Earlier this month Caravan Times announced the arrival of an all-new caravan from premier manufacturers Bailey Caravans. With a teaser campaign starting a wave of online chatter and debate, the Bristol maker promised a ‘passport to adventure’.
Today we can finally reveal images of the caravan which Bailey believe is a significant leap forward in design. “One day all caravans will be made this way” is the bullish statement coming from Bristol. And the buzzword around the launch is the term “Alu-Tech”.
The Pegasus is the first of it’s kind in the caravan industry and shares many similarities with the monocoque designs used in cars. Alu-Tech is a system where the individual body shell compontents all work towards the overall strength of the structure, as opposed to traditionally relying on the chassis and floor.
Bailey’s new model was built as a reaction to the ubiquitous sandwich construction design which has been in use by caravan makers since the early 1980s. The Bristol outfit believe this basic design (supplemented by front and rear plastic panels) has not changed for thirty years. In this same period car design has advanced considerably.
Enter Bailey with the revolutionary Alu-Tech system. Instead of the usual nine-part design, the Pegasus is made up of five main elements. Two laminated side panels are bonded to a traditional caravan floor, while a solid laminated back panel and a new single span front and roof section make up the rest. The panels are then clamped together with a bespoke aluminium framework to provide structural rigidity.
This may be a leap forward when considering one of the most common problems for caravan users: water ingress. Bailey have stated that the main benefit of the new design is the absence of any external fittings, which naturally reduces the opportunity for any water to enter the body shell. Add to this the development of timber-free body shell panels and the likelihood of water problems are reduced significantly. So confident are Bailey on this issue that they are offering a market-leading ten year integrity guarantee on the new Pegasus.
The superior strength of the Alu-Tech shell was tested in extraordinary fashion by the Bailey team, who placed a on the roof a weight well in excess of the MPTLM of the vehicle. A Ford Mondeo estate was topped by managing director Nick Howard to exert a weight of 1,630kgs on the structure.
As the first caravan to gain Grade III Insulation Thermal Classification and with five new patents pending, it’s not susprising that the Bailey Pegasus is big news. You can catch your first glimpse of the vehicle at the International Caravan and Motorhome 2009 held at the NEC, Birmingham, 13-18 October. For more information on the show click here, while further information on the Bailey Pegasus can be found at their website.
