British caravans
Comments
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Well. we did our bit to shake up what we thought was the very poor build quality of UK vans, back in 2002 then at reassesment in 2008. On both ocassions the deal went to Hymer, but then I had not read that one CT member once camped next to a Hymer owner
who had damp issues.
However, hundreds of other members by now have camped next to us, so have camped next to Hymer owners who have had very
few problems. We have camped next to a few caravanners who have had problems and as a consequence asked about our Hymers.I am not convinced being German or British in itself is the issue, I worked making world leading British products, but here Hymer IMO in 2002 and in 2008 built structurally a better van than any mainstream UK van on offer at that time.
I like what Swift are doing but not convinced about some of the panel integrity issue I hear about and we are totally put off by the to us, stupidly low, payloads.
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Iv'e had four caravans, one from new bought in 2008, a Sprite with the big front window which Iv'e had replaced eight (8) times in eight years, seven at their expence and once at mine.
..Another problem that is still to be rectified by the Dutch manufacturer
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Iv'e had four caravans, one from new bought in 2008, a Sprite with the big front window which Iv'e had replaced eight (8) times in eight years, seven at their expence and once at mine.
..Another problem that is still to be rectified by the Dutch manufacturer
Yes, but which UK window maker is geting it right?
Sadly I don't think there is one left.
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Iv'e had four caravans, one from new bought in 2008, a Sprite with the big front window which Iv'e had replaced eight (8) times in eight years, seven at their expence and once at mine.
..Another problem that is still to be rectified by the Dutch manufacturer
Yes, but which UK window maker is geting it right?
Sadly I don't think there is one left.
..Thats why a lot of "complaints" about uk built LVs are off the mark, as the majority of things fitted are "imported" from the channel
Is the company that ever one goes to for replacements still in the uk (cannot remember name) EECO somthing?
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Ive had three autotrails and one autosleeper , ive ended up with a 2003 hymer caravan ,the furnishings and build ,are superior in the caravan to the four motorhomes altho the older cheyanne we had was pretty good , it just seems like the newer builds arent
as substantial
mind you the hymer weighs a ton and we had to buy a discovery to tow it albeit an old one lol but when i next buy a motorhome it will be a hymer (this is just my personal experience) cheers mrs bc :0 -
This is what is the (as mentioned several times) if we in the uk did not want all the latest "kit" and tow with less than a big 4x4,as continental vans tend to need ,with a less than UK spec,then the uk builders could use stronger materials to make them
as some think, less "flimsy" although Australians do not think so0 -
So to summarise British caravans are built to the highest possible standards. By craftsmen, not monkeys wielding mastic guns like Uzi's.
Any slight problems very rare are down to the purchaser demanding to much kit in too light a van. Presumably the manufacturers are to polite to tell the great British public that this is not a match made in heaven. Or some sort of dastardly plot by foreign
equipment suppliers0 -
The only problems with my British built Autotrail motorhome have come from Foreign manufactured parts, distorting windows, made by Polyplastic from Holland, and they still havnt completely solved the problem ! Leisure Battery failing early, Banner battery, from Germany.Boiler/heating failure, Truma, also from Germany. No, not all things from Foreign manufacturers are better. Never had any faults with Carver boilers/heaters, Electrolux 3 way fridges,made in Luton, before Dometic took over, Exide batteries(when they were made in the UK), we dont seem to make any component parts in the UK anymore ?
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The only problems with my British built Autotrail motorhome have come from Foreign manufactured parts, distorting windows, made by Polyplastic from Holland, and they still havnt completely solved the problem ! Leisure Battery failing early, Banner battery, from Germany.Boiler/heating failure, Truma, also from Germany. No, not all things from Foreign manufacturers are better. Never had any faults with Carver boilers/heaters, Electrolux 3 way fridges,made in Luton, before Dometic took over, Exide batteries(when they were made in the UK), we dont seem to make any component parts in the UK anymore ?
Write your comments here...
I'm tempted to ask if the demise of UK made components is in part due to vociferous criticism of all things British, to which manufacturers have bent, replacing reliable UK items with less reliable foreign ones. Here's a few examples which I have personal experience of;
Al-Ko LED lead fault from a German company
Shower mixer leak from an Italian company
Top locker plastic framing breakage from an Italian company
Omnivent controller failure from a Swedish company
Insufficient Dometic cooling in hot weather from a German company
leaking rear lights by Jokon, a German company
Headboard becoming slightly unstuck by Swift a U.K. company
A fluorescent top locker mood light recall and replacement FOC by Swift, manufacturer unknown
Caravan body leakage NIL and backed with a 10 year warranty. And hats off too, to our foreign made Alde, a Swedish company, heating which is a huge improvement on its predecessors, but doubtless classed as 'bling' when installed in British vans.
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Our 2014 Bailey Unicorn has just suffred a broken bed frame-its the tranverse bed which telescopes for day/night use. The sliding part has broken.
Bailey won't cover it as that part is out of warranty.
Pretty good for a £20K purchase?
£168 for the part plus labour. I have had 5 new Baileys yhis is the worst finished. They have now lost a loyal customer.
I will write to them but don't hold out much hope.
If the japanese or Koreans went into caravans it would shake up the industry. Just like it did the british car/motorcycle industry!
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What is annoying is that we really like the van, its comfortable and well equipped, but attention to detail not good.
If they are going to offer a warranty it should cover all the van. It has 6 year warranty against water ingress, and three years on most other fittings, not furniture and upholstery!
The bed frame is probably a bought in part, probably used on lots of caravans/motorhomes.
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Our 2014 Bailey Unicorn has just suffred a broken bed frame-its the tranverse bed which telescopes for day/night use. The sliding part has broken.
Bailey won't cover it as that part is out of warranty.
Pretty good for a £20K purchase?
£168 for the part plus labour. I have had 5 new Baileys yhis is the worst finished. They have now lost a loyal customer.
I will write to them but don't hold out much hope.
If the japanese or Koreans went into caravans it would shake up the industry. Just like it did the british car/motorcycle industry!
Write your comments here... Tell the dealer it was faulty manufacture and they are liable under The Sale of Goods Act and if you are not refunded you will raise a small claims action for recovery.
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Our 2014 Bailey Unicorn has just suffred a broken bed frame-its the tranverse bed which telescopes for day/night use. The sliding part has broken.
Bailey won't cover it as that part is out of warranty.
Pretty good for a £20K purchase?
£168 for the part plus labour. I have had 5 new Baileys yhis is the worst finished. They have now lost a loyal customer.
I will write to them but don't hold out much hope.
If the japanese or Koreans went into caravans it would shake up the industry. Just like it did the british car/motorcycle industry!
Write your comments here... Tell the dealer it was faulty manufacture and they are liable under The Sale of Goods Act and if you are not refunded you will raise a small claims action for recovery.
I has a simlar story from a dealer about 7 years ago. The caravan was over 3 years old. I told him that I cared not about manufacturers warranty as it was the dealer's problem. ... sorted
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Re: Heating current Hymer fitted with Alde heating and its great mainly because it can be set up on a timer a feature that a lot of people don't seem to use. However a friend with a very high end van had his Alde boiler corrode through It cost him almost
£2k to have the boiler reconditioned ( to be fair I think that reconditioning meant that Alde replaced almost every part). Whether the failure was due to a manufacturing, installation or maintainence fault I don't knowIt is without doubt a good system but still depends on installation. I remember looking at a caravan I think it was a Unicorn 2 which which had Alde heating installed, but when you looked in the under seat storage the concectors were just there so as
soon as you used the storage space for storage it would be inevitable that the delicate fins would be damaged, why could the covers be fitted to protect them? Why do some Manufacturers to this day insist on fitting in inferior circulation pump in expansion
tank if not to save a couple of quid?Ps
Previous Hymer had the much derided Truma Ultraheat system fitted. Couple of detail differences though, 1 the fire installed was the 5kW version not the 3kW version as invariably fitted to UK built vans and the hot air ducting was run internally, except
for a length of approx 1m that bridged the shower and that was insulated,Often it is not the parts it is the attention to detail when they are fitted
bloody fire cover still threw its self off at every opportunity though.
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Re: Heating current Hymer fitted with Alde heating and its great mainly because it can be set up on a timer a feature that a lot of people don't seem to use. However a friend with a very high end van had his Alde boiler corrode through It cost him almost
£2k to have the boiler reconditioned ( to be fair I think that reconditioning meant that Alde replaced almost every part). Whether the failure was due to a manufacturing, installation or maintainence fault I don't knowIt is without doubt a good system but still depends on installation. I remember looking at a caravan I think it was a Unicorn 2 which which had Alde heating installed, but when you looked in the under seat storage the concectors were just there so as
soon as you used the storage space for storage it would be inevitable that the delicate fins would be damaged, why could the covers be fitted to protect them? Why do some Manufacturers to this day insist on fitting in inferior circulation pump in expansion
tank if not to save a couple of quid?Ps
Previous Hymer had the much derided Truma Ultraheat system fitted. Couple of detail differences though, 1 the fire installed was the 5kW version not the 3kW version as invariably fitted to UK built vans and the hot air ducting was run internally, except
for a length of approx 1m that bridged the shower and that was insulated,Often it is not the parts it is the attention to detail when they are fitted
bloody fire cover still threw its self off at every opportunity though.
Write your comments here...
Leisure Shop Direct sell the Alde boiler, complete for £1495, so nearly £2000 for reconditioning seems like an uneconomic choice.A 5kw Truma Ultraheat will draw approx 20Amps, which is an exceptional current from EHU. Maybe the more modest UK 3kw at 12Amps
is better suited to leisure vehicles. We too have found the Alde timing with reduced nighttime temperatures to be excellent. We have also fitted the load monitor so that the electrical side of the boiler stays within our user defined limit during periods of
high overall power demand such as using the microwave. I couldn't agree more about uninsulated external ducting, thank goodness it's being superseded by wet heating systems.0 -
Without getting into a he said she said. I assume if you pay your £1495 Leisure Shop direct, (excellent company btw) you get delivered to your door a box containing one brand new alde boiler. I assume you then I have pay someone to fit it replace the coolant
etc test it? I would suggest that this would come to almost £2k and no I can't remember the exact amountTruma 5kW heater does not draw anything like 20 amps. The reason for this is simple they were rated on the gas output so as far as I know all UK made vans were fitted with the S3002 my Hymer was fitted with a S5002 the s in both codes stood for supplemental
and that was the 2kW electric heater fitted to both. I stand to be corrected if this was fitted to any UK vans I never saw one.I don't want to knock British industry I really don't, but at the same time, I can't afford to blindly subsiidse it. I am afraid I have voted with my wallet and I suggest everyone else does the same ie by the product that they are happiest with, doesn't
have to be the same choice as mine.0 -
Any one with an open mind ,would hopefully look at the product that first, has a good reputation for build quality, that is backed up by the amount of LVs from said company on sites,which in my experiance is an ideal "customer feedback " area ,as anyone with a product with "problems" will more likely to "mention" it to others with same make, as it is a known statistic, that people would rather "moan" about something if it is not in their opinion "satisfactory", and that is proved with a poll of customer feed back that was carried out of manufacturing and service industry companies ,the thousands of silent majority of returnig customers,who are satisfied compaired to the minority of those who complain,who will put pen to paper
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I'm no expert(not even an owner) as JC pointed out the Foreign manufacturers don't give the 10yr warranty the UK builds carry, why is this?. If they are so good why not back them with a confidence boosting warranty. Genuine question as I'm intrigued.
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