Bailey motorhomes. Buying British

[donnieban]

I have been quite outspoken about class leading build quality associated with German motorhomes. But, now find myself considering a Brit built Bailey with Alu- tech body shell. I have read that problems other than water ingress have caused concerns. What do the Bailey owners think?

 

[Deleted member 29692]

I refrained from commenting about the Bailey earlier as I didn't want to 'upset' anyone but, regardless of who makes them, whether British or made elsewhere, I would not be happy having just a 'jigsaw puzzle' of bits stuck together like that, especially insulated with what just appeared to be polystyrene!

The video didn't show them in a good light did it. At best it seemed to show a low quality product, at worst it made them look unprofessional.

I'm with @Lenny HB on British built vans.

Been there, done that, won't get caught out again.

 

[drago35uk]

What's that saying "Pay peanuts and you get monkeys" explains the quality (lack off).

What a load of horseshit!
German vans the best? I've owned 4 dry as a bone British Vans and 2 German sponges. Buy German again? NOT EVER!
The most unreliable car I've ever owned was a BMW too.

 

[pyro]

From my limited experience in the matter (but I do know my stuff on boats) there's good and bad whatever the origin, and the only thing that separate the two is the price that you have to pay for it

Compare a £45k M/H with one of the same cost from Germany, if you can find one, not with one costing twice as much.

But let's not turn this into WW3

 

[Gorse Hill]

No, IMV you're not worrying about nothing. What worries me is the people who buy them and then don't know how to drive them safely to take account of the extra width and then end up knocking ruddy mirrors off oncoming traffic as happened to us this year when a MH coming the other way panicked and pulled into our side of the road taking our mirror with him!

I noticed that at the NEC shows the dealers place big plants at the front either side so you don't notice there width, personally I think it is an issue and sometimes it's s nightmare with a standard (2.30) m/h but each to there own
Agree it will certainly catch first timers out

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[hilldweller]

Also surprised me that.......

And the "glue" was hand squirted from a bottle. Hardly a controlled guaranteed application, OK when the camera is running but day in, day out ??

I don't buy that construction, an outer extrusion but inside just well spaced out brackets. Can that be stronger than all the edges butted together and screwed/glued. I doubt it but worse is the constant shaking on the road, the little bracket lips are sure to crush the inside of the panel and it will loosen over time.

 

[hilldweller]

Also surprised me that the wall and roof are not bonded in a vacuum press.

A big hydraulic press was used in one scene, maybe the second video.

Certainly not panels to do much more than keep the rain out. There seemed so little "wood" to give it a bit of strength when it all goes pear shaped one day.

 

[Gorse Hill]

Wow, just watched the baileys build video must say I was very surprised and disappointed in so many ways concerning the construction methods
Potential for so many errors on many of the asssembly process, I've always considered our manufacturing to be equal if not better than many others including the Germans, unfortunately having seen that video I might have been wrong

 

[funflair]

Hopefully the video that I and possibly most of you have watched is actually a caravan built to an older design.

http://www.baileyalu-tech.co.uk/index.php this alu-tech microsite should show you how they do it now, they say timber free construction incorporating a composite plastic internal skeleton. I doesn't sound like the video I watched but I can't see any of the vid's on this microsite as I need a "flash plug in" or whatever.

Hopefully it is better than that caravan with all the wood and polystyrene

Martin

 

[peterc10]

Hopefully the video that I and possibly most of you have watched is actually a caravan built to an older design.

http://www.baileyalu-tech.co.uk/index.php this alu-tech microsite should show you how they do it now, they say timber free construction incorporating a composite plastic internal skeleton. I doesn't sound like the video I watched but I can't see any of the vid's on this microsite as I need a "flash plug in" or whatever.

Hopefully it is better than that caravan with all the wood and polystyrene

Martin

Looking and reading that it still has a structural frame to provide the rigidity, but instead of wood it is made of plastic. And the insulation is still polystyrene. That is not the same as fully bonded sandwich panels AFAIK.

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[jezport]

Looking and reading that it still has a structural frame to provide the rigidity, but instead of wood it is made of plastic. And the insulation is still polystyrene. That is not the same as fully bonded sandwich panels AFAIK.

There was no wood in the video.it was plastic.

 

[funflair]

Looking and reading that it still has a structural frame to provide the rigidity, but instead of wood it is made of plastic. And the insulation is still polystyrene. That is not the same as fully bonded sandwich panels AFAIK.

Thanks Peter as I said I can't see the vids, assuming it is fully boded it is a "fully bonded sandwich panel" as that just says something on the outside bonded to something on the inside, if its just polystyrene still its a good job that they are putting the plastic frame inside or the cupboards might just fall off the walls.

Martin

 

[Wicketter]

We had a new Bailey which we kept for 2 years. It was the width that finished it for us driving down narrow roads...but we are a bit whimpy! We now have a panel van and love her!! In Bailey's favour it was always lovely, warm and dry a great winter van and roomy. We have turned full circle now from a VW many years ago through coachbuilts and an A class Pilote which we loved, back to a panel van our IH!

 

[gus-lopez]

They could be making them easy to recycle perhaps?

It did say that in the video. Someone paying 10's of thousands of pounds has no interest in whether it is " easy to recycle "
The only strength in the window openings was supplied once the actual window was screwed to the plastic inserts. Not having proper mitred/jointed corners on the openings would put me off straight away. All that video would do for me is put me off buying one.

 

[jezport]

I visited Brownhills and looked at the Autocruise 6.33m PVCs. They looked good on the surface but when I looked a little closer I wasnt impressed by the finish.

However it was silly design flaws that made the van totally useless to me. They had used the 6.33m Ducato but it was on a lightweight chassis meaning the payload was tiny. Thery had removed the spare wheel to reduce the weight to allow the minimal payload.

I then went down the road to SMC, and took a look at a similar van from Globecar and even my wife could see the difference in quality. They had used the Maxi Chassis and kept the spare wheel. The price was very similar, yet my Globecar had to be brought over from Germany. Unfortunately we are still seem to be in the age of British Leyland in the motorhome industry in the UK where its not just the quality but also the designing that needs to be better.

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[Minxy]

We had a new Bailey which we kept for 2 years. It was the width that finished it for us driving down narrow roads...but we are a bit whimpy! We now have a panel van and love her!! In Bailey's favour it was always lovely, warm and dry a great winter van and roomy. We have turned full circle now from a VW many years ago through coachbuilts and an A class Pilote which we loved, back to a panel van our IH!

Same with us ... having gone from classic Commer Autosleeper, converted ambulance, older coachbuilt (narrower), then on to more modern coachbuilts, our last one restricted where we wanted to go due to the width at 2.3m wide and we didn't want to have to worry about the idiotic drivers coming the other way any more so going to a PVC has given us more than enough room and means we can continue doing what we want and the driving is more relaxing too especially for me as the passenger abroad!!!

 

[hilldweller]

or the cupboards might just fall off the walls.

Martin

You didn't see the videos, what it showed was all the cupboards fitted on the floor then the panels fitted to the cupboards, the cupboards seem to be an important part of the strength of the construction.

So if repairs were needed the cupboards can't be removed from the van, in one piece.

 

[Ivory55]

Wonder if bailey will venture in to the tag axel market, along the line of auto trail chieftain. Or is this to small a market?

 

[bellabee]

From my limited experience in the matter (but I do know my stuff on boats) there's good and bad whatever the origin, and the only thing that separate the two is the price that you have to pay for it

Compare a £45k M/H with one of the same cost from Germany, if you can find one, not with one costing twice as much.

But let's not turn this into WW3

Actually, that's not a lot less than we paid for our fully-loaded, brand new, Hymer, imported from Germany in summer 2015. Unfortunately, with the current exchange rate, you wouldn't get one for that money now.

 

[BobtheBass]

I think that Bailey probably look at how wide their caravans are (and other manufacturers) and assume that motorhomes should be the same. Never having towed a caravan I don't know how the width affects things, but I'm guessing it's totally different to a wide motorhome?

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[Kevin Holt]

Hi folks, just signed-up to make one small correction; the new Baileys just out haven't got any wider it's just that the measurements now include a factory-fitted awning. The bodyshell width is the same as the current range.

 

[BobtheBass]

They look a lot wider in the flesh! Must be the Tardis effect......

 

[funflair]

Hi folks, just signed-up to make one small correction; the new Baileys just out haven't got any wider it's just that the measurements now include a factory-fitted awning. The bodyshell width is the same as the current range.

Hi Kevin

So is the body 2.489 or is that the body measured to the outside of the awning case.

Martin

 

[jezport]

With all the roadworks on the M1 and the narrow lanes I do feel so much better in my PVC than my coachbuilt Frankia. So to me width does make a big difference, Length is less important except for parking in a car park.

 

[peterc10]

There was no wood in the video.it was plastic.

Agree. I think that is what I said - "instead of wood it is made of plastic".

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[hilldweller]

Hi folks, just signed-up to make one small correction; the new Baileys just out haven't got any wider it's just that the measurements now include a factory-fitted awning..

So if the user wipes the awning out on a wall that's OK because it's not the body.

I understand what you are saying but you are logically incorrect, it is wider.

 

[peterc10]

You didn't see the videos, what it showed was all the cupboards fitted on the floor then the panels fitted to the cupboards, the cupboards seem to be an important part of the strength of the construction.

So if repairs were needed the cupboards can't be removed from the van, in one piece.

Pretty well all motorhomes are built that way nowadays

This Broken Link Removed a series of photos of how Hymer build them

 

[Easyliving]

We have been very pleased with our Swift, bought new 4 years ago.

Swift give a 10 year water ingress warranty. If the vans they make are so prone to leaks why haven't they gone broke with all the warranty work they would have to do?

I read that Swift have a turnover of more than £208 million so they must be doing something right!

Paul

 

[pyro]

Agree. I think that is what I said - "instead of wood it is made of plastic".

Must be a reason why timber frame houses, almost all furniture and most boats still use wood in their construction to some extent or another.

The video did Bailey no favours, I have to concede, the insertion of non mitred joints, the reliance on adhesives, the (seemingly) poor insulation material (come back Kingspan, all is forgiven), the reliance on window frames and fitments to give some structural rigidity all suggest a structure more suited to lightweight towing than a vehicle body.

I couldn't possibly draw any unfavourable comparisons between the M/H of one country or another. When it comes to boats, the British ones are world class, when it comes to jet engines and aircraft technology, the same applies. Certainly when we were deciding between German and British, the cost differences were huge on a like for like basis, with little (visible) to show. In the end we decided French on the merits of layout and suitability for ourselves, not nationality.

I suspect that this preoccupation with buying German is more an issue of assumed Teutonic superiority than anything more pragmatic, the base units are identical, and I doubt there is all that much difference in build quality to justify the cost difference. As I said before, in normal use, it is mechanical wear on the base unit that causes M/Hs to end up in the breaker's yard, not the quality of plastic/GRP used in the construction of the hab unit

 

[Kevin Holt]

So if the user wipes the awning out on a wall that's OK because it's not the body.

I understand what you are saying but you are logically incorrect, it is wider.

And I wonder why I've never bothered signing up to this nest of pedants before..
#1 - I should have said that the body shell isn't any wider (Oh hang on, I did..)
#2 - The widest point remains the mirrors and that dimension hasn't changed so you're wrong, it isn't any wider.
#3 - the vast majority of Baileys get fitted with an awning by the dealer as part of the purchase deal so the comparison is valid for those anyway.

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[Deleted member 29692]

Of all the threads that could attract someone to sign up for the sole purpose of trolling I didn't think it would be this one.