We had a 2004 Dutchman 26QBS-SSL that we had purchased used. We camped in it for about 4 years. We knew we were going to continue camping for many more years so we decided it was time to get something newer. Originally we wanted to go same size or smaller but we quickly realized what we would lose if we went smaller (we would lose the separation of the bedroom from the rest of the trailer mostly).
We shopped around a bunch and decided we really liked this type of floor plan with the large rear window and the two chairs in back.
When we took a look at the 2016 Jayco 28RLS we knew we had found our new trailer.
The size of the living area was awesome and the size of the bathroom was the clincher!
When I took a look at the shower and the room in the bathroom I was sold.
The side windows in the slideout add a bunch of light and a view we never had before.
We opted for the table and chairs since it's just the two of us. We did get the J fold sofa so we can have company spend the night (although I think we need to work on that bed, it's sort of odd).
- Big bathroom with roomy shower, lots of legroom when you are on the toilet and lots of room to towel off and do things at the vanity.
- Excellent view out the back window, but since your chairs are facing forward you don't see it from them.
- Entertainment unit works well. You can pull the TV out and see it comfortably from the recliners (love the recliners) as well as the sofa or even when sitting at the table.
- The Furrion DV3200 Stereo/DVD is an interesting bird! It has worked well so far for playing DVD's and listening to the Radio. You can also listen to the TV over it which is nice but, the speakers are located front and back not left to right so you get weird stereo when you are sitting in the recliners. It's not so bad when you are on the sofa watching TV. Trying to play anything from USB is such a chore that I installed a separate media player for that purpose. The clock on the Furrion also keeps changing time erratically (*** update below).
- There is plenty of pantry space and the space over the kitchen seems to hold all of our dishes and more.
- There is plenty of other storage too, over the bed, under the bed, over the recliners and over the sofa as well as the 4 drawers in the kitchen.
- There are no full length closets anywhere. No place for a full length coat or robe, no place for a broom or walking stick. (We were spoiled with our old trailer having a decent size full length closet and a good sized jacket length closet)
- The only windows on the awning/living side are small. There is one over the sink and two very narrow ones (one in the bedroom and one at the very rear). So if you are camped next to the lake and your view of the lake is out your door, you really won't see much of the lake from inside the trailer (now if you are backed in, it's wonderful)
- The awning doesn't cover both doors. Our old trailer did and it was nice to be able to have both doors open and not worry about rain.
- All the windows except for one slide open. That means you can't have them open in the rain.
There is one window over the sofa that is a small crank open and there is a slide open window directly across in the kitchen that is under the awning so you "could" have a rain free cross draft if you have the awning out, but not much of one (there is of course the rear door).
- There are no drawers or anything like that in the bedroom. You have two small side closets. You need to find boxes or something to put your socks/underwear and such in.
- Our unit came with a Black Tank flush but it's on the curb/passenger (awning) side of the trailer. How in the world they expect you to run a hose under the trailer when you are at a dumping station I don't know.
- The fresh water filler is on the curb side of the trailer too!
- The exhaust for the Gas water heater and the exhaust for the furnace both blow out on the awning side and are right where most people setup under the awning.
Be cautious about where you put things when using these! I had to reconsider where I put our outside TV because of the location of the gas hot water heater exhaust (we usually use electric to power the water heater but you know, sometimes you want hot water NOW so you fire up the gas too).
- The front door is very, very narrow. If you're a larger person, it could be a tight fit.
- We opted for the 2nd A/C in the bedroom. I love it. Now we can have the bedroom extra cold for sleeping at night but when you get up in the morning, the rest of the trailer is comfortable.
The A/C is extremely loud which doesn't bother me at all, it helps mask the campground noises. Apparently it is not loud enough to mask my snoring (so I have been told).
- Love the skylight in the kitchen. Hate that it came at the cost of a roof vent in the rear of the trailer though. I guess that's the hand off.
*** Fix for Furrion DV3000, DV3100, DV3200 clock randomly changing times or changing to Military/ 24 hour format. With the unit powered on press and hold the ZONE B button for about 10 seconds until the display reads "RDS off". The default setting is on and this allows the radio to receive digital information from radio stations, part of that information is time. Because the radio isn't smart enough to know what time zone it's in or anything like that it misinterprets the information and displays the time incorrectly.
Also if your Furrion won't play a DVD check the cables. They are often hooked up wrong on one end or the other. You can easily remove the unit by gently prying off the front cover and removing 4 screws. Also check for a piece of tape in the opening of the DVD player.
