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 Topic: Stress cracks on caravan panels
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23/5/2016 at 12:32pm
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser
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It seems that many brands of caravan have issues with stress cracks on ABS and GRP panels and this includes some top of the range models. At the moment the only exception seems to be Lunar, but this may change. What is puzzling on some brands the issues relating to cracked panels is 3 - 4 years old or even more in some cases.
Various opinions have been expressed by different posters on caravan forums but there seems to be no conclusive answer and manufacturers are not helping either. If we had a stress crack. I think it would be nice to be informed why it has happened and what the dealer or manufacturer are doing to rectify the issue. This applies to all caravan manufacturers. We would accept a proper long lasting repair to be done to rectify it however if the fault reoccurred within 18 - 24 months we would feel quite miffed considereing that one pays in excess of 20K for most caravans. At 20K I would expect a caravan to last at least 10 years or more if serviced regularly.
However I am still wondering why so many brands have this stress related cracks on caravans and with some manufacturers blaming potholes in the road. Surely when designing a caravan this is taken into account and also when testing a caravan on various circuits?
PS We do not have an issue with stress cracks on our current caravan, but it is a concern if deciding to buy a new caravan.
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23/5/2016 at 12:41pm
Location: Essex
Outfit: Lunar Delta TS 2017
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Swift being one of them, vans going back to 2012 cracking on the rear panel at the top, they seem to be fitting caps on each corner as I suppose a whole new rear panel is a expensive repair and back to the factory for a while.
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Claire and Colin
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23/5/2016 at 1:20pm
Location: Near Alton Towers
Outfit: Bailey Burgundy S7 H
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I remember back in the late 2000s that loads of stress fractures eminating from the fixing screw holes caused huge amounts of warranty claims and expensive repairs sometimes more than once. The problem seemed to stem from the fact that the fixing holes were made too small for the screws and over time cracks appeared because of it.
Dave.
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23/5/2016 at 5:41pm
Location: Sitingbourne
Outfit: baily champaign
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This was a manufacturer wide problem around 2004 0n .Most manufacturers bought panels from the same supplier (who went out of business) the panels were reportedly supplied without fixing holes.Some manufacturers fitted the panel by simply driving the screw through the plastic Or did not drill holes with sufficient clearance . this resulted in a heavy demand on the manufacturers warranty's due to stress cracking, & I suspect the reason Bailey came up with their Alutec design which did away with ABS front & rear panels .Other manufacturers simply wrote out cracking of panels from their warranty ,& carried on using ABS panels
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05/7/2017 at 10:55pm
Location: Essex
Outfit: Fiat Ducato 3.0 Autotrail Mohican
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My 2014 Elddis 574 has cracks on front and rear panels, it's on the waiting list to go in for replacement panels, no quibbles at all with either the dealer or Elddis, it may delay our departure on our winter trip but nothing insurmountable. Not sure why it's happened though.
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15/7/2017 at 3:00pm
Location: Humberside
Outfit: Swift Elegance 565
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My SWIFT goes into a repair centre on Monday for an assessment to made on the splits at the top of the rear panels. I have also noticed stress cracks on the front panels too. They have not even seen the van yet but reckon it will have to go back to the factory, so why bother taking it to them in the first place.
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15/7/2017 at 6:19pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: None Entered
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the panels are built as light weight as they can be that is the real problem.. my 1994 avondale mayfly which gets taken over some atrocious single track roads quite often dosnt have any..
one day it might show signs of falling apart but it wont be from cracked panels..
trog
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16/7/2017 at 11:32am
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser
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We had cracks on the front panel and rear panel. Both were repaired however both developed cracks again and were then replaced. The front panel last about a month and then cracked in a different area to the two previous cracks. Caravan has now been rejected.
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28/7/2017 at 12:14am
Location: lincolnshire
Outfit: Bailey Pageant Burgundy +Kia Sorento
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I'm really surprised this is still happening. We have a 2007 Bailey, had to have a replacement front panel after the first year and then a crack of about 3 inches appeared in the back panel at the top in the third year. This was also replaced. Although it was done under warranty it made me loose all confidence in the industry and we will never have another new caravan.
We always had old vans in the past, we saved hard for this one and it should have been a very exciting time having a new one but there were other issues throughout the first year, it was very dissapointing to say the least.
I feel for those people who bought used and then got cracks and the vans werent under warranty.
Our crack at the back was also on the top corner on the curve but the off side.
Post last edited on 28/07/2017 00:19:16
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26/1/2018 at 10:34am
Location: Essex
Outfit: Fiat Ducato 3.0 Autotrail Mohican
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The cracks on mine were no more than an inch long and came out at 90 degrees from the awning rail at window level, certainly had no effect on the panel as a whole.
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