My 9 year old Bailey ranger has developed small cracks which I havent noticed before running down the inside of the recesses of the outside front windows on both sides (inside the recessed part)which is not easy to spot - I have taken care of this van like its my baby so really unhappy - Ok so its 9 years old you say what do you expect, certainly a better build quality than this - So I suggest if you have a Ranger of similar vintage you check this out.
cracking front panel on Bailey ranger
- Thread starter STEVE_5041381
- Start date
Hi
Mine is also 9 years old had it a while and like you looked after my baby,but things do go wrong,i put in a new floor last year,and this year done a complete front end rebuild because of damp.I think you have the same trouble as i had,they are called stress cracks which happens over the years now they need to get looked at sooner rather than later because where there is a crack you will get water ingress and water will travel as ive known wet rot on a van was caused by a leak some ten foot back,all the best to you,
Mine is also 9 years old had it a while and like you looked after my baby,but things do go wrong,i put in a new floor last year,and this year done a complete front end rebuild because of damp.I think you have the same trouble as i had,they are called stress cracks which happens over the years now they need to get looked at sooner rather than later because where there is a crack you will get water ingress and water will travel as ive known wet rot on a van was caused by a leak some ten foot back,all the best to you,
Hi Eddie - Your reply is just the point I am making are caravans nowdays expected to last just 9 years without something major going wrong - mine has not been misused
as I have had it from new - you are fortunate enough at being
able to fix the problems yourself but the average owner would
probaly "get rid" rather than the expense of major repairs.
If you take the original cost of your van and amortize it over
say 9 years - damn expensive holidays. Or maybe I have chosen
the wrong make ? Do other makes of vans last longer ? am I expected to change every 3 years. Maybe thats why they give 6 year warranty for water ingress anything longer is a miracle.
as I have had it from new - you are fortunate enough at being
able to fix the problems yourself but the average owner would
probaly "get rid" rather than the expense of major repairs.
If you take the original cost of your van and amortize it over
say 9 years - damn expensive holidays. Or maybe I have chosen
the wrong make ? Do other makes of vans last longer ? am I expected to change every 3 years. Maybe thats why they give 6 year warranty for water ingress anything longer is a miracle.
Hi Steve,
Life expectancy does seem to vary between manufacturers. As many will know, we tow a 3-berth Eriba Touring caravan - and these have a life expectancy of 40+ years. Indeed many of the original 1950 and 1960 Eriba Touring caravans are still around and can be seen at loads of classic car rallies.
It seems that are German friends took the approach of designing and building their caravans from correctly rated materials, with Hymer (Eriba), Buerstner and Hobby leading the way.
The UK market seems to be more interested in fitted carpets and ovens rather than the underlying quality issues,
Robert
Life expectancy does seem to vary between manufacturers. As many will know, we tow a 3-berth Eriba Touring caravan - and these have a life expectancy of 40+ years. Indeed many of the original 1950 and 1960 Eriba Touring caravans are still around and can be seen at loads of classic car rallies.
It seems that are German friends took the approach of designing and building their caravans from correctly rated materials, with Hymer (Eriba), Buerstner and Hobby leading the way.
The UK market seems to be more interested in fitted carpets and ovens rather than the underlying quality issues,
Robert
Hi Rob_jax
It would seem you are right I have learnt the lesson the hard way and will definitely look closely at the makes you mention
when changing vans - these new British caravans look lovely when new but after 6 years - watch out, it seems the plastic and mastic they use are sub-standard and have a very limited life span.
It would seem you are right I have learnt the lesson the hard way and will definitely look closely at the makes you mention
when changing vans - these new British caravans look lovely when new but after 6 years - watch out, it seems the plastic and mastic they use are sub-standard and have a very limited life span.
I spent 15 years working in the plastics research laboratories of ICI, with the exception of the acrylic windows, the polymers used for caravan fittings are absolute crap, the fridge vents are a classic example on our 6 year old Lunar, they are very yellow, this simply should NOT happen, the additives required to stop this would add about 1p to each of the mouldings, just as the sunglass manufacturers and medical experts say you need to buy expensive glasses to stop the uv...B****cks!!! the UV absorbing additives are sometimes cheaper than the plastics they are added to.
I hereby urge everyone that has problems such as this and perished vinyl strips, crazed manouvering handles etc on any caravan less than ten, even fifteen years old to write to the manufacturer stating that these problems are unneccessary and unacceptable, there is no excuse for yellowing and degrading plastic fittings on caravans less than fifteen years old
I hereby urge everyone that has problems such as this and perished vinyl strips, crazed manouvering handles etc on any caravan less than ten, even fifteen years old to write to the manufacturer stating that these problems are unneccessary and unacceptable, there is no excuse for yellowing and degrading plastic fittings on caravans less than fifteen years old
The manoeuvring handles on our 7 year old Swift have, just this last holiday, become very stained and crazed and gone from off-white to a sort of gray/purple off white and show badly against the still white bodywork. I know it won't help us persuade Swift that they should be replaced. Anyone know a way of restoring the colour (our local dealers don't - they say the old 'colour-restorers' have been taken off the market.
Hello Steve and Garfield,
I am very much inclined to agree with your views regarding the longevity of caravans and fittings.
Unlike the car industry, the caravan manufacturers do not interact with their dealers in the same way, and as a consequence most dealer's areleft to fend for themselves when customers have problems. The result is that manufacturers are not fully aware of the frustrations that afflict customers, and until they do become better acquainted with the practical shortcomings of their products, shortsighted decisions about design, materials and quality of workmanship will continue to plague the industry.
Caravan designers seem to live in ivory towers, they continue to design new fittings apparently in isolation, when in many cases an existing proven design probably already exists in the general retail market. Examples of this, are the internal water pipes, which seem to leechout chemicals and taint the water, Taps, where seals break down and cant be replaced, door locks, window rubber seals etc.
I do wish there was some method of forcing manufactures to make improvements to products, especially where there is data that suggests a particular process or design has a long history of similar systematic failures. - A good manufacturer would be looking at such failures and working to establish the cause and affecting a design or manufacturing change to prevent reoccurrence as a matter of course.
Issues that should fall into this category would include:
I am very much inclined to agree with your views regarding the longevity of caravans and fittings.
Unlike the car industry, the caravan manufacturers do not interact with their dealers in the same way, and as a consequence most dealer's areleft to fend for themselves when customers have problems. The result is that manufacturers are not fully aware of the frustrations that afflict customers, and until they do become better acquainted with the practical shortcomings of their products, shortsighted decisions about design, materials and quality of workmanship will continue to plague the industry.
Caravan designers seem to live in ivory towers, they continue to design new fittings apparently in isolation, when in many cases an existing proven design probably already exists in the general retail market. Examples of this, are the internal water pipes, which seem to leechout chemicals and taint the water, Taps, where seals break down and cant be replaced, door locks, window rubber seals etc.
I do wish there was some method of forcing manufactures to make improvements to products, especially where there is data that suggests a particular process or design has a long history of similar systematic failures. - A good manufacturer would be looking at such failures and working to establish the cause and affecting a design or manufacturing change to prevent reoccurrence as a matter of course.
Issues that should fall into this category would include:
Thanks for that - will try removing handles first, and when I've made a mess of it and destroyed them will probably buy two new pairs for the back and front!
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