Why did you buy a Jayco Class C?

[SoulReflection]

It is great to hear all the reasons for buying a Class C. Camper Bob's was very entertaining and reminded me of the return trip after picking up my new one.

It was over a two hour drive home and along the way, decided to make a pit stop at a rest area. It was crowded and I had to park a ways away from the restrooms. I got out and locked the MH. I got a feet away before stopping and looking back and said to myself "Hey stupid, why did you buy this thing with an on-board bathroom?". True story...

[Johnynorthland]

First off let me say I hope you’re doing well, I’ve had pneumonia three times in my life. The last time was about a year ago the doctor recommended pneumonia shot. I got it and I believe the shot really helped me I haven’t gotten sick since! I urge that you look into it, it’s not for everyone but for me, after three times I couldn’t take that chance again.

We have a 2019 Jayco Redhawk 25R class C. This is our third motorhome. And Our second class C. We had a B, but was way too tight. My wife and I fell in love with the floor plan and the outdoor kitchen, it sleeps up to eight and we have four children and three grandchildren so there’s plenty a room for guests. And our cargo capacity is excellent at 2900 pounds! ( this is a problem with the smaller class C’s, especially sprinters no cargo capacity) and for the price, you just couldn’t beat it. Although I threw in a few thousand Of dollars to make it handled better, I feel it drives much better then any of those class A’s I’ve ever driven. In my book, E chassis is much better than the F.

Having said all that, being you have a fifth wheel that you never towed, you remind me of a couple I ran into while camping. They had a fifth wheel parked at a beautiful lake side campground in the Carolinas, and they travel back-and-forth and did their trips with their smaller class C sprinter. Best of both worlds. They never tow and use the class C to get around shopping etc... Just food for thought.

Stay healthy, god bless!

[cekkk]

Great reads here! 🤗

[SoulReflection]

Originally Posted by Johnynorthland

First off let me say I hope you’re doing well, I’ve had pneumonia three times in my life. The last time was about a year ago the doctor recommended pneumonia shot. I got it and I believe the shot really helped me I haven’t gotten sick since! I urge that you look into it, it’s not for everyone but for me, after three times I couldn’t take that chance again.

We have a 2019 Jayco Redhawk 25R class C. This is our third motorhome. And Our second class C. We had a B, but was way too tight. My wife and I fell in love with the floor plan and the outdoor kitchen, it sleeps up to eight and we have four children and three grandchildren so there’s plenty a room for guests. And our cargo capacity is excellent at 2900 pounds! ( this is a problem with the smaller class C’s, especially sprinters no cargo capacity) and for the price, you just couldn’t beat it. Although I threw in a few thousand Of dollars to make it handled better, I feel it drives much better then any of those class A’s I’ve ever driven. In my book, E chassis is much better than the F.

Having said all that, being you have a fifth wheel that you never towed, you remind me of a couple I ran into while camping. They had a fifth wheel parked at a beautiful lake side campground in the Carolinas, and they travel back-and-forth and did their trips with their smaller class C sprinter. Best of both worlds. They never tow and use the class C to get around shopping etc... Just food for thought.

Stay healthy, god bless!

Thank you so much for your response. I had pneumonia only once before. I was too young to remember but my mother told me so.

Fast forward to last year at age 71. I had perfect health, never had any serious medical condition but developed COPD...too many cigarettes! I quit a month before being hospitalized but that was too little, too late. After coming out of the coma in hospital, I was asked if I wanted a pneumonia and flu shot. Of course I said yes. I knew that the next time I caught any one of those could be the last.

So here I am...taking more medications daily than I have ever taken my entire life. Then, this virus thing comes along. Talk about luck!

I agree with you about the E chassis although, for the above reasons, I haven't been able to really check it out!

Our 5th wheel was perfect for us for where we were (California). The monthly rent was $350. When that changed, I searched for days for somewhere else within a reasonable distance but only found seasonal parks and they were charging over $1,000 per month. If we went that route, we would have to have sold our house and found a place to live in the off-season. We were fortunate to have had the years we enjoyed in the 5th wheel.

With the on-slot of Covid 19, I am glad we didn't sell our house. We are sheltering in place, waiting for a vaccine, shaking our heads at those who smoke and think they are invincible but, mostly, we are just wanting to get out and enjoy RV life.

Thank you for your well wishes and hope you stay happy and healthy...Jim

[pattyk7joe]

Short and sweet. We have been RVing for over 30 years. We bought our first one so we could bring the dogs!

[gymracer]

I have a Jayco 35 GS. After having 3 other class Cs I stepped up to the Super C for a number of reasons. Mainly a heavier duty vehicle with more towing capacity. We primarily use our MH to tow a racecar trailer. Also the class C is easier to get around in than an A. Unless you get a Diesel pusher the gasoline A have the same engine as my last C. Also the Super has lots of room with 3 slide outs.

[Click_here]

Originally Posted by pattyk7joe

Short and sweet. We have been RVing for over 30 years. We bought our first one so we could bring the dogs!

That is a great reason! We travel with two and they both seem to love it. One has his bed under the dinette table and the smaller one loves the couch, though on occasion will sit up front.

[Click_here]

And no idea why that pic shows sideways as it uploaded normally...

[MONKYBIZ]

[QUOTE=pward;853992]After extensive pondering and soul searching after retiring in late 2015 we decided we needed to move from Washington state to be with what remained of family in western New York state. My wife can't ride in a car for very long, and we have a cat that also had to be relocated with us so a plane was out unless I flew it myself. Could do that but didn't have a plane


Now you've gone and ruined my one liner: "Nobody ever retires and moves to NY, only away from!"

[NjNewbie30]

I am having a problem with my leveling system. When fully retracted the front foot on the drivers side seems to slide down on its own just from sitting stationary. Then when I go to start my rig it makes an annoying beep so I have to kill the engine and turn on the leveling sys and press retract so that I can start the rig without the beep. My question is that is there a way for me to tighten something on that foot to prevent the slippage?

[kyuan]

I love reading this thread, funny and with lots of memories from others.
I admit I never thought I will buy a motorhome, or any trailer someday, until COVID hit us, kids are remote learning, in front of a computer screen all day long and no way to go anywhere. There was a day Youtube prompt me a video talking about RV. I am totally a newbie, only tent camped once and immediately liked that idea so start doing my homework. Trailer? Class A/B/C? Eventually I think anything need a tow is not an option for me b/c of the kids. They may need pee and yes we used water bottle for my son but that won't work for my daughter, plus I am not so confident to handle towing. A is too expensive and like a bus, B is bit tight room for my family of 4 so only option is C, cheaper, do not need tow, kids can access restroom even it's driving. Compared a bit and liked Entegra Coach. I did not rent anything to have a try but just looking around to get one. Price is high in NorCal so I booked a new one in Las Vegas. Waited around 7 month then fly there early morning, took PDI for 5 hours, camp in dealer's yard for 1st night, then drive back next day.

After that it's all about camping in different places, short distance first to try out, met issues like toilet leakage, inside bath faucet leak, leak from water heater, slide issues... etc. I am not very handy but I made decision to fix all of them by myself before I bought it. Added solar, lithium battery so I can have 120V while driving to make my wife's refrig cool all day. Added anti-sway bar, sumo springs to make drive bit easier. I had issues with Schwintek slides and moved the control box out of under bed storage so I can easy access to force move in and tried a bit to make sure it can work as expected now.. so many things to work on but now I can say I am familiar with my RV now.

As for travel oh my there is lots of fun. Death Valley, Yosemite, Yellow Stone... lots of memories and my kids definitely love it and even want to live in RV after back home, lol. Met lots of people in different camp site, everyone is friendly and love the experience. Joined this forum and get lots of help here too.

[Raines]

Great thread and a great read.
We lost our 15 year old daughter (Layla) in May of 2017 and later that year my wife tells me that Layla had always told her that she wished we had a motorhome so they could take granny (my mother-in-law) and go on their own little adventures as Layla loved going to different places. I asked my wife why she never told me this and she said she just figured we couldn't afford it. So I promised her I would find us a motorhome so we could go on Love4Layla vacations each year to places Layla would have wanted to go.
So the wife wanted a class C as she felt more comfortable in that versus a big A. She also wanted a new one, lol. So I began the search and by March of 2018 I bought a 2018 Redhawk 29xk and we have been enjoying it ever since and making new memories with our Love4Layla vacations each year going to places she would have loved. We take our son and granny with us each year and I have to say everyone really enjoys it. The Redhawk has worked out great as I got lucky and have only had a few minor issues and have been able to fix them myself. It has really brought joy to my family who desperately needed it.

[pconroy]

#Love4Layla
#Love4Layla

#Love4Layla

[201822j]

I question my decision every time I walk by our 22j. My wife and I had the vision. I wanted to buy used she wanted new. Most know who won. The day we were to sign the papers we could have backed out no penalty. We talked about that over breakfast. Well 4 years later and only 10k miles, still a debate. Don't get me wrong, some trips have been very nice and we are glad about our decision. BUT the freedom that owning RV is sold as, it doesn't really exist. Trips have to be planned in detail, campsites are hard to come by. Now that is East coast travel. Quite honestly I could go on 5 star vacations for what these things cost. I grew up around boats and owned one and the nice thing about my RV is I don't have to pay to keep it somewhere when I'm not using it. I'm close to retiring but then I think well the expenses will be more hurtful to a retired budget even though I'll have the time.

[Suprnova74]

We're a family of 5 (2 boys, 1 girl). We've gone through a few iterations of travel trailers before our latest decision on a motorhome and the biggest issue we faced prior was the curse of the tiny bladder for my wife and daughter. Trying to find even a semi-convenient location where we can pull over safely can be trying. Add to that the delay of everyone getting out and using the trailer's bathroom added a ton of time to our travels. As we are planning a trip from PA to TX this summer, that finally got us to a motorhome. We've just used it to go to a state park in Delaware (~3 - 3.5 hour drive non-stop) and what normally took us 4+ hours was right on-time for once

We almost bought a class A but were so turned off by how the dealer presented it (it was dirty outside and in. It looked like a used vehicle), we declined that unit and continued shopping elsewhere.
We finally chose a class C for one it was cheaper than a Class A and we liked the layouts available in a Class C over the A.

I was a little apprehensive about the external storage options, but so far I still have a few bins empty, amazingly.

[Raines]

Originally Posted by pconroy

#Love4Layla
#Love4Layla

#Love4Layla

Thank you very much! #Love4Layla

[Johnynorthland]

I bought a class c because my wife told me to!

[cherv]

Originally Posted by eeek

I am a photographer and was covering a music festival out in Live Oak, Florida. I needed power even though I was tent camping, so they put me in the RV section. I was put next to a couple who had a small pop up. I really liked it and set a goal to get one. I started saving up and told myself when I hit a certain amount, I’d pull it out and put half on a pop up, half on a truck.

Years and years went by where I kept saving, hit the number I wanted, and we started looking. It took my wife 30 seconds in a pop up to say ‘no’. We started looking at pull behinds and thought that’s what we’d do. In the meantime, my money, which was in stocks, kept growing. We made our yearly trip to the local RV show and went into a Class C. We hadn’t considered them and realized we could make them work. Plus- neither of us wanted to drive a truck as our daily driver. So if we did buy a truck and trailer, they’d both sit if we weren’t using them.

The prices on a Class C were a bit more than we wanted to spend, so that meant more savings. We did that a few more years and decided to rent a class C just to make sure we’d be happy with it. We got a site, which is pretty tough to do on the fly in Florida, and everything at the site was perfect. I mean, it’s rare to get a level site, but it was, and the camping experience was awesome. Even the rental was right- it was the same model we were looking at- a Freedom Elite 22FE. However, there were a lot of things I wasn’t happy with. The AC for one- living in Florida, it wasn’t going to cut it. Then research pointed to CW’s less than stellar reputation when it came to repair.

We ran across an 2018 Entegra Coach Odyssey Class C motorhome 22J and fell in love. So much that we made an offer on it. That’s when I found out that you cannot low ball offer RV dealers and expect them to budge. It isn’t like buying a car. They know if you don’t buy it at their asking price, some one else will. We found a 2019 south of us and went and looked at it- first off, we didn’t love it. It was a RV show model and was to me- too beat up to buy. Plus, same thing- they wouldn’t budge on price. We ran across a Redhawk 2018 22J for sale at a CW and checked it out. It had all of the things we liked and was less than what the Entegra was. Again, it was CW.

We found a wholeseller and a great price on a 2019 Redhawk 22J. A lot of the little things were fixed in the 2019s- for example, the door piston was moved and they added a ladder & slide toppers. After extensive research, it checked all of the boxes for what we wanted. We pulled the trigger, ordered a new one from Jayco, and waited for 10 weeks for it to be built. November 2018, we picked it up. I couldn’t be happier. We still go to RV shows just to see if we’ve made the right decision. And we have. I have yet to run across something that made me question what we’ve bought.

we too have 2019 22j and love it, no issues since new. dw loves driving it. we are seniors 71 and 82 yrs young. out once a month for a week from April to oct.

[cherv]

how close to retirement/age. my dw is 71 and I am 82, love our 22j that dw shares the driving. looking to continue until I am total incapacitated. what is left the family can have, if any. make it work for yourself.

[TnK]

We bought ours for one reason and one reason only…my wife looked at the inside of a Melbourne 24L on the dealers lot and in 1 min. she fell in love with the floor plan.
There was no talking her out of it and we ordered one on the spot.

Personally…I wish I’d never bought the thing. Build quality (at least post COVID) sucks. I’ve had numerous, albeit relatively minor, issues and more keep popping up every trip.
But I do like the 13.5mpg though…😉