Great Caravaning Gaffs.

[Guest]

We all have at least experienced one and often more than one of this question,

Why did they do that?

What gaff has the maker of your caravan done?

I have a 2016 Coachman Pastiche 575, I've mentioned this before but we are away now and it's still ANNOYING.

Who thought it a great idea to put the Alde pump in the wardrobe?

When I was a youth, which is a long time ago now, as a car nut I and others would place a stereo speaker in a home made box, so IT WOULD MAKE A LOUDER NOISE. Bit like putting an electric motor in a wardrobe!

Next why o why design an alloy wheel so that not all the slots can be used by the Alko wheel lock?

Probably the same person that decided it was ok to stick a pump in a wardrobe decided to put the tyre valve not in the slot the alko wheel lock doesn't fit, but oh no let's reduce the 5 slots to 4 and use a slot that DOES fit the wheel lock.

ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH

Yours
Victor M.

[Alan Stanley]

Couldn't agree more about the Alde pump. Why do it? Because it's a cheaper pump than the quiet inline one. As for the wheels. We have five slots of which 4 are usable. So when putting it in the barn every so often it conflicts and we have to do a spin on the motor mover to get it right. If they fitted a keep on both wheels it would almost never happen. Cost again.

 

With the unicorn 3. It is the mains lead on the near side in the awning. Cost again but it bugs me.

[Guest]

What gaff has the maker of your caravan done?

A classic gaff can be seen on various two berth caravans where an open grill flap can obstruct the toiler door. This may be provide a safety feature if the grill is in use, but consider the occupant of the loo if the grill flap should fall open accidentally.

 

We had one caravan where the waste water from the washroom sink was plumbed into the same waste outlet as the shower tray with the consequence that the sink would effectively empty over our feet! Re-routing washroom sink drain pipe to link with the kitchen sink waste pipe instead of the shower solved this fundamental gaff!

[664DaveS]

Why do they put microwaves in top cupboards?Difficult for shorter people and possibly dangerous!

Evervtried to get a spare wheel out of the underslung carrier? What a pain.

Our Bailey has the wind down spare,slighly less agro!

[Johnaldo]

Putting an anti-condensation board along the side of a corner fixed bed, but not along the top.

 

John

[Guest]

Why do they put microwaves in top cupboards?Difficult for shorter people and possibly dangerous!

Evervtried to get a spare wheel out of the underslung carrier? What a pain.

Our Bailey has the wind down spare,slighly less agro!

Funny you should say that.

 

My dinky wife asked for one of those folding steps which I bought, (Amazon £9. 90) so she can see into the microwave. ???

[Steamdrivenandy]

Just as we seemed to be making progress and manufacturers were fitting microwaves at lower levels, along came a fashion for taller, larger fridges and the microwaves reverted back to being at height above the kitchen. My favourite hate is where they fit the microwave above the cooker and hob, so there's a risk of clothing catching fire from the hob as you reach up to use the microwave. It doesn't really cause me a problem as I'm 6ft 2ins tall but Mrs SDA is 5ft 2ins and won't sanction buying such vans.

[Omega54]

Easy one this. Our Bailey, which I love has 2 gaffs on the same item. ...the bed!

First gaff, whoever designed the pull across bed support, it's a 2 berth so you will know the configuration, instead of pull out slats must never have tried it out in practice. The only way I have found is to put my left foot on the left seat base and lean over to pull out the support - it's bonkers! Esp. as slats work perfectly fine. Oh incidentally on the new Genoa they have returned to slats.

And the second, also the bed, is that the backs of the seats that drop into the gap to complete the bed are too big. This means that only one fits. I complete the gap by allowing the back support to drop down in the same orientation as in daytime mode. I think the measurements were taken from wall to wall before the addition of the condensation boards.

 

If anyone can offer simpler suggestions I would very much welcome them as we have had the van for 3 years and I haven't found an alternative.

[CommanderDave]

We all have at least experienced one and often more than one of this question,

Why did they do that?

What gaff has the maker of your caravan done?

I have a 2016 Coachman Pastiche 575, I've mentioned this before but we are away now and it's still ANNOYING.

Who thought it a great idea to put the Alde pump in the wardrobe?

When I was a youth, which is a long time ago now, as a car nut I and others would place a stereo speaker in a home made box, so IT WOULD MAKE A LOUDER NOISE. Bit like putting an electric motor in a wardrobe!

Next why o why design an alloy wheel so that not all the slots can be used by the Alko wheel lock?

Probably the same person that decided it was ok to stick a pump in a wardrobe decided to put the tyre valve not in the slot the alko wheel lock doesn't fit, but oh no let's reduce the 5 slots to 4 and use a slot that DOES fit the wheel lock.

ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH

Yours

Victor M.

 

 

The main reason why I fitted electric under carpet heating in my caravan was the completely​ quiet running at night and no maintenance against pumps and fans .

 

 

 

Dave

[Johnaldo]

What gaff has the maker of your caravan done?

 

 

Apparently, in some caravans they have been known to fit the window catches upside down. Can you believe it?

 

John

[Guest]

 

Apparently, in some caravans they have been known to fit the window catches upside down. Can you believe it?

 

John

 

YES !

[hp100425ev]

Apparently, in some caravans they have been known to fit the window catches upside down. Can you believe it?

 

John

Presume that is a tongue in cheek comment.

[Markt1891]

With the unicorn 3. It is the mains lead on the near side in the awning. Cost again but it bugs me.

In my Madrid the mains inlet is on the offside. It just depends on the layout as the mains unit is under the fridge, our fridge is on the offside so that's where the mains inlet is. I agree with your comments though, but not all U3's are the same.

 

Mark.

[Woodentop]

There are two related issues that annoy me:

 

Why do manufacturers assume that owners of a 2-berth van will always want to sleep in it as a double bed? If you want to sleep as two singles for convenience (and night-time 'trips'!) if it has pull-out (lengthways) slats which you need to use to make the singles wide enough how do you get out of bed? That was one of the reasons that we bought our Pegasus 462 which has side pull-outs from both sides.

 

It is a known fact that people are getting bigger, especially taller, but manufacturers don't seem to know about it! Evidence is that single beds are getting shorter or at least not longer. Our beds are 6ft 3in but there are few anywhere near this most being between 5ft 11in and 6ft 1in - and by the time you have a pillow in place anyone like me of 6ft 1in needs a bed 2-3 inches longer so that legs can be stretched out.

 

For that matter some beds are getting smaller. I read a review the other day (I will not say where) about a new caravan which had a double bed 6ft 2in by 3ft 10in!! Even the smallest conventional double bed is 4ft 6in wide!

[Steamdrivenandy]

Here's a list of 2 berth bed sizes offered by UK manufacturers in their current ranges.

 

Pursuit 400-2 6' 2" x 2'4"

Genoa 6' 4" & 6' 2" x 2' 2"

Seville 6'3" x 2'2"

 

Ariva 5'11" x 2'3"

Quasar 462 6'1" x 2'3"

Stellar 6'5" x 2'5"

Clubman CK 6'4" x 2' 5"

 

Vision 450 6'1" x 2'5"

Pastich 460 6'1" x 2'5"

VIP 460 6'1" x 2'5"

 

Avante 482 no mention of singles

Affinity 482 6'2" x 2'3"

 

Alpine 2 6'3" & 5'11" x 2'4"

Challenger 480 6'1" & 5'9" x 2'4"

Conqueror 480 6'2" & 5'10" x 2'2"

Elegance 480 6'2" & 5'10" x 2'2"

Basecamp 6'0" x 2'3"

 

So for us over 6 footers the Lunar Stellar has got to be the favourite, indeed in both incarnations I've always liked it.

 

Explorer Group has to take the booby prize for 2 berth vans with just two in the range and only one showing single bed sizes.

 

Funnily enough the current Genoa is the best two berth Bailey, but at least the others are 6' 2".

 

Coachman probably averages the shortest, the best you can say is they're consistent.

 

Swift Group's approach is pragmatic as often only one partner requires a bed over 6ft 0ins. However what happens when two 6ft blokes want to use the van? Also it might be awkward, when socialising, to have one bench 4" shorter than the other. And the biggest oddity is making the Basecamp's beds just 6ft long when it's being marketed to youngsters, who are the tallest segment and is well likely to be used by two blokes on a cycling/climbing etc outing.

[Alan Stanley]

 

I never believe the published bed lengths as each manufacturer has their own rules. We always take a tape measure and actually measure it.

 

For example our Swift Challenger has a side bed. Sized at 6' 2" if I remember. But that is the distance between the head and bottom bulkheads. It does not take into account the padded headboard, which reduces it somewhat. Also it does not take into account that the mattress is an exact fit and you cannot lift it without jamming on the headboard. If I stretch out then it's head touching one end and feet jammed up against the other. luckily it in use by the kids mostly at 5' 7" max.

 

The Valencia 3 same layout has on paper the same bed length 6' 2". And indeed that is the length of the mattress. But what it does not tell you is that Bailey have given a couple of inches or so at the head end so it bypasses the padded head board easily. Or that they have a further 4 - 5 inches of free space at the bottom of the bed before you come to any partition. So in effect you have a much longer bed. Bliss and you can actually lift the bed passed the headboard.

 

As for the fashion for end beds with a central bathroom. Nearly every one we looked at is built for midgets. 6ft beds are not long enough.

[peterjohn]

The Coachman VIP has a gutter above the front three windows, woe betide you if you try to clean out the gutter with bare hands, you WILL cut yourself. First thing to do is get some course grade emery cloth to take the sharp edges off, once you have done that it's fine. Question, why don't Coachman take the edge off before fitting? Or why not do without like the Pastiche?

Oh and whilst we are at it, why have just one switch in the bathroom that turns on 5 led lights and two strips of mirror lights when all you want to do is use the toilet in the middle of the night without blinding yourself?.......Peter

[Mogwyth]

Swift Charisma, switch the main switch for the lights in the bathroom on and only the shower lights come on you then need to switch the actual bathroom light on with a second switch and for that matter why hide the main switch on the side of the vanity cupboard between the it and the loo. Took us an age to work out why the bathroom lights wouldn't work and where the switch was hidden.

[Babstreefern]

Talking about caravan beds, try a 6ft 2in hubby, a 5ft 0in wife and a 20lb mainecoon cat, now that's squeezing up, but at least we're all warm . We have an Xplore 504 2015 which has a fixed bed. Not made anymore. You now have to either get 2 x singles or an island bed

[Paul_B]

A spare wheel holder in the front locker but the wheel wont go through the locker doorway

[Disco4]

Well with the original Bailey U3s there were the razor blades (aka Alde radiator fins) along the top of the external lockers, but they spoiled that by coming up with a modification.

 

The other common one is fitting 2x sinks & a shower tray, then orienting the plug holes so that no matter which direction you're slightly off-level, at least one will be uphill so fail to drain.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Disco4

[Robbido]

 

Ha ! perfect

 

 

 

 

A spare wheel holder in the front locker but the wheel wont go through the locker doorway

[Omega54]

Speaking of Bailey,s, which I was, what about all the well documented sealant in the awning rail! Has to be one of the biggest gaffs recently. It must have taken us at least 6 holidays to finally clear it. Just when you thought it was sorted when you removed the awning it pulled some more ready for the next holiday.

[P_P]

Why do they fit one window handle upside down ? ??

[Robbido]

why does the instruction manual for the gas oven instruct that if the oven does not light on the electronic ignition then try and light it with a match !. . .. . ..BOOM. . . ..twice !!

 

Would you stick your head in a gas oven ?. . .. . ..I did. . . .. . twice !

 

 

Why do they fit one window handle upside down ?

why do they do that ?

Edited May 2, 2017 by Robbido