Holden, ME – Sadly, I cannot recommend this RV park, and it’s for a single reason: unreliable power. Our full hookup, 50 AMP site was unable to provide the necessary voltage to power our motorhome. I was getting only 100 volts on one leg and 110 on the other. The energy management system in our Newmar New Aire kicked in to shut down power to the entire RV (which is exactly what it should do in an under voltage situation). I’ve seen this before a time or two, and when the issue is brought up to the manager usually the response is “wow, I’ve never seen that before. Well, I’ve give you a new site”. Not here. The gentleman at the front desk, upon hearing my tale, sighed and launched into what I’m assuming is a well-rehearsed diatribe about the power company and not enough power to go around when everyone is running their air conditioners and why do people need all those AC units anyways…and then he blamed Obama. Sigh indeed.
Low voltage can be seen on Leg 1 (100 V), while using 30 amps
It turns out power problems are common at this KOA and a too small transformer is to blame. This means every site at this KOA experiences low voltage, but unless you have a surge protector with low voltage cutoff, you have no idea. I pointed out I’m paying good money for a 50 amp site but I effectively have no power and I want a new site. Well, they are fully booked. Nothing he can do. He’ll refund my money if we choose to leave. I certainly wanted to leave, but finding a pull though RV spot near Bangor, ME on a Saturday night was not happening. Back at the site I tried downgrading to 30 amps, figuring one AC running is better than none. That kinda worked. The voltage wavered around 112-114 volts with 1 AC on, which is not great, but acceptable. About once per hour the volts dropped to ~104 and the AC kicked off. This continued all night long. Two other class A motorhomes ran their generators all night to keep their interiors cool, which perhaps is a better, albeit noisier, option.
My frustration is not that they are fully booked and no other sites are available (which, due to the small transformer, would not have solved the problem in any case). Rather, it’s because this is a known problem and they haven’t noted it on their website. If you advertise 50 AMP hookups then you need to provide it — not place blame elsewhere and shrug your shoulders.
Rating: 
Campground website: Bangor/Holden KOA
Date of Stay: August 3-4, 2019
