More on caravan versus motorhome

Qashqai66, dedicated motorhome forums have plenty of stories about damp and water ingress both British and Continental. I wonder whether motorhomers tend to air their problems on those forums rather than this one.

BB is right about PUAL from Hymer. It is a polyurethane material which is almost impervious to water so if the water tries to get in, it cannot go anywhere. Hymers now have GFQ [I think it is a resin/fibreglass coating] underneath to protect the floors.

It's unfair to compare a typical UK motorhome with a higher end continental one because one will be almost twice the price of the other. Even a top notch Swift with all the gadgets will be considerably cheaper than a Hymer specced to the same level. A top end Swift needs few additional options added, a Hymer can easily clock up tens of thousand pounds of extras to bring it up to the Swift spec.

I'm not convinced there is a significant difference between damp in caravans and motorhomes because some manufacturers have problems with both [design and manufacturing problems], other manufacturers have little problems with either. It tends not to be damp caravans and not motorhomes or vice versa.

I buy Hymer motorhomes because the three haven't had damp issues. I take it for granted my Hymers will pass the damp test with ease. 

Good very well measured post

Hymers now have GFQ [I think it is a resin/fibreglass coating] underneath to protect the floors.

Like Elddis then.......?....

http://www.elddis.co.uk/solid-construction/frequently-asked-questions

will be interesting to see, in 20yrs time, how many 20yr old Elddis' are trundling around Europe still serving their long terming owners well...

my money's on a bunch of 40yr old Hymers

Tintent, like Elddis? No idea as I haven't looked under an Elddis for many a year. According to Hymer, it bought Elddis because of Elddis' experience in building bonded motorhomes. I hope the del works out for Elddis and its staff.

I don't know when Hymer started using GFK. My 2013 Hymer has so it must be 2012 or earlier.

We must be lucky we have had damp free caravans and motorhomes since we started using them. Perhaps we are part of a silent majority? 

Or look at it another way ,The German family we met in Devon a couple of years ago were fed up with their Hymer MV and its build quality and damp issues,

gosh you must have been so lucky, to actually meet the one damp Hymer....

so lucky, you trot this out over and over again...in the vain attempt that folk will think its many damp Hymers (to make your laboured point), rather than just one mentioned repeatedly.....

what would you suggest as a long term alternative...any chance of being constructive for once?

I suspect caravans are more likely to leak. Assuming the construction methods are similar i.e. materials and bonding then the most likely issue is flex. MH have a big floppy box stuck to a chassis, as do caravans but there is one essential difference. The MH has load distributed across 4 corners i.e. an axle at the front and one at the back. The longitudinals are hard fixed to the axles (actually the cab and the rear axle) but in terms of simple shapes it is a box with a wheel at each corner. This gives a very rigid platform on which the box sits.

Caravans have 1 axle in the middle. The longitudinals run front to back and at the corners they flex. You are now much more reliant on the ends of the box to keep the rigidity in the box. The ends are generally glued on but the top corners will be subject to significantly more flex and stress than a MH back panel. Any slight defect in the bonding will open up the joint and give damp, in some cases the end panels crack.

I just happened to read an article in the April 2017  Practical Motorhome Magazine following a survey they'd carried out.

To quote " And yes, mainland European M/H do leak as well as UK manufactured ones, even " premium" German brands - not quite as frequently but still too often at 1-in-10 sold new to respondents. The average across all new vans regardless of country of origin was 1-in-7. Swift group has set the bar high.