HOBBY roof light

[Peter Pan]

My Hobby Van T500 has a circular roof light over the shower room. The top section (mushroom) of the roof light flew off. Hobby caravans say the whole unit must be replaced costing around £780. Has anyone had experience of this problem and does anyone know if it is possible to purchase just the outer mushroom cover?

Thanks.

[Derek Uzzell]

Problems with the circular rooflight that was fitted to the washroom of certain Hobby motorhomes was mentioned in these earlier forum threads

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Hobby-washroom-rooflight-/28283/

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Remis-roof-vent/28814/

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Hints-and-Tips/Hobby-Van-50-GS-First-van/35717/?DisplayType=nested&setcookie=1&go=

 

From what Brain Kirby said, the rooflight was manufactured by a Luxembourg-based company called “Para Press” and (from online comments) this went bankrupt some while ago.

 

Brian’s comments in the first link above suggest that the rooflight’s glazing comprises two separate ‘panes’ that are bonded together during the rooflight’s construction to form a double-glazed unit, so it’s unlikely that just the upper ‘pane’ would ever have been offered as a separate entity.

 

As the rooflight’s manufacturer (apparently) went bust, presumably Hobby still has some of these rooflights kicking around in their parts department.

[Peter Pan]

Thanks Derek. Your comments make perfect sense.

[Myfanwy]

I am going to collect a fabricated acrylic replacement to my own design on Thursday. I’m taking the van to offer it up and the fabricator will make any adjustments - I hope there won’t be any needed.

It’s a square design to simplify and cheapen construction. It’s costing £540 incl VAT!

I’m going to fix it to the inner lid (with the three lifting devices) using eight M5 domed head screws.

I firmly believe that Hobby should implement a factory recall, in line with last year’s recall for over-cab windows that were flying off. I have contacted a Hobby in Germany and UK but, surprise, not had any response.

There are only two complete assemblies available from the continent but my local caravan repair man will not touch a replacement because of the difficulty in guaranteeing a weatherproof job that would not compromise the integrity of the habitation.

I’ll post a report on the success, or otherwise, of the completed job.

Pete

 

[Derek Uzzell]

You haven’t said how old your Hobby motorhome is, but any “Van” with this circular rooflight will have some age by now.

 

The final (2018) posting of this 2012 thread

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Hobby-washroom-rooflight-/28283/

 

refers to the upper skin of the round rooflight detaching from an 11-year-old “Van”.

 

The roof-light of Brian Kirby’s 2007 “Van” began to show cracking at the joint between its two ‘panes’ after 5 years and, as water had found its way into the cavity between the panes, the complete rooflight assembly was replaced free of charge within Hobby’s 5-year water ingress warranty. If, after (say) one more year had passed and the top pane had detached from Brian’s rooflight, with no warranty remaining on his motorhome I suspect Hobby would have been much less accommodating about paying for a replacement.

 

The round rooflights were manufactured by “Para Press” that ceased production of windows in 2015. According to this report

 

http://www.motorhomefulltime.com/equipment/polyplastic-supply-hobby-and-trigano

 

the “Polyplastic” company took over window-supply to Hobby then and would “...also handle the after-sales service for the windows, which were previously supplied by Para Press”. However, the round rooflight may well have been ‘bespoke’ for Hobby, and I can find nothing on-line to suggest that Polyplastic continued to produce it.

 

You might try exploring this with the Hobby Motorhome Owners Club

 

https://hobbyowners.org.uk/

 

but, even if were argued that there’s a design or production flaw with the round rooflight, after this amount of time I can’t envisage Hobby issuing a factory recall.

[Myfanwy]

I’m new to blogs. This is in reply to Derek (if his question was aimed at me)..

My van is 2007. Hobby recalled it last year for the over-cab window replacement. I still believe the bathroom outer lid loss is a dangerous fault and should be subject of a similar recall (who knows where my lid ended up or how many people it just missed on its flight to freedom.)

As far as joining the Hobby owners club - I don’t think I will be keeping this much longer. I’d previously re-engineered the bathroom floor at a cost of £920 (you can actually stand on it now without it cracking); some aspects of Hobby design are good but some of the detailed engineering leave me aghast. In addition Hobby clearly does not comprehend customer service.

Like I said, I’ll post results from my home-made lid replacement.

Pete

[Myfanwy]

Just a thought... is it not incumbent on a manufacturer to supply a vehicle that doesn’t lose parts when travelling at speed?

Hobby UK has responded to say that the factory in Germany is on annual holidays and will respond in due course.

Is there a link to Fendt caravans that used the same roof vent?

Pete

[Derek Uzzell]

In 2005 I bought from a German dealership a new Hobby T-600FC motorhome that I owned until 2014 - so I’m pretty familiar with Ford Transit-based Hobby models.

 

As will be evident from the links above, there have been occasional reports from Hobby “Van” owners relating to problems with the Para Press-made round rooflight fitted to the washroom. But I’ve no idea how many round rooflight top-panes have detached themselves. That’s why I suggested you contact the Hobby Motorhome Owners Club to see if they might be able to provide that information - I wasn’t suggesting you join the Club.

 

The Hobby overcab-rooflight recall began over a year ago (details here)

 

https://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/news/update-hobby-motorhomes-issues-recall-notice

 

and, if the rooflight had become damaged or had blown out, Hobby stated that a replacement rooflight would be fitted free of charge.

 

The obvious inference is that replacements for the overcab rooflights are still available or can be manufactured fairly easily, but this may not be so for the round Para Press-made washroom rooflight. So, even though Hobby was prepared to issue a recall going back to 2007 models for the overcab rooflight, even if the company is now well aware that a few of the Para Press round rooflights have been losing their top-panes, replacement round rooflights may no longer be available in any significant quantity and there’s no facility to manufacture new units. This is just crystal-ball gazing, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the case.

 

The Fendt caravan website is here

 

https://www.fendt-caravan.com/en.html

 

but I’m doubtful that the round washroom rooflight was fitted to Hobby or Fendt caravans.

 

Two motorhome models (the K400 and K500) were marketed for a while under the Fendt brand-name and, as these were ‘clones’ of Hobby “Vans”, they would have had the round washroom rooflight. Not sure what you’d hope to gain by trying to progress your complaint through Fendt as Hobby and Fendt are essentially the same entity and Hobby and Fendt motorhomes were built in the same factory.

 

Hobby’s design ethos has always been idiosyncratic: it’s been their motorhomes’ charm and curse. And if you believe the company’s attitude to UK Hobby motorhome buyers can leave much to be desired, I certainly wouldn’t disagree.

 

Best of luck with getting redress from Hobby. If you are successful, please let this forum know.

[Myfanwy]

Just fitted my home-designed replacement outer lid for the loo roof vent light. If I say so myself, it looks pretty good and has just handled a four-hour run, some in driving rain at 70mph on the A1 with no water ingress. No noise issues either. Confident that our upcoming two-month trip will be good.

If I can get my head around posting a photo (help gratefully received) I will add it to a post.

Pete

[Brian Kirby]

Pete, if you want to attach a picture, you have to reduce the file size to below 100kb. When you click Submit to make your post, tick the box entitled "Attach a file after posting", and then browse to where you have the picture saved on your computer, select that file and, is you have got the file size (note, not the picture size, it is the file size of the picture that counts, not its physical dimensions. Most picture editing programs should have a "save for web" feature that will allow re-sizing, and you can usually get a .jpg down to the appropriate size by selecting the lowest quality image. Depending on the original file size, you may have to try a second pass (i.e. re-name and save the reduced file to your computer, and then try further re-sizing the saved image) to get below 100kb.

 

So that people know what we're on about, I'm attaching a picture of ours before it was replaced.

 

[Myfanwy]

Thanks. Here goes..

 

[Myfanwy]

Second try - there are three photos and I hope i succeed in getting them out there.

Pete

[Myfanwy]

Brian, have I missed something? Your photo of the lid "before it was replaced" - means you have actually had it replaced. Where did you find the replacement ad who fitted it?

Thanks, Pete

[Anne S]

We had our circular rooflight come off when we were driving down the M5 in the middle of April. We heard a rattling noise start but couldn't stop until the next services. Most of the front of the rooflight was gone and it had broken the rear of the inner rooflight. When I got home I was able to see that the rattling was the remaining bit of the outer rooflight together with the 2 small bits of plastic from the inner. We were told that we only needed the two bits of plastic at around £600 ish by ES Hartley.

 

We are still waiting for the replacements. I asked Hobby Uk at the Malvern show in August why it was taking so long, Apparently Hobby don't have any in stock. Have you managed to source a repair?

 

5 months is a disgusting wait for a repair. We never had to wait for our pervious Hymer motorhomes. And they weren't particularly young, this Hobby was only 4 when we bought it.

 

We also had a recall on the front rooflight which was coming loose. Fixed fairly quickly.

[Derek Uzzell]

Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, Anne.

 

In my posting of 9 August 2018 8:42 AM above I speculated that the circular rooflights that were fitted to certain Hobby motorhomes (eg “Vans”) 10 years or so ago might no longer be available directly from Hobby and that, as Para Press (the company that manufactured the roof-lights) now longer made them, it might in fact be impossible nowadays to source a new replacement unit from anywhere.

 

I suggest you insist that Hobby(UK) give you a firm answer to whether or not a new rooflight (or the necessary parts) can be supplied to allow a repair to your motorhome to be effected.

 

If the answer is No, then the only realistic options would seem to be to follow Myfanwy’s approach and have a replacement ‘lid’ manufactured ar (assuming that it would be practicable) replace the complete circular rooflight with a differently-designed oblong one.

 

 

[Anne S]

The problem with the circular rooflight is that it is around 600mm in diameter. I haven't found a Heki which is big enough. I notice the new Hobbys have a Heki style bathroom rooflight, could there be a problem with the circular ones????? I've printed a copy of the square rooflight referred to above just in case.

 

On a more promising note, ES Hartley, who are supplying the replacement say that they're expecting a large Hobby order later this week. Let's hope my rooflight bits are in it.

[Derek Uzzell]

Anne

 

Although you haven’t said which model of Hobby motorhome you own or when it was built, I assume it’s one of the Ford Transit-based “Van” models that were (if I remember correctly) marketed from 2007 to 2011.

 

I believe the Parra Press-made round rooflight over the washroom (visible in the attached photo) was unique to Hobby Vans and to Fendt-branded equivalents, with the rooflight’s shape matching the circular shower enclosure beneath. As far as I’m aware no other Hobby leisure-vehicle (motorhome or caravan) had the circular rooflight, instead having traditional square or oblong units made by Remis or Dometic/Heki.

 

Based on on-line comments, there can be little doubt that there’s a potential problem with these rooflights as the motorhome ages, but I don’t know if this was recognised at any stage during the period when “Vans” were being built and whether any manufacturing modifications were made to improve matters as a consequence.

 

Remis used to offer a peculiar RemiTop Tilt & Slide rooflight with a 600mm x 600mm aperture (my 2005 Hobby T-600FC had one) but I’m not sure if that’s still marketed, nor whether it could replace the circular unit. ‘Full size’ Dometic HEKI units should cover a 600mm-diameter hole, but might be too big for the roof area available on a Van. Besides which, fitting any alternative to the original circular unit could well be challenging.

 

Hopefully the delivery to E S Hartley from Hobby will allow a repair to be made. If the parts don’t turn up, some strong words might be appropriate...

[Anne S]

That's the same model of Hobby except ours is silver.

 

Good news, my rooflight has been delivered to the dealer and will be despatched by courier to us tomorrow so we can have it fitted at our local motorhome service dealer.

 

Hopefully it will get to us safely.

[Anne S]

The rooflight arrived broken. Suppliers won't refund so we've had to get a refund through our credit card company. I won't be using this Hobby dealer again. They didn't pack the new rooflight in a large enough box or label it as fragile etc so the courier carried it vertically as opposed to laying it flat.

 

[Brian Kirby]

Myfanwy - 2018-08-12 7:50 PM

 

Brian, have I missed something? Your photo of the lid "before it was replaced" - means you have actually had it replaced. Where did you find the replacement ad who fitted it?

Thanks, Pete

Sorry Pete, I missed your above query as we were away at the time. It was replaced like for like by Hobby under warranty. The van was a 2007 year Hobby Van, and the rooflight failed (by letting water into the airspace between the inner and outer skins) in June 2012. Hobby accepted without quibble that the failure amounted to water ingress, and was eligible for replacement under their 6 year ingress warranty. Southdowns carried out the warranty work, both obtaining and replacing the rooflight, but they are no longer Hobby dealers.

[Brian Kirby]

Anne S - 2019-01-01 4:03 PM

 

The rooflight arrived broken. Suppliers won't refund so we've had to get a refund through our credit card company. I won't be using this Hobby dealer again. They didn't pack the new rooflight in a large enough box or label it as fragile etc so the courier carried it vertically as opposed to laying it flat.

VERY annoying for you. You haven't said where in UK you are.

 

When we had our Hobby, Ambergate Caravans of Ambergate, Derbys, traded as Hobby UK, and were the firm through which all UK Hobby dealers had to deal with Hobby in Germany. I don't know whether they still perform this role, but it seems they now only handle trailer caravans. It may be worth contacting them, especially if they are near to you.

 

Did you speak to Citizen's Advice or ES Hartley regarding your damaged replacement rooflight as I think the liability lies between Hartley and their courier, and am surprised that both denied liability and left you, I would imagine, considerably out of pocket. Well done for claiming against your card, 'though you shouldn't have had to.

 

In theory any Hobby motorhome dealer should be able to source a further replacement for you. Is there one near you, to whom you could entrust the fitting? There is some advantage to getting the whole job done by a Hobby dealer since, if there is a subsequent problem, there is only one firm to deal with.

 

Aa an alternative long shot, have you tried contacting Hobby direct to see if they can put you in touch with a UK dealer to sort out the problem. I believe they have a service centre in Fockbeck, who could supply/install the replacement at the factory, though that is hardly a convenient town from UK.

 

These are really nice little vans, and in some ways I wish we still had ours. As Derek so rightly said, Hobby are a bit quirky, which is both their charm and their curse. :-)

[PJay]

Brian Kirby - 2019-01-01 7:00 PM

 

Anne S - 2019-01-01 4:03 PM

 

The rooflight arrived broken. Suppliers won't refund so we've had to get a refund through our credit card company. I won't be using this Hobby dealer again. They didn't pack the new rooflight in a large enough box or label it as fragile etc so the courier carried it vertically as opposed to laying it flat.

 

VERY annoying for you. You haven't said where in UK you are.

:-)

I see that Brian is having to ask , Where the poster is based, Again

 

Perhaps one of the moderators could arrange to make it a necessary answer on the profile, so that answers could be directed to an area closest to the area of the OP.

Just the general area will do. Not asking for persons address !!

 

THe very helpful advice given would be so much better . I live in the south, therefore a dealer in the north , wales or Scotland , would be of no use to me

 

PJay

 

And a happy New Year, to you all

 

[Derek Uzzell]

P Jay

 

Although the forums’ Moderators have certain privileges that permit them to manipulate threads and postings, they cannot alter the Out&Aboutlive website software. And, although the forums’ Administrator (Daniel Attwood) has slightly enhanced forum editing powers and the ability to ‘ban’ forum-members, he will not have the capability to do what you are suggesting either.

 

Compelling forum-members to provide ‘location’ information (or, in the case of motorhomes, vehicle identification details) would require Warners to instruct (and pay) someone able to revise the forums’ software. A forum-software revision by a 3rd-party was made in 2016 to counter a spamming attack, but only because the forums could not have survived otherwise.

 

Not knowing, or being able to establish easily, where a forum-member lives can be a nuisance occasionally, but much less a nuisance than not knowing, or being able to establish easily, what motorhome they own. But the chances are nil that Warners would fund a software revision to force forum-members to provide ‘Where I live’ and/or ‘What I drive’ data.

 

I‘ve ’twiddled’ the "ALL FORUM MEMBERS - PLEASE READ” thread (that you initiated) that sits at the top of the first webpage of the Motorhome Matters forum to encourage forum-members to identify their motorhome

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/ALL-FORUM-MEMBERS-PLEASE-READ/47195/

 

I’ve also tweaked the Location entry in the “You and your profile” thread

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Code-of-Conduct-and-User-Guidelines/Forum-User-Guide/You-and-your-profile/3990/

 

that is part of the Forum User Guide section at the top of the forums’ homepage.

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/

 

The snag is that (being an ex-computer programmer/systems analyst) I know full well that - with no firm encouragement/compulsion to provide location/leisure-vehicle information at the forum-registration stage - people joining the O&AL forums are highly unlikely to read the threads I’ve linked to above before posting or subsequently. It’s not their fault as the usefulness of that information should have been plain when the O&AL forums were set up in 2005. Having said that, it’s approaching miraculous that - after 14 years and with minimal alteration - the O&AL forum original software still functions reasonably well.

[Will86]

Regarding the 'secret' posters unfortunately its a way of life for many who are afraid of their own shadow !

 

And me ... I'm everywhere even receiving offers of sex with Russian Women, but at 90 its too far away.

 

 

[Anne S]

I live in Wales. We don't have a Hobby dealer near us, so we ordered from one of the big dealers. In hindsight we should have gone directly to the importer, Hobby caravans. The firm who usually service our motorhome can get parts but aren't an agent for any particular make, on this occasion we should have got them to order it.

 

Going through the credit card company was very straightforward, we'd already had a shouting match with the dealer. We just had to send the copies of all correspondence and the response was fairly quick. They immediately stopped the balance of the payment for the rooflight. I'm really surprised the dealer seems not to have noticed the money's gone from their bank account.

 

I just hope we can get it repaired before we go away again, the bathroom hasn't got any other ventilation.