First Travel Trailer, looking for ideas and suggestions

[devoreg]

Just upgraded to a 2006 Jayco Jayflight 29BHS from a pop up camper and now have a long winter of coming up with projects on our new camper. I am pulling this with our new truck, 2014 V8 Silverado Crew Cab (we bought some expensive toys this past November).

I am new here and enjoy these forums, a lot of good advice and ideas.

If anyone has suggestions or ideas for anything I am planning, additional projects or must buys i would love to hear them.

In no particular order:
Adding some USB charging ports (preferably hooked to 12 volt system)
Solar battery charger
Lights in the storage areas
Under awning lights (I noticed people get worked up with outside lighting, i will be sure to be respectful to neighbors)'
Bike Rack (prob not off bumper due to concerns of bumper integrity that I have read)
Slide out switch cover (keep our 5 yr old from playing with switch)
Electric tongue jack stopped working (I assume there's a fuse to replace, worked fine when we picked it up)
Upgrade interior lights to LED
Bunk Bed ladder for my daughter
Replace mattress
Wireless Backup camera (that can double as an interior camera to keep an eye on the 5 yr old)
TV Mount
&
General storage and organization


I know it might take awhile to get all of these done, I will prob start with some of the less expensive upgrades.

Thanks

[nevercominhome]

Congrats on the new TT and welcome to the JOF! That's an awesome layout.... Also an impressive list of mods. Have fun making it your own!

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on the new trailer and the fun of the projects to make it work better for you.

[Paintinfool3]

Well one thing I would do is climb onto roof and check all seams around everything to make sure you have no cracked seam sealer and reveal if nessecary .... Cheap insurance and something I didn't do enough with our last camper

[fielro]

Congratulations on new TT and welcome to the forum

[TexasRelic]

Congratulations on new TT, one thing that I failed to check was the tire age on mine. The tires looked great but were 6 and 7 years old and from what I have been reading you should replace them every 3 to 5 years.

Just mentioning this since my mod fund went to the tire fund..

[Jagiven]

congratulations. You have a pretty good list going. If it was me, I would put solar near the end, as it can be difficult and expensive to do right. So it is well worth a lot of research.

Contact Jayco with your vin number and they will send you a wiring diagram. This way you can determine which wires you can and cannot tap into.

AS for cargo hold lights I found some 12volt truck bed lights from 3M. They have a proximity switch and a timer on them, so they never accidently get left on. I just used double face tape to secure them in the holds. I also added lights in a few additional areas, see my signature line.

USB outlets. I added a few aux power (12V) points and use good cigarette lighter adaptors. This way I always have USB power.

Bike rack; add a welded 2" receiver hitch to the frame. rock solid.

[devoreg]

Jagiven,
Do you have any more info on the 12 volt lights with auto on and timer you had mentioned, these sound like exactly what i am looking for.
Thanks

[Firnkoess4]

you can get a standard ladder with the hooks that hang over the top bunk rim and cut them to size from the bottom and just put stoppers back on to cover the area that was cut. We keep our ladder tucked on top bunk when not in use. Our electric tongue also stopped working when my husband let it go up too far. ...blew a fuse. easy fix, you do have to replace the fuse which should be outside near the battery/tongue jack. Good idea to keep extra fuses on hand. You can replace the mattress or add a memory foam topper. We put thick memory foam toppers on all bed areas (our queen bed, and the full bunks) and feels and works great!

[chrismoore701]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

congratulations. You have a pretty good list going. If it was me, I would put solar near the end, as it can be difficult and expensive to do right. So it is well worth a lot of research.

Contact Jayco with your vin number and they will send you a wiring diagram. This way you can determine which wires you can and cannot tap into.

AS for cargo hold lights I found some 12volt truck bed lights from 3M. They have a proximity switch and a timer on them, so they never accidently get left on. I just used double face tape to secure them in the holds. I also added lights in a few additional areas, see my signature line.

USB outlets. I added a few aux power (12V) points and use good cigarette lighter adaptors. This way I always have USB power.

Bike rack; add a welded 2" receiver hitch to the frame. rock solid.

I am also interested in your 12 volt light system

Chris

[Firnkoess4]

I was going to put in a 12 volt plug (service was going to put one in like the kind they have in pop up tents so you can plug in 12 volt fans...our bunks tend to get warm so I wanted fans...I opted to wait a bit before doing that...in the meantime, I've come up with a solution to adding fans but no 12 volt outlets...just get a short tension rod and insert in each bunk vertical in a corner...then get a battery operated clip on fan..Clip to rod and there you have fan with direct air to each bunk.

[Polk]

We have the same one and love the layout. I attached some pictures of our mods. Probably my favorite is the bifold door for the master bedroom. Also the tv mount that im going to make. I also added some peg board in the front cargo area to hold fishing poles and such. another one I did is added a support arm for the dinette, it help a bunch.