01 What Puma is
Puma is Palomino's metal-sided value travel trailer — a high-volume bumper-pull line built to a price, and one of the broadest single travel-trailer rosters in the value bracket. Palomino RV, based in Goshen, Indiana and a division of Forest River, Inc. (a Berkshire Hathaway company), positions Puma squarely against the price-leaders: Forest River's own Salem / Wildwood and Aurora, Prime Time's Avenger, Keystone's Springdale and Passport, Jayco's Jay Flight SLX and Coachmen's Catalina.
The build is the value-bracket recipe done conventionally. Every Puma rides a bumper-pull tandem-axle chassis on a rugged, powder-coated steel I-beam frame with steel crossmembers, skinned in .024 and .030-gauge aluminum — a metal-sided trailer, not a laminated fiberglass one. The roof is an AlphaPly membrane under a limited lifetime warranty over 3/8-inch decking on 4½-inch crowned truss rafters; the sidewalls carry R-7 fiberglass insulation cut and glued between studs spaced 16 inches apart; the floor is 5/8-inch Araucoply plywood under a 25-year limited warranty over longitudinal studding on 12-inch centres; and the underbelly is enclosed and Darco-wrapped with enclosed water tanks. Inside, an 11 cu ft 12-volt black-glass refrigerator, a 1.3 cu ft stainless microwave, a 21-inch stainless oven and range hood, a tankless water heater and floor-ducted heat are standard, with a 3,500-pound electric tongue jack and four electric stabilizer jacks.
Two things are worth knowing before you compare Puma against a rival on paper. First, solar is prep only: the factory lists “roof and side-mount solar prep” — wiring and mounting points, not a working panel — so budget the panel and controller if you intend to boondock. Second, Puma has no options list: Forest River bundles the entire specification into four packages and marks all four required, which means the trailer on the lot is the trailer as specified. That structure also produces the one genuine contradiction in the line, on the air conditioner — covered below. The 2026 factory roster carries twenty travel-trailer floorplans; the eight highest-demand plans are profiled in depth below, and every profiled layout is taken verbatim from the Forest River factory floorplan record. Palomino and Forest River publish no MSRP for the Puma line, so street pricing is dealer-confirmed.
02 Floorplans profiled in depth
Eight 2026 floorplans are profiled in full, selected as the highest-demand plans on the roster — each carries two or more live dealer listings. They span the line from the compact front-kitchen 26FKDS to the four-slide family flagship 32BHFS, and include the most-listed plan in the line (the rear-living 31RLQS), two rear-kitchen couples plans, the bath-and-a-half 32BHQS and the loft bunkhouse 337BH. Every profiled plan's layout, exterior material and awning size is taken verbatim from the Forest River factory floorplan record and cross-checked against the 2026 factory brochure.
| Floorplan | Dry wt | Length | Sleeps | Layout | GVWR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26FKDS | 7,053 lbs | 30' 10" | 5 | Front kitchen and rear bedroom | 8,553 lbs |
| 310RK | 7,763 lbs | 35' 6" | 4 | Rear kitchen | 9,263 lbs |
| 30RKQS | 7,974 lbs | 36' 1" | 4 | Rear kitchen and front bedroom | 9,600 lbs |
| 31RLQS | 8,808 lbs | 36' 1" | 4 | Kitchen island, front bedroom and rear living | 10,500 lbs |
| 337BH | 7,463 lbs | 37' 1" | 8 | Bunk beds, loft, front bedroom and pass through bathroom | 9,263 lbs |
| 31FKRK | 8,333 lbs | 37' 11" | 4 | Front kitchen and rear bedroom | 9,930 lbs |
| 32BHFS | 9,608 lbs | 38' 9" | 11 | Bunk beds, kitchen island and front bedroom | 11,308 lbs |
| 32BHQS | 9,072 lbs | 38' 9" | 11 | Bunk beds, front bedroom and bathroom and a half | 10,800 lbs |
Body specifications (lengths, exterior heights, width, tanks, entries, slides and awnings) are verified three ways: against the Forest River factory floorplan records for the 2026 Puma roster, against the 2026 Palomino Puma factory brochure, and against the RVUSA structured records. The factory pages and the brochure agree on every field with no mismatches. Dry weight (UVW), GVWR, payload (CCC) and tongue (hitch) weight are published per plan, and for every plan the base dry weight plus payload equals the GVWR exactly — so all weight figures are shown unflagged with no derivation. Sleep capacities are the RVUSA-published figures. Palomino and Forest River publish no MSRP for the Puma line; street (dealer) pricing is dealer-confirmed. Real loaded tongue weights run higher — weigh the loaded trailer and confirm against your vehicle's tow rating and payload.
03 Also in the 2026 line
Twelve further 2026 Puma floorplans are catalogued here from published specifications but not yet profiled in depth — among them the lightest plan in the line (the 227RK at 5,608 pounds dry), the heaviest (the 340DB at 9,753 pounds), the bunkhouses 25BHS, 31QBBH, 32BH2B, 32RBFQ and 32RBFQ2, and the loft-equipped 345BHL. Like the profiled plans, all publish GVWR per plan with dry weight plus CCC equal to GVWR exactly.
| Floorplan | Dry wt | GVWR | Payload | Tongue | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 220FK | 6,078 lbs | 7,600 lbs | 1,522 lbs | 770 lbs | 25' 11" |
| 227RK | 5,608 lbs | 7,108 lbs | 1,500 lbs | 750 lbs | 26' 4" |
| 229RB | 5,788 lbs | 7,288 lbs | 1,500 lbs | 730 lbs | 26' 4" |
| 25BHS | 6,028 lbs | 7,528 lbs | 1,500 lbs | 650 lbs | 30' 5" |
| 27RBDS | 7,468 lbs | 8,968 lbs | 1,500 lbs | 1,030 lbs | 33' 7" |
| 290RL | 7,153 lbs | 8,653 lbs | 1,500 lbs | 980 lbs | 34' 8" |
| 32RBFQ | 8,998 lbs | 10,500 lbs | 1,502 lbs | 948 lbs | 36' 11" |
| 32RBFQ2 | 9,237 lbs | 10,500 lbs | 1,263 lbs | 932 lbs | 36' 11" |
| 345BHL | 9,018 lbs | 10,618 lbs | 1,600 lbs | 1,075 lbs | 37' 4" |
| 31QBBH | 8,231 lbs | 9,995 lbs | 1,764 lbs | 1,049 lbs | 37' 10" |
| 32BH2B | 9,023 lbs | 11,230 lbs | 2,207 lbs | 1,030 lbs | 38' 6" |
| 340DB | 9,753 lbs | 11,253 lbs | 1,500 lbs | 1,240 lbs | 38' 7" |
Catalogued weights are verified against the Forest River factory floorplan records for the 2026 Puma roster and, for the nineteen plans it carries, the 2026 factory brochure; dry weight plus payload equals GVWR exactly on each. Three plans — the 220FK, 290RL and 340DB — are new for 2026 and carry no RVUSA structured record, so no sleeping capacity is published for them and none is inferred. The 220FK's awning size is listed as “TBD” by the factory and is not published anywhere else, so it is left blank rather than assumed from the line pattern. The 345BHL is flagged Dealer Stock Only by the factory and stands 13 feet 5 inches tall against an 11-foot-1 line norm — a figure confirmed by the factory brochure, so it is real and not a transcription error. These plans are documented for reference and their full floorplan profiles are planned but not yet published.
04 How to choose
The Puma line sorts by layout and weight tier. For the lightest way in, the catalogued 227RK is the lightest plan in the line at 5,608 pounds dry on a 750-pound tongue, with the 229RB and 25BHS close behind — all three suit a well-rated half-ton. Among the profiled plans, the 26FKDS is the shortest at about 31 feet, though its front galley loads a heavy 1,035-pound tongue for the length.
Choose by where the space goes. The 31RLQS is the most-listed plan in the line and the couples flagship — a kitchen island and a rear living area on three slides. The 30RKQS and 310RK are rear-kitchen couples plans, the 310RK carrying the lightest tongue of any long Puma at 840 pounds. The 26FKDS and 31FKRK invert that with front galleys and rear bedrooms. On the family side, the 337BH is the standout: a loft bunkhouse sleeping eight on a single slide, with the lightest tongue and the biggest cargo margin of the profiled plans. Above it, the 32BHQS adds a second half bath and dual entry for eleven berths, and the 32BHFS runs four slides and a kitchen island as the heaviest plan profiled.
Across all of them the construction is the same value build: a bumper-pull chassis on a powder-coated steel I-beam frame, aluminum skin, an AlphaPly roof, R-7 sidewall insulation, an enclosed Darco-wrapped underbelly, a tankless water heater and an 11 cu ft 12-volt refrigerator, with solar as prep only. Every plan carries the same 43-gallon fresh tank, which means fresh water — not the grey or black tank — is usually the binding constraint on the bigger family plans. The decision is layout, weight tier and how many the plan sleeps.
05 What to weigh before buying
This is a metal-sided value travel trailer, not a laminated one
Puma competes with the price-leaders — Forest River's own Salem / Wildwood and Aurora, Prime Time's Avenger, Keystone's Springdale and Passport, Jayco's Jay Flight SLX and Coachmen's Catalina. Its case is a conventional, well-understood value build: a powder-coated steel I-beam frame with steel crossmembers, .024/.030-gauge aluminum skin, an AlphaPly roof under a limited lifetime warranty and a 5/8-inch Araucoply floor under a 25-year warranty. It is a construction tier below the laminated step-up lines such as Prime Time's Tracer or Grand Design's Transcend Xplor — cross-shop it on floorplan, standard equipment and each maker's warranty rather than on badge.
The air conditioner size is contradicted by two required factory packages
Forest River sells Puma with no options list — the whole specification is bundled into four packages, all four marked required. Two of them disagree. The Value Shopper Package specifies a 13,500 BTU ducted low-profile air conditioner with a heat pump; the Limited Edition Package specifies a 15,000 BTU ducted low-profile unit with a heat pump “in place of” the 13,500. Both the factory web roster and the 2026 factory brochure mark both packages required, so the two first-party sources contradict each other on what actually ships; RVUSA's independent records list 13,500 BTU. We publish the 13,500 BTU figure flagged and state the Limited Edition substitution alongside it rather than assert a single size. Confirm the air conditioner on the actual unit before you buy — and if a second rooftop unit matters to you, note the 50-amp service and second-A/C prep also sit in the Limited Edition Package.
Solar is prep, not a panel — and the fresh tank never grows
The factory lists “Roof & Side Mount Solar Prep”: wiring and mounting points, with no panel or controller installed. When you compare a Puma against a rival that ships an installed panel, add the cost of the panel, controller and wiring to the Puma side of the ledger. Separately, every plan in the line — from the 26-foot 227RK to the 39-foot 32BHFS — carries the same 43-gallon fresh water tank. On the eleven-berth plans that is the real constraint: 43 gallons is roughly 359 pounds of water and it runs out long before the 65 or 70-gallon grey tank fills.
Match the tow vehicle honestly — and do not assume shorter tows lighter
The line runs from 5,608 to 9,753 pounds dry on GVWRs from 7,108 to 11,308 pounds, with dry tongue weights from 650 to 1,240 pounds — and real loaded tongue weights run higher. Tongue weight does not track length in this line: the front-kitchen 26FKDS puts 1,035 pounds on the ball at about 31 feet, while the 37-foot 337BH asks only 770 and the 35½-foot 310RK only 840. The heavy end — the 32BHFS at an 11,308-pound GVWR and a 1,175-pound tongue, and the catalogued 340DB at 11,253 pounds and 1,240 — is three-quarter-ton territory. Palomino publishes no axle rating and no tire size for the line, so the trailer's own placard is the only authority on those. Tow rating alone is not enough: the tow vehicle's payload has to carry the tongue weight plus passengers and gear. Treat brochure tongue weights as a floor, weigh the loaded trailer, and confirm against your vehicle's door-jamb ratings and a proper weight-distributing hitch before buying.