Month: January 2017

When we bought our previous trailer I was able to find a net online for Sarah’s bed to keep her from falling out. It was necessary to screw a couple of buckles into the ceiling and bunk to do this.  I didn’t want the installation to be so “visible” this time and my search led me to products readily available such as these two:

The bunks in travel trailers and RV’s have a ledge or bottom rail and the front to keep the mattress from falling off while in transit. The above child guards only work on a flush fitting mattress such as between a mattress and a boxspring.

After a lot of web surfing it became evident that what I needed wasn’t out there and I would have to fabricate something. I ordered 1×4 and 1×2 cherry boards and brass screws from Home Depot and and found hardware to attach the rails to the side wall and bottom of the bunk using hardware I found at Woodcraft.com. I used their No Mortise Bed Rail Fittings and Center Bed Rail Supports to attach to these surfaces respectively. These brackets allowed the rails to be easily removable for bunk access. I sanded the cherry boards until all the edges were smooth and pocketed the screws so there was nothing to catch on the sheets or blankets (or kids). Once I had built two identical rails for the bunk beds and a third rail for the cabover bunk I then went to my local hardware store with a piece of trim from the Greyhawk for the purposes of matching the stain to the color of our cherry woodwork in the camper. I bought Minwax Golden Oak Stain, Minwax Semi-gloss Polyurethane and a high quality brush to apply the poly.

This whole project took about 4-5 days as a lot of time was required to allow things to dry between coats. The cost was about $200 for wood, screws, hardware, stain etc.

After two coats of stain, three coats of poly and a lot of sanding you can find the finished product in the video below. The bunk rails have been kid tested one night so far and have held up fine. Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

I’ve been getting the camper ready for use and have found it necessary to perform a few modifications to be ready for Spring camping. The first mod I didn’t even know was necessary until I started reading through the Jayco Owners Forums , (I’ll confess to have been reading them for approximately a year or so in my motorhome research). The cabover  TV for safety reasons is wired to only play while the vehicle is off. Turn on the ignition and that TV cuts out as well as anything plugged into that outlet (DVD player for all my TV’s). Since I can’t possibly watch that TV while driving, I chose to “enable” it to play while underway. It’s a real simple: cut or disconnect the lead (purple or red) feeding the relay glued to the back of the outlet, insulate it with electrical tape and reassemble.

The next mod was to provide some privacy for the cab windows and keep the summer heat out. Heatshieldstore.com has heat shields for the windshield and side windows. I like the gold series but the original is still attractive as well.

Lastly, we found mattress safe.com to provide the specialty RV mattress protectors we were looking for to protect our investment. They have a special size for the overhead bunks of Class C Motorhomes as well as the bunks in the back. The Essential Campers Sheet is an all in one. It’s feels like a sheet on top but has a protective layer on the underside that will protect the mattress from spills, etc. We also bought a standard mattress protector from them as well for our specially sized RV Queen Bed (60 x 72) to protect the Denver Mattress. All the products, mattress protectors and sunshades,  fit quite well and we’re pleased so far. Check out the video below highlighting some of these modifications. Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

I did a lot of research when deciding to buy a larger camper for my family. We looked into Fifth Wheels, Class A Motorhomes, Class C Motorhomes, Super C Motorhomes and even Toyhaulers. In the end, only a Class C had the dedicated bunk space for each of our three children. We wanted each child to have a retreat that they can go to whether we’re driving or at the campground, at night and also in the middle of the day if need be. A jack knife sofa or drop down bunk just didn’t seem to fit these needs. Many bunkhouse motorhomes are built for two adults and two children. Now add a third child to the mix and the choices narrow significantly. Enter the tried and true Class C Motorhome with dedicated third cabover bunk. Very similar to the RV I grew up vacationing in. Now which Class C?  A quest for the right manufacturer led me to Jayco with their two year warranty, solid reputation and great floorpan. There’s a lot of detail and functional features to the Greyhawk that don’t seem to be present on other Class C’s. With that, I’ve heard you’ll pay a little more for a Jayco but that was inconsequential once I made up my mind. You can find our floorpan below:

What I love: The floorplan, 7,500 pound towing capacity, the performance, fit and finish, large windows, navigation,  entertainment options, materials, exterior body paint, seamless fiberglass cap, full fiberglass roof, exterior propane hookup, frameless windows, generator, aluminum wheels, large bathroom,  tankless hot water heater, dedicated bunk space for all the kids.

Alright we all know nothing can be perfect and there’s trade off for everything, hence there’s no perfect RV as well. So heres a few things I’d change if I could (and some I can and might attempt sometime): Small camp side awning due to to bunk slide out, only one house battery, tankless hot water heater*, rear window only for emergency exit (no screen), door only opens 90 degrees, limited exterior storage.

You might have noticed the tankless hot water system made it onto both lists. I like the idea of us all taking showers relatively back to back and not running out of hot water however I’d like to boondock at some National Parks and while the system is “tankless” the gray water tank is just that: a tank. A tank that’s going to fill up quickly. We’ll have to figure that one out when we get there. Maybe not take showers for those few days when we stay at those type of parks. I’ve read in the forums that there’s also a learning curve when it come to this on demand unit so we’ll let you know how we make out (fingers crossed). It’s standard equipment with no other option available so we really had no other choice.

Check out Jayco’s 31FS page here with a 360 degree tour available:

https://www.jayco.com/products/class-c-motorhomes/2017-greyhawk/31fs/

Also feel free to check out our comprehensive 28 minute driveway walk through below:

That’s it for now. Besides the trip back from Albany towing the Jeep behind us, our experience is limited so far but we’ll be sure to update you as we go along. I am planning a few minor modifications as well and I’ll  post them up on this site in the weeks to come. Thanks for stopping by.

Traveling Terrells wishes  you a Healthy and a Happy New Year for 2017.  Please join us below for a brief review capturing our highlights from 2016.

We’re pleased to welcome George, our new 2017 Jayco Greyhawk 31FS class C motorhome, to our family. We’ve kind of kept under wraps but we had factory ordered it way back at the end of August. We’d quickly outgrown our 18 foot travel trailer and were on the quest for dedicated bunk space for our three kids. I looked into fifth wheels, Class A motorhomes, Super C motorhomes and even toy haulers in my quest but in the end I feel the the tried and true bunk house class C motorhome was the perfect fit for our family. We went with Jayco on account of their reputation for producing solid products as well as their two year warranty. It took about 12 weeks to manufacture and a couple more to ship as well as us finding the right window to pick it up three hours north of our house at Albany RV. Thanks to Sandy for making us a great deal and tracking George through his production process. My Dad and I picked it up and we’re pleased  that it actually did fit in the driveway as we had measured. Ironic how we used the Jeep to tow our old camper and now the new camper is actually towing the Jeep. Towing a vehicle (or toad) behind you is a great way to explore an area without having to break down camp each day as would be necessary if you’re using the motorhome for all your driving. The children love it! We spent most of yesterday hanging out in there playing and watching movies. They didn’t want to go back in the house! Check out the short video below for some quick shots of our new Greyhawk.

I plan to post more videos in the coming months to walk you through the Greyhawk 31FS as well as some enhancements we have planned to get him ready for this summer so make sure you stay tuned you our site to catch all of those. Thanks for stopping by.