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[Gerrit 'tHart]

Hi everyone.
New on this forum.
I have a couple of questions to ask concerning Jayco Expandas. We have had two Jayco camper trailers over a period of 25 plus years and have been very happy with them. Now that we are getting a bit longer in the tooth (70) we have decided to upgrade to a pop-top caravan. There are a number of reasons for this including having a shower and toilet on board and also not having to do do the set up thing any more. We like the idea of an Expanda partly as we would like to store the van in our garage (8 metre deep and the opening is 2440mm high), and partly because you appear to get much more sitting room inside than with an ordinary van.

So my questions are:

1 Is there a problem with getting the bed wet if packing up in or just after rain?

2 Can the bed remain made when packing up or do you have to strip it every time you move?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

 

[chartrock]

G'day and welcome @Gerrit 'tHart. I don't think you are long in the tooth, but agree with you on the type of van. We are selling our 14-44-3 Outback van having had it for 4 years and travelled over a lot of this great country. We found this size great for two people and having a shower and toilet has allowed us to free camp anywhere we wanted to.

To answer your questions we (and a lot of other members) have canvas bed end replacing the Jayco supplied privacy screens which keeps the bed canvas dry. The hard lid also keeps the rain off to an extent. We have never had a problem packing up after rain.

Our bed stays made up even with an eggshell foam overlay. We just remove the pillows and then fold the bed up (we have a second latch on the bed, Jayco only fit one) and then tuck pillows into corners inside.

I am not sure about height as the shower has a skylight type vent on it so would have to measure it up but the length should be no problem.

Where abouts are you?

 

[Darrin]

Mate , I think I have the answers .The bed shouldn't get wet and you can leave the bed made but you need to stuff around with it a bit .We can only leave the topper on ours .There a bit of mucking around with putting the beds down and when the kids decide that they don't want to come anymore , out she goes , get a pop-top that's already ready to rock . We looked a one the other day a Journey it was called with all the bells an whistles .The least set up the better , mate , I hope this helps ,

Cheers

 

[jacbaz]

@Gerrit 'tHart ... the expandas are great vans, but just remember you need to climb over the other person to get in or out of bed (May not be an issue for you!!!) Our next van will be around 16 foot with an ensuite at the back and a full size bed. We have a hard lid van with a privacy screen and don't have any trouble with wet canvas - when packing up we take off the doona and pillows before we fold the bed in. We have also raised the box under the bed and had a new mattress made which folds in the middle when folding up - found the 3 piece mattress extremely uncomfortable. Good luck with your new van

 

[Colsar]

Hard lid expanda, no real dramas with rain, jayco now sell bed end covers if concerned.
Folding up , pillows and Donna off, store on the dinette.
Crawling over each other to get in or out of bed the only issue, but can live with it, if ur short I guess u could sleep across ways lol.

 

[dagree]

Welcome @Gerrit 'tHart
No need to answer your ?'s as everyone is saying the same as I would have

 

[Gerrit 'tHart]

Thanks everyone for your replies. We live in Albany and recently made a trip to Broome and back. Got caught in unseasonal rain at 80 Mile Beach and the canvas bed end blew in with the wind while setting up our Hawk. Result a wet bed. Not good. Had already been thinking about upgrading and this experience brings it closer. Presently we have an eggshell on our bed as the original mattresses supplied in the Hawk are too thin. We have no problem clamberiing over each other when getting into bed as we have done that for 25 years already

 

[Gerrit 'tHart]

Another question I forgot. Can someone please take a measuring tape to the front bed (queen size) and post me the result? Thanks.

 

[carpanda]

Welcome @Gerrit 'tHart, I'm new to the forumn, but what everyone else said

 

[ShaneT]

we just sold our swan and brought a basestation because we got hit by a storm that came through while staying at sandy cape. Bent all 4 roof legs and broke the clips that hold the bed roof poles.

 

[Darrin]

we just sold our swan and brought a basestation because we got hit by a storm that came through while staying at sandy cape. Bent all 4 roof legs and broke the clips that hold the bed roof poles.[/QUOTE
Shane ,we had the swan before the expanda as everyone seems to do , we went through somthing simular at hervey bay a few year ago , nothing bent though,just lucky mate