GreyHawk or a Forester?

[Captain Morgan]

Hey folks,

After a year of research and filtering through all the likes and requirements, I've narrowed list of possibilities for a purchase. That combined with what is available here in WA atm really limits my potential.

There are just a few Foresters and Greyhawks with the floor plans I like up here to chose from. I like these floorplans, intend to remove the furniture completely and use the slide wall for storage and add some home theater mods to the rig. I like the colors and paint of these two rigs.

The Forester is rated for 2100lbs Cargo Carry and the Greyhawk only 1600lbs. The 1600 really concerns me.

The private seller Greyhawk has already have the rear leaf springs upgraded and some other tweaks.

Can anyone help articulate as to why I would buy one or the other? In terms of features or build quality?

The models I'm looking at are low miles and appear in good condition. The dealership states they will do the 231 point inspection etc etc.

https://www.poulsborv.com/2018-fores...er-3011ds.html

https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/201...9MV-5009893479

Do you have advice about that process to offer?

Thanks in advance, I hope you will assist in helping me make the best informed decision.




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[JFlightRisk]

Well, Captain, I'll toss in a pair of pennies on your questions, just for giggles.

I went back and forth between then several times, and personally, I like the Jayco. First impression was it looked like it's been meticulously taken care of. My personal preference in a Class C is the entertainment center in the cabover (no kids here). The sleep number bed is an expensive addition, and well worth it's weight in beer. We have one in our sticks-n-bricks. The appearance of the interior, and cabinetry appealed to me more than the Forester, and it has a large fridge, that's not mentioned in the FR. The paint scheme is nicer to me, also.

It may be a year older, and a few more miles, but I could tell you for sure, if my DW was comparing the two, she'd like the Jayco also. The decision is ultimately up to you, your checking account, and your own gut feeling on the two.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not related to either owners, and don't play one on TV!

[Captain Morgan]

Thanks I rather enjoyed the reply.

I agree it's a very nice looking rig and cheaper, already had some work on it that I would have done anyways. I found a couple of bubbles in the paint there but I think I can fix that just fine with a needle and some glue.

Both that have large 2 door fridge and a single 15k AC. The fresh water tank is smaller @ only 32. gallons and the HW heater is tankless which I like the idea of.

The Jayco only has one battery but the cost of more is hardly worth mentioning as it will be some $8000 cheaper than the Forester at this point. I like the windows on the Jayco albeit they are still single pane.

This 2017 Greyhawk already has the 6 speed tranny on it too.

I know it was very well maintained and by people that could afford it.

Also the way it kicks up in the back appeals to me for my camping purposes. Again the 1600 CCC really concerns me. I'll have a much beefier suspension put in but from a legal standpoint I really don't aim to much exceed that rating.

So if I could bump up the fresh water and CCC I would be more inclined to buy the Jayco Greyhawk.






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[t18skyguy]

I went through the same research when I bought my 2017 Greyhawk. Lets start with the chassis. The Greyhawk will have the J ride plus which includes Bilstein shocks, bigger track bar in the rear, hellwig helper springs in the back, and triple balanced driveshaft. So right off the bat Jayco wins hands down in that regard. Mine rode like a dream. The Jayco will have a 7500 pound hitch when no one else offered it, but I don't know about the Forest River but probably 5000 pound. I wouldn't worry about the several hundred pounds less carrying capacity. The reason for it is if the Greyhawk has automatic levelers and the Hellwigs it's weight well spent. The Hellwigs are there to support the extra weight. Jayco knows that folks frequently overload them hence the hellwigs. Model year 2017 is the last of the true Jayco's before Thor started stripping them down. I'd grab it in a second over any Forest River product. The single battery in the Jayco is no big deal. If you dry camp you got a good genny.

[Jopopsy]

Speaking of weight my 29MV gave me a pleasant suprise at the CAT scale yesterday.

I have 1723 pounds of CCC in my rig. I am a family of 4. I was concerned about the weight of my rig but purchased it after the dealer ran it over the scales for me and showed a favorable ratio of weigh on the front vs. weight on the rear.

Loaded it up for 4 nights and ran over the scales. 4900 pounds on the front axle, 9214 pounds on the back. How many Class C’s do you see where I can actually put MORE weight on the back? I have a nice large amoire back there that can hold lots more stuff. And my larger storage bays in the back were packed light on purpose. I can bring some more things w/ me and add 10 gallons of water in the fresh tank for potty breaks on the road now.

Couldn’t be more pleased w/ my weigh in and the weight distribution.

[Jopopsy]

BTW, Greyhawk/Redhawk vs Forester/Sunseeker? Aside from the aforementioned J-Ride, go take a look at the top of the slideouts on the FR product. You don’t see a membrane up there do you? And look at the inside of the slideouts - do you see the inner wiper seals like you do the Jayco?

My Sunseeker didn’t have either, I suspect the Forester also does not.

[t18skyguy]

Originally Posted by Jopopsy

Speaking of weight my 29MV gave me a pleasant suprise at the CAT scale yesterday.

I have 1723 pounds of CCC in my rig. I am a family of 4. I was concerned about the weight of my rig but purchased it after the dealer ran it over the scales for me and showed a favorable ratio of weigh on the front vs. weight on the rear.

Loaded it up for 4 nights and ran over the scales. 4900 pounds on the front axle, 9214 pounds on the back. How many Class C’s do you see where I can actually put MORE weight on the back? I have a nice large amoire back there that can hold lots more stuff. And my larger storage bays in the back were packed light on purpose. I can bring some more things w/ me and add 10 gallons of water in the fresh tank for potty breaks on the road now.

Couldn’t be more pleased w/ my weigh in and the weight distribution.

Jopop, I needed a place for a cat box, so I took those amoire doors off so the cat could jump in. I was surprised how heavy each door was with their twin mirrors. You can save a little weight there if you remove them. We didn't need them. Don

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by Jopopsy

Loaded it up for 4 nights and ran over the scales. 4900 pounds on the front axle, 9214 pounds on the back. How many Class C’s do you see where I can actually put MORE weight on the back? I have a nice large amoire back there that can hold lots more stuff. And my larger storage bays in the back were packed light on purpose. I can bring some more things w/ me and add 10 gallons of water in the fresh tank for potty breaks on the road now.

Couldn’t be more pleased w/ my weigh in and the weight distribution.

Interesting... I ran my rig over the scales the last trip, and I intentionally went with a full load of water, full gas, full propane and everything else we would normally take, along with two bikes on the back. I expected bad news...

I was 4460 on the front and 8220 on the rear, out of a 14500 GVWR, so I was happy, to say the least...

[Jopopsy]

Short Redhawks run super light - I would have been surprised if you were heavy or over. It DOES ride better with the suspension more loaded though.

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by Jopopsy

- I would have been surprised if you were heavy or over.

Apparently you don't know wifey, and what she "needs" to bring along...

It DOES ride better with the suspension more loaded though.

That's for sure, I'm happy with the ride now, but I was under there earlier today cranking down on the Hellwig helper springs, so I'll be interested if I notice any difference...

[Captain Morgan]

I def recall seeing an inner wiper seal as I examined the outer seal with some waves to it. The top has the rain guard, I don't know if there are additional seals up there or not. I'm probably going to look at both again this weekend so if there are specific things to account for, I would appreciate the sentiments.


Thanks again for all the participation up till now!






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[Captain Morgan]

Originally Posted by t18skyguy

. . . . I'd grab it in a second over any Forest River product.

I keep revisiting your whole post and it's very compelling. I still can't account for why there is such less CCC for the GreyHawk, maybe they just use a lot more glue in the construction

I've been doing so many comparisons between the two on a couple of sites looking at every little rating. Jayco has a better mfr warranty than Forest River but the warranty has passed on both.

https://www.rvguide.com/specs/forest...hawk/29mv.html

I love the color on the GreyHawk and the purchase price will be about 6 - 8k cheaper. Do I really need the "231 point inspection" and alleged after sales support from the Forester dealership? The dealership that tossed a 4.9% finance rate out in a quote like it was just a standard any day rate.

I can do 5.1% at 144mths through my own CU and refinance later if I find a great 240mth option.

I'm really leaning toward the GreyHawk now.


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[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Captain Morgan

I keep revisiting your whole post and it's very compelling. I still can't account for why there is such less CCC for the GreyHawk, maybe they just use a lot more glue in the construction

I've been doing so many comparisons between the two on a couple of sites looking at every little rating. Jayco has a better mfr warranty than Forest River but the warranty has passed on both.

https://www.rvguide.com/specs/forest...hawk/29mv.html

I love the color on the GreyHawk and the purchase price will be about 6 - 8k cheaper. Do I really need the "231 point inspection" and alleged after sales support from the Forester dealership? The dealership that tossed a 4.9% finance rate out in a quote like it was just a standard any day rate.

I can do 5.1% at 144mths through my own CU and refinance later if I find a great 240mth option.

I'm really leaning toward the GreyHawk now.


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The difference in CCC may be due to the manner in which the unit is constructed or the materials used in construction. One unit may used one or two extra wall studs or may use steel studs rater than wood or aluminum. Also on the Greyhawk you may have added suspension components that the Forester does not have. All of these items could reduce there CCC from the manufacturer.

If the dealer is charging for that 231 point inspection do yourself a five and hire an independent RV inspector. The dealer performing the inspection is the fox guarding the hen house.

[Captain Morgan]

Fox indeed! They aren't charging me extra for it, and they'll do an in-depth walk-through etc etc.

With the Jayco from the private seller than I have to hunt down someone and see of they can do it in the next week etc and it just seems like an expense and PITA I dunno if I want to deal with.

I'm inclined go go look at it again today and look a little close at things myself.

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by Captain Morgan

Do I really need the "231 point inspection" and alleged after sales support from the Forester dealership?

Short answer, NO. The "231 point inspection" is mostly a feel good "sales pitch". They should already do an inspection to make sure everything works, as part of the sale.

It's rare anyone gets "after sales support", they just want to sell the rig, and move on.. these RV salespeople are worse than used car dealers. What many people have found out, you're going to have issues with ANY rig, based on how they're built. And YOU will be the one fixing them, not the dealer. You'll read story after story about horror stories and long waits trying to get rigs fixed at the dealer.

My suggestion, hammer them on price, get as much as you can on freebies, learn how to fix things yourself, or plan on hiring a mobile RV tech to come out and fix what you can't.... Welcome to RV wonderland!!!

[t18skyguy]

Originally Posted by Captain Morgan

I keep revisiting your whole post and it's very compelling. I still can't account for why there is such less CCC for the GreyHawk, maybe they just use a lot more glue in the construction

I've been doing so many comparisons between the two on a couple of sites looking at every little rating. Jayco has a better mfr warranty than Forest River but the warranty has passed on both.

https://www.rvguide.com/specs/forest...hawk/29mv.html

I love the color on the GreyHawk and the purchase price will be about 6 - 8k cheaper. Do I really need the "231 point inspection" and alleged after sales support from the Forester dealership? The dealership that tossed a 4.9% finance rate out in a quote like it was just a standard any day rate.

I can do 5.1% at 144mths through my own CU and refinance later if I find a great 240mth option.

I'm really leaning toward the GreyHawk now.


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I been comparing the two, and here is a couple thoughts. The Jayco has a spare wheel/tire. That plus the support is probably pushing 80-90 pounds maybe. A large part of the weight is the Hellwigs. I lifted a smaller Hellwig once and it was really heavy. Another thing is you have an entertainment center in the Jayco that adds weight also. The Jayco may have wooden pocket doors and the FR either none or the accordian style, not sure. The Jayco appears a bit longer at 31.5 versus 30 ? Is that right? The Jayco has a heavier rear track bar as part of the J Ride package. They look to both have solid countertops rather than laminated, but I can't tell from the picture on the Forest River. Another Jayco point is their solid one piece nosecone for that front bunk. The Forest River is stitched together which can mean leaks down the road.

[Captain Morgan]

Agree on all fronts. The owners had a local place put on two 14-1339HD leaf springs on the back and the quote from U-Joint Offroad for the rear is their LS006R-E450 set. I'm trying to compare the specs of the two.

Anyhoo, I made an offer to them today that we can all live with and am pursuing the Jayco as the choice. The Forester folks came down to $66,834 and while it might be the better value I have a better gut feeling about the Jayco overall.

[JFlightRisk]

It would be nice if the Jayco's owner might give you a PDI of his own. My gut feeling when I saw the picture of it, was he takes great pride in it, and I'd bet he'd be more than willing to pass his knowledge of it along to you too. I'm betting he wants it to go to a good home, that'll take care of it, as he did.

[Captain Morgan]

The owners are very communicative and answer any questions, give examples etc. They're really decent folks with an immaculate house and landscape that he does himself. He's a smart guy and takes pride in his work.

He also pointed out that the rig has a system called Tire Minder? or some such thing. It's an after market monitoring system for two vehicles, pretty spiffy.




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[ledoyle]

I would definitely take the Jayco vs Forest River any day. The support from Jayco after the sale is great. I have a 2007 Greyhawk 31SS. i had for 6 months a 2015 FR 35' class A. I couldn't wait to get rid of it. Fortunely, I hadn't gotten rid of my Jayco. When I needed wiring diagrams for the Jayo the enailed them to me. FR told me tgey don't have them. They just let the techs wire them as they want to. If you call Jayco as an owner they will help you. FR tries to send you to the dealer. Our local FR dealer wouldn't give me the time of day because I didn't buy it from them. I was left with no support.

My Jayco had lots of thoughtful feature like light switches in convenient places, inverter that you can see the display, better cabinets and in-general better built. If you are going to do anything yourself you need manufacturer support. Jayco beats FR hands down, in my opinion. Larry