspect and just leave the thing permanently down.
You would be missing out on a couch in here if you did that, but that may be worth the sacrifice. Or, you could leave it down most of the time and then only stow the bed when you need additional seating.
On the subject of seating, this trailer gives you choices in that department. You could get a traditional dinette in the slide. But you also have the choice of theater seats or a hide-a-bed sofa.
Dinette in the Surveyor Legend 203RKLE
With the dinette, you get a very traditional dinette. That means knee-knocker pole mounts—which I wish would go the way of 17” RV ovens and four-inch bathroom vent fans. Yes, I am the Tony that wants to banish these to the cornfield, although it’s easy enough to just get a set of folding legs at the hardware store.
Should you choose one of the other two options, you get Lagun tables mounted to the side of the slide box—I love this option. The reason I write this is that Lagun tables not only can be moved around to accommodate different needs and physical sizes of humans, but they can also be raised and lowered easily on their mounts, or even just removed. I hope whoever invented the Lagun table is enjoying peace, prosperity and joy. How’s that?
Storage
Back to the bed—Surveyor has done an incredible job of providing cabinets. While the front of so many travel trailers are so similar with the hanging closets on either side of the bed and a few having cabinets over the bed, this rig also has two drawers on each side of the bed. Further, the hanging closets extend all the way down to the bedside table, as opposed to having some space above it.
There are even two drawers below the couch under the Murphy bed. This adds up to a surprising amount of storage just in the front of this rig. But then, behind the hanging closets are pockets that are pretty sizable. These have power outlets so you can put your gadgets here and even cup holders for your nightly bourbon. Er, glass of water.
Further, the floor on these are false floors. So, you have even more storage beneath here and it’s big enough that you could put things like a CPAP machine. It’s rather impressive how they’ve done this—and it’s very useful.
That kitchen, though
What will likely sell people on this trailer is the kitchen. Like the Grand Design and East To West models, that kitchen extends from the entry door all the way to the back wall. If anyone complains about counter space, this might be the rig to show them.
Something Surveyor did as part of the 2024 refresh of this unit is to take the wooden sink cover, which is also a cutting board board, and made a mount behind the stove so this can also serve as the backsplash. That’s a good idea. If you do use this to cover the sink, that just makes for even more counter space. Also, like most RV stoves, this one has a folding glass cover, so you could have enough counter space to put a buffet for a large wedding.
But don’t plan on baking much. You’ve got the plague of RV kitchens everywhere in the form of the 17” oven. Blech. Fortunately, I’m seeing these things going away.
Since you have all this counter space, you also have lots of drawers and cabinets, as well—which nobody ever complained about. While some RVs have very limited cargo carrying capacity to the point where you have to be careful what you put into the drawers and cabinets, that’s not true here, with a cargo carrying capacity of more than 2,500 pounds.
If you’re more the outdoor cooking type, this has a kitchen that incorporates a flat-top griddle on a tray-style mount. It also incorporates a dog bowl sink as well as a bar-sized fridge. I like this because the griddle mounts to the side of the sink so you’re not reaching directly over it to get to the fridge. Good call.
More 2024 changes to the Surveyor Legend 203RKLE
There were other changes made to this for 2024, including the fact that you now only get a 12-volt refrigerator. Period. That’s just the way the RV industry is moving.
Surveyor has also moved to Goodyear Endurance tires with internal tire pressure monitoring—which I can’t be a bigger fan of.
Another change is to employ a tankless water heater. I’m still not sure if this is better or worse, and it could depend on how you use your RV. I see both sides of the case for these.
Interestingly, the controls for the tankless water heater along with the tank monitors, pump switches and other water- and tank-related controls are in the bathroom along the cabinet. You could easily be sitting on the throne and see how full you can make the black tank. Or turn on the water heater if it’s time for a shower. Or see if there’s enough space in the tank for the shower.
On the subject of the tanks, they now also incorporate 12-volt tank heating pads for those colder nights at camp.
The solar system, also, has been upgraded for 2024 with a 200-watt panel standard along with a 30-amp charge controller. That means you could add a second panel. Surveyor even offers that as a factory option.
Other pluses
Something I know you all will like is the taller ceiling, with a height of 6’9” inside. That means the bathroom, too, has a taller ceiling—so there’s more headroom in the shower. That shower incorporates my favorite RV shower door, the Nautilus door. It is sort of like a roller shade that incorporates a squeegee mechanism to wipe the door down. I like these because they’re flexible plastic, which doesn’t break like glass does.
Surveyor also includes a central vacuum in this trailer. It has one of those dust doors that you can kick on to suck up dust you’ve swept there. But then it also includes all the hoses and such so you can just vacuum the trailer. This is right by the door where, arguably, it is most useful.
Another surprise here is that the AC system is ducted, which isn’t always done in smaller trailers. That means vents throughout the living space and bathroom rather than just coming out from a central location. They’ve also placed the furnace vents in cabinets as opposed to in the floor.
Conclusions
There are a few things that I don’t like, of course, and we’ve touched on those. Another thing that I think is just ridiculous is a front windshield in a trailer with a Murphy Bed. That means you have the windshield when you don’t want it and no windshield use when the bed is up. Seriously, why is this so common?
Overall, if given the choice of this, the East To West or Grand Design models with this same floor plan, the Surveyor is hands-down the winner. While it was already a model I liked, the changes made for 2024 just absolutely seal the deal. I think this is a trailer worth seeking out if you’re thinking of something smaller and useful.
More about these RV reviews
These RV reviews are written based on information provided by the manufacturers along with our writer’s own research. They are based on information from a single unit and may not reflect your actual experience. Shop your RV and dealership carefully before making a buying decision. We receive no money or other financial benefits from these reviews. They are intended only as a brief overview of the vehicle, not a comprehensive critique, which would require a thorough inspection and/or test drive.
Tony comes to RVtravel.com having worked at an RV dealership and been a life long RV enthusiast. He also has written the syndicated Curbside column about cars. He also works closely with a number of RV manufacturers to get an inside look at how things are done and is a brand ambassador for Rockwood Mini Lite with his wife, Peggy.
You can also check out his RV podcast with his wife, Peggy.
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The Murphy bed is a deal killer in any TT. Between the making the the bed every day before and after using, plus I’ve only had one RV that I didn’t have to replace the mattress immediately after purchase was our 16 year old motorhome that all ready had a replacement quality mattress installed, and I doubt a Murphy bed would accept the replacement mattress DW wants, she’s picky when it comes to sleep comfort. Lol
Our first trailer had a Murphy bed and we put a foam topper on it. After that it was remarkably comfortable.
We also use an RV Superbag so we don’t have to “make” the bed. We liked that so much when we got a new trailer with a permanent bed we just kept using it. Six years later it still looks like it did the day we bought it. Buy the best and cry only once.
Thank you, Tony! I’m monitoring your reviews for a friend looking for a smallish truck camper or travel trailer to use to go fishing. Thank you for the variety of RVs you review!
One of my absolute favorites in this field is the Four Wheel Pop Up Campers. I even got to take one out for ten days which I detail here. I’ve been to their factory and almost bought one a month ago but am trying something else for now.
We RV primarily September-May when the weather is cool to cold at night. From personal experience in our first travel trailer, we HATE windows above the head of the bed! There is no way to prevent a cold draft from the window onto your pillow except to seal a permanent, insulated covering over it (which we did). And having that window behind a Murphy bed is just an extra installation expense for the factory. More useless bling to increase the “WOW” factor for clueless buyers.
Funny thing we have a windshield over the bed that took some sort of a stone on our first trip out. We put a padded cover over the windshield within a month or two of getting our travel trailer and have never taken it off.