New 264BHW Owner from Texas

HappyWanderer · 03-01-2015, 11:32 PM

Hello all,
I'm a total newbie to the RV lifestyle. I put a down payment on a Jayco Jay Flight SLX 264BHW. I close on it this Saturday. I feel like I'm totally over my head, so I appreciate any help I can get. I have a decent tow vehicle (new Ram 1500 V8) and just had a brake controller installed.

I'm approaching middle age and have two teenagers who are both very excited to go camping again. The last time we camped when my son was in Cub Scouts many years ago and that was tent camping (my aching back). My DW is more of the 5-star-hotel type and will probably not participate, although she is indulging me and not complaining that I'm spending our extra income on RV toys.

I'm already perusing the forum and look forward to benefitting from the wisdom of all of you experts.

Cheers,
HW

Skaling · 03-02-2015, 12:11 AM

Congrats.. Your truck will pull the trailer easily.

tdk2765 · 03-02-2015, 05:15 AM

We're also new 264 owners. Be sure you get the weight distribution hitch, too.

fochman · 03-02-2015, 05:48 AM

Welcome from South Carolina. x two on the weight distribution hitch.

nevercominhome · 03-02-2015, 05:55 AM

Welcome to the JOF and congrats on the new TT!

Brownie · 03-02-2015, 06:48 AM

Congratulations on the new TT, and welcome to The Forum. When the kids return from your first camping trip with stories about how great it was, I'll bet your DW will want to come along on trip #2!

Happy camping!

Desert RVers · 03-02-2015, 08:59 AM

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new Jayco! I agree with Brownie, in no time at all, after hearing fun stories and seeing photos, your wife will want to come along.
Happy camping!

HappyWanderer · 03-02-2015, 10:27 PM

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I have a lot to learn and will probably spend a lot of time here.

Livinglife2 · 03-03-2015, 10:14 PM

Congrats !!!!!

HappyWanderer · 03-08-2015, 10:44 PM

Picked up the trailer yesterday. Only one problem: the range fan didn't work so they had to fix it while I waited around. Everything else went smoothly, except for the 45 minute tow to the RV storage. My truck was bouncing around a bit, even with a WD and stabilizing hitch.

I'm excited! We go on our first campout this Thursday!

oldmanAZ · 03-08-2015, 10:47 PM

Have a great time!

bese6197 · 03-10-2015, 02:49 PM

I just picked up the same trailer. Let us know how your first trip goes.

HappyWanderer · 03-15-2015, 10:49 PM

I made an overnight trip to the closest state park with the kids just to check everything out. We had full hookups. Overall, everything went smoothly, except we pack up everything in the rain the next day. I recommend that anyone with a new RV go somewhere close with FULL hookups for their first outing if they can't camp in their own driveway (like me).

The main purpose of this first trip was to test everything. I gave my kids jobs to do, and they excelled

. We tried out the microwave (popcorn), the oven (cookies) and the stovetop (eggs). The other stuff was cooked over a campfire.

The first night, I thought someone was pushing on the camper from the outside. It turns out, that my kid on the upper bunk in the back of the camper was shifting around and I could feel it in the front where I was sleeping. Yes, I did have the stabilizer jacks down.

I got my first experience of flushing out the black and gray tanks. No big deal, except for the adapter thingy that screws in to the dump tank got stuck. I was able to get it out by re-attaching the sewer hose and using it to wrench out the adapter.

We had one minor glitch with the camper. We assumed that our iPhones would work over the USB connection in the Jensen stereo. We were wrong. We tried an old iPod that I have hooked into my truck. Also, no joy. I read later that this stereo doesn't support any iPods/iPhones past a certain (old) date. Next time, I'll bring an AUX cable so we can listen to our tunes.

I did have a "feel good" moment (besides the fun of camping with my kids). It turns out that my camper came with some extras. I looked at the original sticker and found that I also got the 15K BTU AC upgrade.

oldmanAZ · 03-15-2015, 10:58 PM

Sounds like a terrific first trip.

And extra cool, too.

Brownie · 03-16-2015, 07:13 AM

Congratulations on your first outing! Sounds like it went real well. You mentioned in your second post that your truck "bounced around" quite a bit while towing the trailer to your storage lot. Did that improve once the truck & trailer were loaded for camping? Just curious.

Brownie · 03-16-2015, 07:19 AM

Congratulations on your first outing. Sounds like everything went real well.

In your second post, you mentioned that your truck "bounced around" quite a bit while towing your trailer to the storage facility. Just curious: did it pull any better once both the truck and trailer were loaded for camping?

fielro · 03-16-2015, 11:08 AM

Congratulations on a successful outing....Make those memories

HappyWanderer · 03-16-2015, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brownie

Congratulations on your first outing. Sounds like everything went real well.

In your second post, you mentioned that your truck "bounced around" quite a bit while towing your trailer to the storage facility. Just curious: did it pull any better once both the truck and trailer were loaded for camping?

Unfortunately, it didn't. I have the anti-sway WD hitch, but it didn't stop the front-to-back pitching that occurred when towing it. It didn't really change after we were loaded up for camping. It doesn't do it all the time, so I guess I just need to get used to it when it happens.

oldmanAZ · 03-16-2015, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyWanderer

...snip...It doesn't do it all the time, so I guess I just need to get used to it when it happens.

'It doesn't do it all the time..' That's very good news and you may be exactly right that it is something you will become accustomed to over time.

Maybe by driving someone else's rig and they driving yours will give you a better feel for towing a trailer with your truck.

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