26bh

[Doug1395]

Me and the family went to the the Cleveland rv show and have narrowed are new travel trailer search down to the basic 26bh models . There was jayco , colemen ,gray wolf and many others. After several hours they all were very similar and all with in 1000.00 dollars. Any and all opinions welcome.

[PAThwacker]

I like the Jayco jayflight 26bhs and the crossroads zinger 26bh slide

[Doug1395]

Thank you everyone

[Mike_Up]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:

I had a Grey Wolf 26BH for a little over two years.

We strongly considered a Jay Flight 26BH but decided on the Grey Wolf.

What we didn't like about that size/ floor plan:

The jackknife sofa is a real pain to sit upon for more than a half hour. At that price point there are simply no comfortable sofas.


The bathroom is too small.

The dinette is a real pain because the heavy table top needs to be removed when you travel. Be sure to mount Velcro on the bottom of the table top and the edges of the seats. Otherwise it will come out into the aisle.

Too little storage for a trip longer than a weekend. Getting to anything under the sofa or the dinette seats was more work than it was worth. We ended up keeping a lot of stuff on the lower bunk simply to make it easier to get to.

No ducting on the AC. Ours was controlled by switches on the unit. It was too loud to talk while eating, or watch TV. Also ours would shut off the compressor if the temp go low enough, but would not shut off the fan. Constant noise.

We camped 24 nights with 4 or 5 grandchildren - needing every sleeping capability of the trailer, and 7 nights with my son - his wife and daughter.

Don't get me wrong - we had great times in the trailer, and it was a very good value. I'm just listing negatives - and they were mainly due to the floorplan and type of entry level trailer, rather than any issues from the manufacturer.

What we did learn from that TT was that we really loved RVing, and traveling, and we wanted to move to something bigger and full-time.

I also fully understand that most of us have to live with real world budgets and priorities - so price is very much a consideration.

I started towing the trailer - 4,850 lbs actual empty weight, 5,500 lbs loaded - with an F-150. The trailer could push the truck around if the wind was from the rear quarter and over 15 mph.

After a year, I got a Ram 2500 MegaCab - and it was a world of difference towing the trailer.

My personal opinion is that a trailer that size and weight is about the max to tow with a half-ton pickup.

Wow, that's enough to drive anyone to another brand!

We love the sofa, very very comfortable. We have central air ducting through out the trailer as well as floor ducted heat. Our AC only runs when the compressor runs, just like a home AC.

We also have tons of storage. 2 huge outside accessible areas under the rear double bunk bed and one under the front queen bed. Tons of wall cabinets for food and stuff. Rear ward for kids bunks, and 2 huge wards along with wall cabinets in front bedroom. Plus all the room under the sofa and dinette that we don't use.

Our camper was dry from the factory at 5050 lbs and loaded about 6500 lbs wet. Pulls very good with the F150 and isn't pushed around at all by it. BUT we do use a good Reese Strait-Line hitch system.

While the bathroom is smaller, we have plenty of room for everything as well as having a very nice tub surround, above tub skylight and above toilet ceiling vent fan. Plus there's a privacy curtain for the bathroom, rear bunks, and sink area to enlarge your changing area.

We also have 90 gallons of fresh water for the State Parks without water hookup. We use a portable blue tote since there isn't septic hookups at the State Parks either.

All of these things can make or break a trailer for comfort of living.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I had a Grey Wolf 26BH for a little over two years. Put 7,663.5 miles on the trailer and 122 nights. Had one thermostat go out (Suburban issue, not FR). It was a great trailer for the money.

However, just like Jayco and others in that range - the tanks were exposed under the trailer, subject to a road hazard hitting them. No heat or protection against freezing.

We strongly considered a Jay Flight 26BH but decided on the Grey Wolf. A friend bought the Jay Flight we looked at and had trouble with several issues. He broke an axle, had the grey tank punctured by something from the road. I don't think he overloaded the trailer - just bad luck. It had the same axles as the Grey Wolf.

What we didn't like about that size/ floor plan:

No enclosed underbelly and not cold weather protection of the tanks.

No slide - made rainy days with the grandkids 'difficult'.

The jackknife sofa is a real pain to sit upon for more than a half hour. At that price point there are simply no comfortable sofas.

The grandkids fought over who got the top bunk.

The bathroom is too small.

The dinette is a real pain because the heavy table top needs to be removed when you travel. Be sure to mount Velcro on the bottom of the table top and the edges of the seats. Otherwise it will come out into the aisle.

Too little storage for a trip longer than a weekend. Getting to anything under the sofa or the dinette seats was more work than it was worth. We ended up keeping a lot of stuff on the lower bunk simply to make it easier to get to.

No ducting on the AC. Ours was controlled by switches on the unit. It was too loud to talk while eating, or watch TV. Also ours would shut off the compressor if the temp go low enough, but would not shut off the fan. Constant noise.

We camped 24 nights with 4 or 5 grandchildren - needing every sleeping capability of the trailer, and 7 nights with my son - his wife and daughter.

Don't get me wrong - we had great times in the trailer, and it was a very good value. I'm just listing negatives - and they were mainly due to the floorplan and type of entry level trailer, rather than any issues from the manufacturer.

What we did learn from that TT was that we really loved RVing, and traveling, and we wanted to move to something bigger and full-time.

I also fully understand that most of us have to live with real world budgets and priorities - so price is very much a consideration.

I started towing the trailer - 4,850 lbs actual empty weight, 5,500 lbs loaded - with an F-150. The trailer could push the truck around if the wind was from the rear quarter and over 15 mph.

After a year, I got a Ram 2500 MegaCab - and it was a world of difference towing the trailer.

My personal opinion is that a trailer that size and weight is about the max to tow with a half-ton pickup.

[2008Wildcat]

Prime Time Avenger is a lot of trailer for the money.

[dspencer]

I also bought a 2013 Gray Wolf 23BH a year go. We used it extensively last season and had no problems at all. So far we love it and wouldn't trade it for anything else. Yes it is an entry level trailer however I would put it's fit and finish against a lot higher priced trailers. Higher price doesn't always mean better quality when it comes to campers.

[AirForceAngler]

We bought a Grey Wolf 26BH last year after an RV show. It is a very entry-level RV as many you have mentioned are. This is our 3rd TT with our previous being a Jayco. Although our Grew Wolf has been great so far, if you can get the Jayco to within $1000 of the GW, I'd probably go with the Jayco. It seems that they are generally put together a bit better and have some better cabinetry in them. The one thing I'm disappointed with in our GW is the cabinetry. I may try to redo them sometime soon.

[Baja937]

Check your PM's, Doug!

[Mike_Up]

opnspaces wrote:

You may get a lot of replies for and against each model. Just remember that aside from the actual house structure and maybe the frame and axles, all the trailers use the same parts from the same manufacturers. So a failed refrigerator, stove top, AC unit, converter/Charger, light fixtures, holding tanks, water pump, water heater, furnace etc, the manufacturers all use the same parts from outside vendors.

Yes, but Jayco in my opinion uses better appliances but that is an opinion based on my failures with competing brands in other campers.

Also, some manufacturer install appliances and such differently, making failure rates higher or lower than competing manufacturers. On top of that, some manufacturers have shown to use cheap and shoddy wiring methods. Those shoddy methods have lead to shorts or near fires while others have good wiring methods that use different connectors that don't fail or have the conductors pull away or out of it.

It all has to do with build quality. A manufacturer can cause an appliance to fail just by poor installation, and not following the makers recommended installation instructions.

[Mike_Up]

I guess I should add this. Back in 2008, I bought a Jay Flight 19BH from a dealer that had a very poor service department. They had only 1 service tech who didn't know his --- from a hole in the wall. Had I known that initially, I wouldn't had bought from that dealer.

Anyhow, at that time in 2008, the whole industry was laying off or closing shop from the terrible economy in Elkhart county. The 19BH had some issues. It had a crack in the exterior door, bathroom door had some bad hinges, and windows wouldn't open without a fight. The service department tech literally did more damage than he fixed and even more so, when I had him add an automatic propane tank change over and a heat element in the A/C.

Jayco corporate bent over backwards to get this fixed for me at a dealer of my choice or their factory. I had them fix it at their factory. They made sure I was happy and everything was right with no dime out of my pocket.

Then I found my aluminum siding peeling. There was a recall on the siding that the dealer blew off and didn't do, so it went back to their factory again at my choosing and they fixed everything again with no problem and no dime out of my pocket.

Based just on that above, I would buy from them again. Add the added quality, added features, and inexpensive price, it makes it a no brainer in which brand I'd go with for another travel trailer.

I had an opposite experience with Forest River customer service which pretty much told me I was on my own after the selling dealer's service department damaged my floor (fixing a cabinet problem). I had many more problems with FR's lousy customer service but I could go on and don't have the time.

Jayco is just a stand up company with a stand up product!

By the way, a coworker who is a new apprentice under my wing has just bought a Jayco Jay Flight Swift 264BH (Budget based 26BH clone). While not having the features of the standard Jayco Jay Flight 26BH, he has the same opinion as I do and why he went with Jayco. He just loves his Jay Flight Swift.

[opnspaces]

I'm partial to Jayco because I own one. It has not given me any real problems and Jayco even came through for me when my black tank ruptured out of warranty. Whether I caused the rupture or it was a faulty tank I'll never know, but they did send me a new tank which I installed myself.

You may get a lot of replies for and against each model. Just remember that aside from the actual house structure and maybe the frame and axles, all the trailers use the same parts from the same manufacturers. So a failed refrigerator, stove top, AC unit, converter/Charger, light fixtures, holding tanks, water pump, water heater, furnace etc, the manufacturers all use the same parts from outside vendors.

[Mike_Up]

Doug1395 wrote:
Me and the family went to the the Cleveland rv show and have narrowed are new travel trailer search down to the basic 26bh models . There was jayco , colemen ,gray wolf and many others. After several hours they all were very similar and all with in 1000.00 dollars. Any and all opinions welcome.

I looked at Coleman which is made by Dutchman. Very cheaply made with lower class appliances and furniture. It wasn't much cheaper than the Jayco Jay Flight that had much better appliances and such. It wasn't hard writing it off.

The Forest River Grey Wolf has a smaller rear bottom bunk. It's more of a twin size bunk than a double bunk. That right there was a no go when other makes have a double size rear bottom bunk. Plus I've found Forest River build quality to be sub-par so never bothered looking at this model.

I couldn't find anything that touched the Jaycos features, quality, and price.

[time2roll]

If you will be without hookups do compare the holding tank sizes.

[mtofell1]

I'd go Jayco - Is Gray Wolf made by Forest River? If so I'd still go Gray Wolf. I have a Forest River (Salem) and haven't exactly been overwhelmed with it's quality. I see very few people complaining about Jayco trailers and have heard a lot of people raving about them.