Compass Corona 556 - fixed bunk beds

[Scallywag1]

Thinking about buying a compass corona 556 with fixed bunks. Anybody any advice?

 

[IanMc]

I have similar van an elddis avante 556. It's a great layout if you have a young family but as the kids start to get a bit older it gets hard to get up to the top bunk. Its a good size and the storage area under the bottom bunks is good. Just one problem with ours is that the garage door at the back has been leaking and it has been back to explorer to be repaired. The solution at the minute is spacers fitted to the door catch to pull the door in tighter on the seal. Not had much rain though to check if this has cured the problem but i'm not convinced it has totally cured it.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

i have the avondale dart 556/6 and im changing it for a fixed bed a swift charisma 620. the bathroom is to small so we have never used the shower we just use site facilites. the kitchen is far to small it drives me mad. also ian was correct the top bunk no longer really suits my 13 year old. so sorry but the van is going.

jo-anne

 

[illy]

We have the Compass 556 (purchased it Feb this year). The top bunk is only suitable for a very small child - my ten year old is too big for it now (she wasn't with us when we bought it - stupid mistake!). We have also had a problem with rain coming in, but from the side wet locker which gives direct access to your van with a pretty poor lock. We needed to get an electric socket put in the kitchen area as noen was supplied for the kettle etc! Look at the equivalent Ace - it appears get more and better quality for your money. I can see us keeping this van for maybe a year or 2 tops.

 

[darren_374307301]

Hi scallywag bunks in caravans dont work for me they are only any good if you have todlers but then when i had one i could'nt sleep properly becuase i had to keep getting up to check the kids dont try to get out of bed.even the kids askd for me to change our van so we did.nice van thow i by compass just got new 2007 compass rallye 540.

 

[Graham_374311874]

I just took delivery one week ago of my Compass Corona 556 and took it straight to a site. This is our first caravan by the way so we were very excited about our purchase. It rained on one of the nights and if it wasn't for my wife getting our two year old son to sleep in the bottom rear bunk then we wouldn't have noticed to amount of water that was pouring in through the door seal, from the lock and the fixed window. After four days we dropped it off to the dealer who were not interested and tell me it will be at least the 18th September before we see new parts. We are now requesting our money back. It's a shame as it's a lovely designed caravan. Why the Explorer group don't sort thing problem is beyond me when just looking at this forum there are many with the same problem. Did you buy one and if so have you encountered any problems?

 

[Graham_374311874]

I have just took delivery of a Compass Corona 556 and the rear door is also leaking. The dealer is not helpful and the Explorer group say they are not aware of other problems with this door!!!! Very strange when you read all the comments.

 

[jaybee]

Our 556 is in for it's first service at the moment and also has a leaking rear garage door.

The dealer is waiting for some sort of plates to be sent by explorer which I think will pull the door in tighter.

It is truly amazing how the British don't seem able to make their caravans water tight.

We had a few issues with our van when new and felt we wanted our money back but it's just the perfect layout and spec for our needs.

Our dealer has rectified all the faults we had and hopefully the leaky rear door will be sorted soon.

 

[Graham_374311874]

Our 556 is in for it's first service at the moment and also has a leaking rear garage door.

The dealer is waiting for some sort of plates to be sent by explorer which I think will pull the door in tighter.

It is truly amazing how the British don't seem able to make their caravans water tight.

We had a few issues with our van when new and felt we wanted our money back but it's just the perfect layout and spec for our needs.

Our dealer has rectified all the faults we had and hopefully the leaky rear door will be sorted soon.

Jaybee, from reading other comments with regards to the rear garage door leaking it sounds like Explorer will send out some type of spacers to pull the door in tighter. Only three days ago I contacted Explorer about my disappointment with our new and first caravan they said they wern't aware of any problems with regards to the garage door!!!!

 

[jinty0_0]

we have the cruach culmor and have had nothing but problems with it, at the moment we are waiting on a reply from swift and our dealer. but not at all happy with the service or van

 

[Jeff-Pontypridd]

Back to the topic.....

Really depends how many kids you have, and their ages. We bought our fixed bunk 'van (Abbey Aventura 330), three years ago. Soon found that neither of our kids (now 15 and 10) wanted to go in the top bunk - lack of headroom and a pain to get in/out. We now use the dinette as one bed and the bottom bunk as the second. Top bunk is now a great storage area!

No problems with garage door. Note that this only has the one latch, whereas my mates Sprite Major 6 has two.

Does the water ingress problem coincide with the number of latches on the door????

 

[Graham_374311874]

Back to the topic.....

Really depends how many kids you have, and their ages. We bought our fixed bunk 'van (Abbey Aventura 330), three years ago. Soon found that neither of our kids (now 15 and 10) wanted to go in the top bunk - lack of headroom and a pain to get in/out. We now use the dinette as one bed and the bottom bunk as the second. Top bunk is now a great storage area!

No problems with garage door. Note that this only has the one latch, whereas my mates Sprite Major 6 has two.

Does the water ingress problem coincide with the number of latches on the door????

I was told by our dealer that Explorer group decided to fit the rear door with two latches in order to pull it in more evenly to reduce water ingress. Ours is new and has two latches which in my oppion are very poor, unlike the main door when you want to close it you cant just push it and click it in, you have to turn the latches a 1/4 turn with the key. I think this is allowing for a lot of play on the door hence water coming in. Not only that, one night my wife was in the bottom bunk getting our son off to sleep when she saw rain coming in from the main door seal, top latch and the fixed lower window on the garage door. If anyone has had similar faults or a solution then I would be grateful to hear them.