Nervous First Time Buyer

[Lazyl]

All great advice. One more thing.
On our first trip to a beautiful campground with lots of trees.
One low hanging branch tore the new roof.
I was crushed because I was trying to be so careful watching the sides when that sucker was tearing the top.
Hope that helps.

Enjoy!!

[cekkk]

I always like to spend the first night in my driveway.

[alwalk63]

There are so many things to consider. I would suggest to anyone I know to buy a used trailer as a first purchase it will teach you so much about the upkeep etc. Also if a few years down the road you think what the hell was I thinking it would probably be easier to dispose of without a big financial hit.

Good luck and enjoy your new rv

[sararook]

DON'T buy a brand new one. 40 years of RV experience talking here. Let someone else take the depreciation hit. Let someone else get all the bugs out. Buy 2 or 3 years old. There are thousands of RV's and your exact model for sale by owners. Save your self thousands of dollars and all the headaches of buying new. I've brought new. I can afford to buy what I want cash. I'll never ever buy a new RV again! My latest purchase was used. Paid cash. Everything works. No trips to the repair shop, only trips for pleasure! It's foolish to buy new. Be patient and start shopping online. It took me 6 months to find exactly what I wanted. I took cash to the owners when I went to look. Talked them down 3k below blue book. They wanted their money and were ready to get rid of it. Their loss, my gain! Good luck!

[Dgibbster]

Well, two trips out in ours and only a couple minor things which i corrected now and so far driving mountain roads and some highway with traffic passing ours seems to handle pretty good, this considering coming from a pull along toyhauler trailer to the redhawk 29xk is a big improvement and overall suits our needs very well and liking it thus far. Two more local trips til i set up my own spare tire winch mount under rear chassis and brake controller before longer trips and some dry camping.

[Dgibbster]

Been driving white knuckle most of my trailer days anyways. Ha ha :-)_

[Prairierose]

We are learning that many brands of trailers, including Jayco have roof issues, because of what they used. TPO is one type to be aware of. These will have leaking issues. It was something manufacturers tried to save money with, and they did not hold up.

[aceetray]

Before anything make sure your truck can pull the fully packed and wet trailer. This takes some research on your part and don't always trust the salesman to know what he's talking about.

[npjaycof563]

Excellent pre-sales work on your part. The state of the RV industry today, can be trying. Three things to consider, dealer, dealer, dealer. A quality supportive dealer the key to having the best possible experience, even more important then price. Check the dealer out very carefully.

Our dealer has been exceptional in dealing with Jayco and keeping us on the road. Cannot stress the importance of the local dealer.

Wish you all the best! Happy Trails in your new Jayco.

[timnsusie]

Neall,
I concur with Cabinetmaker. Very good advice. We have owned travel trailers for over twenty - years now and have never regretted it, so many awesome trips with the wife and kids. Both my wife and I started out as tent campers from childhood ( I was a Boy Scout ) and once we where married continued that tradition of tent camping until 1997 when we spent a few months down in the Anza Borrego desert in So. Cal. during the winter (Feb./March) photographing and observing comet Hale/Bopp we darn near froze to death on those long cold desert nights into wee morning hours. While huddled in our tent freezing at three in the morning one trip we made a pack to get something that had a heater and four solid walls. Thus began our RV life and we have had no regrets and plenty of warm comfortable nights sleeping since then. Follow the advice you read in this blog and I am sure you will look back at this time as being a great decision. There is a learning curve , but that is true of most things in life worth doing.

[wducat]

Go for it, and enjoy the learning you are about to do, but do realize that the quality of the build of most any RV is far less than your typical auto, and things will go wrong. It took me 2 years to get all my shake down items taken care of on our Seneca, but my previous National and Coachman rigs had many issues as well. Keep lists, and hold your dealer accountable. Bring a good set of tools with you, and be ready to tighten screws, put screws in for the first time, trouble shoot silly engineering and poor workmanship. Develop a partnership type relationship with your dealer and you should be able to keep things going. I always let my dealer know my travel plans to avoid being without a rig, but they seem to love to let it sit for weeks at a time with nothing being done. Good communications is critical. If you do all these things, you will be less likely to get stressed when things go wrong. Just remember, the people that build & maintain these are not generally ASE certified mechanics, and when you drive it down the road, it is much like your house living in a constant earthquake, so with that combination, things will come lose, break, and show off every missed screw, bad design, etc. This is the experience of someone that has driven 3 coaches over 200K mikes and is sitting at a Walmart in Fairbanks AK after having just driven 5K miles to get here. I was tightening screws in a roadside pull off just this afternoon, but would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Just expect the issues, and make sure you have the mindset & tools with you to respond accordingly and you will have the time of your life!

P.S. Three things every RV owner should carry with them: Spare circuit board for refrigerator, spare circuit board for furnace, spare water pump. Just Say’in

Also note, many parts in your RV have better warranties than come with the coach, and if you are willing to work with them directly, they will replace parts. I carry spares as noted above so I don’t get caught without heat, water, or a refrigerator, then replace my spare with the one they send.

Again, don’t let this dissuade you, but don’t expect what is likely the 2nd most expensive thing you ever purchase, to be a reliable as #1 (house) or #3 (cars). This will give you the most frustration of any of them, but also the most joy!

Bill

[Stevefaync]

Such great advice. I totally agree with wducat’s post.

We are on our 7th RV in 32 years, all but one was purchased brand new. One RV was purchased new, an Air Stream Land Yacht, and then after several years, we sold it to a friend. When he upgraded a couple years later, we purchased the same coach back from him. So, we have owned 6 different RV’s, plus one of them twice. Early on, before an RV came along, we tent camped too.

Preventive maintenance and being prepared are key to enjoying your RV. It takes lots of TLC, but the return is awesome!

[grantsoo]

Originally Posted by neall

Great to hear! Being able to contain all that we need in one vehicle seems to work well for my family. How's the highway driving on the 29?

I had a 2002 31 ft. Itasca motorhome.
I LOVED it!!
I had to keep reminding myself I had a small home behind me because it would just sail along so easily.

[foothillsequestrian]

Originally Posted by LynnAllen02

Should I be asking to see the slide go in and out when I look at a model? I saw one yesterday at the dealer...

Looks like it will be hard to get out of the cab to go back into camper, and am not sure if I will be able to go by the slide (if it is in) to get to the bathroom!

They have to be making this with getting to the bathroom while traveling in mind right?

When we made the big decision to purchase, we started with the idea to rent one and see if we liked it. My first research was boots on the ground. We went to rv dealers and walked through every single darn unit; new, used, popups to class A' with NASA engineered cockpits. Immense help! There are some incredibly stupid design flaws in layouts!! Assume nothing!!

It was very helpful to see the really old junky units to see what failed most often and what could be fixed or retro upgraded.

Our 5th wheel with 2 slides is cramped but functional with slides fully in. I wouldn't want one that didn't work without their deployment. The only thing that is disabled for us is dresser drawers blocked by the bed when it's pulled in. I keep "essentials" in cabinets that are not blocked. This is also a HUGE help at home. When we get in from a long trip I don't want to go the full monty, back in, park, set up and slide out just to empty out the fridge and dirty laundry. We've see floor plans that blocked the darn fridge door!!

We also pull off at rest stops and access the bathroom if needed. Allergy pill? My favorite CD? no problem!!

I always say RV'ing is an equal mix of Martha Stewart and McGiver.

[sheila]

im in sc and if anyone knows anyone looking for a great used rv class A.. ive got one like new. less than 7000 miles. contact me for more info! i have it in the classifieds with photos

[1SG Pete]

Originally Posted by neall

I've spent months researching floorplans, options, and pricing -- I think the family is ready to take the plunge. We've narrowed the selection to the Jayco Redhawk 31XL for once a month trips & the ocassional long vacation.

All things considered, I'm nervous about things I DON'T KNOW (aren't we all). Love the Jayco brand, but since I've never owned an RV I'm curious if there are things I should consider before purchasing.

Thanks, Jayco friends! Love this forum!

HI, I just had to jump in here. We live in Texas and had been looking at Motor homes for over 3 years. Then this Feb we pulled the trigger, so to speak.
We have a 31 foot Greyhawk. It is a wonderful piece of equipment, we love it. We had never even been in one before, so we took short trips to some of the local Sate parks and learned all that we could about or new toy. We just returned from a trip to Key West and up through the Carolinas and back to Texas. Our next trip is to drive to Northern Minnesota and follow the Mississippi all the way back to New Orleans. Should be about a month long trip or longer.
I am sure you will love your Jayco, they are well built and made for campers. My wife drives it as well as I do. A 31 foot will go just about anywhere that a car will.
Good luck on your selection.

[travelingjw]

We've all been anxious with our first purchase. Congrats on doing research before hand. I spent 6 months on the forum before we purchased and the contributors here are awesome. Make sure you have a PDI list (Pre-delivery inspection) prior to picking up the unit. One thing we did was to purchase a unit that was already in stock. We visited multiple times. I "befriended" the service rep who was responsible for maintaining and cleaning the trailers in stock. Discussed my preference with him. Since I was new, his knowledge was priceless. When I showed him the unit I wanted he plugged in the power, took me on a tour, took me up on the roof, and gave me a basic education. ( I tipped him enough for a good dinner with his wife). Two weeks later, when I went to pick it up, the PDI went off without a hitch. Just a few very minor issues.

[JoeR53]

BUY USED!!!! You will save at least 30 percent over new. Check around, the warranty is hardly worth the paper it’s printed on. We bought a new Jayco 29’ trailer. After one trip wife decided it was too small. Went back to the dealer we bought it from, he offered about 50 percent of new price in trade on a larger unit. We found a used trailer that was one year old for $7000 less! What problems I’ve had, I’ve been able to fix myself without waiting for the dealer to “work me in”.

[Grandpawlee]

Congratulations! No life like the rv life. We have been fulltiming for 15 years now in a 38’ motorhome. There are definitely tradeoffs but we are still not ready to stop roamin! My most important piece of advice is to DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK!! You will get lots of advice but some will be right on and some will be just plain BS! Even the “experts” have their own bias. Is it time consuming? Yes. Is it worth it? OMG NO DOUBT!! Jayco forums are some of the best but best to verify verify verify!
Second best advice: Keep meticulous records. Who did you talk to and when and what did they say! This is powerful in follow up!
Third best advice: Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance!

[Geo]

My only thought: I have found that if something bothers you now, it will be a constant annoyance once you are living with it. Unfortunately, rigs with opposing slides provide very little walking room when retracted. But they do provide wonderful space when they're out. So it may be worth walking sideways to the bathroom when you're on the road. Good luck!