bailey ranger 550 6 berth

[loftyboy]

Hi all,

Just bought a new van today. changed our 2000 abi manhattan for the 2005 6 berth ranger... Seems good value for money. Have any of you any experience of this van, your comment would be welcome good or bad.

Regards Tony

 

[Paul8]

Hello

Don't know about the 550/6. I have a 2004 470/4 which I use with my good lady- we really like the space of a 4 berth over a two- just suits us better! The Ranger is fantastic. We are unsure what we would ever change it for! It tows fantastically- even in really high crosswinds and, in my opinion, looks fantastic. We used ours all winter and the blown air heating kept us cosy even when there was snow on the roof! The washroom is great and the hot water heats up quickly. What would I change? The seat cushions could have more shape and there could be more wardrobe space. I left mine at the storage yard yesterday and miss being in it now I am back at work- thats the sign of a good caravan! We have added a Al- Ko hitch stabiliser and some high level rear brake lights too. I think that you will be really happy with it- and judging by how many we see about you'll be one of many who are!

 

[David_5068743]

Having just taken delivery of ours, I have to agree that its excellent value for money compared with other makes, the main thing that attracted us was the fixed bunk layout. We are very pleased with it.

 

[Louis_5040937]

Congrats on the purchase. I also picked up a brand new 550/6 a couple of weeks ago and having spent a couple of nights away with the wife, kids and dogs, think it's brilliant. OK - the bathrooms a bit small but that's the only compromise that I feel has been made in the van.

A couple of small teething problems - the water pump goes on and off very quickly when the taps turned on (I think there's some sort of screw you can turn to fix it but I can't find it!) and the tap in the bathroom 'weeps' slightly even when the taps switched off. I haven't yet gone back to the dealer but I guess they'll be pretty easy to fix.

I posed a question to the this forum a couple of days ago re nose-weight and payload (I was surprised how little I could put in it to bring it up to max weight)but nobody's posted a reply so I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the weights?

Cheers

Louis

 

[David_5068743]

When we collected our Bailey, the dealer gave us a detailed demo of everything and he explained that the water system is pressurised so the pump may go on and off occassionally to maintain pressure. Certainly ours does this and not always when the tap is turned on. He did go on to say that if the pump stays on there is a small valve you adjust by the water heater, I just can't remember what way to turn it - should be in the handbook though.

On the weights, I see from the brochure that the total user payload is 248kg, but deducting off payload for essential equipment, leaves 151kg. I'm not sure what the nose weight limit is.

We had one problem - the electric heating would not work, just blowing cold air. The dealer thought that is was just too warm as the weekend we tried it was warm and suggested leaving it until a cool evening. Sure enough it worked fine. Then when we were away this past weekend the heating again did not work and this time it was cold.

I had a look at the back of the heater and found the heating would come on/off by slightly moving the electric control panel - further investigation found that the jack plug for the room temperature sensor had not been plugged in properly!

 

[Tina3]

David am interested to know what type of heating system you have ? there seems to be a few posts regarding the electric side of the truma heater, I am one of them just cannot get it working properly in electric,on gas its fantastic but when you've paid for a hookup I'd like to use it on that !!!just cannot seem to find the problem !!!!

 

[Louis_5040937]

Tina

My brand new Ranger has a Truma elec heater in it. I did manage to get some joy on elec but only by setting it to 2Kw and letting it warm up for about 10 mins before turning the blower on to distribute it around the van. I had the blower set at about 2 and it warmed up quite nicely.

 

[Tina3]

Tina

My brand new Ranger has a Truma elec heater in it. I did manage to get some joy on elec but only by setting it to 2Kw and letting it warm up for about 10 mins before turning the blower on to distribute it around the van. I had the blower set at about 2 and it warmed up quite nicely.

thanks louis

have had it working like you say but the last time found that the thermostat kicked in and turned the heating off, I then had to manually turn the control down and back up to get it to kick in again,bit of a pain in the night,now its gone off all together and wont work at all on electric,have not had chance yet to try and find out whats happened !

 

[David_5068743]

Hi Tina

The heating we have is the Truma type with the blown air switch on the heater and the control switch on the front bed bunk, it has a black dial numbered 1 - 9 and settings of 500w, 1000w and 2000w.

After speaking to the dealer and a bit of investigation, I have found that like you, I sometimes need to turn the thermostat up to 9 to get it to come on. If you have a Ranger 550, there is a further air temperature sensor mounted at the base of the cooker, this connects into the back of the cooker via a jack plug very similar to a headphone socket. In my case this plug was not pushed in properly.

I understand this sensor is optional and although I have not tried it, I would guess that because its optional, if you unplugged it, the heating should still work but rely on the main control thermostat for temperature control.

 

[steve,sedona]

we have a 2003 510/4 ranger,have added a al-ko hitch stabilizer,what a great towing van behind my sedona.been no problems with it

 

[richard_5073223]

Picked a new Bailey 550/6 a couple of weeks ago and added a Alko Stabiliser. Just back from our first holiday in it.

Niggles: They don't tell you that you dont get a spare wheel or battery! The heater blew cold air whatever setting. The fridge didn't work on 12V, the locks fell off the front storage area, due to the screws coming loose, but luckily the bits fell into the front compartment. The formica tops mark very easily and seemingly permanently with red wine rings from the bottom of glasses. My only major gripe is that the pull out slats for the front double rest on a very flimsy plastic 'L' section at each end and although I only weigh 14 stone, these gave way a couple of times when I nealt on the cushions at the point where the slats sit on the plastic whilst making up the bed.

My Merc C240 diesil estate matches at 85% and pulled the van easily and it felt stable up to 60 depending on the Motorway surface and side wind. Wagons passing didn't affect it too much, but the odd fast car and transit van passing seemed to make it twitch, was this my reactions rather than the car/ van combo? I have to say I felt uneasy and tense due to reading the horror stories on here.

Regarding nose weight, mine was spot on 75kg according to one of those dodgy red plastic guages, with one small propane bottle and no spare wheel. I take lightweight water and waste carriers.

Ditching the paperwork that comes with the new Bailey saves you 1.8kg!

 

[GrahamW]

Richard

You mentioned Transit vans making your combo twitch, as a motorcycle rider as well as caravaner I can assure you it would have been the tranny not your combo. Anyone who has been behind a Transit on a motorcycle wiill confirm they leave the worst ever turbulance in their wake.