Looking at Jayco for our first camper.

[matzram]

Well we’re heading to look at purchasing a new Jayco camper. Any suggestions and helpful tips are greatly appreciated!! Thanks Y’all.

[retiredmsgt]

first thing is find the floor plan that works for you or your type of camping you plan on doing. Second thing is once you settle on the right type turn everything on to test it, to include heating and cooling.

[Ohiofinlander]

What are leading towards? Class A,B, or C motor home. Travel Trailer whether it be a 5/th wheel, hardwire, hybrid, pop-up? Help us get you headed in the right direction. Kids?

[Ohiofinlander]

Sorry, darn spell check took over. Hardside travel trailer.

[matzram]

First off thank you for your service. We’re looking at a new one, so hopefully everything works. We’re mostly going to be camping with a crew of friends. And we want a bunk bed floor plan. We’ve found what we're looking for, but have been too busy to make it to our dealer. He closes at 5:30 during Monday-Thursday and closes at 5 on the weekends.

[matzram]

Travel trailer with bunks and we have one kiddo. The bunks are for nieces, nephews, and friends.

[bap]

What do you have for a tow vehicle?

[hboy]

Originally Posted by matzram

Well we’re heading to look at purchasing a new Jayco camper. Any suggestions and helpful tips are greatly appreciated!! Thanks Y’all.

Travel trailers are fun. I’m sure you’ll have a blast.

Suggestions: I know you want new- but at least consider newly used. Rv’s are lousy money investments. Let someone else take the big hit on depreciation. A new rv has no guarantee of trouble free use. Warranty, yes. A well maintained used rv could be more trouble free if all the new rv bugs are already worked out. If you like rv camping chances are pretty good this camper will not last you more than a couple few years before upgrade/changing campers. If you don’t like rv camping then you saved a bunch of money buying used.
If you MUST buy new, do a ton of research on pricing. Search nationally, not just local. This homework could save you thousands on a new purchase. If you buy new, I would pass on all the up selling the dealers are known to do.

If you have a short wheelbase tow vehicle, I would recommend a short bunk house camper. A 25’ + bumper pull high profile trailer is much less fun to pull down the highway than a longer wheel base truck and the 3/4 ton plus trucks.

Budget for repairs/maintenance. Newer campers can be fairly trouble free. Tires, general maintenance, storage, insurance, registration, excise tax.. One tire blowout can be very damaging.

If you don’t have a ton of experience towing, always use a spotter. Take your time when parking/backing etc. Murphy’s law is real. I think if you rv long enough you will bang something up. One more reason to buy used ;-).

Last- keep it simple. The camper that meets your wants, doesn’t break the budget, doesn’t max out the tow vehicle can be a blessing.

[jkaras7]

Welcome to the forum and good luck on whatever you decide. As others have said, what kind of RV are you looking for? Motor home, travel trailer, 5th wheel, etc. What is your budget? What kind of floor plan are you looking for? Attend a couple of RV shows and see what all is available. That will help you start down the road of selecting the right RV for you and your family.

[Mustang65]

WELCOME TO JOF!!!

The members here are GREAT!!! There is a lot of GREAT information to be found here. I am sure that you will have information and pictures to share with us... so please do!!

Good luck in your hunt for the BEST JAYCO for you and your family

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[TWP723]

Welcome to the JOF! In my opinion, no suggestions are necessary! You'll know when you find the right unit. Everything will click. Just have to ask yourself what you're looking for in an RV. The rest will be easy. So much fun finding "the one". Good luck and keep us posted!!!

[matzram]

We looked at used. They either had a bad odor or we didn’t like the floor plans. I know the odor issue might not be that bad to deal with. And the others we saw we didn’t care for and they looked really cheap. I know, I know, it’s a trailer not your house. But we weighed the pros and cons and decided on new. For a tow vehicle we have a 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab long bed 4x4. It can tow 8300 pounds. The trailer we’re looking at is around 5500 pounds dry. And total weight can be 7000 total. So about 1500 pounds of gear. (I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me.)

[matzram]

And while the truck isn’t a diesel 2500. Which would be great, it is however paid off. Which makes it ideal.

[matzram]

Originally Posted by retiredmsgt

first thing is find the floor plan that works for you or your type of camping you plan on doing. Second thing is once you settle on the right type turn everything on to test it, to include heating and cooling.

Thank you for your service.

[matzram]

Originally Posted by Ohiofinlander

Sorry, darn spell check took over. Hardside travel trailer.

We’re planning on bunk beds for our little one. And the extra room for family and friends. And we’re looking at a travel trailer.

[matzram]

Originally Posted by bap

What do you have for a tow vehicle?

2007 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab long bed 4x4. It’s not a 2500 diesel, but it’s paid for and in awesome shape.

[matzram]

Originally Posted by TWP723

Welcome to the JOF! In my opinion, no suggestions are necessary! You'll know when you find the right unit. Everything will click. Just have to ask yourself what you're looking for in an RV. The rest will be easy. So much fun finding "the one". Good luck and keep us posted!!!

We looked at the Jayco Jay Flight SLX 8 242bhs. And fell in love with it in about 5 minutes. We’re giving it a good walk around tomorrow about what might need attention before we pick it up. And we’re so excited!!!

[Iraq 69]

Congrats and welcome to the Zoo from MO

[matzram]

Thanks!!