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Bailey Low Line Approach


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Hi, Had a look at one of these today and may possibly buy one. Although they are just on the market does anyone have any good / bad points that they would like to share. It was pointed out that the elect. heater is the same that does the heating system. The TV points are installed but no aerial. ???

Thanks for your help.

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They have the naff water filling system fitted which means you have to move the motorhome to a tap to fill the tank or carry an Aquatroll and use the electric pump supplied to fill the tank. Has some advantages I suppose but it is not a popular system amongst motorhome users and its use probably reflects Baileys inexperience in the motorhome market.
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Re Keithl's link - Water Ingress warranty

 

"Bailey motorhome buyers can still opt for the 10-year cover, but will now have to pay £189 in the first year of ownership and £229 thereafter. "

 

So that's £2250 to maintain the warranty for 10years - so much for their confidence of their product..

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Guest JudgeMental
Ken, not a good idea using your email address as your username..you may get bags of unsolicited junk mail or worse ...
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Colin Leake - 2012-03-29 7:08 PM

 

They have the naff water filling system fitted which means you have to move the motorhome to a tap to fill the tank or carry an Aquatroll and use the electric pump supplied to fill the tank. Has some advantages I suppose but it is not a popular system amongst motorhome users and its use probably reflects Baileys inexperience in the motorhome market.

 

Can you provide a bit more detail on that? Would be interested to know what it is and it's not shown on brochure

Thanks

Mike

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So they have decided to remove the "Unique selling point" after how long? :D

 

what they are doing is insuring themselves at buyers cost against future failures.....I mean come on think about it!lol

 

what you should be asking is if you decided to pay for warranty :-S Is warranty transferable when you decide to sell van on down the line..... I would stick with German vans with a proper 6 year warranty

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Mike B. - 2012-04-01 11:39 AM

 

Colin Leake - 2012-03-29 7:08 PM

 

They have the naff water filling system fitted which means you have to move the motorhome to a tap to fill the tank or carry an Aquatroll and use the electric pump supplied to fill the tank. Has some advantages I suppose but it is not a popular system amongst motorhome users and its use probably reflects Baileys inexperience in the motorhome market.

 

Can you provide a bit more detail on that? Would be interested to know what it is and it's not shown on brochure

Thanks

Mike

 

It's a system made by Wale I believe. The big problem is that you can only fill the tank by connecting it up to a water tap using a hose pipe. This means moving the motorhome to the tap and carrying a hose with a variety of connectors every time you want to fill the tank. The other alternative is to take an aqua roll with you fill that up and then use the electric pump provided to fill your on board tank. All a bit pointless and the aqua roll will take up space in the motorhome. The only time I can see it being an advantage is if you are on a serviced pitch.

 

The system was used for a short time by another manufacturer but was very unpopular and I believe has now been dropped.

 

For technical reasons it would not be easy to uninstall it and fit a conventional system.

 

If I were buying a Bailey I would insist that it was fitted with the good old fashioned system as a condition of purchase that does all the Bailey system does but is provides so much better flexibility as regards to how one fills the tank.

 

It's one of those things that looks good in theory and no doubt looked good to Bailey on paper but is not good in practice and is hated with a passion by many who have been landed with it.

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Autocruise used the same system on their 'Low-Line' models, IE. on our Starburst,

I think it was because the 'inboard water tank' was at the same level as the side filler hole (they could have made the hole higher ??) anyway, we didn't find it 'a disaster' and it hasn't caused us any hassle, before I bought a Fiamma water carrier (square,so fits in locker under settee) I just used my watering can to 'top up', by just putting in the pump and pumping the water into the tank.

When arriving i Fill up using my standard hose with a Truma Crystal 2 attachment on the end, you could fit a 'Whale' one just as easy . If stopping for a few days, no need to move the van to fill up, just do as above.

Don't think that the type of water filler is a big enough issue to discard the 'Bailey' the 'layout' and whether it suits you, should be the 'clincher'.

Mind you I didn't know that they had 'dropped' their 'free' 10 year warranty, which was an Industry Leader. (which some others followed, bet they withdraw them too, now). Shame. They should be 'adding' to customer confidence, not detracting from it. *-) Ray

 

Err, by the way, I don't hate mine !

 

as for the Hosepipe ban, i don't intend holidaying in either the South east, or east Anglia, i was born in one and spent all my childhood holidays in the other,so i like a bit of a change.

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I do have to wonder what bad experience led Bailey to discard the 10 years water ingress warranty and charge what is tantamount to the cost to them of taking a roof off and re-sealing it - on every van they make.

 

Hardly confidence inspiring is it!

 

 

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I do have to wonder what bad experience led Bailey to discard the 10 years water ingress warranty and charge what is tantamount to the cost to them of taking a roof off and re-sealing it - on every van they make.

 

Hardly confidence inspiring is it!

 

 

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As far as I recall when the Bailey coachbuilts are given their annual habitation check the body 'connectors' are checked and tightened etc to keep the structure sound ... so if you don't do this it might not just be a leak you have to worry about ... 8-)

 

Personally, I'd avoid Bailey motorhomes until their longevity has been well tested in the market for a number of years. I don't think they are doing themselves any favours by 'changing' this so soon after it was announced.

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Now, to get this in perspective though this is how I read their warranty details:

 

Body shell warranty

- All motorhomes have a standard 6 year (no cost) body shell warranty

- You can extend it to 10 years (ie extra 4 years) on payment of a 'one off' cost of either £189 if you do it before it is one year old, or £229 if you do it in one of the subsequent years (up to the 6th year I assume).

 

Habitation warranty

- All motorhomes have a standard 3 year habitation warranty (excludes a few things after the first year)

- You can extend this to a 6 year - yes 6 year - warranty for a 'one off cost option' but there is no indication of the cost of this or the period within which you have to do this.

 

The condition is that you have to have an annual service to maintain the warranties but no details are given as to the cost of this. If you want to read it, go to the following a click on the 'information' tab on the top right and select warranty from the list.

 

http://www.baileyapproach.co.uk/

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Thanks Mel, but no thanks!

 

I don't think my leisure hobby needs to be so complicated by all that faffing about so I will stick with my British built and solidly assembled six year old pre Swift era Autocruise rather than go anywhere near any new van let alone one from anew manufacturer!

 

It's now well out of warranty but not leaking anywhere and the only troubles I have ever had are with bits NOT made by Autocruise!

 

It seems that making motorhomes is not as easy or as quickly profitable as making caravans - as many have discovered!

 

I hope that Bailey get to see this thread and a comment from them would be good as I understand that their caravan reputation is very good and no doubt in time so will their motorhome reputation - unless they get bored and give up!

 

 

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Mel B - 2012-04-01 7:25 PM

 

Now, to get this in perspective though this is how I read their warranty details:

 

Body shell warranty

- All motorhomes have a standard 6 year (no cost) body shell warranty

- You can extend it to 10 years (ie extra 4 years) on payment of a 'one off' cost of either £189 if you do it before it is one year old, or £229 if you do it in one of the subsequent years (up to the 6th year I assume).

 

Habitation warranty

- All motorhomes have a standard 3 year habitation warranty (excludes a few things after the first year)

- You can extend this to a 6 year - yes 6 year - warranty for a 'one off cost option' but there is no indication of the cost of this or the period within which you have to do this.

 

The condition is that you have to have an annual service to maintain the warranties but no details are given as to the cost of this. If you want to read it, go to the following a click on the 'information' tab on the top right and select warranty from the list.

 

http://www.baileyapproach.co.uk/

 

I would have thought this is pretty standard for any motorhome damp ingress warranty , and certainly wiith the Burstner, it is necessary to get a damp test each year from a Burstner authorised dealer and ensure this is posted to their

database.I think this also applies to any warranty work, so that the habitation service also has to be done .

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Speaking up in defence of Bailey's 'Alu-Tech' system, it seems to be working well on their caravans, with no reports of problems caused by the System, however the 'connector' tightness checks, during the first two years seem to be VERY important. Hopefully their Motorhomes will be equally as 'Watertight' and structrually sound. It's good to have British manufacturers still around. For our little 'Idiocyncrasies' like Full ovens, 'Lay out lounge areas' and Hab doors on the 'Kerb side'.

Just a Shame about the 'free' 10 year body warranty. *-) Ray

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