Caravan review: Jayco Basestation Toy Hauler 19.61-7

Fitting bulky objects inside a conventional caravan is a real challenge due to limited space and regular-sized doorways. The Jayco Basestation solves both of these problems by adding a huge garage and enormous rear-opening doorway that will accommodate all sorts of stuff. The van is quite utilitarian in nature with rubber mats for floor coverings and very basic living quarters which makes it just about perfect for its intended purpose.

I am an old dirt bike rider from way back, so when I got the chance to spend a few days having a good look at the Jayco Basestation Toy Hauler I jumped at it. We have some cool photos showing it in ‘dirt bike mode’ but I should stress the van’s applications are far broader. I see the Basestation as almost the utopia of utilitarian vans, featuring a mobile garage which is great for storing and transporting just about anything you can imagine. 

Let’s jump straight into liveability and functionality because that’s what’s so appealing about this van. The rear compartment is a bedroom, a living room and a garage all in one. The Basestation comes standard with two hinged beds that fold up or down very easily. When they are folded down you have two nice single beds and with two comfy bolster cushions supplied. The beds also readily convert into two lounges. Simply drop in the supplied table and voilà, you have a decent-sized dining area. When the bolster cushions are not in use, they are quite bulky things without a specific place to store them. I would consider stowing them on top of the front bed. The table has a designated storage spot at the front of the garage with a simple retention latch. The liveability of the rear garage/sleeping and dining area is enhanced with a nice-sized window and a decent overhead storage compartment running along each side wall. 

The garage has an expansive floor space of 2.34m long x 2.25m wide (7ft 7in x 7ft 4in). Some of the width is taken up by the beds in the folded position but there was plenty of room for two motorbikes. 

Alternate applications that come to mind for the space, especially for people looking to make a living on the road, are to use it as a mobile office or light-duty workshop. More obvious uses include carrying bicycles, small kayaks or assorted beach gear. I reckon it is an ideal setup for a no-fuss, stress-free van to take the kids on short holidays. If the kids walk sand throughout the van or drop breadcrumbs everywhere, who cares — just sweep it out the back or, if you’re into gadgets, hit it with a little portable battery-powered blower. 

I specifically say short holidays because the up-and-down nature of the beds means the occupants don’t get the luxury of their own dedicated space. The other consideration is you need to move your toys out of the van to set up the beds or dining area. This can provide a security risk at campsite or as a minimum your stuff is now exposed to the weather. The beneficial flipside is that when you are in transit your stuff is far more secure and weatherproof compared to the traditional method of transporting it in an open trailer. I know from personal experience it’s a very uncomfortable feeling leaving motorbikes or kayaks unattended in an open trailer when you stop in a town. 

But this is where I am conflicted. I am not that keen on sleeping in or even spending much time in a van exposed to petrol fumes. Older carburetted bikes tend to leak a bit of fuel out of overflow hoses while bouncing around in a trailer and all motorbikes will vent vapours to atmosphere when the fuel expands in the tank. I know plenty of people don’t worry about the vapours, I just don’t think it is for me. 

The floor has a practical nonslip rubber mat surface with multiple recessed tie-down points. These are great for securing all sorts of cargo, but you would need to mount dedicated motorbike wheel channels to the floor to keep a motorbike in position in transit. 

The front section of the van is compact and functional. Everything is designed to save space to enjoy the benefits of the substantial garage. The east–west bed along the front wall trades off ease of access for a small footprint. Similarly, the combination shower/toilet does the job in the least amount of space. A tiny corner kitchen accommodates a Thetford four-burner gas cooktop with a griller and oven and a little sink with limited bench space. Thankfully, the Thetford fridge (224L) and Sphere microwave (25L) are both decent sizes to help feed hungry hordes. A Dometic FreshJet Pro reverse cycle air conditioner takes care of heating and cooling duties. Conventional storage robes and overhead lockers are squeezed in but don’t provide overly abundant storage — but hey, you can’t have it all when you have such a huge space out the back. 

Good external living functionality can be distilled down to the capacity to prepare and enjoy meals outside. The electric awning will see caravanners well protected from the elements. Electric awnings are becoming more commonplace, and I think that is a good thing as they are so much more user-friendly than traditional manual roll-out awnings. An interesting compromise of including a huge rear garage is that it prevents the possibility of external access storage hatches you often see in conventional vans. This would explain why there is no dedicated slide-out kitchen in the Basestation. But if you do want to add a portable barbecue, you can make room in the toolbox on the A-frame or in the tunnel boot that runs underneath the east–west bed up front. 

A big upside to the garage is the capacity to create a very different indoor/outdoor open-living feeling when you open the huge rear door — not something you can achieve in a typical caravan design. The door has two modes: it can be dropped all the way down to act as a direct access ramp to move your toys in and out and it can be hung in a horizontal position to act as a cute patio. In ‘patio mode’ the door has a load rating of 350kg — just for perspective, four 80kg people = 320kg and four 100kg people = 400kg. It’s best to park the van on level ground or even look for a spot with a bit of a bump to minimise the step down to the ground. The drop is far enough you would need to keep an eye on toddlers. Like all good indoor/outdoor areas the door opening has a giant insect screen to keep the bugs at bay.

By contemporary standards, the Jayco Basestation has a very regular off-grid setup. Two 120Ah lithium batteries give you reasonable power to run 12V appliances but limited capability to run 240V appliances. The van does not come with an inverter but if you added one you would be looking at smaller tasks such as charging laptops rather than trying to run the whole van. Three roof-mounted twin-cell 200W solar panels are a good energy input to match the battery storage capacity. Gas remains an important power source for cooking given the amount of electrical power available and the regulation twin 9kg gas bottles do the job. The 190L of freshwater and 95L greywater capacity is also very regulation.

If you want some advice on off-grid power management, check out this article. 

Even though the Basestation is a bit of a unicorn it is built to the same conventions as other Jayco vans and features quality materials. It uses the same Jayco-designed and in-house fabricated Endurance 2.0 chassis found across the range. The main rails and A-frame are substantial 150mm x 50mm (6in x 2in) RHS steel. Additional rails feature cutouts to minimise weight. Jayco has developed its own trailing arm independent suspension first launched in 2014. The current iteration is known as JTECH 2.0 and we have seen it in service on many, many vans.

Jayco also builds its own one-piece walls and roofs. Inside the wall is a welded aluminium frame marketed as Tough Frame. A fibreglass skin, outer and inner ply along with polystyrene insulation is then laminated to the frame in a vacuum press. Jayco's skilled specialists tell us it is both stronger and lighter than the conventional ‘timber and tin’ aluminium-clad walls and provides great thermal and acoustic insulation, plus peace of mind that it's up to the task of battling tough Australian conditions. 

Also conventional is the Cruisemaster DO35 hitch seen on the vast majority of offroad models built in this country — Jayco or not. Sway control is performed by Lippert products which have been a mainstay with Jayco in recent years.

Generally, Jayco does a pretty good job of keeping its van weights down and the Basestation is no exception with a tare weight of 2510kg. You could argue weight savings in this instance come from the big box in the back being predominantly empty but that’s the whole point. An ATM of 3260kg gives you a 750kg payload to play with and it wouldn’t be hard to use it all if you were carting motorcycles.

Two lighter full-sized dirt bikes and some riding gear could easily come to 300kg. Filling up the two 95L freshwater tanks adds another 190kg bringing you up to 490kg leaving 260kg for all your other stuff. However, if you squeezed in three heavier trail bikes with some riding gear you could easily get to 450kg and 610kg with two full tanks of water, leaving just 140kg. 

Keep in mind, I reckon this van is great for many more applications than motorcycles. If you had a few bicycles in the back, you would have plenty of payload left up your sleeve. The bottom line is the 750kg is doable if you are mindful of what you pack.

The 3260kg ATM is a very comfortable proposition for the big Ford F-150 used for towing duties and a good match for the better 3.5T twin cab utes with higher GVMs and GCMs.

We've put together a guide to help you choose the best dual cab ute for towing — click here to check it out. 

I like the Jayco Basestation a lot. When I reflect on the kinds of school holiday adventures that we took our kids on when they were younger, I think this van would have been ideal and a real kid-pleaser with its simple, functional design ready to bring along whatever items made things fun — from surfboards to bicycles. Now as my wife and I approach grey nomad status, I can still see a lot of appeal. The garage would make a great space to have a decent-sized desk to set up a computer and work on the road and still have plenty of room to secure some premium bicycles I would rather not leave exposed to the weather or thieves. 

Pros

• A versatile garage space lends itself to a multitude of applications
• The front living quarters make great use of the space, ensuring there’s plenty of room for the garage
• You get a sensible 3260kg ATM and 750kg payload

Cons

• If you transport motorbikes, you will be exposed to residual fuel odour

VALUE FOR MONEY
Another example of Jayco hitting the value target

TOWABILITY
An ATM of 3260kg and 750kg payload are good numbers to work with

SUITABILITY FOR INTENDED TOURING
Great for bringing your toys with you, as long you understand you will be carting them in and out if you also plan to use the garage as a living or sleeping area

BUILD QUALITY
Like all manufacturers, sometimes we find little gripes with build quality but not on this example

LIVEABILITY
The front bedroom/kitchen/bathroom is compact and functional, and the rear compartment has endless possibilities

SELF SUFFICIENCY
The Basestation is on par for contemporary vans. Some may wish to bolster power with more sophisticated electrical systems

CUSTOMER CARE
Two-year manufacturing and five-year structural warranty coverage along with an extensive network of dealerships and service centres is reassuring

INNOVATION
Jayco launched the Toy Hauler concept many years ago and has gradually refined it over the years

X-FACTOR
So much potential to use this van in many different ways

Nil

Jayco Australia

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