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Old 05-12-2014, 03:46 PM   #1
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Not Happy About Design Issues (venting)

We have a 2013 Eagle 308 RETS that we traded our Keystone Montana for when we fell in love with its looks in Sturgis, SD a couple summers ago. Every time I have to make the bed, I swear up a blue storm, and think of everything I really HATE about this camper. Especially trying to make a bed that has no room along the sides to tuck in sheets and no room at the end to get around it, you have to go through the bathroom to get to the other side or else you knock your head on the TV. (Which, by the way, is positioned too high and when you try to watch it in laying down, everything on the screen is nothing but black shadows.) We got an "upgraded" mattress when we bought our Eagle (hah!) and to make it comfortable enough to sleep on, we have a memory foam mattress and a goose down cover on top, which exacerbates the whole problem of making the bed, which was bad enough to begin with. Oh, and there's a gap alongside the mattress that makes it so that small items, like jewelery, can slip through and end up in your outside storage areas...

Here's some other issues that make us hate this camper SO much that when we're done living in it here in Tombstone, AZ, and get a house, we plan on getting rid of it ASAP... Maybe for weekend camping, it's okay, but when you need to live out of it for awhile, it's a nightmare.

Some idiot designed the "closet" so that it does not accommodate the hangers, you have to angle your clothes so that you can close the doors. I just spent money on wire hangers (which I hate almost as much as this camper), hoping that they will fit because right now, we're using the heavy plastic ones and they just don't fit. Now, this closet is a bump-out, I'm sure they could have added an extra inch or two without much trouble or cost.

Some other idiot put the fire / smoke detector in the living room instead of back in the hall way where a little smoke while cooking doesn't set it off to start screaming. We have to cook with all the windows and door open or disconnect it. Not enough electrical outlets and the one in the kitchen is up on the underside of a cabinet, so if your appliances have a short cord, get an extension...

The screen door latch does not line up and won't catch. We have one cat (had two) and she's learned that all she has to do is press on the bottom corner of the door to pop the latch and out she goes! Already lost one cat to coyotes because of this problem since we moved here 1.5 months ago and I'm pretty upset about it!

Cheap, cheap, cheap... we've already replaced the kitchen faucet... luckily, Ace Hardware sold the exact same one. The toilet, if you don't watch it after flushing, likes to keep running and overflow; we've had two floods in here within a month. Window cornices falling off the walls, couch upholstery is frazzled. Constant fixing...

Pretty? YES!! Practical? NO! Jayco really needs to think about their designs. Love the fireplace but I think that's about the ONLY thing we love about it and in AZ in the summertime, who needs one?
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Old 05-12-2014, 04:14 PM   #2
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well I just got a new 338 rets and I love it ... but the one thing we did this time was think about the bedroom layout and plugs too many trailer mfgs don't think logically about positioning of plugs and the bedrooms are not user friendly in a lot of them including the 2003 gulfstream mako we had. this time we went with one that had the bedroom slide where the bed slides out and the room is so much bigger around bed. ... as far as the smoke detector well I guess they are trying to be safe we made the mistake of not running the oven before we used it to burn off the new and it smoked up the whole interior but to my surprise the alarm didn't go off hummm maybe something to look at next time we camp ...good luck with figuring out how to make the bed and use the camper I know sometimes hindsight stinks.
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Old 05-12-2014, 04:30 PM   #3
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Thanks, Paintinfool3 and you're so right, hindsight stinks, hahaha! The Montana had a huge end closet, the width of the camper. It had an actual dresser and you could walk around the bed. The bathroom had a sink on one side of the hallway and the hopper had its own little room. When we looked at this Jayco, I thought, "I can live with a smaller bedroom, no problem." And it's not that it's any shorter than the Montana was, it's just not set up as well and I guess we made up for it by getting more dining and living space.

I just finished wrestling with making the bed with fresh linen, I'm just in a rabid mood after doing so, LOL. I took someone's suggestion and bought three sets of men's suspenders at Walmart, the kind that has a metal piece in the middle, so that you can cut them apart and make 6 elastic straps. Then I used them to keep the memory foam mattress and down cover attached to each other so hopefully, they will no longer slide off of the mattress. But, I have a gut feeling that when we get into bed tonight we're going to hear, "POP! POP! POP!" as each suspender clasp lets go. We'll see!
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Old 05-12-2014, 05:00 PM   #4
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I am guessing that you didn't love everything about your Montana either. Sorry but i just don't understand why a person would join a group of Happy campers just to vent.
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Old 05-12-2014, 06:07 PM   #5
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The forum I've posted on is called "Problems & Issues" and we HAVE problems and issues with a camper we bought new that we didn't have with 2 campers that we bought USED. I LOVED my Montana but it was older and we felt that we would have to put money into it (like new decals, etc.). Before that, we had an older Holiday Rambler that we LOVED, too, but a freak storm in Sturgis lifted it up 20 feet in the air and dropped it on its roof. You own a 2014 Jayco, give it a couple years and tell me how happy you are with the quality... We bought ours in 2012 and figured we'd get several years of no problems. Sorry, but I think I have a right to state my opinions without being attacked in a forum called "Problems & Issues". So, who's the "Happy Camper"? Thanks for being so friendly, have a great day!
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Old 05-12-2014, 06:15 PM   #6
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Sorry you are not happy with the rig. We are on year 3 with our 2011 and have no complaints. We did spend a lot of time sitting in the bedroom, bath and everywhere else thinking it out before we purchased.

This is our 3rd fifth wheel so we had some ideas of what we wanted to change or not change from the last 2 rigs.

I would not be a happy camper either if I felt stuck with something that I did not like, but we have not experienced that.
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Old 05-12-2014, 09:29 PM   #7
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It all comes down to the model and floor plan you choose. If you sacrificed space for price that would be on you instead of the manufacturer. Not saying you did that, just pointing it out if that is the case.

Our 2010 Jayco is a dream with more space and storage than we could ever use. As far as issues go, if it's space I already covered that above, the issues that need fixing, well that's a tough one. It could be normal wear and tear, it could be abuse, it could be premature failure. That is the reason we bought the extended warranty on ours and our dealership has been great. I can take the affected part out, return it to the dealer, get the replacement and install it myself with no issues at all.

Electrical outlet placement is another layout issue I think. I only say that because our Jayco has more than enough outlets in convenient places.

I'm not trying to pick you apart, I just think that you didn't buy "enough" trailer for your wants or needs and that can lead to buyer's remorse pretty quickly.

That's my 1.4 cents anyway. I hope you can find a way to get it all resolved in any case.
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Old 05-12-2014, 10:11 PM   #8
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PFEATHER. wife and I will be at tombstone territories rv park on the 22nd of May. I(f there is anything that I can do to help you on the trailer please let me know.
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Old 05-12-2014, 11:58 PM   #9
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Pfeather, I know your pain as we also traded a nice Montana in on our Jayco Eagle. Our Montana had a few problems but they were all components that Keystone bought and installed like AC, furnace, etc. The first 18 months with our Jayco were a virtual nightmare and every issue was a factory quality issue. Thanks to the two year warranty most, (not all) issues have been taken care of and we are happy with our trailer. Will we ever buy another????? No way.
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Old 05-13-2014, 05:26 AM   #10
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Well as to floorplans after having had a number of different ones when we looked this time the bedroom slide was a must if we were going to change. we found it in the 338 at the show in feb but we still ordered ours with a queen for more room around the bed. It came in with the king, figures an upgrade we didn't order and really didn't want lol. ours has a plug at the end of the kitchen counter for toaster or coffee maker which is nice ... the last one was hung under the upper cabinet and hard for short cords too ...issues are always common on tts and you have them with most but having to stay in one for extended periods I am sure it just magnifies the issues in your mind, I have only been able to stay in one for a week at a time and maybe that's a blessing. First camping trip this weekend in our new one I had my tools with me for the shakedown cruise and I was glad I did. The waterpump was sucking air and I had to take down the underbelly wrap to find and fix the issue but I still had a good weekend. hope you get your house back soon pfeather so you can go back to enjoying camping again
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Old 05-15-2014, 10:52 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pfeather View Post
Oh for God's sakes, the forum I've posted on is called "Problems & Issues" and we HAVE problems and issues with a camper we bought new that we didn't have with 2 campers that we bought USED. I LOVED my Montana but it was older and we felt that we would have to put money into it (like new decals, etc.). Before that, we had an older Holiday Rambler that we LOVED, too, but a freak storm in Sturgis lifted it up 20 feet in the air and dropped it on its roof. You own a 2014 Jayco, give it a couple years and tell me how happy you are with the quality... We bought ours in 2012 and figured we'd get several years of no problems. Sorry, but I think I have a right to state my opinions without being attacked in a forum called "Problems & Issues". So, who's the "Happy Camper"? Thanks for being so friendly, have a great day!

Most folks who post in this forum are looking for a specific solution to a problem (eg "my furnace won't light") not just to air a laundry list of gripes. Perhaps in the future you could take a closer, more critical look at an RV's practical features instead of being dazzled by how pretty it is. It's not all Jayco's fault and nobody held a gun to your head and forced you to buy it without thoroughly questioning whether it would meet your needs or not.

It's just odd that a new member with very few posts publishes a short story like yours. I'm sorry for your bad experience as most of us on here are pretty happy with our units.
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Old 05-15-2014, 02:20 PM   #12
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Most folks who post in this forum are looking for a specific solution to a problem (eg "my furnace won't light") not just to air a laundry list of gripes. Perhaps in the future you could take a closer, more critical look at an RV's practical features instead of being dazzled by how pretty it is. It's not all Jayco's fault and nobody held a gun to your head and forced you to buy it without thoroughly questioning whether it would meet your needs or not.

It's just odd that a new member with very few posts publishes a short story like yours. I'm sorry for your bad experience as most of us on here are pretty happy with our units.
X2 well said.
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Old 05-15-2014, 06:05 PM   #13
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I feel for the guy. My last (first) RV was a complete lemon and I was not getting the satisfaction from the maker nor the dealer. I got onto the owners forum (not Jayco mind you) and did about the same sort of posting as we're seeing here. Did it help me fix things? No. Did I feel better for it? A bit. A couple of the forums members took some exception to my postings, said things to me suggesting I take a deep breath etc. Eventually my log in was banned. I got rid of that RV and bought the Jayco I now have.
So, like I said, I'm sympathetic.
Good luck on getting your problems sorted out, and/or ridding yourself of the RV.
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Old 05-15-2014, 11:49 PM   #14
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I really feel for the guy as we were inundated with one quality issue after another for a year and a half. Most issues have been corrected and we are now fairly happy with our trailer. Because towing it all over seemed to aggravate our slide problem we have decided to leave the trailer where we use it the most (in Arizona) and buy an older smaller trailer for our summer travels.

I wish the OP the best of luck and hope he takes advantage of the really good two year warranty.
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