This is my first post on the forum, I have been lurking for some time but thought it was about time I joined in.
My other half (Gerry) and I have been caravanning on and off for several years but we have always had older vans. We were wandering around our local dealers when we came across the new Bailey Olympus range and well the rest is history! We are eagerly awaiting delivery of our shiny new Olympus 464 in mid July. Does anyone have suggestions what we should look for when we go to collect? (Before we hand over our hard earned cash)
Is any other forum member already in possession of a 464? I hope it lives up to expectations.
Welcome to the forum and hope your brand new shiney van is great!
------------- Enjoying caravanning, realising what an expensive hobby it is and spending the family’s inheritance before they can get their hands on it!
Just have a good look around every where. Check door and locker catches all work and the lock proprely where appropriate. Check it's clean and tidy, plastic strip on edges of furniture can come adrift a bit in heat. I would also get them to show you that an awning cord will pass round the rear (tight) corner as some owners seems to have had issues with excess mastic clogging up the channel.
I visited a dealer this weekend to stock up on a few assessories and couldn't resist a look around their Olympus 464 show van.(It seems an eternity until ours is delivered in July ) I had a good look around and happened to notice that the rubber cream coloured trim around the front windows was lifting at the corners. There was definitely double sided sticky tape and sticky pads stuck to the rubber but it wasn't strong enough to hold the trim to the wall. I pressed the trim back into place and it popped off again within a few seconds. The trim appeared to be a very poor fit. Is this the same in the Pegasus? If the same problem exists in our new van is it something that we could ask to be sorted under warranty? It was very unsightly especially on a brand new van.
Quote: Originally posted by Sara. S on 07/6/2010
Thank you
I visited a dealer this weekend to stock up on a few assessories and couldn't resist a look around their Olympus 464 show van.(It seems an eternity until ours is delivered in July ) I had a good look around and happened to notice that the rubber cream coloured trim around the front windows was lifting at the corners. There was definitely double sided sticky tape and sticky pads stuck to the rubber but it wasn't strong enough to hold the trim to the wall. I pressed the trim back into place and it popped off again within a few seconds. The trim appeared to be a very poor fit. Is this the same in the Pegasus? If the same problem exists in our new van is it something that we could ask to be sorted under warranty? It was very unsightly especially on a brand new van.
Sara.
The problem on the window is probably excess mastic ( better too much than too little) and if you spot it on yours - point it out - should take about 2-5 minutes to remedy.
Sara, this is the most difficult part - having to wait for 6 weeks before the van arrives. Hope it will arrive on time. It makes it worse if you have to wait longer. Best of luck over the next month or so.
Thanks David, I'm not very good at being patient. We ordered the van back in April and it's being built the first week in July so fingers crossed for a mid July delivery. We ordered it before reading about the various problems some forum members are having with the Pegasus. Mostly I'm very excited but I must admit to being a little worried too.
Quote: Originally posted by Sara. S on 07/6/2010
Thanks David, I'm not very good at being patient. We ordered the van back in April and it's being built the first week in July so fingers crossed for a mid July delivery. We ordered it before reading about the various problems some forum members are having with the Pegasus. Mostly I'm very excited but I must admit to being a little worried too.
Don't worry about van problems unless they occur. That's the time to deal with them.
In the meantime, it is worth ringing to find out about insuring the van and considering where you are going to keep it. You may have room at home but many use storeage facilities (whether or not they have room at home). If you want to use storeage then it's worth looking at CASSoa sites (here). For Insurance, we use the Caravan Club. They may not be the cheapest around but the cover is good, and when our last van was stolen, they were very good about it all and were very fair. Check to make sure your insurance will cover it for where you want to store the van.
You can also spend the time buying essentials: aquaroll, wastemaster, bedding (sleeping bags or quilt/covers/sheets, basic cooking utensils, cutlery, cups, saucers and plates etc. I would leave the less essential/ larger items e.g. table, chairs etc until after you have the van, so that you are in a better position to judge what room you have in the van for storeage. Alternatively keep visiting the van on display and have a good look at the storeage in the van so you can work out where things will go.
Will you want to buy an awning? Porch/lightweight or full awning? You can be looking at what is available and be sorting this out in the meantime.
Just a few things to keep you going in the 6 week wait!
I'd just check that I was happy with everything I can see & ask the salesman to confirm that a thorough PDI has been done on the caravan. We've never had anything seriously wrong with new vans & the things we have found on first use have always been rectified by the dealer without question.
Enjoy your new caravan as wel as UKCS, it's a great forum.
We have a Pegasus 524 & it is problem free save some free extra mastic, but as Jaiash said, better too much than too little!!
We are very pleased with our van (our third Bailey) & this one especially tows very well.
I love the white interior walls of the Alutech vans it makes the van look up to date & modern. The worktops are nicer in the Olympus than the Pegasus too.
I hope you enjoy your new van as much as we have loved our's. When we picked our first new van we towed it from Hertfordshire straight to Dorset for a prebooked weekend, I had never even towed a trailer before! Nothing like throwing yourself in at the deep end eh??
Hopefully in the next week or two we should be getting our Olympus 504, we have a Quest Porch awning using the quick pads I understand these pads wont fit the new alutech shell but wondered where can i get the new stepped brackets from.
Ordered our Olympus 525 back in Feb, was told it would be ready 3rd week in May, it's still not here. Not Happy.....Already had to cancel two weekends..
Quote: Originally posted by Sara. S on 03/6/2010
Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on the forum, I have been lurking for some time but thought it was about time I joined in.
My other half (Gerry) and I have been caravanning on and off for several years but we have always had older vans. We were wandering around our local dealers when we came across the new Bailey Olympus range and well the rest is history! We are eagerly awaiting delivery of our shiny new Olympus 464 in mid July. Does anyone have suggestions what we should look for when we go to collect? (Before we hand over our hard earned cash)
Is any other forum member already in possession of a 464? I hope it lives up to expectations.
Sara.
Having collected new vans twice now, the things I would be most vigilant about checking are the bodywork - go over it very, very carefully for dings/scratches etc, Once you have left the dealership, you cannot prove that you didn't cause them yourself. Likewise, check things like table/worktop surfaces, fridge door, furniture, glass etc for scratches, chips, tears etc,
You may well find a few glitches, like cupboards and doors which need adjusting. These sorts of faults can be rectified under warranty if you don't spot them immediately (although it is a pain to have to take the van back) However, damage which can be contested is more of an issue, I think.
We checked our current van over very carefully (I thought) - but I still found a little ding in the bodywork and one in the metallic fridge door - both of them spotted the very first time we took the van out - doh!!
Thank you everyone for your much appreciated advice.
Over the last couple of weeks we have been buying bits and pieces for the new van, no rush we have plenty of time to collect everything we need.........................or so we thought!!!! Today I had a call from our dealer, 'your van has arrived' he said 'WOW!!' I said, that's a whole month early!! How did that happen? (Not that I'm not pleased of course). The dealer then went on to say that it had been delivered with the standard upholstery by mistake and it will take about a month to get the right upholstery delivered which will be about the time we were expecting delivery anyway. I told the dealer not to worry and that we would pop over to the dealership tomorrow to choose a new awning.
After I put the phone down I had a sudden thought...............the reason we have been waiting since April is because there were no vans available (we specifically wanted factory fresh and not ex demo) and the next build date for our particular model at Bailey was week beginning 5th July. So where has this van come from?
We are going to ask if we can have a look at the van while we are at the dealers tomorrow. If it's new it should still have all the plastic covers on..........shouldn't it? I'm probably worrying about nothing. Worrying is something I happen to be particularly good at!!
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Topic: Bailey Olympus our first new van
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) I had a good look around and happened to notice that the rubber cream coloured trim around the front windows was lifting at the corners. There was definitely double sided sticky tape and sticky pads stuck to the rubber but it wasn't strong enough to hold the trim to the wall. I pressed the trim back into place and it popped off again within a few seconds. The trim appeared to be a very poor fit. Is this the same in the Pegasus? If the same problem exists in our new van is it something that we could ask to be sorted under warranty? It was very unsightly especially on a brand new van.
). The dealer then went on to say that it had been delivered with the standard upholstery by mistake and it will take about a month to get the right upholstery delivered which will be about the time we were expecting delivery anyway.
I told the dealer not to worry and that we would pop over to the dealership tomorrow to choose a new awning.
