2014 Jayco Greyhawk --- opinions?

[threedogmom]

I don't want to wear out my welcome on the C Forum, but all of your responses have been so helpful.

My head is spinning. The more I research, the more confused I get. One website touts Jayco as wonderful, another blasts it as worthless and filled with problems.

We are looking at a new 2014 Jayco Greyhawk 29ks.

Can any of you with experience enlighten me on the merits (or demerits) of Jayco and specifically the Greyhawk?

We are also looking as some Winnebago models.

Many thanks in advance,
Deedee

[Just_Jeff]

Hehe, mgirardo...we're also planning on "upgrading" when the kids both leave the nest, but to a truck camper! Right now we love having the bedroom, but we won't need it when the kids leave, and having the shorter vehicle means we can get it into more boondocking places!

[mgirardo]

We are on our second Jayco. The first was a used Pop-up camper. We bought it when it was 9 years old. It was in great shape and seemed to hold up well. We had it for a year before upgrading to the Hybrid TT. We went with a Forest River product and were very disappointed.

When we upgraded to the Class C we decided to go back to Jayco. We liked the 2 year warranty and really liked the floor plan of the 31 FS. We bought a 2009 31 FS new. We had a few warranty issues, but only two were Jayco issues: the shower door (which was hung off level) and the carpeting on the bedroom slide.

Compared how other people talk about the ride in their Class C, I think our Jayco handles like a dream. It doesn't drive like a sports car, but I can easily drive it for 12 hours at a straight in comfort.

Build quality is decent. I've noticed a screw missing here and there, but we haven't had any major failures. One problem we are having that is a little alarming is the living room wall at the bottom of the slide. There is no support at the bottom edge of the slide and it has caused the wall to crack about 2 inches long. There's no real repair because there is nothing there to support it. All I can do is cover the crack and keep an eye on it.

We love our floor plan, even though the kids don't use the bunk beds anymore. Most likely we'll keep the Greyhawk until the kids leave the nest and then we'll upgrade to a Class A. Jayco's Class A lineup isn't all that impressive, but if the floor plan is right we wouldn't have any hesitation buying another Jayco.

-Michael

[j-d]

About that Tioga Ranger... How much "styling" can be applied to a big box with a bubble on the front? Still, there's something about the LOOK of a Tioga Ranger that I just love.
About Winnebago... I really respect the way they handle wiring and diagrams. It wasn't me, but somebody here said most RVs are wired like houses. There's a "plan" for which switch works which outlet and the like, but how the wires are run varies man-to-man and house-to-house. Winnebago furnishes the diagram and the wiring is where they said they put it. I met some campers who paid a "professional" three hours to convert their TV from Analog to Digital (or that's what I remember about it, probably installing a Converter Box). The "pro" left nothing working. Thanks to Winnie's site with diagrams I was able to restore full operation. If I'd wanted to order the two wood screws that held the DVD player to the cabinet shelf, they were called out on a parts list!

[Just_Jeff]

Awesome! We like ours a lot...it suits us really well for this point in our lives, and no RV is perfect.

[threedogmom]

tommykelly, I hope you love your Tioga!

ScottMack, yikes!!!

luvz, good to hear!

Jeff, thanks! I think we are still going with the Greyhawk.


With my husband's health issues, we will probably have only one-two years of travel ahead of us. One reason we are going with the GH is that it is so easy for me to drive as well as fitting our needs at a reasonable price.

[Just_Jeff]

ScottMack wrote:
weight on the rear axle may be an issue....Our carrying capacity is over 1,900 lbs, but there is no way we could even get close to that much weight distributed properly in our motorhome.

I'll second this as an issue for the 29KS. That big wardrobe in the bedroom that's so nice is entirely behind the rear axle. It's outstanding for space (as far as Class C's go), but you have to be careful about the weight in there. There's also some storage under the queen bed in the bedroom...which is also behind the rear axle.

When we moved from CO to VA, we were pretty loaded down. We didn't exceed the rear axle weight, but we did load it down enough to take quite a bit of weight off the front axle. It wasn't unsafe for the weights we were at, but it definitely would have prevented me from towing a trailer with any significant tongue weight.

I wouldn't let this affect the decision too much, but it's something to keep in mind if there are other considerations.

[luvztheoutdoor1]

I would highly recommend Jayco and specifically Greyhawks. I have driven mine 16,000 miles over the last two years with no issues.

[ScottMack]

For what it's worth:

1. Have that puppy weighed before you buy!! Our Winnie is similar in that we have two slides and factory installed HWH jacks on our unit. The Jayco wheel base/length ratio is slightly more than ours, BUT weight on the rear axle may be an issue.

The fit and finish of our Winnie is absolutely fantastic; however, according to Ford's recommendations, we should have had around 1,000 lbs. left over on the rear axle to play with - we discovered after the fact that we only have around 700 lbs. That may still sound like a lot, but the engineers shorted us about 30% of our rear axle capacity. (If you care, I have several threads from 2010 regarding this once we discovered the problem). We when leave on a trip, we are often 900-1000 lbs. under gross, but 100-150 lbs overweight on the rear axle. We have thrown as much stuff out as possible and moved as much forward as we can - and that is with empty gray/black tanks, only 6 gallons of fresh water and two adults that total 300 of those lbs. So, please don't get caught off guard like we did. Our carrying capacity is over 1,900 lbs, but there is no way we could even get close to that much weight distributed properly in our motorhome.

2. Also, we love our jacks, but please check the clearance of the rear jacks - actually drive the thing and find a few sloped drives etc. to test them - we have had numerous occurrences where our rear jacks would have dragged. In fact, we bent one of them just turning into a state park campground loop from the main road in a park outside of St. Louis. I was quite surprised when this happened and discovered it doesn't take that much of a slope for those rear jacks to "kiss" the pavement. Each unit will obviously be unique due to wheelbase, length of rear overhang etc., but be aware - the rear jacks might be lower than you think.

[tommykelly]

My head is spinning also...
I just bought a Fleetwood Tioga Ranger 25G

It has the TPO roof...The Winnebago comes highly recommended by R.V. Mechanics..they like the fact all wiring is labeled. Fiberglass roof

but when it came down to it I liked the way the Tioga Ranger was set up

with the E450 V-10...it was a little tricky getting the E 450 with a 26'
long R.V. of the ones I saw most were on the E 350 and V-8

I will be pulling a boat..V8 will pull it ..no doubt..just would have to work a little harder.

I have found you better inspect them all and often

[ColoradoRon]

I have a 2010 Grayhawk 31SS, which has not had any big problems. I only tighten some screws. No problems with the roof yet and I inspect it at the start of the season and when its stored for the winter.

[threedogmom]

PopnBB, that is quite reassuring. I think our decision will be in favor of the Greyhawk. Our model does have the automatic levelers. We had one motorhome that didn't have them and realized how nice they are!

super_camper, hmmmm...I need to see how the roof is made. Thanks for the reminder.

[super_camper]

mlts22 wrote:

threedogmom wrote:
mlts,

If you would, please educate me on rubber vs. fiberglass roofs.

A rubber roof usually has seams at the edges, where just a glob of caulk is the only thing keeping the water out (water coming in at highway speeds.) Eventually caulk cracks, dries up, shrinks, or otherwise gets rendered ineffectual, especially at seams on the cabover, resulting in enormous rot issues.

A fiberglass roof that is "cupped" a couple inches over the sides has caulk, but it isn't at stress points. Water can get past the caulk, but has to run upwards under the fiberglass and down into the rig for it to damage (quite difficult.) This is why Winnebago, Nexus RV, Lazy Daze and the other top tier places use fiberglass roofs. Even Forest River uses them. Having no rot due to water intrusion can mean selling your rig at a nice NADA value versus selling it for the scrap value due to mold making the inside uninhabitable.

My Jayco TPO roof is "cupped" over the sides like you describe the fiberglass roof and it's definitely not a stress point. Our roof has been worry free since new but I did replace the large seam to the front cap with eternabond.

[PopnBB]

We have camped for several years. We are on our 3rd Class C and all have been Jaycos. The one that we have now is a Greyhawk. I can recommend Jayco very highly. And the Greyhawk is by far the best one we've had. We had automatic levelers on the first two but the Greyhawk does not have them. That's probably the major thing that I miss.

[threedogmom]

Jeff,

I am incredibly impressed by the wealth of experience and knowledge the G.S. forum members have and share!