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Old 08-19-2014, 10:55 PM   #1
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Jayco 33.5RETS

Hello everyone. I'm new at this site, so I'm hoping for your feedback. I'm buying a 2015 Jayco 33.5RETS and I would like to hear all the good and bad on this model. Thanks
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Old 08-20-2014, 12:56 PM   #2
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Congrats! We bought the very same one - a 2014 - 3 weeks ago today. Left the next evening on a 10 day trip and so far LOVE it. It's a full 7 ft longer than our previous '02 Lakota and some of the tighter corners have caught me a little off guard but it pulls and rides nicely. My wife walked in and saw that kitchen with all the storage space and the ledgestone fireplace and said to the salesman and I "I want THIS one." Hey, no sense playing hard to get when negotiating a price, right? Look at all the time we saved.
Ok. The bad. On a few of the window blinds the guide strings have come undone or pulled loose from the wall. I thought many of them were very stiff to pull up or down but maybe they'll loosen up over time. The bedroom AC was money well spent but that leaves only 2 windows for ventilation upstairs and it gets pretty warm and stuffy without it. You can turn on the bath vent but it only moves so much air.
There is no light in the front basement storage area nor one outside to light up the storage door, pin area or landing gear switch. The storage doors are rather heavy and the one on the drivers side uses one plastic latch to hold it open. when it gets hot the plastic stretches and down comes the door. Landed on the salesman's head during the PDI, on my head twice the next day and a couple more times since. Why not use metal or TWO latches or raise the price $30 or $40 and use struts? Shame Jayco, Shame!
My biggest annoyance is opening the door to the slide switches, etc. at night and you can't see them! The hall light is shaded by the cabinet door and the kitchen light is to far around the corner to be of any help and you can't see or read ANY of the switch gear.
Last, one wall panel in one of the slides bows out some at it's edge. So far, that's the bad.
The good? Pretty much everything else.I feel like a member of the Rich and Famous rolling down the road. It's very comfortable, lots of storage, and my stay-at-home wife can't wait to go again( Labor Day weekend!) Lastly if your curious, I weighed it at the Cat Scales and with full water and propane and packed with a not unreasonable amount of personal gear I got 11,460 pounds with 2000 pounds pin weight.
Have Fun!
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Old 08-20-2014, 06:15 PM   #3
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I went to the dealer to pickup my Jayco 33.5rets today. The heater and the freg did not work. The guy showing the unit was unconfortable with the situation. Thank God I hadn't sign the papers for the unit. They say that they are going to fix it. I can't believe that Camping World would let a new unit go out without checking it.
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Old 08-20-2014, 10:29 PM   #4
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I went to the dealer to pickup my Jayco 33.5rets today. The heater and the freg did not work. The guy showing the unit was unconfortable with the situation. Thank God I hadn't sign the papers for the unit. They say that they are going to fix it. I can't believe that Camping World would let a new unit go out without checking it.
Hard to believe the factory let the new unit go without checking that out either. I hope the Amish aren't slipping
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Old 08-22-2014, 06:32 AM   #5
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We had actually 4 problems with ours that came from the factory. Toilet sprayed water out the back onto the wall, could not sit on one side of the dining table, gas portion of hot water heater did not work, and furnace did not work. That one required cutting a hole in the front basement storage to gain access to remove the hot water heater to replace a control board. No access panel on the outside skin. Dealer managed to rectify all the problems in several trips and we are now happy campers. Love the unit.
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Old 08-22-2014, 02:44 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by tslvet View Post
I went to the dealer to pickup my Jayco 33.5rets today. The heater and the freg did not work. The guy showing the unit was unconfortable with the situation. Thank God I hadn't sign the papers for the unit. They say that they are going to fix it. I can't believe that Camping World would let a new unit go out without checking it.
They are supposed to check the operation of everything prior to your arrival.
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Old 08-24-2014, 07:18 AM   #7
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33.5 RETS owner's....... Do you have outside access to your gas furnace????
Can't believe they would build a unit with no access to replace the furnace control board!!!
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Old 08-26-2014, 08:21 PM   #8
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My shower has a small leak and have had some minor plumbing leaks under the sinks and water heater, just loose fittings, easy fixes. The shower leak I can't figure out though. I have re-caulked every corner and seals on glass, but still leaks. Water droplets run down the wall into the basement storage. It's so little that it dries up quick, but still should be addressed. We really like our unit, the 33.5 is a great floor plan.
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Old 08-26-2014, 10:09 PM   #9
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Rets

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33.5 RETS owner's....... Do you have outside access to your gas furnace????
Can't believe they would build a unit with no access to replace the furnace control board!!!
Just picked our rets 2014 33.5 up about 3 weeks ago. Hopefully maiden voyage this weekend if weather is not storming. Did trial run with water and turned on water heater,dumped water straight through grey tank and flushed black tank in driveway. No real waste but wanted to go though the motions. Have spent about $2000 on supplies and Things.its like owning a harley. Lol
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Old 08-27-2014, 02:23 PM   #10
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Just picked our rets 2014 33.5 up about 3 weeks ago. Hopefully maiden voyage this weekend if weather is not storming. Did trial run with water and turned on water heater,dumped water straight through grey tank and flushed black tank in driveway. No real waste but wanted to go though the motions. Have spent about $2000 on supplies and Things.its like owning a harley. Lol
Do you have outside access to your furnace? We have no access panel on our outside skin and no access from inside.
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Old 08-27-2014, 02:25 PM   #11
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bcmorr, do you have outside access to your gas furnace???
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Old 08-27-2014, 03:04 PM   #12
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Furnace

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Do you have outside access to your furnace? We have no access panel on our outside skin and no access from inside.
No I saw no access to furnace.looks like a shop job to me
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Old 08-29-2014, 01:20 PM   #13
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No outside access to furnace
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Old 08-30-2014, 06:42 AM   #14
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Well, at least now I know mine was not the only unit built that way. I can tell you from experience if the control board goes bad, which ours was from the factory, they will have to take the rear wall panel out from the basement storage and then cut a hole in the exposed wall behind the panel. It was quite a chore. The only positive thing about this was at least it was under warranty. I also now have a way to take the furnace out should the control board need to be replaced again. It is really a pain though to have to take the furnace all the way out to replace a $25 board.
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Old 08-30-2014, 05:57 PM   #15
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The storage doors are rather heavy and the one on the drivers side uses one plastic latch to hold it open. when it gets hot the plastic stretches and down comes the door. Landed on the salesman's head during the PDI, on my head twice the next day and a couple more times since. Why not use metal or TWO latches or raise the price $30 or $40 and use struts? Shame Jayco, Shame!
This is an issue that I was annoyed with immediately. It is a design failure, and is so obvious. It is a great example of a lever for a high-school physics class. All that weight and the latch holding it right near the hinge. I decided to address this issue by installing a piston on the door. It does not lift the entire weight of the door, but it does remove about 70% to 80% of the load from the latch. I'm very pleased with this mod and feel I've saved myself future repairs (and headaches). The first pictures are to show how much that little latch has to handle. I attached a piece of 2x6 to space out the lower bracket and give it plenty of support. Other than this one item, we love the RV and think it is great!

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Old 08-31-2014, 06:08 AM   #16
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That is a great mod. I have looked at several higher end units and a lot of them are adding these to their storage doors. They don't even have the latch.
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Old 08-31-2014, 06:26 AM   #17
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I added one like that on my rig to keep the wind from beating me up with it. Had to use a stand off bracket to keep the side hinged door off the heater vent when open.
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