All Boxed Off.

A few weeks ago I bought an Isabella Multi Organiser to keep shoes etc.in outside just by the door of the van.


                                                                               

The organiser works fine but if we have no awning up or just the sunshade and the rain blows in then things tend to get wet.

Had a think about this and decided to visit Bags 4 Everything in Wakefield ( Ossett really ) to see if they had anything to cover it.

They had nothing in stock but said they would make me a cover in fully waterproof material for £20.

It was all done and made in about four days and it works a treat,

                       

 So if you are looking for something similar give them a try.

Even though it is a Wakefield firm I have nothing at all to do with Bags 4 Everything apart from being a satisfied customer.

No favours,discounts,backhanders,free samples or Green Shield Stamps ( one for my older readers ).

Ian

All Tucked Up.

Got the Orion all tucked up for winter today.

Floed the water system,put the winter wheels on and sterilised the Aquaroll and Wastemaster.

Cushions upended and cupboard doors opened,plus left a couple of damp traps.

I also made sure the toilet flush was well drained as well as lubricating the window rubbers.

Took the wheels ( including the spare ) home for the winter and will give them a bit of a clean and spruce up.

Had a check and they all appear in good nick,no signs of cracking or splitting thanks to the wheel covers.

I know many people use their van throughout the winter but I find it profoundly depressing at the best of times when it is getting dark about 4pm and thats when at home,it's worse in the van.

Ian

A Couple of Tips

Over the last week I have come across a couple of simple tips that someone might find useful.

The first concerns the gas spanner which always seems to get lost at the bottom of the gas locker.

I stuck some adhestive Velcro ( the proper stuff not a copy ) to the spanner and the wall of the gas locker to keep it visible and to hand.

The second tip is to do with the position of the jockey wheel when travelling.

I have always had the wheel pointing toward the rear of the van as I thought that this was the way to do it.

I have since read somewhere that it is best if the jockey wheel faces toward the front as if the van becomes detached,the A frame will be more likely to drop onto the wheel and therefore provide a bit of steering.

If the wheel is pointing rearwards then the hitch is likely to hit the ground first which,apart from damaging the A frame,could cause instability of the van.

Ian

The Strange Case of the Non-Functioning Alarm

We have just returned from our last trip of the year to Beechwood Grange near York,always worth a visit.

Anyway,we have a Sargent Stinger 310 alarm on our Orion which has always worked without problem since we had it installed at purchase,and indeed it worked perfectly on our first day,setting and cancelling via the fob with no problem as usual.

On our second day we were on our way out and I blipped the fob,nothing,not a solitary peep was to be heard.

The fob batteries were only replaced a couple of months ago with brand new Duracells as was the spare fob which also didn't work either,although the lights on the fob were both lit so it was unlikely to be fob related.

We had to leave the van unalarmed for the day but when we got back I checked the alarm fuse,all OK,nothing to see by looking at the unit ( as if there would be ),cleaned the battery contacts in the fob but the thing still wouldn't work.

I checked the Sargent web site which mentioned rebooting the alarm software which didn't look too difficult but with the ever present danger of buggering everything up and SWMBO missing Strictly Come Dancing and the rest of the crap,er I mean quality television that she watches I thought I would wait and perhaps get a mobile man who knows what he is about later in the week,albeit at a price of course.

About 8pm I went out for a stroll,mainly to avoid the quality television,and casually pressed the fob on my way out and hey presto back to normal and it still worked OK when we got back to storage.

The only thing I can think of was that there was some interference from something on the site,perhaps another alarm.

I asked the chap to the left of us and it wasn't him as he never used his.

So it remains a mystery,its never done it before.

So if your alarm goes tits up don't rush to repair it or fiddle with it or ring a man,leave it a while and it might just work again.

Ian

Government E-Petition

Someone on CT has started a government e-petition to try and get the poor quality of caravans in general and the sometimes poor after sales discussed in parliament.

100,000 signatures needed so if you wish to sign it the link is here :-

E-Petition

Ian

Possible Orion Skylight ??

John Bland,one of my correspondents,enquired of Bailey whether it would be possible to retro-fit the skylight which is on the Pursuit to the Orion.

The reply was that no you cannot as there are not the appropriate fastenings to locate it on the Orion

So anyone who had the same idea can sadly forget it.

Ian

BOB & the Bailey Pursuit

As we all now know the Orion has now been superceded by the new Bailey Pursuit.

As we are not intending to swap to a Pursuit ( a Bailey GT65 Rimini might be on the cards one day ) I cannot give a great deal of first hand information about it except in the most generic of terms.

However if anyone is thinking of getting a Pursuit and wants me to blog about anything then I open up the blog to you.

Just e-mail me anything you want posted and leave the rest to me.

I will keep the title as the Baiey Orion Blog ( mainly as I have it printed on my red hoodie ).

Ian

The NEC Show & Bailey Pursuit

SWMBO and I visited the NEC show on Thursday and found it rather quiet than on Thursdays we have attended in previous years however a stallholder told us that 27,000 advanced tickets had been sold for the Saturday ( today ) plus those paying on the door so it looks like a busy one today.

 One of the main things we wanted to view was the new Bailey Pursuit with an intention to perhaps swap the Orion next year for a single fixed bed Pursuit ( the 550-4 ),sad to say we came away rather disappointed.

My comments concentrate on the 550-4 as this is the van we were interested in but obviously there are some common generic factors across the range.

First the good points,I rather liked the exterior of the Pursuit,in particular the grey colour scheme which I admit I prefer to the cream of the Orion.

The door now hinges the other way to avoid colliding with the front window and the wet locker has a much larger access door with a plastic tray for wet items.

There is now a front chest with a wide "window sill" area with a pull out table but what this does to the noseweight I don't know.

The electrics/fuse box are sited in the bottom of this chest which avoids the melee of cables in an exposed position in the Orion near side bed base.

Talking of tables,we couldn't find a second table stored anywhere and neither could a salesman although we were assured that there should be one,so if you decide to order a Pursuit make sure there is a table present.

Bailey have retained the large one piece front window but I hope they have uprated the stays as on the Orion they aren't strong enough to support it.

There is now a bowl shaped sink in the bathroom so drainage is simplified over the Orions flat bottomed "difficult to drain unles perfectly flat" Belfast style sink.

The kitchen and TV surfaces now have a shiny finish which I rather liked.

There are up to five 240v plug sockets.


The spare wheel is now stored under one of the fixed beds in a cover which does away with the dreaded Al-Ko carrier,where it is stored in a non-fixed bed van I don't know.

Incidentally Bailey have been rather crafty as the spare is included as an option,not on its own,but as part of a Premium Pack at £399 so if you want a spare,and who won't, you will have to also buy the Al-Ko AKS 3004 stabiliser,door flyscreen,microwave ( yes it's now an extra ) and radio/CD/mP3 player whether you want them or not.

My suspicion is that the Premium Pack will become more or less "standard" which jacks the price up by about £400.

The wheels are attached by the new WSL wheel bolts. 

There are also separate stand alone options of an Al-Ko wheel lock ( £194 ),Al-Ko ATC ( £399 ) and a sunroof ( £356 ).

SWMBO wasn't keen on the sunroof and much prefered the large panoramic window of the Pegasus and Unicorn.

Now to the not so good in our opinion.

The interior look of medium hue wood,or "The Log Cabin Look" as someone on CT called it,is beginning to look rather tired and old fashioned against some other more contemporary fitted out vans.

Money seems to have been saved in the shower area which remains unlined as in the Orion.There were a couple of areas of dodgy sealing as well.

Doubtless these would be attended to by the dealer but even so.

The bi-fold shower door in the Orion has been replaced with a flimsy shower curtain which did not reach to the bottom of the shower tray leading to a possible wet floor,the shower curtain did not go down well with SWMBO and from what I overheard many other people.

I managed to have a word with Mr.Howard ,one of the Bailey head honchos and mentioned the shower curtain,he said that the fittings for a bi-fold door are there and one could be retro-fitted by the dealer.

This leads me to think that a door was in the original specification but was dropped for perhaps weight or financial reasons as why put the fittings in in the first place if they weren't going to be used..




Moving to the kitchen,the draining board when in place overlaps the hob.

If the hob is still hot you will have a melted draining board.
                                                                                    

The ( optional ) microwave is positioned over the sink so if removing a hot or heavy dish there is nowhere immediately beneath the oven to put it down,you have move over the the left hand side of the hob.

The large bottom cupboard under the sink which is presumably for pans is obstructed by heating ducting which limits its usefulness besides putting the ducting at risk of damage.

Finally we come to the upholstery.

The "seat" areas are in a chocolate brown colour whilst the seat back cushions are in a ( horror of horrors )  lighter pattern.

Everyone to their own but we found the backrest pattern,shall we say,not to our taste.

According to Mr.Howard there is no alternative,take it or leave it.

 That just about sums up our thoughts of the new Bailey Pursuit.

Please don't run away with the idea that this is a crap caravan,it's not,but certainly for us it lacked the "wow" factor that perhaps we were expecting.

There seemed little to entice us to swap to the Pursuit from our Orion 440/4.

More details of the Pursuit range,including weights and measurements can be downloaded from here:-

 Pursuit Flyer


Ian

NEC

Your blogster and SWMBO will be visiting the Caravan Show at the NEC later this week.

There won't be any Orions there of course having been superceded by the new Pursuit,or "Orion on steroids" as someone has termed it..

I think the pictures and a video I have seen look quite promising but nothing is quite like seeing something in the flesh.

Bailey Pursuit at NEC 2013

Ian

First View of New Bailey Pursuit

Below is a .pdf of the new Bailey Pursuit.

Bailey Pursuit

Can't help feeling a little underwhelmed although admittedly this is only a brief view of the exterior.

They seem to have raided the Orion parts bin for the front and kept the ridiculously too heavy front window unless they have reinforced the stays to support it.

There appears to be some sort of separate sun roof rather than the "all in one" of the Pegasus and Unicorn.

Nice to see the door hinging the other way to avoid the front window.

I wonder what happened to the aerodynamic and fuel saving Orion shape of a curved front and rear roof that was trumpeted when the Orion was launched,presumably the Pursuit is not as aerodynamic as its predecessor having what appears to be a more traditional straight back.

At least front locker door seems larger.

Lets hope they have ditched the Al-Ko spare wheel carrier for the wind down apparatus of the Pegasus GT65.

It will be interesting to see the interior layouts of the various models but just from the picture ( which is a little unfair I know ) there seems little to fuel an imminent  swap to the Pursuit.

Ian