I finally received a reply from Swift ref. this problem. Please see the General Section under "Swift Gas Locker" for details.
In a past life I had dealings with Peter Smith now Md of Swift and always found him a genuine guy so I hope if you contact him you will get a positive response.
We had the same problem with our Bailey last year.
Bought it brand new (S5 Pageant) and on first trip lost aquaroll handle out of front locker.
Dealer reimbursed cost of handle.
Baileys response "we'll pass your comments on to our designers". Nothing was done about it.
The locker has an inch wide gap across the full length of the front locker so we have to be very careful what we load in it.
Talk about taking responsibility for your products!
Bought it brand new (S5 Pageant) and on first trip lost aquaroll handle out of front locker.
Dealer reimbursed cost of handle.
Baileys response "we'll pass your comments on to our designers". Nothing was done about it.
The locker has an inch wide gap across the full length of the front locker so we have to be very careful what we load in it.
Talk about taking responsibility for your products!
We have a fleetwood heratage 640cb and on inspection of the gas locker we too have the same two unprotected vents on the locker floor... Not any more, Thanks Theresa you may have saved someone's life by informing us all.
We have a fleetwood heratage 640cb and on inspection of the gas locker we too have the same two unprotected vents on the locker floor... Not any more, Thanks Theresa you may have saved someone's life by informing us all.
Sorry Doug, but I should have added before that some Fleetwood vans are similar as I pointed this out to the sales rep on the Fleetwood stand at the Camping and Caravanning SeCC show in February and he was shocked when I told him what had happened. He promised to raise it with Fleetwood as a matter of urgency. Maybe they have the same views on this as Swift appear to from their reply? I suppose if this was America and a company appeared to ignore warnings of safety issues from consumers a good lawyer would have a field day when something later went wrong that could be proved that was already a known problem. Perhaps we need a Ralph Nader ?- was it not him who took car makers to task in America over the Ford Pinto firebomb petrol tank where in a moderate rear shunt the bumper bolts pierced the petrol tank causing a fireball!
How amazing is that we have had the very same thing happen to us in our Bailey Pageant 6. One of the aquaroll handle segments fell out of the hole in the floor of the locker and then ended up stuck in the floor of the caravan. Luckily I heard it happen so stopped and pulled it out so not too much damage was allowed to happen. The handle has only gone through the first layer and not gone all the way through!! Very annoying!
I have a Swift Charisma 565 2003 model and after several outings, wondering where various items had gone, I only reaslised what was happening when I pulled in at a pertol station to find a skipping ope being dragged along under the van.
I now store everything in boxes in the front locker. I would have prefered to have had this pointed out to me when I bought it.
I now store everything in boxes in the front locker. I would have prefered to have had this pointed out to me when I bought it.
Just an update to the above warning. Still no reply from P.C. editor regarding this warning (e-mail HAS been read) BUT we have received a reply from Swift (after contacting the M.D. at Swift). What it amounts to is this-Swift are sorry that we were disappointed with their decision not to alter the design of the front locker for 2007 after being informed of our incident in 2006! They then reproduce the techno- babble of ventilation requirements and 10% variances gas spillage etc etc etc as reproduced on an earlier reply to Willy -see above-...obviously they have not realised that to make up for the added mesh reducing the overall area for ventilation they could just have increased the vent size slightly in the first place! BUT-and I quote ' we are reviewing our design and looking to improve certain aspects of it for the future including mesh over vents and tightening up of gaps between floor and front and fitting additional covered vents through the floor' Success! Yet to hear a 'sorry' this happened to you and so many others in the first place - but I suppose this is a step in the right direction...Now, what about the next piece of caravan nonsense of the supplying dealer being the only one who can do warranty work to your Swift van.I feel a new crusade starting.....!!
we had our first runout this weekend in our indiana and found our aquaroll handle hanging through the gaps.They are very big and I am going to fix builders mesh with diamond shape holes accross the gap with crews and fibreglass.I will check the opening size of the mesh but I think it will be fine for Gas Regs,but we really shouldnt have to do this I could imagine if a police car was behind getting summonsed for insecure load.
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