Jayco Camper Trailer vs Caravan? [Pros and Cons]

We’ve had both a caravan and a Jayco Swan camper trailer… so a question I often get asked is: what’s better, a Jayco camper trailer vs caravan?

The reality is it comes down to pros and cons.

We swapped one for the other, and we haven’t regretted it once.

But that doesn’t mean a camper is better than a caravan.

It means we took a set of trade-offs that suit our family.

Because that’s really what this comes down to. Every advantage a camper trailer has comes with something you give up…

…and every one of those things you give up has a way around it.

Here’s ours:

1. Jayco campers are small in storage, big when they’re used

That’s the whole thing in one line.

A caravan is big all the time. Whether you’re using it or not.

Our Jayco Swan is only big when we need it to be.

Opened up we sleep a family of 5 plus the dog. Two double bed ends, the dinette, and a floor plan you can actually walk around in.

Packed down? It’s a box on a trailer.

[and that difference is the entire reason we made the switch]

2. Our Jayco camper fits under our carport

Our previous van was a Jayco Expanda.

It took up the ENTIRE driveway.

The Swan is low enough when it’s packed down that it slides under the carport:

I’m six foot one… and I’m taller than the camper when it’s packed up

That’s two wins, not one:

• The camper stays undercover. Out of the sun, out of the weather, all year
• We get our driveway back. The car parks there instead of on the street

NOTE: Measure your carport before you get excited. Travel heights vary between Jayco models and years.

3. You might not need a bigger tow vehicle with a Jayco Camper

This one cost us money to learn.

We had a Nissan X-Trail. Braked towing capacity of 2,000kg.

Then we bought the Expanda… and had to upgrade to a Pajero.

Our 2014 Jayco Swan Outback?

TARE 1,362kg. GTM 1,520kg. ATM 1,662kg.

Under the X-Trail’s limit.

Had we bought the Swan from the start, we wouldn’t have needed to change cars at all.

[we still have a Pajero… but that’s a nice problem to have]

NOTE: These figures are from a dealer listing for a 2014 Swan Outback. Weights change between years and models, so check your own compliance plate. Don’t take my word for it.

The difference towing is just as noticeable. The Expanda was constantly on my mind.

The Swan feels like towing a small trailer.

Read: How Much Weight Can My Car Legally Tow?

Now for the other side of the ledger.

4. There’s more to set up and pack up with Jayco camper trailer vs caravan

There’s no getting around this one. A caravan you park, level, and you’re in.

Our set-up checklist runs to 18 steps. The pack-up is 23.

But here’s the thing:

It’s a learning curve, not a time cost.

Our very first set-up took a couple of hours. Not because it’s hard — because we were:

– Pulling things out just to get them out of the way
– Doing steps in the wrong order
– Setting up an awning without knowing if we needed it
– Messing about with ropes and poles
– Putting things away in cupboards we’d have to open again

Now?

15-20 minutes for a standard set-up. One person.

About 25 with the bed end flys on. Another 5-10 if we’re putting up a bag awning.

[the roll-out awning takes about 30 seconds]

Once you’ve done it a handful of times and you’re working off a checklist, that’s competitive with any van.

Read: Jayco Camper Trailer Checklists [Set-Up and Pack-Up]

Read: 9 Tips To Save Time Setting Up Your Jayco Camper Trailer

5. There are more moving parts on a Jayco camper trailer vs caravan… so more breaks

A camper trailer has cables, winches, hockey sticks, bed saddles, turnbuttons and latches that a caravan simply doesn’t have.

Things break.

Our main winch cable snapped.

But this is where it gets interesting, because I fixed it myself:

As a one person job. For less than $15. And without lifting the roof.

$4.32 for 5mm stainless cable and $7.82 for a packet of swages. From Bunnings.

Jayco even help you out here. The eye bolts in the lifting system are deliberately open, not welded:

They’re fuses.

They’re designed to be the thing that gives way, because an eye bolt you can replace at the campsite for $1.73…

…and a snapped cable you can’t.

The trade-off isn’t “things break.” It’s “things break, and you carry a small box of cheap parts.”

Read: Our Jayco Camper Spare Parts List [13 Essential Items]

6. The canvas on a Jayco camper doesn’t hold heat like a caravan wall does

Honestly, in a Jayco camper it feels like the inside settles at whatever the temperature is outside.

I can’t prove that. It’s just how it feels.

The first night in the Swan the cold coming up through the slide-out beds was VERY noticeable.

But every bit of that is fixable:

• Thermal EVA foam bed rolls. From Kmart, under the mattress, silver side up. Cheapest fix there is
• A memory foam mattress topper. A double fits the Swan’s “Queen” bed and adds 5cm
• Bed end flys. The air gap does the insulating
• Marine carpet. AMASSIVE difference underfoot, and it lifts out and hoses off
• Corflute between the canvas and the bed frame. Two 2.4m x 1.2m sheets are about $12 from Bunnings, and each one makes 3 strips
• A diesel heater. About $100 to $200 off eBay

That last one was the single biggest difference we’ve made. In the Flinders Ranges it turned the camper into a different thing entirely.

[the instructions were rubbish, but the install wasn’t hard]

Read: 7 Tips to Keep Your Jayco Camper Trailer Warmer in Winter

7. Packing up wet is a thing… but not the thing you’d expect

It’s not just rain.

Autumn and spring mornings can be beautiful and sunny, and the canvas is still soaked with condensation.

If you pack it away damp, it goes mouldy.

Here’s the part most people get wrong though.

Without bed end flys, the wet canvas gets folded down ON TOP of your mattress. So now your mattress and your bedding are wet too, unless you’re mucking about with tarps.

With bed end flys?

You pack the bed away underneath them. Everything underneath stays dry.

Then the flys come off last.

Yes, the flys are wet. But that’s one small thing to dry at home instead of a mattress, bedding and a wall of canvas.

Read: Bed End Fly Modification For Jayco Swan Camper Trailer (Our Review)

8. Jayco campers often need a second set-up at home

This is the one nobody warns you about.

If there’s any moisture in the canvas, the camper goes up in the driveway when you get home. It doesn’t get packed away until I’m confident it’s completely dry.

But to be honest?

We’d be opening it up anyway.

The bedding has to come out and get washed [we’ve got kids], and then it has to go back in and the beds get remade.

So it’s less that we HAVE to open it up…

…and more that we WANT to.

Because once that’s done, it’s sitting there packed and ready. Which means when an impromptu trip comes up, we just hitch up and go.

9. Mould is the thing you’re always managing with Jayco campers

I’ll be straight with you: we haven’t had a mould problem.

That’s not luck. It’s the routine above, plus a bit of insurance.

Belt and braces:

1. Set it up at home and dry it out completely before it gets packed away
2. Moisture absorbers in the camper while it’s stored (a few dollars from the supermarket)

The absorbers catch whatever I’ve missed, and whatever the humidity brings while it’s sitting there.

Summary: Jayco camper trailer vs caravan?

For our family, at this stage, the trade-off is worth it.

Small in storage, big when it’s used. That’s the deal, and everything else is the price of it.

But a camper trailer isn’t better than a caravan. It’s different.

If you want to pull up at 9 pm in the rain and be inside in 2 minutes? Get a van.

Camp mostly in the wet? Get a van.

Storage isn’t a problem and your tow vehicle isn’t a problem? Get a van.

But if you’re looking at your driveway and doing the maths?

Have a look at a camper.

Read: Buying a Jayco Camper Trailer: 23 Things To Look For [Checklist]