just a quick warning to the owners of aforementioned jayco vans, before entering extensive gravel or stone road country be sure and have protective metal plates put in place to protect the plastic piping that protrudes from the underside of the van, we had two vans that pulled in to Arkarroola both lost all water, fill pipes and outlets gravel and stone blasted off level with the bottom of the van, jayco are aware of the problem but as yet have done nothing to fix it, the plates that are there now do not protect all piping, so before setting off take a look underneath the drivers side of the van and get more protection for them pipes, not much water up there I can tell you, and what is there is yucky bore water, if you are about to buy a new van, make sure you get the alterations done before you take posession of it, jayco dont want to know about it after they sell it apparently, simple procedure but I guess if one must retrofit hundreds of vans then it becomes costly but it MUST be done, so pressure from owners will fix the problem, approach your jayco dealer and get this problem fixed before it happens to you

Nickname in the bush is 'Junk-o', even for their so-called 'off-road' versions. Open the door and sweep up the staples.... Cheers, Peter.

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:

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Nickname in the bush is 'Junk-o', even for their so-called 'off-road' versions.
Open the door and sweep up the staples....

Cheers,
Peter.

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ROTFL.....

Nothing against Jayco, but I did see what was left of one of the new sandwich construction ones at Cowra a few weeks back, Apparently was sideswiped by a truck, the whole body ripped off the chassis and totally demolished....Where as a convenetional van would have just had the side ripped out....
Did I ever tell you people how I took out a bowser at the Woolies Servo in Parkes in 2004??? Big Bollards there now to stop seniors from ripping out bowsers with caravans....
Tres embarrasing but in all the confusion they forgot to charge me for the fuel and never asked for it....
All fixed by APIA, no questions asked....Maybe APIA payed for the diesel....

Hmmmm! interesting response, even so there a hell of a lot of them out there

dave06 wrote:

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Hmmmm! interesting response, even so there a hell of a lot of them out there

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Absolutely correct, Dave06, but as with many products, it may have more to do with price than quality. Jayco are obviously a very successful manufacturer, just that I would never buy one. We all have to decide on what is most important when we make a purchase, and price might be crucial.

Cheers,
Peter.

Hmmm! wouldnt have thought that jayco were one of the cheaper ones, they seem to be up with any that I have looked at, I hear the horror stories of sideswipes just like the rest, but if a heavy vehicle was to get sideswiped  then it tears to pieces just like anything else and unless one reproduces the exact same accident with the two vans in question then one cannot say as to whether one would fare better than another, but I am not a caravan man at all, gave mine away a long time ago, got sick of it always appearing in my mirror, didnt have an "off road" one either, bit of a misnomour to me, if one was to go truly "off road" then surely a caravan is the last thing one would want dragging one back, I have yet to see an "off road van" in a free camp only ever appear in caravan parks (brag factor high) , the ones that I see in free camps are the old 18' viscounts or similar behind the ever faithfull falcon, I have seen them absolutely everywhere that we have been from the simpson to the kimberleys , a camper trailer would surely be better but I prefer not to tow at all, but thats my choice, as is yours with the type of van, I think the manufacturers are all much of a muchness now (all after your dollar), I've seen on road vans along the simpson and up in the kimberleys fairing very well and I have seen Kimberley campers and off roaders of all types broken down on the highway so I dont really think there is much room for criticism of any particular brand unless one self builds then I have seen a hell of a lot of those burning, broke down or simply non functioning because of lack of knowledge in the initial build, expert mates are a dangerous thing when placed in the hands of an idiot

cupie, i agree with everthing you have said, I have seen jaycos everywhere from the deserts to the sea and most places in between, I dont think they are any worse than others but I do think they are better than a lot, it was a surprise to me when graeham (my neighbor at Arkaroola) told me about the problem with the water pipes, and I might hasten to add it is not a big problem, they just need a protective cover which in itself is no big deal and easily done, but please before you consider any extensive gravel and or stone roads place the protective covers on, or you will lose your water, of course that is the trouble when one starts to knock other peoples equipment, the old case of "mines better than yours", I remember (it seems like a million years ago now) when I was in the highways at morchard, west of ororroo at the tender age of 17, me and a couple of mates put the road in between ororroo and halfway between hawker an wilpena, I was operating a caterpiller d8h, working pits, pushing up for the road base, still remember the serial no 137-11, brand spanking new dozer and they put me and her in amongst the "blue rock", we had 5 oka's as service trucks trouble was they took up more time being serviced themselves than they did in servicing other vehicles, the highways got rid of them and went to bedford 4wd, much stronger, far more capable and little to no service, after 12mths we went to isuzu 4wd dont really know why, the bedfords were a very capable machine, price I suppose, you love your jayco, as do a lot of other owners, I love my toyota, poppa smurf wouldnt trade his nissan for anything, pete and margeret will defend the oka to the death, all I say is it doesnt matter what you go in, just go, enjoy life 

-- Edited by dave06 at 13:03, 2008-09-01

The toughest caravan I have seen so far was an 18ft Trakka which was exiting the Bloomfield Track between Cape Tribulation and Cooktown. Thats a serious 4WD road, and it was being towed by a Toyota Landcruiser. We chatted to the driver who admitted it had been an interesting drive, and listed several other "interesting"roads they'd travelled. We were quite impressed when we were shown some of the features. You wouldnt even try to take a Jayco over such a rough road. I think its just a matter of "horses for courses".

hells bells, we lost most of our gear on that track, rear doors popped on our 75 nissan and the tent and cooking gear was scattered, seen a heavy camper trailer in there but never would be game enough to take a van in there, trakkas are tough, but oh boy you pay for it