Our new 2018 Imagine 2800BH is finally home!

[Thorvald]

Well after what seemed like an eternity waiting two weeks for the pickup, she is finally home. Here are some quick pics from the pickup yesterday:

Before with the old trailer:




Now the new!




(Man I wish I had land to have a "shop" like this in my yard. I'd have it full of toys in no time flat!)

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Still cannot believe the difference moving from our tiny Jayco 17z to this monster, we had over 10 people inside checking out the new toy for most of the night and had tons of room to move around. Loved it. She towed great as well and no issue with the Hemi, tons of power left (but not gas milage lol).

As they say, let the "mods" begin (already have a big list written up lol).

Cheers
Tim

[Outdoorsman]

Nice looking setup you have there

[LCBoyer]

Congratulations! Welcome to our group!

[Thorvald]

All the Jayco trailers I've seen were flimsy and cheap.
Can you speak to this as a previous owner and how it compares to your new Grand Design?

Actually we got really lucky with that Jayfeather. It was well built “for a travel trailer” and didn’t give us any major issues. Granted it was a very small trailer and had pop-out beds so there wasn’t much inside to screw up.

We were actually looking at a new Jayco Whitehawk 29BH but we spent about two months driving around looking at trailers and have a brochure pile that is 4 inches thick! The Whitehawk was awesome, had the fireplace, big bunks with rounded corners instead of the 45 degree cutout and a door for the bottom of the storage area under the bunk. The only issue was it’s weight. It was a little too heavy (on paper) for what my truck could do by the numbers (payload not towing) and we could not find the exact model we wanted in stock anywhere so it would have to be built. The front windshield was amazing.

Then we found another Jayco with dual bathrooms (master and half-bath in back) but otherwise same double bunk layout. It again was great and actually looked solid for a Jayfeather but was STUPID heavy when loaded up, GVWR was around 9500 but unloaded was only 7300. It had a number of other issues though like a shore power card that was not removable (big issue for us, we hate stuffing that think in the side when packing up).

There is one thing about Jayco, they build them FAST... so if you get a bad day, you get a disaster. You also find all kinds of things around them when you pick them up and drive for a little while. Screws appear out of nowhere, sawdust comes out of the roof into all the lights (common for all though) and plumping is famously not tightened properly. Almost all of Elkhart is based on Piece Work which is a horrible way to make things.

Another we looked at was the Kodiak Ultimate which for the price had it all, auto level, fireplace, MyRV / InCommand tablet setup but in reading the forums there were just too many people with roof/leak issues. Then we found an awesome Coachmen Apex that again had it all and was really light. Wife came down to check it out after I gushed about it for days and all she did was go inside and sit in the dinette and promptly smashed her knees against the wheel well!!!! The idiots designed the trailer with the wheel well IN the dinette. It could only sit two people really! Then we found the bathroom had water on the floor behind the toilet, the bottom of the rear bunks had fallen off (they glued the plywood onto the frame instead of screws)... so that one was a write off.

We also really liked the Coachman 292BHDSLE with the full Liberty Edition/Maple Leaf Edition but no one had it in stock in basically all of Canada so I could not show the wife what it looked like in person.

A lot of trailers failed my spreadsheet “test” when they did not come with a roof ladder or it could not be added as an option. In digging further they almost all had a roof that was “not a walk on”. Anyone that builds a travel trailer MUST have a roof that can be walked on to inspect all the seals etc. When they don’t it tells me they have “skipped” on construction to lighten the roof and it’s a disaster waiting to happen. We had found an awesome huge Vibe Extreme with all the toys that could be towed no problem but they we found the roof/ladder issue and it was immeadiately off our list.

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The funny part of all this is we have a friend that has a 2017 GD Imagine 2800BH (single side door only) and we LOVED the damn thing when we went camping together. We even had a thanksgiving dinner in it when it rained one time with a huge folding table inside and fed 10 people sitting down. Crazy. However we didn’t initially want to get one of the same but after looking around nothing could beat the insanely low tongue weight and loaded GVWR of the Grand Design WITH all the features and richness/quality inside. The docking station is a huge feature for me. I wish it had an outdoor sink in the kitchen and a fireplace option inside but otherwise very happy. I can fix most of that stuff.

Now that we have had it home for a day or so we are very happy, the upgrades over the 2017 were quite extensive after our friends came through it.

We planned to stick with Jayco for quite a while since it treated us so well and the dealers have LOTS of stock to choose from unlike others but I think GD may have “converted us”.

Cheers
Tim

PS. If you want to see a real horror story, go watch Jayco’s own factory construction video on YouTube. They show the workers actually running around the plant floor and running nail guns like a raw recruit getting his hands on a C9 LMG for the first time (M249 Saw for you yanks). I can’t believe they would post that online and they are actually proud that they can produce an entire trailer in 7 hours! Scared the pants off of us after watching that!

[TangleMan]

That was a great writeup Thorvald.
Now I feel even better about the 2018 GD 2500 RL we purchased a month or so ago. It's being stored for the winter by the dealer in Alexandria, ON. I only got delivery of our F150 this week so I haven't spent more than a few hours in the unit. Looking forward to picking it up as soon as the snow melts. We plan on traveling to British Columbia late May - spending 6-weeks or so roaming western Canada.

[Thorvald]

Wow now that’s a trip. We’ll do the same one day but likely not till we are retired or if we can actually get a few weeks off in a row. Our is likely going to storage later today as the snow just hit again grrrr. Mine was built in October so I was hoping it would never ever see snow but it’s been dumped on twice now lol.

Looks like we’ll both be waiting patiently for spring together! My mod list is already almost two pages long lol but will have to wait to start them.

Did you get the F150 with the max payload package as well as the max tow? That thing is a beast with the max payload pkg.

[TangleMan]

I'm just starting my list.
I have the Platinum with the max tow package- 350 - only learned about the max payload on this site about a week ago. No one at the dealership even mentioned it as an option - I'm was told this is one of Ford's best kept secrets! Most of the time it will only be my wife travelling so I think I'm fine on payload.

[Thorvald]

Well that was short lived. The snow just kept coming so had to climb up on the roof and sweep it all off of the rood and pop-out and then pack her up to be stored for the winter.

Good omen though, we we brought her to the place we always store for the winter, another person had upgraded and bought a nice Grand Design Reflection! So now they are both "snuggled" up together for the winter lol.



Cheers
Tim

[Chiefblueman]

Thorvald, congrats on your new 2800BH. Nice looking rig. Sure wish I could find/afford covered storage.

We also had a Jayco prior to our Grand Design. It was a 29N, about 32ft overall with one slide. Although it lacked amenities compared to our new condo on wheels, it was a great trailer and served us very well for 10 years. It had a UVW of just over 5100lbs and came from Jayco with Mor Ryde independent suspension. Towed like a dream. Had one tiny plumbing leak that was fixed by tightening a clamp and some loose screws here and there. Never a roof leak, everything worked as it should. Heck, even the tank sensors still worked when we traded her in. When we took it to the dealer to trade it in they sold the darn thing before we were done with the PDI on our new trailer. It hadn't even been disconnected from our truck yet!

Happy trails in that new rig!

[Outdoorsman]

What WD hitch do you have? Our 2800BH just arrived and supposed to pick it up Saturday. I'm also trying to get a RAM 1500 EcoDiesel bought to tow it.