To Baja or not to Baja

[llilith]

Hello everyone. I'm Kim and I'm new to RVing and of course to Jayco products.

I'm glad I found this forum since we are buying a Jayco 195RB soon and my head is spinning because we've been looking at so many models.

We are trying to decide if we should get the baja version or not. Both models are the same price at my dealer and I wonder if it's a good idea to just get the baja version cause it's usually more money. I guess it has four jacks instead of two, a bigger propane tank, higher clearance, tougher tires, and some extra diamond plating. Beyond that I'm not sure what the differences are. Does anyone know more benefits or drawbacks to the baja package?

Good idea to get it since it's the same price or no?

Also, I'd love to hear about anyone's experience with how this model pulls. It seems long for only one axle. We are doing the WD hitch with swaybar, so I guess that will help. Our towing vehicle is a 2011 Ford Ranger with a V6 (5800 towing capacity).

Thanks in advance for your help. :-)

[margiek53]

Hi Kim,
We just bought the 195 SLX regular trailer, at our dealer ;there was a big price difference for the Baja model.
We figured we don't need the Baja because we don't do any rough camping through backwoods where you might need higher clearance. It's heavier then our model too and we wanted a trailer as light as possible due to our TV. Also; I wanted a one step trailer due to recent surgery on my knee.
Our dealer pushed us away from sway bars saying we don't need them, but I'm not convinced he's right.
We are taking our trailer out on Sunday for a 4 day test run. We'll see how she pulls.
Anyway, that's about all the help I can share. Whatever one you get, you'll enjoy it for sure!

[NVGun40]

If the Baja edition is the same price through your dealer, get it. Why not have the extra goodies. Better to have them and not need them then to need them and not have them. Personally, I don't see any drawbacks.
Four jacks instead of two is a great thing when parked for the stability. Other benefits are more ground clearance, that is why it has an extra step.
This package may add some extra weight to the overall rig, but I am sure it will not be significant enough for your TV.
You will be glad you got the WD hitch though. Try towing it with the sway bar on and with the sway bar off to see the difference. Remember, NEVER back up with the sway bar on. The WD bars are ok to be left in place when backing but the sway bar can bind and cause all sorts of problems.
Most of all. Enjoy it. make memories.

[Homersimpson]

If you can get the Baja for the same price, get it. It is a $891 option that has some good features. I recently chose against the Baja so DW could climb in more easily. Then I immediately added the extra jacks, and I am already looking at tire options. And that water tank is really small...

[octane]

we have a regular 154bh we bought used, and are turning it into a Baja. added a 30lbs propane tank, did the axle flip and plan on getting bigger tires next. The stock ground clearance was too low, could barely drive up my driveway without rubbing, and the bigger propane tank is nice too!

[charles_cincy]

About the only downsides to having the Baja and not needing the extra clearance...

1) Step in height
2) Probably worse milage since more of the TT will stick above the TV.

[llilith]

Margiek53 - how was the first trip?

Thanks for all the thoughts on this. We went with the baja and we pick it up next Saturday. This one had been on the lot awhile and I negotiated them resealing everything and fixing the side access door since it wasn't closing right. We got their loss leader for $10,988. Gosh why is buying an rv so hard? It was worse than buying a car! They tried to add some "fine print" stuff to the advertised price ($1100 PDI and $995 freight). But the salesman had responded to my very clear question via email about whether the sales price was the final out-the-door price so we got out of that.

I don't think they like me much but we got a decent deal!

So excited to pick it up and take our first trip.

[margiek53]

Our first trip out was wonderful!
Everything worked great and there were no problems.
As you know the mattress is crappy so we tried a feather tick on it but it wasn't enough as back got sore. What do you all put on the mattress?
Any suggestions?
There's so much storage space, lots of outlets, the fridge was spacious enough and the a/c was well used as it was 96 out.
It didn't rock too bad, at least it didn't bother us.
Our neighbor in the campground had a beautiful new Jayco at bit bigger than ours and that came in handy because we had a question about the black/gray water handles. The black sticks way out and looks like it is open and the gray handle is tucked back looking closed. So we asked him his opinion whether the black was in the open position ������ or was it closed. He assured us it was closed which gave us peace of
Mind as we didn't want to mess this up at the dump station. ��
That went well too and now that we've done our first trip together we feel confident that we will enjoy many more.
Good for you that you were able to be tough and stick to your price! I'm a bit of a pushover but my husband is a tough negotiator.
Enjoy you new trailer!

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by margiek53

As you know the mattress is crappy so we tried a feather tick on it but it wasn't enough as back got sore. What do you all put on the mattress?
Any suggestions?

Get a 3" gel memory foam mattress topper - if you can't find the "short queen" size that's in the 195RB then just get a regular queen size and trim 3-4" off the end which is what we did. Then get a washable padded cover like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After putting these on we are sleeping really well. And here is a thread to look at that has other ideas too:

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f1...ver-26925.html

Also, after the fact but one of the nice features of the Baja models is the enclosed underbelly.

[Roadwarrior]

X2 on the memory foam mattress.

[llilith]

MargieK53 - yay, glad the maiden voyage went well! I can't wait til our first trip.

We ended up going with the 185RB, partially because it has a full size queen. I can't imagine sleeping on that thin pad though - a memory foam mattress is in our future for sure.

[Homersimpson]

Memory foam!

[doonkin]

Glad you got the baja. Our first tt was a baja 154bh , 2 years ago. It just looked way more badass than the reg version. Ironically we got soooo many compliments from old timers in giant RVs lamenting the small size.
Wifey made me trade up to a reg 23ft 5500, n now we are in the 5ver club we get no compliments now

[llilith]

Originally Posted by doonkin

Glad you got the baja. Our first tt was a baja 154bh , 2 years ago. It just looked way more badass than the reg version. Ironically we got soooo many compliments from old timers in giant RVs lamenting the small size.
Wifey made me trade up to a reg 23ft 5500, n now we are in the 5ver club we get no compliments now

It does look badass! We are finally going to pick it up on Saturday, I can't wait.
:-)

[seanmcpherson]

I purchased a 185RB Baja, primarily for Burning Man, and it'll live in Fernley, NV. I pick it up on the 24th. I went with the Baja for the larger water tank, 4 jacks, and the ground clearance. I know, the desert is totally flat, but some of the other places may not be (coming on and off the highway, etc). It was a minimal cost difference, and the propane tank being a bit larger is a nice insurance policy, especially if my wife and I start flying out there to travel around. The unit can pay for its yearly storage (or at least offset it) in the savings on hotel rooms if we use it for something besides burning man once a year, not counting if our family wants to use it for trips out there. The trip from Fernly to the desert is only 80 miles or so, which means I'm not sweating the single axle that much. I like the fact that the wall-mounted AC doesn't add to height (desert wind) and that it runs on a smaller generator. Plus, in the 185RB VS the 195RB, the AC is in the bed cubby when the curtain is pulled, meaning I'm cooling less of the trailer if I'm napping, even in desert sunshine. We'll see how it works - my usual tow vehicle will be a 1/2 ton 1500 crew cab. I won't have the chance to install WD hitches and such, so it's just going to be the truck and the electric brakes doing their thing. I like my Prodigy wireless brake controller, since it means I can switch tow vehicles in a minute Luckily, the towing is just 'up and down' once, with a lot of the trip being pretty straight. I'm also not going to be going very fast - traffic means it's a creep to get out of the event for half the trip or more, anyway. I'll let everyone know how it goes!

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by seanmcpherson

. The trip from Fernly to the desert is only 80 miles or so, which means I'm not sweating the single axle that much.

The Baja uplift gets you the better quality LT tires as compared to the ST tires on the standard models. We've put about 1000 miles on them so far and have a 2-week 2500 mile trip to the southwest coming up next month.

[seanmcpherson]

Good point. That was also one of the items we considered! Mine are going to age out, not wear out, and I'll happily put tires on every couple years just in case. I'm very OCD about most safety items, and tires are *all* that's between my load and the road!