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 miles all told. All of our camping so far has been in Washington, but in a variety of weather. I feel this has been a good “shake down” so far, so I thought it might be a good time to reflect on our experiences with the trailer. Hopefully this will prove helpful for others.
Trailer Overview
This trailer is a “24 FBS”, which I assume means 24’, Front Bedroom, Slideout model. The overall length of the trailer is 27’ bumper to ball, and the trailer weighs 5510 lbs including the battery and full twin 30 lb propane tanks, according to the yellow sticker. I confirmed this weight as accurate on a CAT scale when we first got the trailer. The floorplan includes a “Short Queen” 60”x74” front walk around bed with storage below, a half wall with curtain for bedroom privacy, a “J-Steel” jackknife sofa facing the rear of the trailer, a kitchen with an “L” shaped countertop, a slideout dinette with pedestal table and storage under the seats, windows on all 3 sides of the slideout, and a nearly full width bathroom at the rear of the trailer with a tub/shower w/ curtain. Our trailer came with a few upgrade packages which included an upgraded 15k BTU air conditioner, a larger 8 cu.ft. refrigerator, electric stabilizers and tongue jack, power awning, aluminum wheels, TV, and some type of upgraded insulation package.
Here is the floorplan:
Here is a panorama of the inside of our trailer:
Here is the yellow weight sticker:
A bit about our needs
We are a childless couple in our 30s with a Greyhound dog, so were looking for a trailer that would provide us an interior that maximized usage for us. We both grew up camping in pop-ups (both Jayco interestingly enough) and rented a trailer a few times last year to make sure camping was for us. We are weight limited to 5000-5500 dry/6500-7000 lbs leaded weight in order to fit within the payload capacity of our truck (2012 F150 5.0). After hours and hours of searching the interwebs looking at floorplans, specs, reviews, and pictures, we headed to the RV shows to check out the various models. We had our choices whittled down to a few, the JayFlight 24FBS, the WhiteHawk 26DSRB, the JayFeather 242 and 24T, the Keystone Passport 2510RB, the Aspen Trail 2460RLS, and a few other models I can’t recall. We ended up choosing the JayFlight 24FBS for a variety of reasons which I’ll detail in the sections below.
Things we like about the trailer
- The overall floorplan. It’s pretty unique and I’ve not seen many others like it. We like using the interior of the trailer when the weather is lousy (being in Washington), so we valued comfortable relaxing space to watch TV or movies, read a book, chat, etc. So we wanted a dinette and a couch, with good TV viewing locations. Many trailers seem to have the couches at 90 degree angles to the TV, which seems like it would make TV viewing hard. The couch placement straight in front of the TV with speakers right above it was a plus for the 24FBS. There are effectively 3 or 4 seating positions to watch the TV from, 2 on the couch and one or two on the front bench of the dinette.
- The slideout has windows on all 3 sides, which makes the trailer feel much more open and airy. We can sit in the slideout and feel like we have great views all around us. Makes sitting inside when it’s too hot, cold, windy, rainy, etc pleasant. There is also a big window right next to the couch, so you can sit on the couch and look outside easily.
- The kitchen has more counter space because of the “L” design than lots of other trailers in this size range. We find we have more room to prepare meals, or just put odds and ends near the door like sunglasses, water bottles, wallets, dog poop bags, etc. It’s kind of a dumping ground sometimes, but better there than on the bed, couch or dinette!
- The 15k BTU AC works great! We camped east of the mountains recently and the temps got into the mid to upper 90s and the AC had no problems keeping temps inside around 70 degrees or even less. The AC is ducted through various vents that can be aimed or closed, and also includes vents on the unit itself that can be opened or closed. We found that opening the vents on the unit dumped huge amounts of cold air into the main living area to get temps down quickly. We then adjusted them as needed.
- The bedroom layout works well. I’m 6’ or so, and found many units had very cramped quarters. Lots of units have entertainment centers at the foot of the bed, which when coupled with a short queen bed means my feet were pressed against the entertainment center. Not good! This unit has a half wall more than a foot away from the bottom of the bed, so people can walk around the bed and my feet can just hang off a bit and not touch anything. We also wanted the flexibility to put a longer mattress in, which we could do, but so far the short queen is ok for me.
- The bedroom wardrobe closets and “nightstands” are great. Many units we looked at had wardrobes that extended from floor to ceiling, meaning there was no nightstand/table next to the head of the bed on either side. For one, this made laying in the bed very claustrophobic to me, almost light sleeping in an MRI machine or tunnel. It also leaves nowhere to put bedside clocks, glasses, flashlights, etc. The setup in the 24FBS is ideal because there is a foot or so space between the nightstand and the wardrobe above. That gives me somewhere to put my arms when sleeping, and to put those little odds and ends.
- The interior height is also very nice. This unit has 81” (6’9”) ceilings, which for someone who is 6’ tall is very nice. Lots of units we looked at had 78” ceilings (6’6”) ceilings, which when you include light fixtures, smoke detectors, AC vents, etc, doesn’t leave a lot of clearance for me! I felt like I had to duck down in some of them! I can walk around in ours without feeling like I might get knocked out by something.
- The build feels very solid. Some of the models we looked at had a noticeable “give” in the floor when walking. I’m not a small guy (about 250 lbs) and those models felt more flimsy. Also, the cabinets and such feel beefy and solid. Some other units had cabinet doors that flexed a lot when opened. The Jayflight line has as a porcelain toilet as well, which adds some “stability” when taking care of business. I’ve poked around under and inside lots of cabinets and things, and haven’t found any glaring instances of poor workmanship.
- Lots of inside storage. There is plenty of cabinet space in the kitchen, bedroom, entertainment center, above the couch, under the dinette, over the dinette, and a huge additional wardrobe in the bathroom (we use it for odds and ends rather than a wardrobe).
- Flush slideout floor. The dinette slideout, when extended, drops down and sits nearly flush with the rest of the floor. This makes for very easy access, and expands the usable floor space a bit. We saw some units that had raised dinettes. We rented a Lance 1685 last summer which had a raised dinette in the slide and it was burdensome to get in and out of regularly.
- Lots of lights. There are lights controlled by a switch by the door in the living/kitchen area. There is an under counter light and a light over the stove. There is a residential style round light over the dinette table. There is a light on a switch in the bathroom, and a bright skylight in the bathroom. There is a light in the bedroom as well as two lights under the overhead wardrobe over the head of the bed. Want to switch these to LED sometime…
- The entry door threshold is “ramped” so you can sweep dirt from the floor out the door easily.
- Ladder on back of trailer to access the roof. Not the beefiest thing in the world, but apparently has a 300 lb capacity and works well in a pinch if you don’t have a ladder with you.
- Twin 30lb propane tanks means lots of propane. We’ve used the stove extensively, run the fridge off propane when traveling, and camped in 40 degree weather at the beach several times utilizing the furnace quite a bit and we’re still on our first tank!
Things we don’t like as much
- I wish for more exterior accessible storage space. There is a large front pass through with doors on both sides, and a small little cubby on the right rear below the wardrobe in the kitchen, that’s it. I wish the storage below the dinette benches was accessible from outside. I miss having the large storage under the dinette for electrical cords, hoses, etc, that we had in the rented Lance. I have to keep that stuff in the front pass through, which gets crowded. Have to take out things to get to stuff in the middle sometimes.
- I wish there was another roof vent toward the front of the trailer. There is only one roof vent, which is in the bathroom. When it’s raining and we want to run the vent fan to keep air circulating and reduce condensation, we have to crack open a window to let the outside air in. It would be nice to be able to crack another roof vent instead.
- The triple entry steps flex more than I like when you step on the bottom step. I’m getting a “step brace” to put under the bottom step to help that. This trailer has 3 steps because it’s a high riding model (hence the flat floor without wheel well intrusion).
- I wish there was a bit more floor space for our dog’s bed. Normally we put it between the couch and the wall on the right side, since we don’t need to go into the bedroom much. This means we have to step over her when we do need to get into the bedroom. There isn’t really enough room in the living/dining/kitchen area for her full size dog beds without really getting in the way.
- I wish the trailer had a “screw in” type electrical cord, rather than the “pull out of the port” kind. I ended up getting a 30 amp extension so I could just pull out the built in cord a few inches, then hook the extension to it. When I pull the whole cord out, I feel like it’s going to either wear out the insulator rubbing on the port, or pull out of the wall if I pull it too much.
- The water pump is kinda loud.
- Wish the trailer had a digital thermostat. The gap between where the thermostat kicks on and off seems like 3-5 degrees. I’ll probably be replacing it with a digital one sometime.
- Wish the trailer had lights in the front pass through storage areas. I’ve added some stick on LED lights from Harbor Freight which work ok. They made for cabinets, so come on when you open the door via an ambient light sensor.
- The front downspouts for the gutters on the side of the trailer drip directly over the front storage doors. So when it’s raining and water is streaming out of the gutters, it’s right in the way of accessing the storage compartment.
- A larger gray tank would be nice. Trailer has an 80 gallon fresh tank (+ 6 gallon water heater), but only 32.5 gallon black and gray tanks. Gray tank capacity is the biggest worry when camping without full hookups. I’d ideally not have to deal with totes.
- 80 gallon fresh water capacity makes sanitizing it a several hour affair. Filling and draining takes forever!
- the dinette bench tops under the foam pads are plywood panels that can be lifted out to access the under seat storage from the top. These pieces of plywood were really flimsy and bowed heavily when we sat on them. I replaced them with 1/2" plywood from the local home center that was much more sturdy even though it was the same thickness as the original piece Jayco used. They don't bow at all now.
Things that have gone wrong
- The furnace didn’t work right when we got it. It would work fine for a few cycles, then it wouldn’t light. It seemed like when the unit heated up after a few cycles, the ignitor wouldn’t light the burner. You could hear it clicking a few times, then it would stop trying. After an hour or two of cooling off, it would work again. The dealer was unsuccessful repairing it on first attempt, but then replaced the igniter and now it works great.
- The hot water connection on the bathroom faucet leaked on our first trip. We found water on the bathroom floor and I traced it to the faucet. I just tightened the connection by hand and it’s been leak free since.
- The seal around the city water connection under the bathroom sink leaked rain water very slightly (I noticed a few drops on the plastic housing inside). A little Proflex sealant fixed it.
- A few seals around the storage doors and fittings had small gaps, which I fixed with a little Proflex sealant.
- A few of the screws that hold the window valences to the walls have loosened. One is stripped, so I need to use the old toothpicks and glue repair.
- One of the metal clips that holds the kitchen sink to the counter loosened and fell off and another was loose. Found it in the bottom of the cabinet and screwed it back on. Tightened the other.
- The cable from the wall jack to the TV was damaged and the terminal on one end popped off the first time we removed the TV for storage. Replaced with one we had at home.
Things we’ve added
- Camco vent cover to the bathroom vent. Cheap, easy to install, looks good, works good. Allows us to have the vent open when it’s raining.
- Aforementioned stick on lights in front pass through storage.
- Heavy duty carpet to front pass through storage area, so WDH bars, tools, etc don’t scratch the vinyl floor.
- Winegard Wingman addition to the batwing antenna. Don’t have any before/after proof that it works, but we get abundant channels most places we’ve been so far. Cheap, easy to install.
- Outrigger Radius carpeted entry step covers. Makes entry/exit for the dog much easier when steps are wet.
Conclusion
Overall, we love the trailer. It’s got a unique floorplan that works well for our family, and feels well made. Our truck tows it well, and it has many great features that make traveling and living in it fun. We’re glad we bought it, and haven’t yet seen another model that our truck could tow that would work better for us.
More pictures
Greyhound Approved!
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 miles all told. All of our camping so far has been in Washington, but in a variety of weather. I feel this has been a good “shake down” so far, so I thought it might be a good time to reflect on our experiences with the trailer. Hopefully this will prove helpful for others.
Trailer Overview
This trailer is a “24 FBS”, which I assume means 24’, Front Bedroom, Slideout model. The overall length of the trailer is 27’ bumper to ball, and the trailer weighs 5510 lbs including the battery and full twin 30 lb propane tanks, according to the yellow sticker. I confirmed this weight as accurate on a CAT scale when we first got the trailer. The floorplan includes a “Short Queen” 60”x74” front walk around bed with storage below, a half wall with curtain for bedroom privacy, a “J-Steel” jackknife sofa facing the rear of the trailer, a kitchen with an “L” shaped countertop, a slideout dinette with pedestal table and storage under the seats, windows on all 3 sides of the slideout, and a nearly full width bathroom at the rear of the trailer with a tub/shower w/ curtain. Our trailer came with a few upgrade packages which included an upgraded 15k BTU air conditioner, a larger 8 cu.ft. refrigerator, electric stabilizers and tongue jack, power awning, aluminum wheels, TV, and some type of upgraded insulation package.
Here is the floorplan:
Here is a panorama of the inside of our trailer:
Here is the yellow weight sticker:
A bit about our needs
We are a childless couple in our 30s with a Greyhound dog, so were looking for a trailer that would provide us an interior that maximized usage for us. We both grew up camping in pop-ups (both Jayco interestingly enough) and rented a trailer a few times last year to make sure camping was for us. We are weight limited to 5000-5500 dry/6500-7000 lbs leaded weight in order to fit within the payload capacity of our truck (2012 F150 5.0). After hours and hours of searching the interwebs looking at floorplans, specs, reviews, and pictures, we headed to the RV shows to check out the various models. We had our choices whittled down to a few, the JayFlight 24FBS, the WhiteHawk 26DSRB, the JayFeather 242 and 24T, the Keystone Passport 2510RB, the Aspen Trail 2460RLS, and a few other models I can’t recall. We ended up choosing the JayFlight 24FBS for a variety of reasons which I’ll detail in the sections below.
Things we like about the trailer
- The overall floorplan. It’s pretty unique and I’ve not seen many others like it. We like using the interior of the trailer when the weather is lousy (being in Washington), so we valued comfortable relaxing space to watch TV or movies, read a book, chat, etc. So we wanted a dinette and a couch, with good TV viewing locations. Many trailers seem to have the couches at 90 degree angles to the TV, which seems like it would make TV viewing hard. The couch placement straight in front of the TV with speakers right above it was a plus for the 24FBS. There are effectively 3 or 4 seating positions to watch the TV from, 2 on the couch and one or two on the front bench of the dinette.
- The slideout has windows on all 3 sides, which makes the trailer feel much more open and airy. We can sit in the slideout and feel like we have great views all around us. Makes sitting inside when it’s too hot, cold, windy, rainy, etc pleasant. There is also a big window right next to the couch, so you can sit on the couch and look outside easily.
- The kitchen has more counter space because of the “L” design than lots of other trailers in this size range. We find we have more room to prepare meals, or just put odds and ends near the door like sunglasses, water bottles, wallets, dog poop bags, etc. It’s kind of a dumping ground sometimes, but better there than on the bed, couch or dinette!
- The 15k BTU AC works great! We camped east of the mountains recently and the temps got into the mid to upper 90s and the AC had no problems keeping temps inside around 70 degrees or even less. The AC is ducted through various vents that can be aimed or closed, and also includes vents on the unit itself that can be opened or closed. We found that opening the vents on the unit dumped huge amounts of cold air into the main living area to get temps down quickly. We then adjusted them as needed.
- The bedroom layout works well. I’m 6’ or so, and found many units had very cramped quarters. Lots of units have entertainment centers at the foot of the bed, which when coupled with a short queen bed means my feet were pressed against the entertainment center. Not good! This unit has a half wall more than a foot away from the bottom of the bed, so people can walk around the bed and my feet can just hang off a bit and not touch anything. We also wanted the flexibility to put a longer mattress in, which we could do, but so far the short queen is ok for me.
- The bedroom wardrobe closets and “nightstands” are great. Many units we looked at had wardrobes that extended from floor to ceiling, meaning there was no nightstand/table next to the head of the bed on either side. For one, this made laying in the bed very claustrophobic to me, almost light sleeping in an MRI machine or tunnel. It also leaves nowhere to put bedside clocks, glasses, flashlights, etc. The setup in the 24FBS is ideal because there is a foot or so space between the nightstand and the wardrobe above. That gives me somewhere to put my arms when sleeping, and to put those little odds and ends.
- The interior height is also very nice. This unit has 81” (6’9”) ceilings, which for someone who is 6’ tall is very nice. Lots of units we looked at had 78” ceilings (6’6”) ceilings, which when you include light fixtures, smoke detectors, AC vents, etc, doesn’t leave a lot of clearance for me! I felt like I had to duck down in some of them! I can walk around in ours without feeling like I might get knocked out by something.
- The build feels very solid. Some of the models we looked at had a noticeable “give” in the floor when walking. I’m not a small guy (about 250 lbs) and those models felt more flimsy. Also, the cabinets and such feel beefy and solid. Some other units had cabinet doors that flexed a lot when opened. The Jayflight line has as a porcelain toilet as well, which adds some “stability” when taking care of business. I’ve poked around under and inside lots of cabinets and things, and haven’t found any glaring instances of poor workmanship.
- Lots of inside storage. There is plenty of cabinet space in the kitchen, bedroom, entertainment center, above the couch, under the dinette, over the dinette, and a huge additional wardrobe in the bathroom (we use it for odds and ends rather than a wardrobe).
- Flush slideout floor. The dinette slideout, when extended, drops down and sits nearly flush with the rest of the floor. This makes for very easy access, and expands the usable floor space a bit. We saw some units that had raised dinettes. We rented a Lance 1685 last summer which had a raised dinette in the slide and it was burdensome to get in and out of regularly.
- Lots of lights. There are lights controlled by a switch by the door in the living/kitchen area. There is an under counter light and a light over the stove. There is a residential style round light over the dinette table. There is a light on a switch in the bathroom, and a bright skylight in the bathroom. There is a light in the bedroom as well as two lights under the overhead wardrobe over the head of the bed. Want to switch these to LED sometime…
- The entry door threshold is “ramped” so you can sweep dirt from the floor out the door easily.
- Ladder on back of trailer to access the roof. Not the beefiest thing in the world, but apparently has a 300 lb capacity and works well in a pinch if you don’t have a ladder with you.
- Twin 30lb propane tanks means lots of propane. We’ve used the stove extensively, run the fridge off propane when traveling, and camped in 40 degree weather at the beach several times utilizing the furnace quite a bit and we’re still on our first tank!
Things we don’t like as much
- I wish for more exterior accessible storage space. There is a large front pass through with doors on both sides, and a small little cubby on the right rear below the wardrobe in the kitchen, that’s it. I wish the storage below the dinette benches was accessible from outside. I miss having the large storage under the dinette for electrical cords, hoses, etc, that we had in the rented Lance. I have to keep that stuff in the front pass through, which gets crowded. Have to take out things to get to stuff in the middle sometimes.
- I wish there was another roof vent toward the front of the trailer. There is only one roof vent, which is in the bathroom. When it’s raining and we want to run the vent fan to keep air circulating and reduce condensation, we have to crack open a window to let the outside air in. It would be nice to be able to crack another roof vent instead.
- The triple entry steps flex more than I like when you step on the bottom step. I’m getting a “step brace” to put under the bottom step to help that. This trailer has 3 steps because it’s a high riding model (hence the flat floor without wheel well intrusion).
- I wish there was a bit more floor space for our dog’s bed. Normally we put it between the couch and the wall on the right side, since we don’t need to go into the bedroom much. This means we have to step over her when we do need to get into the bedroom. There isn’t really enough room in the living/dining/kitchen area for her full size dog beds without really getting in the way.
- I wish the trailer had a “screw in” type electrical cord, rather than the “pull out of the port” kind. I ended up getting a 30 amp extension so I could just pull out the built in cord a few inches, then hook the extension to it. When I pull the whole cord out, I feel like it’s going to either wear out the insulator rubbing on the port, or pull out of the wall if I pull it too much.
- The water pump is kinda loud.
- Wish the trailer had a digital thermostat. The gap between where the thermostat kicks on and off seems like 3-5 degrees. I’ll probably be replacing it with a digital one sometime.
- Wish the trailer had lights in the front pass through storage areas. I’ve added some stick on LED lights from Harbor Freight which work ok. They made for cabinets, so come on when you open the door via an ambient light sensor.
- The front downspouts for the gutters on the side of the trailer drip directly over the front storage doors. So when it’s raining and water is streaming out of the gutters, it’s right in the way of accessing the storage compartment.
- A larger gray tank would be nice. Trailer has an 80 gallon fresh tank (+ 6 gallon water heater), but only 32.5 gallon black and gray tanks. Gray tank capacity is the biggest worry when camping without full hookups. I’d ideally not have to deal with totes.
- 80 gallon fresh water capacity makes sanitizing it a several hour affair. Filling and draining takes forever!
- the dinette bench tops under the foam pads are plywood panels that can be lifted out to access the under seat storage from the top. These pieces of plywood were really flimsy and bowed heavily when we sat on them. I replaced them with 1/2" plywood from the local home center that was much more sturdy even though it was the same thickness as the original piece Jayco used. They don't bow at all now.
Things that have gone wrong
- The furnace didn’t work right when we got it. It would work fine for a few cycles, then it wouldn’t light. It seemed like when the unit heated up after a few cycles, the ignitor wouldn’t light the burner. You could hear it clicking a few times, then it would stop trying. After an hour or two of cooling off, it would work again. The dealer was unsuccessful repairing it on first attempt, but then replaced the igniter and now it works great.
- The hot water connection on the bathroom faucet leaked on our first trip. We found water on the bathroom floor and I traced it to the faucet. I just tightened the connection by hand and it’s been leak free since.
- The seal around the city water connection under the bathroom sink leaked rain water very slightly (I noticed a few drops on the plastic housing inside). A little Proflex sealant fixed it.
- A few seals around the storage doors and fittings had small gaps, which I fixed with a little Proflex sealant.
- A few of the screws that hold the window valences to the walls have loosened. One is stripped, so I need to use the old toothpicks and glue repair.
- One of the metal clips that holds the kitchen sink to the counter loosened and fell off and another was loose. Found it in the bottom of the cabinet and screwed it back on. Tightened the other.
- The cable from the wall jack to the TV was damaged and the terminal on one end popped off the first time we removed the TV for storage. Replaced with one we had at home.
Things we’ve added
- Camco vent cover to the bathroom vent. Cheap, easy to install, looks good, works good. Allows us to have the vent open when it’s raining.
- Aforementioned stick on lights in front pass through storage.
- Heavy duty carpet to front pass through storage area, so WDH bars, tools, etc don’t scratch the vinyl floor.
- Winegard Wingman addition to the batwing antenna. Don’t have any before/after proof that it works, but we get abundant channels most places we’ve been so far. Cheap, easy to install.
- Outrigger Radius carpeted entry step covers. Makes entry/exit for the dog much easier when steps are wet.
Conclusion
Overall, we love the trailer. It’s got a unique floorplan that works well for our family, and feels well made. Our truck tows it well, and it has many great features that make traveling and living in it fun. We’re glad we bought it, and haven’t yet seen another model that our truck could tow that would work better for us.
More pictures
Greyhound Approved!
