Swift bessiie e769 and fulltiming (1 Viewer)

david price

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
383
27
Bridgenorth
Funster No
4,201
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
5 years
Well the first 12 months is nearly over and this is how the motorhome as coped.
Water heating and blown air as been constantly on and not one single problem.Even in the very cold spell we had we were nice and warm.
Shower and toilet.Slight leak on toilet with urine getting under cassette but cured by taking large black gasket off cassette and cleaning and spraying with silicone grease.Shower as been used weekly,i rarely use the one in the van but at nearly 6ft 2 i have no problems but my wife uses it quite often.
We have 3 skylights and they have all leaked but took them out myself and fixed.Worktop to the r/h/s of sink has lifted with the heat from the truma combi unit under sink,have managed to fix but will look at ventilation in this area to dissipate heat better.
Habitation door,internal handle as broken.It is fixed to a plastic backplate which as cracked so i am looking to take apart and make a metal backplate.I would suggest swift look into this because being plastic it was going to break at some point and is not upto the job it is meant to do.This is our third hab door and there are obviously still issues.
Carpets are more or less ready for bin so not happy with how long they have lasted.They are not cheap and i do not wear footwear in side van so would have expected them to last alot longer.
Water gauges ,control panel etc have all worked well apart from the waste water sensor which says 3/4 full despite valve being open 24/7.
Overall very happy with how the van as coped would not have expected the skylights to have leaked so soon (van only 4 years old ) and would have expected a bit more ware from the carpets.Has said above the habition door internal handle backplate being plastic is a design fault and needs looking at.Will let you all know how i get on with making a metal backplate when i get time to do.
I sleep as well as i did at home so no problems there.
Overall 8 out of ten.
If swift ever need a van testing long time then feel free to give me a call :thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
Dave
 

jonandshell

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Dec 12, 2010
5,476
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Not got one!
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Since 2006
Urine under the cassette?
Bet the good times were worth the inconveniences!!!::bigsmile:
 

haganap

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Dec 5, 2007
12,710
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planet earth
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974
MH
Carthago C Tourer
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I'm an oldbie MH number 9
Good on ya Dave, Good to see your still at it. :thumb:

Are you still enjoying it?

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david price

david price

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
383
27
Bridgenorth
Funster No
4,201
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
5 years
Hi paul,must admit i love it but do miss not getting to the funsters meets anymore.
dave
 

Douglas

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Aug 22, 2008
2,835
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South Wales,
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6 years + 5 years in boat before that
Well Dave, your report on the faults of your Swift does not surprise me in the slightest. I have owned a Swift 639G for 6 years and the list of faults and failed repairs are much longer that yours.

The latest fault, just discovered today is that the Drain hole in the bathroom sink has cracked around the drain fitting. I would like to take the sink unit out to do a fiberglass repair on the bench but true to the building methods used by Swift, the mirrors are glued to the wall and would break if I tried to remove them, without removing the mirrors the sink top cannot be removed.

The reason why the crack developed was the the sink is made out of the thinnest plastic you can imagine and the weight of the fittings and drain pipe coupled with the vibration has work hardened it.

Doug...
 
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david price

david price

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
383
27
Bridgenorth
Funster No
4,201
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
5 years
Hi doug,sorry to hear about your problems but to be honest i have found swift to be quite good to deal with,though i must admit i was sent out the wroung parts for the hab door on there last recall and when i rang they said they would call back but no one did but they have been very good every other time.
I know that a year fulltiming would more than likely equate to between 7 and 10 years normal use for alot of people so i am quite pleased overall.
Just thought i would tell it as it is,warts and all.
Dave

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david price

david price

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
383
27
Bridgenorth
Funster No
4,201
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
5 years
As an afterthought i would imagine manufactures need to look at how there vans cope with long term use because looking at the forums it would appear more and more people are taking longer and longer breaks and the amount of people taking a year out seems to be increaseing and these are the people who are going to be looking at resale value.
On our site we get alot of people useing there vans for eight months or longer,we have a 28 day rule but they do 28 days go off for a day then come back.We are a five star park and not cheap so i would imagine the cheaper sites are inundated with longtime/fulltimers.
Dave
 

Douglas

Free Member
Aug 22, 2008
2,835
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South Wales,
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6 years + 5 years in boat before that
Hi doug,sorry to hear about your problems but to be honest i have found swift to be quite good to deal with,though i must admit i was sent out the wroung parts for the hab door on there last recall and when i rang they said they would call back but no one did but they have been very good every other time.
I know that a year fulltiming would more than likely equate to between 7 and 10 years normal use for alot of people so i am quite pleased overall.
Just thought i would tell it as it is,warts and all.
Dave

OK Dave, I assume that you have a new van and you are on manufactures warranty so it's all pretty painless at the moment, but just wait until the warranty runs out and you have to pay for it yourself, I hope you don't have to but my experience tell me different.

Good luck Doug...
 
Oct 14, 2007
3,958
6,131
Rochester
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619
MH
Auto-Trail Mohawk
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16 fun filled years
The latest fault, just discovered today is that the Drain hole in the bathroom sink has cracked around the drain fitting
Doug...

Hi Doug,

Have you looked at Plastex to do the repair with? I have used it and it does the job. Can be found HERE

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scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,074
8,971
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
A word of caution.

Do not mention 'full time' or 'living' when making a warranty claim, it is my understanding that the warranty only covers 'leisure use' , perhaps Peter from Johns Cross can clarify.

Long term abroad:

From Swift.

The warranty only applies to motorhomes purchased and used within the UK, and for continuous journeys abroad of no longer than 90 days per journey.

Link Removed

My dad worked in a dealer in Scotland and they refused to sell caravans to the traveling community simply because the vans were not up to the rigors of full time living .. the ones they had sold were back within a year and needed extensive and expensive work ..

Perhaps this is why most travelers buy German built.
 

hilldweller

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Dec 5, 2008
605
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From Aug 2007
Hi Doug,
Have you looked at Plastex to do the repair with? I have used it and it does the job. Can be found HERE

Have you used that stuff successfully ?

I bought a similar looking kit labelled Motorcycle Repair and tried to build up a lug on a cracked fairing. It failed miserably. I then made a small flat piece about the size of a thumb nail, let it set and it was a brittle as toffee.

It did mend a crack though, embedded some fibreglass cloth in it to make double sure.

The lug I reworked with Isopon with fibreglass filler, now that stuff is seriously strong.

I've not given up on it, I'll may try again if the need arises.
 

Welsh girl

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Nov 7, 2009
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We have a swift voyager , we full time ,and within months the bed tracks broke ( the ones where the beds pull out in the rear lounge) and we went to preston and showed the engineer which parts needed ordering and also one support was missing, they fixed the one support and ordered the bed tracks, we waited over 2 months and they sent the part to us as requested as we were too far from preston to go back and said that we would fit the tracks, well lo and behold they were the wrong bed tracks even after the engineer had looked at them.
After months of sending emails of pictures of the said tracks and giving measurements they finally sent the right ones.
Overall the voyager has lived up to the game , blown hot air working well, all ok in our opinion , but we have mentioned we live in the van so perhaps we were lucky eh?
Next week we have the habitation check and they want it emptied???? I told the receptionist that would be a problem as we were on holiday in chichester and our base address is Crewe so she said they would work around it, good eh?

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John & Joan

Free Member
Mar 30, 2010
1,425
774
Darlington
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A Class
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10 years this time
The latest fault, just discovered today is that the Drain hole in the bathroom sink has cracked around the drain fitting. I would like to take the sink unit out to do a fiberglass repair on the bench but true to the building methods used by Swift, the mirrors are glued to the wall and would break if I tried to remove them, without removing the mirrors the sink top cannot be removed.

The reason why the crack developed was the the sink is made out of the thinnest plastic you can imagine and the weight of the fittings and drain pipe coupled with the vibration has work hardened it.

Doug...

We had the same problem with our Hymer S700 sink early last year and got it replaced.

It has gone again in January. As we cannot get back to have it replaced until August Joan dried the sink and put clear silicon on the underside. This has squeezed though the cracks and seal it up. 2 weeks use now with no leaks.

The repairer has told us it is toothpaste and mouthwash that causes the plastic to give out.

John
 
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david price

david price

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
383
27
Bridgenorth
Funster No
4,201
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
5 years
OK Dave, I assume that you have a new van and you are on manufactures warranty so it's all pretty painless at the moment, but just wait until the warranty runs out and you have to pay for it yourself, I hope you don't have to but my experience tell me different.

Good luck Doug...

Hi doug,
van now 4 years old so no warranty,i am lucky in the fact that i am capable of doing nearly all jobs myself.The clutch cost me alot of money when it failed within the warranty period but that was down to fiat who i have to say where a waste of time.With our new jobs i love the way of life but the money is crap,our joint earnings are a lot less than i earned on my own so i hope not to get anything happen thats to costly because we simply will not have the money.I predict with us not renting our house due to our kids being there and therefore we still have bills we should not have that it will be atleast 5 years before we are comfortable.
I may even have trouble renewing my subs this year,money is that tight but saying that i am quite happy.
Dave

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david price

david price

Free Member
Sep 28, 2008
383
27
Bridgenorth
Funster No
4,201
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
5 years
A word of caution.

Do not mention 'full time' or 'living' when making a warranty claim, it is my understanding that the warranty only covers 'leisure use' , perhaps Peter from Johns Cross can clarify.

Long term abroad:

From Swift.



Link Removed

My dad worked in a dealer in Scotland and they refused to sell caravans to the traveling community simply because the vans were not up to the rigors of full time living .. the ones they had sold were back within a year and needed extensive and expensive work ..

Perhaps this is why most travelers buy German built.

thanks for that info.Was not aware of that but to be honest we never bought the van with the intention of fulltiming.I still think manufactures need to look at this .With what i have seen over the past year fulltimeing/long termers are on the increase and not likely to decline in the near future.
dave
 
Oct 14, 2007
3,958
6,131
Rochester
Funster No
619
MH
Auto-Trail Mohawk
Exp
16 fun filled years
Have you used that stuff successfully ?

I bought a similar looking kit labelled Motorcycle Repair and tried to build up a lug on a cracked fairing. It failed miserably. I then made a small flat piece about the size of a thumb nail, let it set and it was a brittle as toffee.

It did mend a crack though, embedded some fibreglass cloth in it to make double sure.

The lug I reworked with Isopon with fibreglass filler, now that stuff is seriously strong.

I've not given up on it, I'll may try again if the need arises.


Yes I have Brian. After a big plantpot backed into me in france that resulted in my rear plastic skirt breaking in two, I had the choice of a new skirt (lots of dosh) or repair, now being a poor humble southerner I went for the latter and very pleased with the results. You would be hard pressed to tell with out looking behined and see the extra bracing I put across the break.
The one thing I would say is do it out side as the fumes of the chemical are very strong.

I also used it this weekend to repair the lugs on one of our freeze drawers indoors.

can't recomend it enough.:thumb: But what worked for me may not work for everyone as there are many different types of plastic.
 

Douglas

Free Member
Aug 22, 2008
2,835
400
South Wales,
Funster No
3,779
Exp
6 years + 5 years in boat before that
Hi Doug,

Have you looked at Plastex to do the repair with? I have used it and it does the job. Can be found HERE

Thanks for the info, but the job is near finished now, I have fiber glassed the bottom of the bowl with a flat metal plate in cellophane pressed up against the bottom where the drain fitting is to give a flat surface to take the sealing rubber washers, tomorrow I will re-cut the hole to take the fitting.

It was a right pig of a job, laying fiberglass upside down and with no room to see or move the hand that's doing the work is a bugger, I was singing love songs to Mr Swift as I worked to cheer myself up!!!

Doug...

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