Bailey Alu Tec Motorhomes

almichie

almichie

Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Posts
158
Likes collected
296
Location
North Dorset
Funster No
82,369
MH
Looking
Exp
2021
Following on from the last question about alternatives for the Autotrail 700 and viewing 2 that were both wet, we decided to look elsewhere.

We have found a Bailey 79-6 which looks good, and having researched the alu-tec it looks like a good option.

I did find a lot of problems with the alu tec caravans, which is now making me wonder if the Motorhomes suffer the same water ingress and floor saturation that the caravans do? Has anyone on here had issues with their Bailey 79-6? The walls and roof all read 0% as they don’t hold water not being wood. But the floor is wood. Highest reading on the report on the floor is 12/13, which I would say is ok at this time of year.

Any thoughts and feed back appreciated, many thanks
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
starquake said:
I think it's telling when we go to sites with friends that our van always gets used as the communal eating/socialising space precisely because of feeling of space.

In our van we have succesfully had 8 of us around the table for dinner when it's been wet. There is a table extension precisely to cater for 6/8 seats for that reason.
Click to expand...
It is very public spirited of you to provide a communal dining room for your friends. I fall into the selfish category which attracts me to Continental layouts and construction methods. This is the great thing about having choices and buying to suit our personal preferences.
 
Upvote 0
MichaelT said:
Baileys are just caravans stuck on the back of a truck and aimed at caravanners not motorhomers. Got a mate with one and he still carries an aquaroll.
Click to expand...
My opinion too, just look like a cut & shunt job, no effort made to integrate the body to the cab, I think they are really ugly to look at.

Typical Brit van include loads of spec in a low cost van so something has to give and it appears to be the quality of construction that suffers.
People get hoodwinked they look at a German and get to the same spec they have to spend £15k on options, there is a reason for that.
 
Upvote 0
Lenny HB said:
My opinion too, just look like a cut & shunt job, no effort made to integrate the body to the cab, I think they are really ugly to look at.
Click to expand...
I know exactly what you mean. To be fair though the new models are much improved in that respect. Up to about 4 years ago they looked terrible and sat on the ground.
 
Upvote 0
Last week remarked on a Bailey that pulled up at a service point and the waste tap seemed very close to the ground, could have been a faulty on but worth a check.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
DT said:
Last week remarked on a Bailey that pulled up at a service point and the waste tap seemed very close to the ground, could have been a faulty on but worth a check.
Click to expand...
They are low, only removed ours once, but that was at a motorway HGV parking area where the ground has sunk. Quite often have to use HGV parking due to twats parking there cars in the moho/caravan parking area.
 
Upvote 0
DT said:
Last week remarked on a Bailey that pulled up at a service point and the waste tap seemed very close to the ground, could have been a faulty on but worth a check.
Click to expand...
Certainly too low to get anything much in the way of a drain bowl underneath but I often used a convoluted hose in certain situations. Never grounded on mine as the lack of scrapes and scratches confirm.
 
Upvote 0
Well we viewed and sadly it had 45% reading behind one wheel tub and 25% behind the other. The dropdown bed frame was bent which meant the bed was lower on one side and it had an oil leak.

We decided it wasn’t for us, but it was immaculate other than those points. We didn’t get that feeling.
 
Upvote 0
almichie said:
Well we viewed and sadly it had 45% reading behind one wheel tub and 25% behind the other. The dropdown bed frame was bent which meant the bed was lower on one side and it had an oil leak.

We decided it wasn’t for us, but it was immaculate other than those points. We didn’t get that feeling.
Click to expand...
Sorry but how can you say it was immaculate when nearly 50% of it was water 💧,?
 
Upvote 0
Mzracer said:
Personally, I would not touch a Bailey with a barge pole.

Just look at the exterior finish, the side panels have terrible ripples in them from new, if they cannot get that bit right what else is wrong?

I know a lot of people will say that does not matter but it gives an indication of their overall approach to manufacturing.
Click to expand...
👍👍

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Jenka said:
Due to your diligent research and subsequent inspection youve esaped a traumatic motorhome nightmare 👍
Click to expand...
And it seems this is what you need to do now, when we started motorhoming we didn’t even test drive it let alone take a damp meter with us. Now we review the motorhome in detail before even viewing and then knowing any area that might be a problem check those.

I’m not sure if this is, though, removing a bit of the romance! When we viewed yesterday we came away feeling quite flat, before we were both excited as we thought it was just what we wanted, lesson learned I suppose.

We are going to a dealer today to review our thoughts and check a few more for layout styles before we continue. We thought the drop down bed wasn’t that great, but look at other manses they seem to have much better support systems, the Bailey had wires on one side and the support bracket wasn’t up to the job at ceiling level. We both thought it would become a problem with more use.
 
Upvote 0
almichie said:
We are going to a dealer today to review our thoughts and check a few more for layout styles before we continue. We thought the drop down bed wasn’t that great, but look at other manses they seem to have much better support systems, the Bailey had wires on one side and the support bracket wasn’t up to the job at ceiling level. We both thought it would become a problem with more use.
Click to expand...
Most drop down bed over the lounge area are a bit iffy, if you want a drop down bed go for an A Class.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
almichie said:
We are going to a dealer today to review our thoughts and check a few more for layout styles before we continue. We thought the drop down bed wasn’t that great, but look at other manses they seem to have much better support systems, the Bailey had wires on one side and the support bracket wasn’t up to the job at ceiling level. We both thought it would become a problem with more use.
Click to expand...
We didn't like drop down beds either not just because of the support, because when theres 2 of your one has to go over the other to get out like in a French bed in most cases. I do agree with Lenny that most drop down over lounge beds are iffy, or seem to have horrid failure modes with no backup when you start reading on here about peoples bed troubles... We didn't even go into motorhoming thinking we'd want 2 singles convertable to a king -> we initially thought we wanted a French, read garage, or drop down bed type layout. It wasn't until seeing lots of vans and discussing, and much working out and dsicussion we ended up with a dual single layout.

Initially my wife was also of opinion we'd make up the bed every night when we first got the van... now we just leave them made up and put seat covers on top, so in effect to make the bed up for the evening, it's pull off a blanket operation taking less time than it takes to move a drop down bed.

We initially started at a dealer, seeing ALL their vans, then we looked at a motorhome show (Peterborough last year) to see all the layout types and brands that our local dealer didn't stock. Sounds like you going that way and I would reccomend it.
 
Upvote 0
starquake said:
I think it's telling when we go to sites with friends that our van always gets used as the communal eating/socialising space precisely because of feeling of space.
Click to expand...
No it is because you are sociable helpful chap, the MH layout is a plus point.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Mzracer said:
No it is because you are sociable helpful chap, the MH layout is a plus point.
Click to expand...
More likely he's got better booze than anyone else! 😄
 
Upvote 0
Mzracer said:
That could well be the case, with all the money that he says he saves by running EV's !!
Click to expand...
Unlikely, I will inform everyone here my booze is of the cheap but decent lidl variety at present.
The gin selection may be better, but I'm not allowed to mention that as apparenly theres never any tonic when I ask for it.
 
Upvote 0

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top