Post by AidAn on Jan 23, 2009 17:16:52 GMT
We arrived for the start of the show, parking near the science Museum, I'm glad I did because they were not allowing any visitors to park at the Manchester Centre car park unless they had pre book parking, of course this caused a bit of a traffic jam out side the show as people were turned around.
The main hall held all the caravan/motorhome dealers with a lot of models unfortunately for us Bailey caravans were not at the show which was a big let down as the purpose of our visit was to buy a Bailey Ranger 540 6 berth.
We looked at several 6 Berth caravans and were even offered a brand new Adria for £7000 after trade in which I thought was a great bargain unfortunately Linda did not like the layout
We were told by several dealers that the 3 bunk layout that the Bailey 540 6 has is to be copied by several other makers, these will be launched at the NEC show in February, we were given the prices for the Sterling range as the layout will be carried through their Europa, Charisma and Safari models. They will only have one to view after the NEC show, he's going to give us a ring when they come in.
We went to Hall 2 which we found to be more caravan related than on our last visit 4 yrs ago, The accessory stand was larger with more room to view items, all though I did not get the impression that there were more items to see.
I did like that most of the caravan motor mover Manufacturers were at the show which gave me the opportunity to compare movers and prices. At this stage with out further research I'm leaning towards the Rhyno £699 fitted as we'll need one to move the new bigger caravan although the powertouch still ranks high for me with their pre and after sales customer service.
We did buy a couple of items, some Thermal socks from the Regatta stand and a very handy hosepipe nozzle to replace the one cracked in the last frost, I've tried it since we got home and I've got to say I was impressed and the good thing is I never need to worry about the frost again as can be seen here only available from the USA when I've done an internet search.
Hall 2 still suffers from the problem we encountered 4 yrs ago, it gets very hot and added to the cooking smells you soon start to feel the need to get out into the fresh air, so we headed for the exit.
Instead of going straight home we went to the dealers were we'd seen the Bailey 540 6 in October, you guessed it when we got there he had none in stock, he's hoping to get one from their Delermere Branch for us to view tomorrow fingers crossed.
The main hall held all the caravan/motorhome dealers with a lot of models unfortunately for us Bailey caravans were not at the show which was a big let down as the purpose of our visit was to buy a Bailey Ranger 540 6 berth.
We looked at several 6 Berth caravans and were even offered a brand new Adria for £7000 after trade in which I thought was a great bargain unfortunately Linda did not like the layout

We were told by several dealers that the 3 bunk layout that the Bailey 540 6 has is to be copied by several other makers, these will be launched at the NEC show in February, we were given the prices for the Sterling range as the layout will be carried through their Europa, Charisma and Safari models. They will only have one to view after the NEC show, he's going to give us a ring when they come in.
We went to Hall 2 which we found to be more caravan related than on our last visit 4 yrs ago, The accessory stand was larger with more room to view items, all though I did not get the impression that there were more items to see.
I did like that most of the caravan motor mover Manufacturers were at the show which gave me the opportunity to compare movers and prices. At this stage with out further research I'm leaning towards the Rhyno £699 fitted as we'll need one to move the new bigger caravan although the powertouch still ranks high for me with their pre and after sales customer service.
We did buy a couple of items, some Thermal socks from the Regatta stand and a very handy hosepipe nozzle to replace the one cracked in the last frost, I've tried it since we got home and I've got to say I was impressed and the good thing is I never need to worry about the frost again as can be seen here only available from the USA when I've done an internet search.
Hall 2 still suffers from the problem we encountered 4 yrs ago, it gets very hot and added to the cooking smells you soon start to feel the need to get out into the fresh air, so we headed for the exit.
Instead of going straight home we went to the dealers were we'd seen the Bailey 540 6 in October, you guessed it when we got there he had none in stock, he's hoping to get one from their Delermere Branch for us to view tomorrow fingers crossed.