Today’s RV review is of the new 2027 Keystone Cougar Half-Ton 26LBW travel trailer. I know some of you have been following these articles for years, for which I am eternally grateful. But you also know that I have to comment about that “half-ton” designation. Don’t worry, I gotcha!
This is a floor plan that used to be relatively common in the RV world: a front bedroom, a rear bath, a road-side slide with a booth dinette and the couch, and the kitchen on the camp side. It’s a good floor plan that works, and it’s returning with a few makers, including this one.
I got a sneak peek at the 2027 version and thought you might want to join me.
Start at the road with the Keystone Cougar Half-Ton 26LBW
There was a lot I was happy to see as I walked around this rig, including the fact that they’re now coming with Goodyear Endurance tires fitted with tire pressure monitoring systems.
These are also fitted with Lippert’s anti-lock braking system, which reduces the chance of loss of control in many circumstances, and can reduce stopping distances. Lippert’s system also incorporates the ability to track mileage on the trailer—that’s cool.
As for suspension, it has a simple leaf spring setup but with the addition of the Road Armor suspension dampener, which features the ability to grease the fittings. A plus! Many simple leaf spring systems do not enable greasing the fittings, which can cause accelerated wear.
This is also a rack-and-pinion slide mechanism—another plus!
The frame on this is a drop frame, which translates into a pretty significant amount of front pass-through storage. Also in the front compartment is a Nautilus-style plumbing system behind which are all the pipes. There’s a handy hatch here where you can access and see all the pipes. There are also individual shut-offs for all the fixtures, which is fantastic. The only challenge I saw was that there were fittings on a few pipes where it was PEX clamps on flex tubes. Bleh.
On the camp side of the pass-through, there’s a hatch similar to where you run your water on the road side. This is essentially just a hole with a screw-on cover. So, if you have something like Starlink or wish to run an extension cord or something like that, you can do so. There are also household and USB power outlets in the pass-through, so you’ve got the things you’ll need to make Starlink happen. And down the road, when there’s the next big thing, you can make that happen too. I like this solution a lot. It’s simple, and it works perfectly.
Something that Keystone has been an innovator on is their HyperDeck™ flooring, which is all man-made materials. While it’s a similar laminated structure to the walls, which are now branded as HyperCore™, it’s also a thicker material designed to be walked on.
There’s also a connector for this trailer’s 50-amp shore power cord that indicates if there is trouble with the connection. This connector, built by Hughes, isn’t a surge suppressor but does show if there is a problem with the incoming wiring. I think this is a positive step, as many campground pedestals are the source of a camper’s issues, but they’re not aware of that.
Pull handles for gate valves are where?!
One thing I noticed was that the pull handles for the gate valves were under the trailer and pointed down. I cannot imagine lying on the ground at a dump station in order to pull these. The situation would be even worse if you’re down there and didn’t attach the bayonet fitting properly. This is a terrible place for these valves. Even worse, there are two connectors, with the second gray tank connector and gate pull being under the slide room.
This could be the worst placement of gate valve handles I’ve ever seen.
Living space inside the Keystone Cougar 26LBW
As mentioned, this is a relatively traditional floor plan with a single slide-out on the road side with dining and seating. That dining space can be either a traditional booth dinette or an optional table with an ottoman and two free-standing chairs.
There’s also a trifold couch as standard, but you can swap in theater seats, which is how the model I saw was configured.
In the old-school versions of this, there was a wall at the front of the living space and doors on either side to access the bedroom. That’s where the TV was, which wasn’t tremendously convenient if you wanted to watch it.
Now there is a cabinet that juts out from the bedroom wall that has the obligatory TV and a fireplace. That cabinet also offers a decent entryway closet, so this adaptation of the floor plan makes a lot more sense.
Kitchen in the Keystone Cougar 26LBW
There is a lot of kitchen counterspace in this trailer, with a good-sized sink and plenty of drawer and cabinet space. I noticed the drawers are nicely finished in this.
There’s also a pull-out counter extension which includes a drawer and cabinet, much like I’ve seen in motorhomes. There’s also a decently large pantry in the kitchen.
As for cooking, there’s an RV-sized microwave, three-burner propane stove, and a small 17” oven. Bummer about that small oven. There’s also a 10.7-cubic-foot 12-volt refrigerator.
Sleeping in the Keystone Cougar 26LBW
One of the hallmarks of the Cougar brand of trailers is that it uses an RV king-sized bed. The one in here is 70×80. Hanging storage on either side of the bed is good, with space behind that for what you’re probably reading this with. There’s a smaller drawer and a large side table as well.
There’s also a closet in here as well as a couple of drawers. That closet is plumbed for a washer-dryer combo, though this would be a relatively tight space to do laundry.
Bathroom in the Keystone Cougar 26LBW
The bathroom is at the other end of this trailer and spans the full width of the rig. There’s a rectangular shower with a Nautilus-style retractable door, which I really like. Keystone also includes an Oxygenics shower head—the one just about all RVers end up getting anyway. Thank you, Keystone!
There’s even a space for a small trash can in the bathroom—because we all have one, anyway.
Boondocking and travel access in the Keystone Cougar 26LBW
As for travel access, you can get to the kitchen and bathroom with the slide in, but not the bedroom.
And, as for boondocking, Keystone was a leader in offering optional solar and lithium systems under the guise of the SolarFlex brand. By going this route, a dealership can easily upgrade the RV and still maintain the factory warranty.
My thoughts on the Keystone Cougar 26LBW
There were two things that really bugged me about this trailer:
The first was the awful placement of the pull handles for the gate valves. Perhaps this was a prototype, and there is a different solution on production models. I hope.
The other is the marketing of any trailer with terms like “half-ton.” With any trailer, know that your tow vehicle has to carry about 15% of the trailer’s weight, so it has to be capable of that. With the GVW of this trailer around 10,000 pounds, that means you could be carrying upwards of 1,500 pounds. If your “half ton” tow vehicle is capable of carrying 1,800 pounds, which is fairly typical, that means that you may be leaving your spouse at home.
Sure, there may be half-ton trucks that can handle this just fine. But I think it would be better if RV companies—and Keystone isn’t the only one guilty of this—would just be more specific about numbers and let buyers be informed about trucks.
Also, I noticed that Keystone has taken the MSRP off their website, but I’ve found these listed for around $61,000, which is pretty customary in this range.
Overall, I liked a lot of what I saw here, and it wouldn’t be difficult to change the things I didn’t. Plus they have a solid warranty and a lot of internal build qualities that are really good.
