Jayco JayFlight 24FBS - 5 month review
Hi all, In February this year we bought our first travel trailer, a 2013 Jayco JayFlight 24FBS. We’ve been out about 4 times so far, for a total of 10 nights or so. We’ve towed it around 2,000 mile...
Forum Discussion
We bought in Aug. 2012 and probably put on 1000 miles. We had it out 14 days.
Trailer Overview
Trailer is a 26BH, which is 29'1" long bumper to hitch. Weighs 5050 lbs from the factory and is a bunkbed model. It has the standard queen bed at 60" X 75" plus has a double bed in back that's 48" X 75" and I believe the top bunk is 29" X 75".
It has the longer J-Steel sofa which is 70" X 42" opposed to the shorter 60" X 42" that most slide models use. We sometimes use the sofa as a bed so it's length is important besides being able to seat 3 or 4 people that it does often. The trailer came with some options, it has the entertainment package which is a 26" Flat Panel LED TV with stereo speakers inside and outside along with a DVD player that doesn't get used. I use a Blu-ray player on the entertainment cabinet shelf.
It has large refrigerator, microwave, stove and oven, in floor heat ducts and center A/C with ceiling ducts. The bathroom has a fan vent above the toilet and a skylight above the tub. The shower has a home like tub surround with shelves. I really enjoy the main bedrooms closets and above cabinet area. What I like best is the night stand shelves for clocks and such or even a CPAP machine which many floorplans can't accommodate!
This camper is luxury next to most I've seen that are more expensive using laminated walls. I prefer stick and tin as I've just seen so many campers delaminate.
I came from tents, then pop ups, then a smaller Jay Flight, now this larger Jay Flight.
Wife didn't camp until she met me. That was back in the pop up days. She hates pop ups, because they were so much work with packing and setup.
We are a family of 4 with a guest or 2 often and the floorplan is great for that.
We were also weight limited to 5000-5500 dry/6500-7000 lbs loaded weight in order to fit within the payload capacity of our older truck (2010 F150 5.4). Newer truck provides 150 lbs more payload so we can bring a bit more now.
Here is the floorplan:
Here is a video of the inside of our trailer.
Here is the yellow weight sticker:
Things we like about the trailer
We choice this brand and floorplan due to our previous Jay Flight 19BH. This is the exact same floorplan except with the addition of a front bedroom. We love how the sofa is separate from the dinette and how the sofa sits right in front of the TV. For that matter at least one bench side of the dinette also does so everyone can watch without a stiff neck.
We needed the bunks originally for us and the son, but now we needed the bunks for the son and daughter, and another bed for us.
We're not fan of slides mainly due to extra maintenance and issues that sometimes come with them. If I were to get a slide out model, it would likely be the 25BHS but at the time it was expensive and to much weight for the previous truck. I'm not really impressed with to many other slide out models as they all have short love seats and don't face the TV.
If Jayco made a bunkhouse version of the 24FBS, we would had considered it. It could had been a delete rear large bathroom, add bunks, sink, and smaller bathroom. Guess with the slide placement, weight would had been thrown off for the tongue weight, maybe making it to light. That's why I believe makers just don't make some floorplans that would seem to be best from common sense.
I also love the interior height as well. The 6'9" ceilings are great for me as I'm 6' tall as well.
I also agree on the build. The build quality is second to none and their interiors are so nice. It was hard finding anything this nice under $30,000 and my unit was less than $15,000!
Tons of storage under the queen and double bed plus all the ceiling cabinets, dinette storage and even sofa storage. It's awesome!
I love the 90 gallons of fresh water since Indiana State parks only offer electric. The smaller 32.5 gallon grey water tank doesn't bother me as we have a portable blue tank to take to the dump station. Black water tank is also 32.5 gallon and never gets fill in a week or even near.
Things we don’t like as much
I as well wish there was another roof vent other than the bathroom.
On my model, I find the water pump quiet. They used a higher end pump on my '12 opposed to my '08's noisy pump. The Pop Up's pump would scare you. :E
I really have no gripes.
Things that have gone wrong
Battery went bad and pulled converter's full 45 amp charging and kept blowing the under rated 30 amp ATC fuses that Jayco installed. The under rated fuse is fine for standard charging but when the battery is low or dead and demands the converters full current, it will blow. I had to change the fuse holder to a Maxi type fuse as ATC format will only support a max 40 amp fuse and most holders are rated at only 30 amps. I use a 50 amp Maxi fuse if the 30 amp maxi fuse blows. It then gives me some headway if my battery is going bad.
I should add since the original ATC fuse holder was only rated for 30 amps as well as the fuse itself, the holder caught on fire. Thank God I was there to put it out. This fact right there should be enough for a recall. Jayco should use a fuse holder that is rated 'more' than the max amps that the battery charger/converter is going to supply. That being 45 amps. I could find no one that sold an ATC fuse holder rated more than 30 amps even though the ATC format has a max fuse rating of 40 amp. The Maxi fuse format I went to is much larger and has higher amp rating. The fuse holder was rated at 60 amps and the max fuse amperage I'll use is 50 amps (just over the converter charger's max of 45 amps). I use a Maxi 30 amp fuse now for normal charging. If it blows, I'll supervise while using the 50 amp fuse.
A few metal straps broke holding the piping up onto the frame of the camper. Really didn't need the strapping but I replaced it anyhow.
Other than that, nothing really. KNOCK ON WOOD!
Conclusion
We love this floorplan and really the only other options were to expensive and to heavy.
More pictures
Yep, our neighbors had the same camper as we do, except there's was a 2007 Jay Flight 27BH which had a few more options than ours does. Jayco changed luxury levels a few times before getting back so the earlier 27BHs are essentially 26BHs now.
Trailer Overview
Trailer is a 26BH, which is 29'1" long bumper to hitch. Weighs 5050 lbs from the factory and is a bunkbed model. It has the standard queen bed at 60" X 75" plus has a double bed in back that's 48" X 75" and I believe the top bunk is 29" X 75".
It has the longer J-Steel sofa which is 70" X 42" opposed to the shorter 60" X 42" that most slide models use. We sometimes use the sofa as a bed so it's length is important besides being able to seat 3 or 4 people that it does often. The trailer came with some options, it has the entertainment package which is a 26" Flat Panel LED TV with stereo speakers inside and outside along with a DVD player that doesn't get used. I use a Blu-ray player on the entertainment cabinet shelf.
It has large refrigerator, microwave, stove and oven, in floor heat ducts and center A/C with ceiling ducts. The bathroom has a fan vent above the toilet and a skylight above the tub. The shower has a home like tub surround with shelves. I really enjoy the main bedrooms closets and above cabinet area. What I like best is the night stand shelves for clocks and such or even a CPAP machine which many floorplans can't accommodate!
This camper is luxury next to most I've seen that are more expensive using laminated walls. I prefer stick and tin as I've just seen so many campers delaminate.
I came from tents, then pop ups, then a smaller Jay Flight, now this larger Jay Flight.
Wife didn't camp until she met me. That was back in the pop up days. She hates pop ups, because they were so much work with packing and setup.
We are a family of 4 with a guest or 2 often and the floorplan is great for that.
We were also weight limited to 5000-5500 dry/6500-7000 lbs loaded weight in order to fit within the payload capacity of our older truck (2010 F150 5.4). Newer truck provides 150 lbs more payload so we can bring a bit more now.
Here is the floorplan:
Here is a video of the inside of our trailer.
Here is the yellow weight sticker:
Things we like about the trailer
We choice this brand and floorplan due to our previous Jay Flight 19BH. This is the exact same floorplan except with the addition of a front bedroom. We love how the sofa is separate from the dinette and how the sofa sits right in front of the TV. For that matter at least one bench side of the dinette also does so everyone can watch without a stiff neck.
We needed the bunks originally for us and the son, but now we needed the bunks for the son and daughter, and another bed for us.
We're not fan of slides mainly due to extra maintenance and issues that sometimes come with them. If I were to get a slide out model, it would likely be the 25BHS but at the time it was expensive and to much weight for the previous truck. I'm not really impressed with to many other slide out models as they all have short love seats and don't face the TV.
If Jayco made a bunkhouse version of the 24FBS, we would had considered it. It could had been a delete rear large bathroom, add bunks, sink, and smaller bathroom. Guess with the slide placement, weight would had been thrown off for the tongue weight, maybe making it to light. That's why I believe makers just don't make some floorplans that would seem to be best from common sense.
I also love the interior height as well. The 6'9" ceilings are great for me as I'm 6' tall as well.
I also agree on the build. The build quality is second to none and their interiors are so nice. It was hard finding anything this nice under $30,000 and my unit was less than $15,000!
Tons of storage under the queen and double bed plus all the ceiling cabinets, dinette storage and even sofa storage. It's awesome!
I love the 90 gallons of fresh water since Indiana State parks only offer electric. The smaller 32.5 gallon grey water tank doesn't bother me as we have a portable blue tank to take to the dump station. Black water tank is also 32.5 gallon and never gets fill in a week or even near.
Things we don’t like as much
I as well wish there was another roof vent other than the bathroom.
On my model, I find the water pump quiet. They used a higher end pump on my '12 opposed to my '08's noisy pump. The Pop Up's pump would scare you. :E
I really have no gripes.
Things that have gone wrong
Battery went bad and pulled converter's full 45 amp charging and kept blowing the under rated 30 amp ATC fuses that Jayco installed. The under rated fuse is fine for standard charging but when the battery is low or dead and demands the converters full current, it will blow. I had to change the fuse holder to a Maxi type fuse as ATC format will only support a max 40 amp fuse and most holders are rated at only 30 amps. I use a 50 amp Maxi fuse if the 30 amp maxi fuse blows. It then gives me some headway if my battery is going bad.
I should add since the original ATC fuse holder was only rated for 30 amps as well as the fuse itself, the holder caught on fire. Thank God I was there to put it out. This fact right there should be enough for a recall. Jayco should use a fuse holder that is rated 'more' than the max amps that the battery charger/converter is going to supply. That being 45 amps. I could find no one that sold an ATC fuse holder rated more than 30 amps even though the ATC format has a max fuse rating of 40 amp. The Maxi fuse format I went to is much larger and has higher amp rating. The fuse holder was rated at 60 amps and the max fuse amperage I'll use is 50 amps (just over the converter charger's max of 45 amps). I use a Maxi 30 amp fuse now for normal charging. If it blows, I'll supervise while using the 50 amp fuse.
A few metal straps broke holding the piping up onto the frame of the camper. Really didn't need the strapping but I replaced it anyhow.
Other than that, nothing really. KNOCK ON WOOD!
Conclusion
We love this floorplan and really the only other options were to expensive and to heavy.
More pictures
Yep, our neighbors had the same camper as we do, except there's was a 2007 Jay Flight 27BH which had a few more options than ours does. Jayco changed luxury levels a few times before getting back so the earlier 27BHs are essentially 26BHs now.
