Bailey Unicorn Cadiz
I have a Bailey Unicorn Cadiz which I bought new in April 2016. I was away in it from 5/7/2020 until 12/7/2020 at one of our club sites. My wife opened the top nearside cupboard nearest to the toilet and found water had leaked in through the roof joint into the locker. Fortunately we keep our belongings in plastic boxes in these lockers so the water had collected in that. Not a lot but enough to fill the box approximately six millimetres. This has happened over a period of three months during lock down whilst the caravan was in storage. I am currently in the process of negotiating with Bailey to have the leak repaired under warranty. I do not expect to have any problems with them. Whilst talking to another Bailey Unicorn owner on site he too had suffered the same problem. has anyone else had this occur to them?
Comments
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First generation Unicorns (2012 -) had a lot of damp problems due to poor application of sealant mainly between floor and side panels but also outside lockers. Mine went back to the factory twice and had a further severe recurrence after I sold it. Sounds like you have a local problem which should be more manageable but keep an eye on it and make sure the warranty is maintained.
For anybody buying a secondhand van with some remaining Bailey warranty they need to re-register it with Bailey.
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Brian7483, it’s nothing to lose sleep over. The first batch of unicorn 3’s had a problem with the roof joint. They were quickly replaced by wider band on later models and faulty ones replace under warranty. My one started to sweat after three years. I noticed it on a trip. A quick call to my dealer and it was replaced on my return home without any fuss.
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I thought Baileys new clamping system of putting Caravans together would mean the end of Water ingress through joints, but I suppose there are still Windòws/rooflights/ lockers that have to be fitted.
Is the New...ish system working ? Only I notice no-one else has followed their example.
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When Bailey first introduced the Alutec system ,the front and roof to the rear were in one piece, but insurance companies were not happy that in the event of an accident it was (unless a write off)very expesive to repair?
Later models have since been built with the front to rear top panel in several parts depending on model,which now entails joining strips across the width of all their LVs ,, in 2015/2016 the strips supplied by a company in "Holland?" some were found after a short period of use to become loose as the adhesive together with the width of the strips was not strong?enough and on some LVs let water in ,(we had it on our Pegasus ) they are/ were a warranty claim for replacement with a wider joining strip and better adhesive, they should still be checcked as part of the body warranty during the annual service
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sorry for delay in reply. My approved workshop not the dealer who sold me the caravan placed request with Bailey and they agreed to send parts to workshop and Bailey will pick up the bill. I am still waiting for the parts to arrive as of 27/8/2020
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Be careful here Brian since your legal redress will be against the dealer who sold you the caravan and not the approved workshop who Bailey have sub contracted work which should be performed by your dealer, to them, presumably with your permission. Do not be misled by other comments about this roof strap issue, it is probably the biggest cause for complaint I and many others like me have with our second hand Bailey vans, which without the repair properly performed are simply not fit for purpose. When I bought my van there were damp readings of 60 and 70 percent shown in my first service and Bailey claimed not to know what might be causing it, but by questioning agents I learned enough about the process of replacing the strap myself so for less than £100 and about 60 hours of work the damp readings are a uniform and acceptable 9-12 percent throughout my 2015 Unicorn Seville, but sadly there have been other water ingress problems and quality shortfalls requiring my constant attention to ensure I never buy another Bailey van, though I have learned to love the Alde heating system.👍
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I think it's a bit unfair to make such a damming statement about Bailey's BD. We had a 2015 Barcelona, bought new in Dec 2014 - so one of the early U3s - never had the roofstrap replaced and it never leaked and the damp readings over 4 services were always 10% or less. The only real issue we had with it was a leaking shower tray just before we sold it which cost me £500 to have repaired. I am sure that for every one complaint about various makes on here, there are many, many more who have experienced trouble-free vans.
I'm not excusing bad workmanship or lack of quality control but I have to say that even our present Knaus - which I bought primarily for it's outstanding build- quality, hasn't been without one or two "issues". But that doesn't make them all 'bad'.
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