4 months in a 26.5 RLS !

[Lemonweir]

Hello everyone - I'm a newbie, kinda. I got my FW in August and just came back from a 4 month snowbirding adventure to CA, AZ and NM. I'm from Wisconsin and I'm really glad I got outta Dodge this year! Basically I am very pleased with the FW. The dealer didn't tell me about how to keep the power cord from dragging - and it did. I was able to cut it and splice it and now I've got it bungeed. Dealer also didn't fill the propane tanks full and they of course ran out when it was in the 30's. ##$^@(#! I have no problem moving the rocking swivel chairs out of the way and I still have plenty of room to access. I installed a 315 watt solar panel on the roof and got 4 - 6 volt batteries and I can boondock all I want. No problems at all. Coach seems well built and everthing works fine. I was in some really rough primitive camping spots and the FW got bounced around a lot. I learned the hard way to bungee the doors over the sink and I added an extra latch to the bathroom cabinet.
Great storage and exceptional trailering. I added a Mor-Ryde (sp?) hitch thing and have smooth sailing.
I'd love to hear others' experiences and would be happy to share more of mine. Anyone ever hear of the Slabs (aka Slab City) near Niland CA ? I was there and can tell all!

John Schreiter
2012 Jayco Eagle HT 26.5 RLS
2012 Silverado 1500

[Flapper]

We leave tomorrow for our East Coast adventure - Minnesota to Massachusetts to Maine. Will relay back the first adventures with the 26.5 RLS. I should clarify, the chairs in ours are the recliners, so heavier than the std. ones. Stupid "dot" feet on the metal hoop base drag on the carpet, and are already leaving marks on the linolium. Grr. And they are pretty awkward to move. I think I have it licked, though - two "sheetrock" lifters - plastic handles that help you carry slabs of sheetrock. Got them for a kitchen remodel a couple of years ago. They easily grab on to the lower frame of the chair, and allow it to be lifted and duck walked to whereever you want. No more sliding.
To date I am VERY impressed with the quality of the rig. We've been testing it for a better part of a week in the driveway, and there are no issues! Tomorrow and beyond is the real test.....

[troutslayer]

Where do you store the 4-6 volt batteries?

Originally Posted by Lemonweir

Hello everyone - I'm a newbie, kinda. I got my FW in August and just came back from a 4 month snowbirding adventure to CA, AZ and NM. I'm from Wisconsin and I'm really glad I got outta Dodge this year! Basically I am very pleased with the FW. The dealer didn't tell me about how to keep the power cord from dragging - and it did. I was able to cut it and splice it and now I've got it bungeed. Dealer also didn't fill the propane tanks full and they of course ran out when it was in the 30's. ##$^@(#! I have no problem moving the rocking swivel chairs out of the way and I still have plenty of room to access. I installed a 315 watt solar panel on the roof and got 4 - 6 volt batteries and I can boondock all I want. No problems at all. Coach seems well built and everthing works fine. I was in some really rough primitive camping spots and the FW got bounced around a lot. I learned the hard way to bungee the doors over the sink and I added an extra latch to the bathroom cabinet.
Great storage and exceptional trailering. I added a Mor-Ryde (sp?) hitch thing and have smooth sailing.
I'd love to hear others' experiences and would be happy to share more of mine. Anyone ever hear of the Slabs (aka Slab City) near Niland CA ? I was there and can tell all!

John Schreiter
2012 Jayco Eagle HT 26.5 RLS
2012 Silverado 1500

[jal0710]

We have a 2012 26.5 RLS as well and enjoyed it very much last year on four different trips. Lots of room, storage and the bedroom is so much better than our old Jayco Eagle 215SD. Had a problem early on with the wardrobe slide, but that eventually got fixed and seems to be working ok now. Will do some driveway camping for the next few nights while hosting family for a funeral so will get a chance to break it in for this coming summer season. We pull our fishing boat behind our FW after having a professional welder put on a fabricated hitch. We haven't boondocked at all so haven't had any problems with things shaking around. Only thing would be to have a little better air conditioning, while at Zion last spring, the AC struggled to bring the temps down very far in the 95 degree temps there for a couple of days. And the AC is pretty loud, but since we don't use it at Grand Teton National Park, it's not a big deal.

[troutslayer]

Do you have the 13.5K or the 15K air conditioner?

Originally Posted by jal0710

We have a 2012 26.5 RLS as well and enjoyed it very much last year on four different trips. Lots of room, storage and the bedroom is so much better than our old Jayco Eagle 215SD. Had a problem early on with the wardrobe slide, but that eventually got fixed and seems to be working ok now. Will do some driveway camping for the next few nights while hosting family for a funeral so will get a chance to break it in for this coming summer season. We pull our fishing boat behind our FW after having a professional welder put on a fabricated hitch. We haven't boondocked at all so haven't had any problems with things shaking around. Only thing would be to have a little better air conditioning, while at Zion last spring, the AC struggled to bring the temps down very far in the 95 degree temps there for a couple of days. And the AC is pretty loud, but since we don't use it at Grand Teton National Park, it's not a big deal.

[jal0710]

We have the 13,500 unit. You have to remember, the temps were 93-95 degrees and we hadn't been in the trailer all day, it had that long to get hot before we turned the AC on. I believe if we would have turned it on early, it might have been able to keep up. We just hadn't used AC in our earlier FW so we didn't use it right. Sorry I didn't make that very clear.

[troutslayer]

I am concerned about keeping the fiver cool in hot temps. So, I bought some window tinting at HD and have started tinting all the windows hoping to cut down on the incoming heat. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the info.

[Flapper]

We are home again after our maiden voyage with the 26.5 RLS. 4,200 miles. All I can say is WOW! I have to nitpick really hard to come up with issues. Outside shower does not completely turn off at the handle. The two pantry doors next to the refrig have a very, very slight warp. Neither of which will I ever care about. That's it! Nothing to bellyache to the dealer or to pursue a warrenty claim about! The only RV mechanical piece we had an issue with was the oven - while we had test fired it briefly to make sure it turned on, I thought about, and promptly forgot, running it for a burn in period. The first meal prepared with it had a distinct cooked paint flavor. After that, subsequent meals were fine. Standard thing to do with any new heat making applicance, which I should have taken care of ahead of time.

I am, however, a little put out with the Reese Revolution pin box. Yes, it eliminates the need for a slider and saved my bacon a couple of times already. But for release, the truck has to be dead on square to the pin box. Even a degree or two of angle, and there was no way I could get the hitch to let go (Reese R16K). Very frustrating first night as we tried backing pressure, forward pressure, lifting the fifth to take weight off the hitch, and everything else. Must have taken an hour before we hit on the need to be exactly at the right angle to get the hitch to release. Not too happy with that aspect, but now I own it, so will just have to get used to it's peculiarities. Also, apparently, dealers don't read the instructions. Mine did not grease anything on the pin box/hitch. Ran into a fellow camper who also had a new Revolution, and his dealer had not greased his either. Yet the instructions are pretty specific about where and what to grease. After I did that a week into the trip (after re-reading the instructions!), hitching up was far, far easier.

All in all, a very great trip. And for those asking about the 1/2 ton towing: factory weight of the fifth is 7,700. I est. we pulled 8,200. Using a Supercrew F-150, Max tow/Max payload, Ecoboost, we average 11.0 mpg for the whole trip, with mostly towing, but a chunk of off-hitch driving too. Almost all towing was Interstate. Our 1,500 mile return averaged 10.1 mpg. The first two days out, our tow average was 11.3 mpg, going 5 mph under the speed limit. We got sick of driving, so went the Interstate speed limit for the rest of the trip, which I'm sure knocked down the milage. Since I budgeted an average of 9 overall for this first trip, we were quite happy! All hills/mountains encountered were no issue - if wanted, we could accelerate up anything we encountered! No 6% grades yet - but many 3-4%.

Garmin Dezl was a usual brain dead GPS. It got us places, but sometimes by VERY strange routing. At times I forgot and left it in "RV" mode even while off hitch, and it routed me on some side roads (in towns/cities) that would have been impossible if I had been actually towing. Must have been some restriction on the preferred route, but I plan to be very cautious as to what it recommends when towing off of main roads. It many, many times did not know "truck accessibility" of major state highways, which was a big reason we bought it. Did not test it's ability to route around low bridges. I think right now, I would not count on it.

Now the only task left is to announce my retirement date to my boss, so we can get more use out of this great purchase!

[troutslayer]

Originally Posted by Flapper

All in all, a very great trip. And for those asking about the 1/2 ton towing: factory weight of the fifth is 7,700. I est. we pulled 8,200.

Are you saying that you only had 500# of weight added to your fiver for this trip? Great packing job!

[Flapper]

Yep, and that may be a bit high. We added very little - clothes for 5-6 days, a few DVD's, and food for 3 days at a time. Majority of the weight went to cookware and dishes, 2 camp chairs,outdoor rug, fishing gear, and a guitar. Maybe 50-75 lbs in tools and parts ("just in case"). We're still getting out of tent mode...so it will take us a bit to unlearn the habit of take only the minimum. Made sure to empty everything before hitting the road. Had everything we thought we needed, and since we didn't leave civilization, figured we could buy for the camper anything we forgot. Only had to get a support slinky for the waste hose, and a heavy weight shirt for the cooler days....
The next trip will tell the tale, as the rear and over-the-couch cabinets that had nothing in them, nothing under the bed, bedside cabinets empty, and the basement was only 1/3rd used. I'll let the weight grow, that's when I will get a real reading at a scale.

[Lemonweir]

Sorry for the late reply. The four batteries are in the front storage compartment. 3 are lined up against the right wall and one next to them. Takes up space, but since there is so much on the 26.5 rls, no problem. Also, I can now use the old battery compartment for storage.

[troutslayer]

I was wondering if that's what you did. Our unit has the same storage compartment sizes and configuration as yours so I may do as you did. Thanks for the feedback!