Hoosier 28bhbe

[rte1985]

I’m taking one out of big johns play book and starting a thread dedicated to our new to us 28bhbe! This has been a 2 year venture shopping for a camper. We actually had a new one priced out to purchase in February to be ready for next years season but happened to run across a used one on Craigslist within 30 miles of us. So a few phones calls and a visit to see it led us a couple days later to being proud owners to our 2014 28bhbe. Might not be showroom new but it’s ours and our family of 5 look forward to hopefully a lot of good memories in it. So I would like to update this thread with trips and upgrades and fixes as time passes. Right now I’m limited in time and money. Unfortunately we need all the normal camper essentials so can’t buy fun stuff for the camper yet. (If the misses sees one more prime box on the porch I might be permanently sleeping in the camper!). Feel free to comment, give advise, or add to the thread!

[rte1985]

First things first and thats the hensley hitch. Took about 45 minutes to hook up with no hiccups. I imagine I am going to have to order the 1400lb bars since mine has the 1000 lb bars. Jayco sent me spec on coupler height of a little over 26 inches and just with initial measurements it seems lower. Hard to tell with my uneven driveway. Will just have to wait till I hook it up and get on some flat ground. Really would hate if I had to get a new stinger.

[rte1985]

Also worked on updated some light bulbs. I replaced some of my 921's with some leds i got from amazon. They were about 18 bucks for a 4 pack. Well packaged and so far they seem awesome and way better then the old ones. Nice and cool with no heat given off and a nice warm light that is a couple times brighter then the originals but not over powering by any means.



I still need to order some more this at least gets me a 1/3 of the way there. The picture with the two light shows the original closes to the camera and the led light furthest away. Also sorry for the sideways pictures im new to this and trying to get things ironed out!

[rte1985]

Ordered some new vinyl to redo some of the ugly nasty looking vinyl on the camper around the doors and storage bays. My main entry door half of the old vinyl is missing. The original vinyl from Jayco I think is .88 inches. Online it seems you are given the choice of 3/4 inch or 1 inch. I went with the 1 inch which seems like it is going to work but boy is it going to be rough on the hands! It is a little cooler here in Indiana so it might not of been as pliable. I went with the JR vinyl off of amazon and got 100 feet for like 23 bucks. I got one of my front storage bays redone but this might be a multiple day project. The tight corners were the hardest part so the entry doors should be easier to do when i tackle those.




a little before and after

[rte1985]

The bunk was missing the dowel that alows the ladder to slide up in down in the slot. The previous owner left it this way and worse yet he left the the wood screw sticking out of the ladder allowing it to gouge and tear up the wood! I had a spare dowel rod in the garage so cut it to size and replaced. It was a little ackward trying to hold that dowel in place and drive the screw in it but got it and now the ladder is back functioning the way it is suppose to. At some point I might try to sand some of the gouges out and re stain it to make it look a little better but thats way down on the priority list for now.





Also if someone could please tell me how to get pictures to show right side up! The are correct side up on my computer then when i attach them here they rotate!

[TCNashville]

Originally Posted by rte1985

Also worked on updated some light bulbs. I replaced some of my 921's with some leds i got from amazon.

Great job. LED's use 1/10th the power as the 921's. I went all LED in my camper as well.

Originally Posted by rte1985

Ordered some new vinyl to redo some of the ugly nasty looking vinyl on the camper around the doors and storage bays. My main entry door half of the old vinyl is missing. The original vinyl from Jayco I think is .88 inches. Online it seems you are given the choice of 3/4 inch or 1 inch

I did the 3/4'' and had no problem doing both my doors. Of course it was 85* outside at the time. One thing for sure, mods require money in most situations but the great thing about them is you're making the camper "yours". Keep up on the maintenance, especially the roof and she'll last a long time and keep those mods coming!

[rte1985]

Ya I’m hoping I the 1 inch doesn’t expand out of the slots in summertime. I do need to investigate the roof a little more in depth before winter really sinks in. I have some extra eternabond that’s I’ve been wanting to use and it might not hurt to button the roof up with it. I did however order the rest of my led bulbs even the jc10 g4 bulbs for my pick lights. I think I will be right at 100 bucks to do all led on the inside. Haven’t investigated what I need for my storage and outside lights yet.

[rte1985]

Being one of the nicest days of the week I got up on the roof to apply some eternabond. Surprisingly everything looked pretty good except a couple of spots on the front seem and the bath skylight looked pretty rough. The previous owner installed a new skylight and his Dicor job wasn’t the greatest. But I did what I could before running out of eternabond. Still need to do bath vent but I plan on upgrading my fan/vent cover so holding off on that area.

[Camper_bob]

Lookin' GOOD!! I like how you did the ends of that front seam. I was having trouble sorting out exactly how I will do that on my rig.

Keep up the good work, and welcome to the fray!!

We loved our 28BHBE, and John's thread is a FANTASTIC resource, and he's a great guy BTW. If you have a question, he'll do his best to answer it for ya.

I still get some pretty intense eye rolls when the Amazon truck swings by the house. "What did you buy NOW?!" is commonly heard throughout my house. And she rarely ever says "yeah, you made it better and I like it". I know she feels that way when she doesn't complain though... LOL!!

[rte1985]

Simple and cheap upgrade. Just need to do the bathroom now.
Camco screen door rod

[njburn]

Keep them coming. I have a 28BHBE also and Big John has been a big influence and I have copied many of his mods. You can see pics of my mods here: https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/m...lbums1888.html

Originally Posted by rte1985

First things first and thats the hensley hitch. Took about 45 minutes to hook up with no hiccups. I imagine I am going to have to order the 1400lb bars since mine has the 1000 lb bars. Jayco sent me spec on coupler height of a little over 26 inches and just with initial measurements it seems lower. Hard to tell with my uneven driveway. Will just have to wait till I hook it up and get on some flat ground. Really would hate if I had to get a new stinger.

I have a Hensley for my 28BHBE also. Probably the best purchase I have made for it. Couldn't imagine ever towing a trailer without it again.

Originally Posted by rte1985

Also if someone could please tell me how to get pictures to show right side up! The are correct side up on my computer then when i attach them here they rotate!

Edit the picture on your phone and save it before posting the pictures. I usually just crop mine slightly before posting.

[BigJohnD]

rte1985, glad to see this thread. If you ever want to share notes or ideas shoot me a pm. Looks like you’re well on you way to big improvements.

[rte1985]

Njburn
Nice mods! Were those interior lights in your storage cabinets?

Bigjohn
Love keeping up with your thread. There are so many creative and talented people on this forum which keeps my brain and ambitions going. My mods will be coming to a stop soon. With holidays rolling in plus we still need a lot of standard camping items like our hookup stuff and EVERYTHING for inside the camper I doubt the mrs will let me spend a lot on upgrades or mods! I did finish putting in all my interior led lights in so mark that off the list!

[njburn]

Originally Posted by rte1985

Njburn
Nice mods! Were those interior lights in your storage cabinets?

Yes. With them being narrow and deep with dark wood, it made them hard to see into. I bought some LED strip lights & wired them to a door switch so the come on when the door is opened.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by njburn

Yes. With them being narrow and deep with dark wood, it made them hard to see into. I bought some LED strip lights & wired them to a door switch so the come on when the door is opened.

Love that mod. I almost did that to my 28BHBE, but got rid of it before I ever did it. Now the new MH has the same problem (deep, dark cabinets), so it's STILL on my list...

And I thought I was done replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs too. I replaced ALL of them in that 28BHBE; took me like 2 years buying a couple panels here and there (trying to keep DW happy, she thought it was a waste of money). Bought a Greyhawk, and YAY!! All LEDs! Not so much I discovered that MOST of the interior lights were LEDs from the factory, replaced the few that weren't and thought I was good until I was working outside the rig one night and had left one of the storage bay lights on while I was working, reached in to grab something and burned my elbow on the dang light!! Looks like I'm STILL switching out lights too!! Up side is I can still source the ones I used in my trailer that I really like.

It just never ends.

[JFlightRisk]

snip...

Originally Posted by rte1985

The original vinyl from Jayco I think is .88 inches. Online it seems you are given the choice of 3/4 inch or 1 inch.

Amazon's the only online source I've found for the 7/8" insert. I've just ordered a roll of it, so we'll see if it's the same quality as the factory strip. It'll be spring before I can install it, so we'll see how it fits, then. Stand by (a few months) for the update!

[rte1985]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

snip...


Amazon's the only online source I've found for the 7/8" insert. I've just ordered a roll of it, so we'll see if it's the same quality as the factory strip. It'll be spring before I can install it, so we'll see how it fits, then. Stand by (a few months) for the update!

Definitely let me know if it’s good. I think the 1 inch will work fine for long straight stretches like the door or top but the storages bays have to many sharp turns. I like the quality of what I have but might buy another roll of narrower vinyl.

[rte1985]

So we had some great weather today in Indiana. Skipped watching football and enjoyed the weather before snow comes in tomorrow . Got the bathroom door rod on today. Had to cut the bar about 6 inches short to fit the door. Now only hoping the kids will use the rods and not blow the screen out of the doors!

[rte1985]

Also got my battery disconnect installed.

[rte1985]

And a did a test hookup with the Hensley and took the trailer for a short spin. Also had to move the trailer a few feet back in the drive so the wife could get the van in the garage. But here is the rig!