Jayco Dove

2010 Jayco dove- cheap fittings – Hi - is anyone having issues the same as me with their fittings inside newer model jayco camper trailers? My jayco Dove 2010 has ridiculous curtain attachments that don't slide along and are forever falling out of the slider pipe. The silver pop out cupboard and drawer handles are always stuck shut and won't open. And I hate the square short… Read more

water tap....

Not like the lovely old gooseneck style in my 1980 jayco Dove that pumped beautifully.

I've just installed an electric pump as it takes ages to get the water to come through.

PS. Very impressed with reply service from Jayco themselves advising where to buy new parts and fittings.

Pity the product is crap in the first place...

Things To Check Before You Buy a Jayco Dove – The Jayco Dove Outback we bought in 2014 had multiple problems. The most serious of these was leakage of flue gas from the fridge into the van. There were also a number of design and quality control issues, which are outlined in detail further in this review. If it were not for these issues we would be able to recommend the Dove. It is a good… Read more

size for either a couple on their own, or for a couple with two young children. It is relatively quick and easy to erect and take down, although in this regard someone without children might also consider the Penguin as a simpler alternative. The Dove is also lightweight and easy to tow.

Buy a Dove if it fits your needs. But do ensure that you check it over thoroughly before accepting delivery, and in particular check the fridge. Ensure you give the camper as much use as you can early in the warranty period to flush out problems for your dealer to fix.

Buying Our Dove

We ordered our new Jayco Dove Outback at the Melbourne Show in 2014, and collected it several months later. As we live in Tasmania our journey home involved an overnight ferry trip and several hours towing before we arrived back at our home.

Owing to various issues, that was to be the only trip the camper made for quite some time. In fact it spent a lengthy period under cover before we were finally able to head off on our first expedition in July 2016. This was a voyage over to the mainland, then a trek across the Nullarbor to WA and back again, a journey of 8 weeks covering over 10,000 kilometres.

Trip Preparation

A week before setting off we erected the Dove in order to install all of our supplies for the journey, as well as to check out the camper equipment. Unfortunately we had been a little bit optimistic in assuming that there would be no major problems, and we did find a few things which really should have been fixed by a dealer. As time did not permit this (we were booked on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry) we had to sort these problems out ourselves.

The first item was the perspex window in the camper door, which parted company with the door frame a couple of days after we put up the camper. As this was only held in situ by silicone sealant, we resealed it into the door frame, taping the window in place until the new sealant set. This repair however only held for another day or so before the sealant gave way again.

A careful inspection of the perspex window revealed that it had been cut several millimetres longer than the aperture into which it was supposed to fit, resulting in a slight outward bow in the perspex which was forcing out the sealant. We cut off 4 millimetres from one end of the perspex, and after this the window held in place when we resealed it a second time.

The next problem to show happened when we had heavy overnight rain. The flexible rubber seal between the body shell and the underside of the forward slide-out bed was cut a little too short, and this allowed rain to penetrate into the interior of the camper, soaking the dinette upholstery on the forward bench seat, as well as water staining the plywood of the bench and soaking the kit stored within the bench. The correct fix for this would have been to replace the seal in question, but again time did not permit this, and we settled for the expedient of making sure that the ends of the seal were packed out with a quantity of bubble wrap plastic whenever the beds were slid out.

The tubular steel braces which Jayco provide to support the canvas over the pull-out beds proved to be too long to insert into their retaining slots without using a lot of force and eventually this resulted in the plastic inserts at the end of the rods being forced out of place, as well as some distortion of the thin metal retaining slots. Shortening the rods by half an inch and fixing the plastic inserts back in place with epoxy resin fixed this problem.

On one particularly windy day the plastic flap covering the water tank filler and mains water hook-up was blown open by the wind, and forced back against its hinge, which promptly broke off. This happened because the latch which retains the flap in the closed position is a flimsy and tiny piece of plastic which is not fit for the purpose. Also the plastic sections of the hinge are not very strong, and breakages of these must be frequent. For the duration of our trip to WA we had to rely on duct tape to hold the water filler cover in place, a look which raised a few eyebrows!

Another thing which became apparent before we set off was a problem with the upholstery. This had looked good when we first put up the van, but after few days of normal usage whilst we loaded the camper with supplies and checked things out it had started to look loose and saggy.

We also discovered that Jayco had not fitted a drain cock to our fresh water tank. Given that the standard fitting on our Dove was a hand-pumped tap over the sink rather than an electric pump, it was not feasible to use the sink to flush out the water tank. We did manage to find time to fit our own drain cock to the tank before we set off, but this really should come as a standard fitting. Nobody should have to use 'fresh' water which has stagnated in a plastic tank over winter!

On the Road

Once our trip was underway we soon discovered a major issue with our fridge. Shortly after we started to run the fridge on gas we found that the stainless steel draining board adjacent to the fridge compartment was becoming very hot, and at times was too hot to touch. Also the drawers beneath the sink were very hot. It was obvious that exhaust flue gases from the rear of the fridge were escaping into the compartment housing the sink unit, and from there were finding their way into the interior of the van. We had not discovered this safety issue whilst making preparations for our trip, as we had only ever run the fridge on gas for very short periods at that time, having relied upon our mains hook-up to power the fridge.

We had taken the precaution of carrying a carbon monoxide metering and alarm unit with us, which is a safety measure which anyone using gas appliances in confined spaces such as caravans and boats should adopt. Although this confirmed that the level of carbon monoxide in the camper was not at danger levels, we nevertheless did not feel confident enough to leave the fridge running on gas overnight at any point during our trip. It is not surprising that the fridge was not producing high levels of monoxide, as it was effectively brand new, having not been used much since we bought the camper. As gas equipment ages, however, there is a risk that levels of carbon monoxide can rise, with potentially lethal results.

We were not able to check the cause of the flue gas leakage until the end of our trip, but when we did it was discovered that the bulkhead separating the fridge compartment from the sink compartment stopped short of the underside of the bench top, and the foam seal fitted at the top of the bulkead was not thick enough to seal the gap, leaving a half inch residual gap through which fumes could leak.

Whilst free camping as we crossed the Nularbor we encountered another significant issue – something we referred to as 'indoor rain'. The canvas over the roof of the pull-out beds is covered in a material which appears to be vinyl. This is very effective at making the canvas rain and storm proof, but unfortunately turned out to be equally effective at generating internal condensation. During the course of the night large droplets of water would build up on the underside of the roof canvas, and eventually cover most of the surface of the roof. These would normally drip slowly onto our mattress, pillows and bedding, but on windy nights the rippling of the roof canvas could bring down whole cascades of droplets. Our first task on most mornings was to spend ten minutes drying the canvas roof with a sponge and towel.

Whilst this phenomenon occurred at night when the external temperature was falling, it was not confined to especially cold nights. We discovered that what governed the effect was the difference between the minimum overnight temperature and the 'dew point' temperature. Unless the weather forecast was for a minimum temperature which was at least 2 or 3 degrees above dew point, the condensation would occur. This could happen on even relatively mild nights with external temperatures falling no lower than 14 or 15 degrees. Sleeping with the roof vent and several windows open made no discernible difference to the levels of condensation.

We had not purchased fly sheets at the time we bought the Dove, as we figured that these would involve a fair amount of extra work when setting up the camper and packing it away, and this would have been inconvenient as we planned on doing a lot of traveling. In view of the indoor rain problem we had second thoughts on this and bought canvas fly sheets from a store en route. These however proved to be ineffective at reducing the condensation. The only measure which really helped was to run an electric heater overnight on occasions when we had a power hook-up.

Setting up the camper at the end of each day's travel was relatively straightforward, and was a fairly quick process. One issue in this regard was inserting the tubular steel struts which support the underside of the pull-out beds. The beds are quite heavy, and lifting them one handed whilst inserting the struts is tricky unless you are built like Arnold Schwarzenegger, which means that normally this is a two person operation. Fortunately I am quite tall and was able to get my shoulder beneath the bed and use leg muscles to raise it, but anyone under 6 foot tall would find this difficult. (This is probably less of an issue with the standard Dove camper, as the Outback version adds a lot of extra ground clearance, which means the underside of the beds are higher.)

The top half of the camper door is folded upwards and clipped to the underside of the roof when towing the unit. This is quite heavy to manoeuvre with one hand (you need the other hand to operate the retaining turnbuckles), so again this is probably best done as a two person operation.

The door on our unit had been a bit tricky to lock into the closed position since we set out, and we found that on windy days it had a tendency to blow open. Checking this revealed that the striker plate for the door latch was held in place by internal domed head screws rather than countersunk screws, and these were preventing the latch from fully engaging with the striker plate. We removed these screws and epoxied the striker plate in position, which solved the problem.

Biblical Flood

The most dramatic experience of our trip occurred whilst setting up on a hard standing near Geraldton. I connected our water hosepipe from the stand pipe tap to our fresh water inlet spigot, then proceeded to unwind and connect our mains power hook up and grey water drain pipe. After completing these tasks I opened the camper door to be greeted by the sight of the entire floor surface swimming in water which was flowing out from beneath the forward bench seat.

The cause of this flood was the internal push-fit coupling that connects the rear of the spigot to the plastic filler pipe which leads to the main water storage tank. This had simply blown off under mains water pressure. The resulting high pressure spray into the inside of the bench seat soaked all of our books and clothes which were stowed within the bench. We spent the rest of the day drying out all this gear, as well as the floor of the camper, including areas under drawers and in cupboards.

A possible cause of this flooding may have been incorrect installation of the spigot coupling. This has a screw fit at one end, to connect to the rear of the spigot, and a push fit coupling at the other end to connect to the internal plastic water pipe. The best way of installing these is to connect the screw-fit end first, and when this is secure to connect the push-fit end. Installing the push-fit joint first means that this is subject to several rotations when the screw-fit end is subsequently connected, which can weaken the grip of the joint.

We cut an inch off the end of the plastic water pipe and remade the push-fit joint, and after that had no further leakage problems for the remainder of our trip.

A Windy Day at Venus Bay

On our way back from WA we spent three days at Venus Bay, a beautiful spot which is very popular with fishermen, with a resident population of pelicans which gather around whenever anyone is cleaning their catch. The weather on the first two days was very good, but this turned to gale force winds on the third day. As we had a pitch right on the shoreline we caught the full force of this weather, and as a precaution we wound up the awning and ran guy ropes out from each corner of the camper roof. This is not something you need to do during normal weather.

With the guy ropes in place the Dove stood up very well to the stormy winds which blew all day. This was a relief to us, as we had previously had a bad experience in the camper we had owned before the Dove. That was a Casuarina Camper, and at one stopover in Broken Hill storm winds badly damaged the internal tent poles despite our use of multiple guy ropes.

Last Word

The Dove is a practical design in many ways, and it is therefore a pity there were so many problems with it. Foremost, Jayco need to tackle the fridge issue.

Postscript

A copy of this review was sent to the Jayco management team for comment.

They inform me that the issues have been passed on to their Production Manager for camper products, and that modifications have recently been introduced to fit high pressure clips to the fresh water supply coupling. They also advise that it is important to have all gas appliances checked for safe operation at regular intervals.

Rebuild and love it – Brought an old 1985 Jayco Dove Outback as a shell, Completely rebuilt it. New bed ends, new roof, new floor, re designed the inside to be more practical, New canvas. We absolutely love it. Jayco in Brisbane helped with all the parts and were a pleasure to deal with. I have read a lot of negative reviews about the newer Jayco's so i can't comment… Read more

on them. All i know is the old girl we have is great. We sleep 6 in it quite comfortably. Shower, Potty, sink, pantry, club dinette. Lots of work and long hours in thought, but if your handy then you will really get a kick out of the rebuild.

Very happy with my 2010 Jayco Outback Dove Great camper, excellent value for money – Bought it in December 2015, we are the second owners. Had a 2005 Jayco OB Eagle previously so was unconcerned about the negative reviews, given our very happy experiences with the Eagle. We had youngish children back then but now on our own. Our Dove represents excellent value for money. It has a number of options that provide for more… Read more

versatility, particularly for free camping. We have been in it on powered sites and free camping for three day weekends once a month and two, four - five day trips as well in this time. We have experienced great weather and terrible weather. We've had 40 deg days and negative 1 days. We have had beautiful sunshine and quite substantial rain, wind and storms. No leaks, no issues. It is not an expensive caravan/camper so you must compare apples with apples...BUT, the camper is sufficiently suspended to allow you access to most (not all) 'out of the way' locations, it is comfortable with necessary comforts, gives you a lovely combination of feeling like you are in a tent but off the ground, high, dry, secure and fairly spacious. You do have to pack sensibly, the fridge does need a fan to keep it cool, but it (and everything else) has worked every time and efficiently either on gas or 240 and maintains its cool when on 12V powered by my vehicle. Easy to tow, easy to park, fits in a standard garage keeping it out of the weather when not in use. Do yourself a favour, if you have old bulbs, change them to LED, get a Fiamma awning or similar. All in all our OB Dove's pluses far out way any negatives.

Fantastic value for money – We are just about to sell our Jayco Dove Outback 2010. We have used it for a couple of big road trips from Tassie to the Simpson and then up to Byron Bay with 2 teenagers, 2 adults and lots of gear and also on numerous camping trips in Tasie. Nothing but praise for these "Built To A Price Campers" Yes they suffer from some cheap plastic parts and… Read more

some inferior materials but for what you pay the whole system works very well and the resale price is good. We love our camping here in tAssie and the Dove works perfectly for us, my only wish is that we bought one 15 years ago when the kids where younger. it's a home away from from home, has great beds and I love looking out the window at the campfire after I go to bed? Bonnydoone on wheels! If you don't like tinkering and improving things, or you want perfection but don't want to pay the price for it then don't buy one. Happy camping!

Jayco Dove Outback 2013 – Atrocious buiild quality. Bought ours 18mths old and hardly used. Even had bed ends still originally folded and double mattress still in plastic cover. Immediately had issues with door popping open whilst sleeping, rivets in door hinge broken and falling out, velcro pulling off door both sides. WInding up has a huge clunk noise when winding up… Read more

(expecting some further issues there). Had it for about 6mths going to get rid of the problem and sell it. Will not buy another Jayco - No way.

2005 Jayco Dove – We recently bought a 2005 Jayco Dove. The previous owner had fitted it with a HWS and stainless steel shower stall. I upgraded the springs to Trojan 2000 kg, hooked it up to the car (2014 Mazda BT50) and off we went. What a gem this van is, I have lots of experience towing big trailers over long distances but you don't even know the Dove is on the… Read more

back. The 2 of us could get it set up, including the annex, in 35 minutes without rushing, packing up took about the same amount of time. It is a bit of a pain having to unhitch the van to get the front bed out although I imagine you could get away without doing so if you were towing it with a sedan rather than a ute fitted with a canopy. Our first trip was 7,000 k's, 1,000 of these was over dirt roads including the Birdsville track, dust proof? Not quite, but not that bad either, we just covered the bedding in plastic and it wasn't a problem.

In terms of comfort, the beds are great, we bought a couple of 12V fans from Jaycar (about $15 each) and even in the height of summer on the Birdsville track we had a comfortable nights sleep,

Overall the van performed flawlessly, like anything, treat it poorly and it will probably give you problems but look after it and you will have lots of fun.

I have a 2010 jayco dove outback. It couldn't stand this summers 40 deg wheather – The flimsy plastic on the roof top vetilation vent distorted badly, also the curtan tracts suffered to the extent that you could not close the curtans without using extreme force.I had to use a heat gun to open up the gap in the tracts so it would work again. The roof also has distortions and some of the edge trim is lifting off. The van is usable and works well. The quality of the plastic trims are perthetic.

Good – Overall, Knowing what I know now I would still buy one, but I would cover it better. The set out is great, like a boat, you buy it use it as much as you can then sell it and get most of your money back, It's all made well in a light weight sort of way, The canvas bits are holding up incredibly well, PS: Holiday romance is out of the question,… Read more ·  1

(with 2 kids in tow) but the wife thinks that makes for a good holiday, I purchased a 03 Jayco Dove in 05, Until now I have only praise for it, It's the perfect step up from on the ground camping, we bought it so we could sit out wet spells, and also take our Jack Russell along with us.It tows beautifully, it takes about 35 mins to set up,and every thing is loaded and ready at all times. The only draw back is a lack of places for clothes, we still live out of suitcases and there's really no where for them either. The tap is hopeless pumping from the tank I've not tried it hooked up to a garden hose Today I thought I would open it out as it's been closed for a few months over a very wet summer (with only a light car cover over it). Disaster!!! its been steadily leaking for some time now and will take some fairly major repairs if I want it back to perfect, the ceiling is mouldy with some strips of trim hanging off. Looks like I'm going to have to protect it better in future