New to the forum although caravanners for the last 3 years. After a good start with a 2003 Lunar Clubman purchased second hand, with no known problems, we traded it in for a brand new (in August 2011) Lunar Lexon 530. We've had our share of what could be classed as relatively minor niggles including poorly fitting cupboard doors, a split shower door, broken heater front panel, faulty Thetford toilet etc, but last week whilst on a site came the very unwelcome realisation that the caravan was leaking badly. It is currently back at the Lunar Dealers - looking like a minimum of 3 leaks - 1 of which has written off the fixed bed mattress. Now waiting for Lunar to authorise the fairly extensive repairs. We have cherished this van - top quality cover, towing cover, Paintseal treated, main dealer serviced etc, so we are extremely upset. At 1 point last week we contemplated giving up caravanning altogether but then reflected on all the great family time we have had caravanning over the last 3 years. We have however lost faith in Lunar and will be trading in (once all faults have been rectified by Lunar) for a new SoLiD construction Elddis. Hoping for a better experience with this one - will keep you posted.
New to forum -leaking caravan
- Thread starter sandwnorfolk
- Start date
New to the forum although caravanners for the last 3 years. After a good start with a 2003 Lunar Clubman purchased second hand, with no known problems, we traded it in for a brand new (in August 2011) Lunar Lexon 530. We've had our share of what could be classed as relatively minor niggles including poorly fitting cupboard doors, a split shower door, broken heater front panel, faulty Thetford toilet etc, but last week whilst on a site came the very unwelcome realisation that the caravan was leaking badly. It is currently back at the Lunar Dealers - looking like a minimum of 3 leaks - 1 of which has written off the fixed bed mattress. Now waiting for Lunar to authorise the fairly extensive repairs. We have cherished this van - top quality cover, towing cover, Paintseal treated, main dealer serviced etc, so we are extremely upset. At 1 point last week we contemplated giving up caravanning altogether but then reflected on all the great family time we have had caravanning over the last 3 years. We have however lost faith in Lunar and will be trading in (once all faults have been rectified by Lunar) for a new SoLiD construction Elddis. Hoping for a better experience with this one - will keep you posted.
Parksy
Moderator
Hi and welcome to the forum.
I'm sorry to learn of the trouble you are having, there is lots of advice available on this forum if the work required isn't carried out to your complete satisfaction.
Please keep us posted and let us know what you think of the Elddis when you get it.
I'm sorry to learn of the trouble you are having, there is lots of advice available on this forum if the work required isn't carried out to your complete satisfaction.
Please keep us posted and let us know what you think of the Elddis when you get it.
Hi sandw, So sorry to hear you have been having so many problems with your Lunar, I do hope you have an altogether better experience with the Elddis, I too would be interested to hear how you get on with it, being a huge Elddis fan. I'm very glad you haven't let your unhappy experiences with your Lunar put you off carvanning! Wishing you many happy and carefree outings with your new Elddis!
Mel
Moderator
Well, after e mailing the M D of Lunar Caravans, we finally received our repaired Lunar back to trade in for the new Elldis (Torkesey Caravans near Lincoln who have been outstanding). Impressions so far are excellent - even though our model is effectively the Elldis base model (Avante 515), the fit and finish are very good, especially the furniture - dovetail joints and very good catches etc Relatively unusually, the chassis is BPW with electronic stability which is more straightforward to hitch up and towed effortlessly in very poor weather conditions and was certainly more assured than the Al-KO on the Lunar (Although, to be fair, our AL-KO chassis did not have the electronic assist which is of course available). We are away for the next 4 nights in the new caravan - will report back on how everything works. The forecast weather looks like it will test the water tightness !
I do think you were unlucky and all makes make the odd dog. My gripe with Eldiss is the guarantee. The front and rear panels have only a one year guarantee and these have been problems although they are supposed to have redesigned them. To be frank the terms of their guarantee put me off them as it is far more restrictive than the Lunar one.
Welcome to the forum!
Some areas have certainly had their fair share of rain hammering on the caravan roof these past few days and hope the Elldis stood the test well while you were away.
Some areas have certainly had their fair share of rain hammering on the caravan roof these past few days and hope the Elldis stood the test well while you were away.
Welcome Sandw.
let's hope the Elddis delivers your expectations.
Ray I didn't know Elddis panel warranty was so limited.
Is it worth Sandw talking to his dealer a out an extended warranty for?
let's hope the Elddis delivers your expectations.
Ray I didn't know Elddis panel warranty was so limited.
Is it worth Sandw talking to his dealer a out an extended warranty for?
Well, 3 days on site and, as another person has already said, quite testing weather - we arrived at Lowestoft in near monsoon conditions ! We are delighted with the Elldis - everything is working faultlessly and, most importantly, no leaks ! The new heating system is particularly impressive. Re the warranty comments - the critical aspect for us is the 10 year water ingress warranty which came as standard.We are also fortunate enough to have a new Air Awning (made by Vango) because the Isabella we had for the Lunar will not fit. . Again, delighted with this product - first assembled in torrential rain in less than 10 minutes and it is standing up to the high winds which we have here at the moment very well indeed. Glad we persevered with caravanning.
I feel your pain and have the same t-shirt too. We had always had second hand vans (12 -24) months old and had five of them giving us not a days problem on any of them. Then we decided to treat ourselves and go for new. Whilst not having a damp problem as bad as yours, nevertheless we had a similar last, damp at first service, complete failure of the Drawbar Unit, failed alarm, failed charger, split bathroom door seals, wardrobe trim fell off, damaged wheel arch done by the dealer, who then tried to blame us, and so on and so forth. Vowed on all the saints I would never buy another Swift, but guess what, we traded it in for a Swift, 12 months old B)
Never again will I buy new. My feelings are that most niggles a caravan will get will be evident within the first two years, let somebody else sort it out.
Never again will I buy new. My feelings are that most niggles a caravan will get will be evident within the first two years, let somebody else sort it out.
Welcome to the forum, and so glad your new palace is working well! We are on our second van, the first being riddled with damp, which we fixed and sold on, the second, a 2004 Avondale which is brilliant - no damp to speak of, a few ongoing tweaks, and we just noticed slight delamination of the kitchen floor, which Sir Fixalot can sort. We've added bits, removed bits and generally personalised it, so really glad its a pre-owned. I dont think we'd ever buy new.
4 trips out now in the Elldis and we really can't fault it. This weekend saw almost monsoon conditions at Cambridge, combined with near gale force winds but no leaks and this caravan really does tow superbly with the BPW Chassis and electronic stability system - not a hint of any instability even in these winds and being overtaken by HGVs.. I was a bit sceptical about the Avtex TV aerial which is just a small short screw in aerial, similar to a car radio aerial, on the roof and is not adjustable like the large flat dish type of aerial we had on our previous vans (the type that you have to adjust in the caravan a bit like a submarine periscope !). However this Avtex aerial is brilliant - just turn on the TV and a perfect picture across all channels. We love the more traditional layout of the 515 as well - effectively having 2 lounge areas. Very pleased indeed.
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