Still considering our first 'van (another baby postponed purchase!). Back to considering choices.
Is there any brand that seems to attract a good rep for NOT being as likely to be subject to damp problems?
Looking to buy new and really like the Bailey Pegasus GT65range, but nervous about all of the damp issues I've read about on this forum. Are Swift or Elddis any better/worse? I've read that Elddis can be a nightmare when it comes to getting repair work approved. At least Bailey offer a 10yr extended warranty (we'd like to buy new and keep for a decent length of time).
Any advice, also, on Bailey dealerships in the South-East also appreciated....
We are now on our 11th caravan bought brand new over the years and have had all of the makes.Any problems that required sorting out with any of them, Swift have been the best with Bailey coming second.
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You read of less damp issues with Adrias it seems, partly because of their small market share, but they do seem to be pretty well stuck together in general.
Good warranty, and now much greater choice of service engineers
the adrias come with a 10 year water ingress warranty. but i have never heard anyone complain of damp in an adria,which is main reason we went for 1. just love the space and style of our new isonzo
Overheard a conversation at my local caravan dealer (Adria agent along with Swift and Bailey), staff were saying getting parts for Adrias was a nightmare.
------------- Camping Gear expands so as to fill the space available for its transportation.
To virtually eliminate the chance of damp buy a Hymer. Parts are not an issue, everything for my 11 yr old van is available to be delivered within a fortnight from Germany.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
These posts always come with the same responses. Swift owners recommend swift, adria....adria, Hymer....Hymer. I must admit I do like the idea of modern constrution methods that use no wood. Its wood that is the problem when damp occurs.
Only a tiny percentage of owners will have damp probs on newish caravans & then complaints are usually prompted by poor service from dealer. These are what you read about on internet forums.
Caravan construction methods have changed in the last few yrs which should make them less likely to get damp. All makes are much of a muchness, buy whatever you like within your price range.
heard from a bailey owner that upto 50 caravans a month go back to bailey to get damp repairs done,including his 2009 with floor delamination from a leaky cassette toilet door
Like in my post above ( here we go again), example, look at the post above, 50 caravans a month go back to bailey, are you seriously trying to suggest 600 caravans a year go back to bailey.
Try putting your hand in the fire, i heard that someone said it would not burn.
Weve been caravanning for over 40 years, had several different makes and never had a problem with damp,if someone gets damp or any problem with their van they post on forums like this one, they dont tend to write and say ive had my bailey or swift for 5 years and had no damp,unless replying to somebody who says all modern caravans leak.
What ever make you choose you are more likely to be lucky than unlucky,
Quote: Originally posted by kojack on 26/11/2014
Like in my post above ( here we go again), example, look at the post above, 50 caravans a month go back to bailey, are you seriously trying to suggest 600 caravans a year go back to bailey.
Try putting your hand in the fire, i heard that someone said it would not burn.
I would imagine its much higher than that to be honest. 50 a month across UK and how many Bailey caravans isn't huge as a percentage.
That is the point I made in my first post.
Not sure I agree at all that modern methods make caravans less likely to suffer damp or to leak. I think the new wood-less technology mean damp getting to structure of caravan unnoticed is much less likely to be a problem and do same damage it may previously have done.
Comes back to who has best quality control processes on the manufacturers production line IMO. If someone doesn't put right amount of sealant into a joint, no technology is going to rectify that.
As others have said buy the layout and quality you feel happy with, but do go over it with a fine toothcomb. I was shocked at some of the fit and finish on some new vans
After a quick google it would appear that Bailey deliver around 7000 caravans per yr. So nearly 9% of those going back to factory for damp repairs sounds a bit far fetched. Its possible there might be a spike of damp caravans due to a production fault, which once discovered would be rectified.
The threads about faulty new caravans are usually prompted by poor service from dealer & manufacturer, ie a failure to rectify those faults promptly or at all. The faults as described are often quite simple & if one took a different scenario of say a 15yr old caravan bought off ebay those same faults would be relatively easy diy but of course on a new caravan these faults should be rectified by one visit to the dealer workshop but often are not & relations between customer & dealer break down.
Quote: Originally posted by Screen2 on 26/11/2014
After a quick google it would appear that Bailey deliver around 7000 caravans per yr. So nearly 9% of those going back to factory for damp repairs sounds a bit far fetched. Its possible there might be a spike of damp caravans due to a production fault, which once discovered would be rectified.
The threads about faulty new caravans are usually prompted by poor service from dealer & manufacturer, ie a failure to rectify those faults promptly or at all. The faults as described are often quite simple & if one took a different scenario of say a 15yr old caravan bought off ebay those same faults would be relatively easy diy but of course on a new caravan these faults should be rectified by one visit to the dealer workshop but often are not & relations between customer & dealer break down.
Not the point - there are far more than 7000 Bailey caravans out there under warranty still, so 600 as a proportion of those as I said would not be huge.
Its not just external leakage issues either don't forget - unsealed and poorly designed showers for instance, push on water fittings leaking etc etc
However all of this is guess work on both our parts
There is at the moment a long running thread on SwiftTalk about massive condensation problems on the new Smart HT vans (or at least some of them)
With my own swift conqueror which now have had four years so far 7 out of 9 window rubbers replaced, 2 locker doors fell off, fridge broke,and thats about it really...