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Damp found in my Pageant Bordeaux!

M

MaureenF.

I have just collected my Bailey Pageant Bordeaux after it's second year service. The report shows that there is a 26% damp reading in the bed end rooflight. We have been told to 'keep an eye on it'.

The rooflight is a REMIS version, not the HEKI which is currently the one that Bailey fits. My question is....Can anyone tell me how to remove the shroud (which incorporates the blind & winding handle), so I can get a closer meter reading.I have acquired a Protimeter for the purpose.

I did ask the service manager how to do this but he seemed reluctant to give me this information!

I would be grateful for any help anyone can supply. Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Hello Maureen,

Assuming no damage has been inflicted or occurred, it is wholly unreasonable for a two year old caravan to be letting water in. That strongly suggests the caravan was faulty at the time of sale or at least made with inferior materials or workmanship , and that is a breach of the sale of goods act. Regardless of there being a Manufacturers water ingress insurance policy, that is a problem for the seller to be sorting out.

Having established there are areas causing concern, then there is no reason for you to keep an eye on it - that is the responsibility of the Bailey agent.

If there is a reading that raises concerns, then why is the dealer prepared to allow the condition to continue. It will only get worse with time, and be even more expensive and difficult to repair. They should be acting now to arrest and fully repair the condition.

Although its a bit more extreme, its rather like a garage telling you that your brake pipes are in danger of rusting through, but telling you to use the car until they fail!

Do not accept this state of affairs, get the dealer to fix this now. If you have any problems in getting the dealer to move on this, consult a legal adviser (Soliciter, CAB or even Trading Standards).
 
Hi Maureen

As John L says this is totally unacceptable.

Have a word with Kelly Watts at Bailey in Bristol. I am sure she will help. She does monitor this forum and will not want Bailey's name tarnished.

Remember the old proverb: A stitch in time saves nine.

Cheers

Alan
 
Hi Maureen

Sorry to hear of your problem with damp. I would, however, warn you that Bailey might not be as helpful as has been suggested on here.

My 2006 Bailey Senator was found to have damp reading of 50% in a small area of wall near to the front end at its 2nd annual service in July by a local B dealer. I had purchased the 'van secondhand from a non-B dealer the previous year.

Bailey agreed to covering the cost of resealing the front side and roof seals but refused to cover the cost of any interior repairs or even investigation as to if any damage had been done internally. I queried this on the basis of advice from NCC and CC club that readings over 31% meant internal repair. B dealer said that they and B would expect 'van to dry out naturally.

I queried this drying-out naturally with B warranty deparment and man there said that they would expect repairing B dealer to use an electric inside van to dry out area. B warranty man said that they knew more about damp in caravans than the NCC and that internal repair was unnecessary!!! When I raised this with B dealer they said that they did not use heater as they did not have the space to keep 'van to do this. As I was getting nowhere I used my own electric heater inside 'van. This did bring down readings considerably - to under 15%. I have my own Protimeter Mini dampmeter, the one dealers use, so I could monitor this.

'van is now in storage until spring but I will be monitoring that area carefully and returning to Bailey if there are any further signs of a problem.

I did incidentally initially contact Bailey via Kelly Watts!!!
 
Hi

I cannot understand why so many people buy Bailey, you read on this forum so much trouble with them, Damp, Build Quality, Front & Rear Panels cracking.
 
In reply to Alan " cannot understand why so many people buy Bailey"

If what I've read is true, Bailey now produce well over 50% of all caravans sold in the UK, so on a % basis most problems reported will be on Bailey Caravans.

I have a 2006 Bailey Senator from new and apart from 1 loose screw, the only other issue has been on components such as Fridge and Cooker which would have gone wrong on which ever brand of van they were fitted to.

If I became concerned about all issues raies on this site I'd have had a nervous breakdown, because my car was going to rust early, breakdown, the brakes were going to wear out too fast along with the tyres, I'd stop using Banks, My Bailey would fall apart, That's if it hadn't been nicked and shipped to Spain I'd be arrested for crimes I didn't commit, my insurance would rip me off, the wife would run off with an Eastern european migrant Gypsy who's parents came from Bangaloor -- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Know what I mean !!! :0)
 
........there is a 26% damp reading in the bed end rooflight?

Yes..... but that does not say how the water got there.

If the rooflight has a ventilator then water can get in under certain weather conditions.

The roof will be insulated, not so the rooflight... so could be condensation.

In my opinion your dealer is right to recommend .......

'keep an eye on it'.
 
Alan

When we chose our new Bailey Senator Wyoming last year we did look at Coachman, Swift and others. We tried to be scientific and drew a scoring matrix which we both filled in . The Wyoming won by a wisker from the Swift Conqueror. All that was based on what we saw, not what we had read.

The Coachman didn't have the layout we wanted.

It was very expensive relatively speaking.

All the parts that have failed on Baileys and Swifts were also present on the Coachman eg ABS panels, Polyplastic windows, same Truma water systems and heating , Swift had Alde, same old fridges , toilets , cookers etc etc.

So I have to disagree with your sweeping anti Bailey statement.

Thorpedo is quite correct that a high percentage of caravans are Bailey so the frequency of faults is mathmatically likely to be greater than Coachman.

The skylight can let in water if not closed correctly or when slightly ajar and the wind is blowing.

If I was Maureen I would keep an eye on the area and damp test it every month and see what transpires. The first reading was not inordinately high, nor as I understand her thread, had there been any visible evidence of ingress.

Unfortunately I do not know how to remove the parts she asks for better access. THAT IS WHAT SHE ASKED HELP FOR!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Alan
 
Alan

When we chose our new Bailey Senator Wyoming last year we did look at Coachman, Swift and others. We tried to be scientific and drew a scoring matrix which we both filled in . The Wyoming won by a wisker from the Swift Conqueror. All that was based on what we saw, not what we had read.

The Coachman didn't have the layout we wanted.

It was very expensive relatively speaking.

All the parts that have failed on Baileys and Swifts were also present on the Coachman eg ABS panels, Polyplastic windows, same Truma water systems and heating , Swift had Alde, same old fridges , toilets , cookers etc etc.

So I have to disagree with your sweeping anti Bailey statement.

Thorpedo is quite correct that a high percentage of caravans are Bailey so the frequency of faults is mathmatically likely to be greater than Coachman.

The skylight can let in water if not closed correctly or when slightly ajar and the wind is blowing.

If I was Maureen I would keep an eye on the area and damp test it every month and see what transpires. The first reading was not inordinately high, nor as I understand her thread, had there been any visible evidence of ingress.

Unfortunately I do not know how to remove the parts she asks for better access. THAT IS WHAT SHE ASKED HELP FOR!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Alan
Click to expand...
Hi I also looked at the other ranges of Van not just Coachman and as a mechanical test/development Engineer I considered the following that Coachman do that others dont, although there is a weight and additional costs penalty for this, thats true.

They test all the electrics for 24 hours, this is because of the fact that 90% of electrical failures occur in that period.

They test on the ALKO pave test track in Germany each model year, so may have discovered they weak points and beefed up accordingly, not heared of any cracked panels on new Coachman so they may support them better and hence heavier van maybe.

They have a large percentage of inspectors in the assembly that is about as close to hand built as you can get and I was told the guys have to fix any problems in their own time if it wrong, so they get right first time.

I have no involvement with Coachman I just investigate how they do things, and if it is all true I think its good practise and gives the owner the best possibility of a reliable van.

Coachman should improve their marketing, and tell us why they are heavier and cost more, but are better built and more reliable because because of it.

But you pay your money and hope for the best with them all.

Best Regards

Alan
 
I'm with Thorpedo on this. We collected our new Indiana last January from a dealer in Bradford, immaculately prepared and totally fault free. It's just had its first service and is 100% dry. Sure, there have been a couple of things needing attention, mainly a failed charger and internally-scratched front window, but these have been fixed no-probs by the dealer. Overall I think the quality of the Bailey is very good, as is the service from the dealer.

There is something that puzzles me though. Over the year the van has acquired quite a number of small (pea-size or less) dents to the external body work. Two are fairly conspicuous, others are only visible in certain light. I have no idea how they have occurred - someone suggested stones thrown up by site lawn-mowers, but I don't really think so. Curious!

The van is snugly wrapped up in its SA cover at the end of the garden right now. There is no sign of condensation or mould inside, though we leave the heating permenantly on low with the fan running slow, so I would (for now!) fully endorse SA covers.
 
Damp is a very hard thing to get an accurate reading on. It could simply be slight condensation and when it's tested in a while you could get a low figure.
 
Thanks everyone for all the advice given. I found out how to remove the shroud from the rooflight....just a matter of carefully prising it off the holding clips! I decided to comply with the service dept. advice and monitor the damp area for a few weeks. It has been up till now rather dry weather so the damp reading has reduced slightly. Rain is promised for this next weekend so it will be interesting to see if the damp deteriorates. Will keep you posted.
 
Before we bought our Bailey the CC carried out a damp survey, the bailey came top, out of all makes tested. Bailey use external stainless steel trim screws.

My previous van was a Avondale which I had from new for seven years.

Unfortunately Avondale didn't use stainless steel screws to hold the exterior trim on, this resulted in approx 200 rusting screws hidden out of sight under the rubber trim.

It was only a matter of time before water ingress started.

So from that experience I researched all makes that did not use external stainless screws.

This luckily is a very short list.

Avondale and Coachman.

My advice is avoid these makes.
 
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