Is this a common problem?

[mealsonwheels]

Just had the 4th annual service done on our 2008 Swift Challenger and got a surprise when they said 90% damp was found in the N/S wet locker door and in the O/S battery box door. The dealership are going to contact Swift.
Is this a common problem?

 

[Mel]

Dunno how common it is, but we had a Swift brand new in 2007. Damp under side window on first service 2008, damp under rear window, on second service 2009. All repaired under warranty but thats not the point.
mel

 

[AdifferentJim]

Dunno how common it is, but we had a Swift brand new in 2007. Damp under side window on first service 2008, damp under rear window, on second service 2009. All repaired under warranty but thats not the point.
mel

Same with our 2007 Abbey (Swift Group). Damp at the first service and in a different place at the 3rd

 

[mealsonwheels]

Things haven't got much better by the sound of it. You certainly don't expect damp to be found on the first service of a lovely new caravan that has cost a lot of hard earned money. Even though yours was covered on warranty, it's still a right nause and something that should not be happening.
We are wondering if the 90% damp they found in the outside drop-down wet locker and battery locker doors have been caused by rain running down the side of the caravan and getting in that way. Heaven knows how long we'll have to wait until our dealership hear back from Swift. We haven't found water in the actual lockers at anytime, but they said it's in the nearside and offside locker doors.

 

[Surfer]

Damp should still be under warranty however makes you wonder if the dealer did do a proper damp test on previous services.

 

[mealsonwheels]

Hi Surfer,
Well, that we will never know!
We bought the caravan in March 2008 and it had a 3yr warranty which ended in March last year. Are you saying that damp should still be covered?

 

[Jennifer2]

Yes, water ingress warranty is 6 years, so you should be covered.
Our van is also 2008 model, last year our dealer found the door to the underbed storage was "soft" on the inside. We had not noticed it, but the van had not been used for a few months so we had had no reason to use the door.
Dealer ordered new door under warranty, which of course takes several weeks, and OH agreed to fit it as there was no time to take the van all the way back to them only a few days before our trip abroad. Like you, we could not, and still cannot, see how water could have got into the door, the framing and insert panel was very well sealed together.
When the parts arrived we found Swift had sent a complete door and the frame that goes into the side of the van, plus the sealant required, and insisted the whole thing should be changed, so it turned out to be a longer job than envisaged, though quite straightforward.
We wondered about rain dripping onto the surrounding frame, but had never found any water actually inside the van, so quite a mystery.

 

[mealsonwheels]

Hi Jennifer, interesting to read the above.
That's two forum members with 2008 Swifts that have had damp found in the outside drop down doors. Forums like this are so useful when you have a problem and until you hear that someone else has got exactly the same thing, you think its just happening to you.
When you think how may Swifts there are around with these outside drop down doors, this could be happening to a lot of other folk too.
It would be interesting to hear from any caravan engineers whether they are coming across this in the outside drop down doors during damp checks.

 

[sheila_374397204]

We have a 2008 Swift Challenger which, thankfully, according to the services we have had is still damp free. However, 2008 was a very wet summer and one day we came back to the caravan (no awning up) and found the carpet was wet at the rear of the van. On examination, it was obvious that it had been raining in through the underbed locker door (stream of water running around the underbed space and out into the rear area) although it appeared to be sealed. OH stuck as much sealant stuff as we had all around the box (making it unable to be opened). When we took it in to the dealer a new door was ordered and we then had to take it back to have it fitted when it arrived. It's been fine since.