More on caravan versus motorhome

My take on it is that the c/van "issues" are it seems, that some are "historical"(past models) by some trying to justify?a change, whereas the motor caravan has only in the past few years "taken off"so there are maybe fewer as yet "problems" to surface,when it is noted for instance Bailey produce is it 7000 units a year?how many have had a "problem" and Swift group produce even more,

Extreme damp in our Bailey Caravan was one of the reasons that we switched to a Motorhome. Three out of the four caravans that we owned over a 25 year period had damp.  I am sure motorhomes are more robust for the reasons stated above, however, you will see from other forums that there are problems albeit not so severe.

Of course, damp in a Motorhome costing up to £70-80k new might be considered more of a worry than a caravan at a quarter of the cost. Extended damp warranties in motorhomes are quite usual which might indicate the level of concern.

Hymer's PUAL build technology has been around in their MHs for 25 yrs or so....its so good that even Carthago have their own version in their timber free construction....

just look at the (very) long term touring vans trundling around Europe and there will be many a 20 yr old plus A-class Hymers.

for evidence of different MH/caravan build, if you check the Swift website youll see that walls (31mm v 25mm) and roofs (36mm v 32mm) for MH (kontiki) are considerably thicker than top line caravan (elegance)

no mention of the floor thickness for the elegance yet the kontiki has 44mm floor.

Caravans can also suffer from this.............!  Our caravan showed some damage to the ply floor at the rear not too long after we bought it.  There were wet areas, and some 'flaking' at the edges of the play, so my OH modified it to prevent further damage - mudflaps, 'underseal' over the whole floor area, and a plastic L shaped trim 'drip' inserted between the body of the caravan and the floor to ensure that water running down the walls didn't run on to the floor but dripped off.  Sixteen years later the floor is still in good shape with no signs of any further problems.

We realised it was a Swift problem when we looked at the caravan on the next storage pitch and realised that his rear floor had almost rotted away (probably unseen)!

Qashqai66, dedicated motorhome forums have plenty of stories about damp and water ingress both British and Continental. I wonder whether motorhomers tend to air their problems on those forums rather than this one.

BB is right about PUAL from Hymer. It is a polyurethane material which is almost impervious to water so if the water tries to get in, it cannot go anywhere. Hymers now have GFQ [I think it is a resin/fibreglass coating] underneath to protect the floors.

It's unfair to compare a typical UK motorhome with a higher end continental one because one will be almost twice the price of the other. Even a top notch Swift with all the gadgets will be considerably cheaper than a Hymer specced to the same level. A top end Swift needs few additional options added, a Hymer can easily clock up tens of thousand pounds of extras to bring it up to the Swift spec.

I'm not convinced there is a significant difference between damp in caravans and motorhomes because some manufacturers have problems with both [design and manufacturing problems], other manufacturers have little problems with either. It tends not to be damp caravans and not motorhomes or vice versa.

I buy Hymer motorhomes because the three haven't had damp issues. I take it for granted my Hymers will pass the damp test with ease. 

Tintent, like Elddis? No idea as I haven't looked under an Elddis for many a year. According to Hymer, it bought Elddis because of Elddis' experience in building bonded motorhomes. I hope the del works out for Elddis and its staff.

I don't know when Hymer started using GFK. My 2013 Hymer has so it must be 2012 or earlier.

Or look at it another way ,The German family we met in Devon a couple of years ago were fed up with their Hymer MV and its build quality and damp issues,

I suspect caravans are more likely to leak. Assuming the construction methods are similar i.e. materials and bonding then the most likely issue is flex. MH have a big floppy box stuck to a chassis, as do caravans but there is one essential difference. The MH has load distributed across 4 corners i.e. an axle at the front and one at the back. The longitudinals are hard fixed to the axles (actually the cab and the rear axle) but in terms of simple shapes it is a box with a wheel at each corner. This gives a very rigid platform on which the box sits.

Caravans have 1 axle in the middle. The longitudinals run front to back and at the corners they flex. You are now much more reliant on the ends of the box to keep the rigidity in the box. The ends are generally glued on but the top corners will be subject to significantly more flex and stress than a MH back panel. Any slight defect in the bonding will open up the joint and give damp, in some cases the end panels crack.

well Practical Motorhome is about as limp a critical publication as its sister, Practical Caravan. if their surveys as as 'thorough' as their tests, this wont be particularly skin deep....

tests are little better than the typical 'club mag' kow towing....with the most critical points being aimed at carpet/curtain colour or other deal breaking issues.....with the most 'practical' issues being glossed over..

also, i think Swift needs to read its own forum if it truly believes its now the 'king of damp prevention'...and the CT 'caravan' section usually has plenty of 'poor quality/damp' threads and theyre not from Adria, Fendt, Hobby, Bürstner or Hymer owners, are they?

On the other hand, the 'real' test of long term, all weather suitability is to look at the the vans being used of this harshest of continuous live-in 'tests', they arent Bailey, Elddis or Swift, thats for sure....

perhaps, one day, all the 'snowbirds' will be touring spain for six months in their Elddis' once Hymer has decided how it wishes to work with them, or even a Swift once word gets round that theyre highly rated by PM....

I'll take my chances as i am.....

PS....you didn't mention the actual Swift 'damp van ratio'....how high was the bar set?

Just the first family who were willing to admit they had bought a well known brand ,that was not what the "marketing" of them would like you to believe( and built in their own country

As so few are noted in the UK compared to UK built LVs it was good to hear the views of an honest owner

Just keeping alive the debate that some think with rose tinted glasses, anything other than UK is "wonderfull"

Have a good one BB,

will do....thanks.....im getting some more specs this year

Our AS sprinter based M/H has been very  good.