Product tests in Practical Caravan

[Ianofwilts]

One thing springs to mind Nigel. TV. It seems most of us have televisions on board and all or certainly every one I speak to, have had a problem with signals wether using fitted arial, site signal or dish. I appreciate you have had items on satelite dishes but it seems that no-one is solving what must be a very big problem with poor signals. My question is are there arials / devices on the market that we can retro fit or installed on new vans by manufacturers. In addition, with the inevitable digital tv take over in most areas over the coming years, is there a possibility of looking at freeview digiboxes or tv's with integral freeview.

I've certainly noticed differences between my freeview ( a cheap one ) and the more expensive LCD tv with freeview. I'm sure this topic would be of interest to a high proportion of your readers.

 

[Del_374232870]

How about a test on memory foam mattress toppers, the subject keeps comming up regularly on forums from people looking for on advice on what to buy. They come in varying densities and prices so would have plenty of scope.

 

[Alan_374342797]

Hi Nigel

As a mechanical Test Engineer, I can think of a few old chesnuts as follows.

1, What polish/wax/wash is safe to use on a caravan.

2, Should wheels be balanced.

3, Compare mass produced automated caravan build quality, Bailey v traditional Coachman, look at front/rear ABS panel thickness and quality, number of across floor/roof/side panel supports, maybe from the makers drawings etc, Determine and report how they both test their caravans and reader survey like for like numbers of faults in first 3 years.

4, Shock absorbers, compare with and without with the same caravan.

5, Tracker devices, are they worth the money when blocking devices can be purchased for

 

[CornishMike]

Hi Nigel

Judging by the many questions & queries from new & experienced 'vanners on the forum, why not publish a data base of used 'van private and dealer prices, as there's nowhere to get this info? Also, could you provide accurate towcar mpg figures, solo & towing together with kerbweights, towing limits etc? I apprciate that this is a lot of info, perhaps limit the car stuff to new models only, above a certain size of car? For example exclude super-mini's and city cars as these are generally unsuitable caravan tugs. And one final thought - can your 'van & tow car tests be a little more objective please?

The impression is that most appear to be written in a style to cause as little offence to the manufacturer as possible, and are almost "advertorials". None of us, I'm sure, would wish your tests to be offensive, but one area that's never mentioned in them is potential problems arising from poor or inferior construction methods which could lead to damp/water ingress issues - as there are far too many of these flagged up on the forum.

Mike

 

[Alan_374342797]

Totally agree with Mikes comments.

During your testing I think you should ask the makers to provide construction details like floor/roof and wall thickness and supports. Try to determine for your customers reasons why panels crack on Bailey but not reported as a issue with say Coachman/Hymer.

Basically we are not told anything about how our vans are made and what if any make is better than others, we just form our own opinions, but your job is to inform potential buyers of the +/- of whats on the market, if the makers have nothing to hide they will tell how they are constructed and how they test them.

Coachman say they test their caravans over pave each model year on the ALKO test track in Germany, therefore they should no their strenghs and weakness and hopefully build accordingly. they also test electric/gas for 24 hours which should find the early issues due to the fact that 90% of faulty electricals occur in less than 24 hours operation.

This it the kind of info that would be interesting to your readers I think, and it may enable them to determine why cost /weight may add up to a better built caravan that maybe more reliable.

We need to know more that what it looks like in your Caravan Tests, just ask the manufactures to comment on constuction and testing etc for your report.

Alan

 

[gary]

How about a proper test of tyres as used on caravans, ie, cheap far eastern and others that only meet the basic (very basic) European standards?

Just read an 'Autocar' report on how well these tyres perform against Continentals as a bench mark, in short they don't!

Handling abilities though is nowhere near as important as their weight carrying abilities, so what I did find really alarming is, the basic European load/speed standard falls far far short of what car manufactures would fit??

In the report and subjected to 'standard' VW tests all failed hopelessly

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Nigel

Looks like you now have enough topics for at least a year. Let's hope some if not all of them are featured please.

Chers

Dustydog

 

[Parksy]

Going back to Mike and Alan's points about lack of information on caravan construction anyone who wishes to see for themselves how caravans are constructed should keep their eye on the forum because from time to time Swift Leisure conduct factory visits for members of this and other caravan forums.

Visitors are shown round Swifts factory in small groups during a normal days production and after an excellent buffet lunch there is a question and answer session with Peter Smith and his management and design team.

I hope that they'll carry on doing this even though there has been a cutback in the workforce, it was very informative and as far as I know Swifts are the only UK manufacturer to have done this.

 

[Chrisbee]

To pick up on Gary's point about quality of tyres, how about a survey to find out what mileage people cover in a year? As it is recommended that tyres be changed after 4/5/7 years depending who you listen to, it would be interesting to know what distance the average tyre covers in it's lifetime. Do you need a 'quality' tyre for 1000 miles total life distance?