Search the Community

I had a good time looking round the NEC on Weds, I always enjoy looking in the Euro vans and we are considering one for our next van. My general view was that there were some very innovative layouts (much more so than UK vans) and that perceived quality was good. Further observations below: Tabbert ("Pep") - bright external colours had the effect of making the van look budget, I suspect that will put a lot of people off. Internally a much nicer feel: light airy Weinsberg - only the small and huge on display. Very similar feel to a Sprite on the inside (i. e. not too basic, light, fairly traditional) Knaus - disappointed that the Lifestyle model dropped. Was told before the show that a new one is due but the people on the stand did not know that (I suspect they were just rented for the show). The other van's had a really good quality feel to them though, Hymer / Eriba - Disappointing. Orange feel to the interior reminded me of continental vans of old. Really expensive too. Hobby - very impressive. Lovely interiors that felt very well built. Very clever layouts, including a double bed that drops down from the ceiling. Odd gas hob that leaves you wondering where you drain your pots though. Strange pricing (i. e. hard to tell what justified the difference between the cheap ones and expensive ones). Definitely on our list for next van. Did anyone else have a look? Tempted? Thoughts?

Hi, starting to look at the Eriba and homing in on the Troll versions. There are only a few dealers which is understandable . My newbie question is : To maintain warranty does servicing have to be carried out by 1 of the 3 dealers ( are there more ? ) or is mobile servicing ok . Thanks in advance

We used to own a medium sized caravan (Bailey Ranger 5 berth) which we loved. However my husband absolutely hated towing it and it was always a source of stress before and after our trips away. We eventually sold it and bought a motorhome (Elddis 115 2 berth) which my husband loved driving and I enjoyed riding in as a passenger. We loved the layout and it was plenty big enough for us, but it was so inconvenient. We like walking but don't cycle, but always found ourselves too far away from facilities and spent our time 'un-plumbing' ourselves and driving in unsuitable situations looking for somewhere to park in towns and villages. Eventually we sold our lovely 'van' because it was costing us so much to maintain another vehicle and we were reluctant to take it to many sites. We really miss both our caravan and our motorhome and want to get another caravan, but really don't want to make a mistake again!!!! We are thinking of getting a Triango Silver pop up caravan, just the small 310, that is just 180 wide. We would love to know if they are actually so much easier to tow? Whether we would need extended wing mirrors (we drive a Skoda Octavia Scout that is 2 metres wide over the wing mirrors)? What is the best and easiest to erect awning for this caravan? Well any advice really that will help us make a decision. With Many Thanks Mary

We used to own a medium sized caravan (Bailey Ranger 5 berth) which we loved. However my husband absolutely hated towing it and it was always a source of stress before and after our trips away. We eventually sold it and bought a motorhome (Elddis 115 2 berth) which my husband loved driving and I enjoyed riding in as a passenger. We loved the layout and it was plenty big enough for us, but it was so inconvenient. We like walking but don't cycle, but always found ourselves too far away from facilities and spent our time 'un-plumbing' ourselves and driving in unsuitable situations looking for somewhere to park in towns and villages. Eventually we sold our lovely 'van' because it was costing us so much to maintain another vehicle and we were reluctant to take it to many sites. We really miss both our caravan and our motorhome and want to get another caravan, but really don't want to make a mistake again!!!! We are thinking of getting a Triango Silver pop up caravan, just the small 310, that is just 180 wide. We would love to know if they are actually so much easier to tow? Whether we would need extended wing mirrors (we drive a Skoda Octavia Scout that is 2 metres wide over the wing mirrors)? What is the best and easiest to erect awning for this caravan? Well any advice really that will help us make a decision. With Many Thanks Mary

Hi, it's quite a while since I posted on CT but we are now proud owners of a brand new Troll 530 purchased from Airstream and Company at Tebay; we collected it last October. We bought from Airstream because they are a mere 40 minutes drive from our home. We were also impressed by the workshop facilities and by John, the shop manager. In fact the workshop is in some ways more of a factory as, with the Airstreams, shells are imported from the US and substantially the internal fit is done at Tebay using local / European sourcing. In other respects though the sales operation is unusual as there is no accessory shop and no secondhand van sales; it's quite unlike a "normal" dealer. But when we approached them in late August 2013 they had a Troll 530 that substantially met our preferred spec. It was a new 2013 model but had been in their sales stock pound since the Spring. We were downsizing from a 7. 2m Bailey Pegasus. We negotiated a deal that was not attractive to us financially. We discovered that new Eribas are expensive especially when all the "options" (many of which are almost essential and more of which are highly desirable) are added into the price. As Airstream don't sell used caravans the Bailey was traded through a channel and we could not obtain a better trade-in figure. Many would have walked away but we had set our hearts on a new Eriba; they had what we wanted in stock and for various reasons we wanted to move fairly quickly. So we signed! The fulfilment of the transaction involved some interesting experiences relating to such things as price confusion and ambiguity, the options fitted and (by agreement) to be dealer-fitted and difficulties / delay in obtaining parts from Hymer. Indeed the parts relating to battery charging arrangements were sourced by Airstream directly from Hymer's German supplier (Schaut). As a result it took 5 weeks from order to be able to collect the van. Even then the electrical fit did not represent what we had ordered and paid for and we agreed with Airstream to bring the van back to them 1st week of December for this to be sorted. I must say that in mitigation of the inevitable stresses and annoyances of all this, Airstream behaved correctly to us on all the points and they readily admitted that they are still "on a learning curve" with Hymer. We took the van back to them 1st week December and they had by then obtained all the required parts to do the agreed work. They estimated less than a week to complete the job and for us to collect our van. Unfortunately one of the parts (a small control panel) proved faulty and had to be re-ordered. By Christmas it had still not arrived. But it arrived by the time Airstream re-opened on 6 January and the work is now in progress as I write. I am at a loss to understand why the two required part procurements (in September and December) took so long. Although I do know that, for the first of these, Airstream had no invoicing arrangements with Schaut and parts could not be dispatched until clearance of Euro funds from Airstream to Schaut; this certainly caused some of the delay. One further minor irritation was the fact that we ourselves had to do the transfer of CRiS registration from Airstream to us (it had been registered to them since its arrival at Tebay), pay the associated fees and etch our own windows as no-one at Airstream seemed to know what to do! But hopefully our Eriba will very soon be in the state specified on our order! We have been unable to obtain from Airstream any documentation on the Mechanical/Electrical 2-year warranty on the Eriba. The water ingress warranty is well-specified (terms, conditions, coverage, exclusions) in the Instruction Manual supplied to us for the caravan and that also contains stamps for the required annual damp checks. There was (is) nothing anywhere about the M/E warranty! Airstream's position is that nothing exists and that it is impossible to obtain anything from Hymer. However we did learn, from our own research, that a Hymer "Warranty Stamp" exists and also a process whereby this should be requested by the dealer from Hymer when a new caravan is sold. This is then to be pasted (by dealer or customer) into a space provided in the Manual, constituting proof of warranty. In our Manual that space is still blank. Airstream claimed not to know of any of this but after a bit of pressure from us, the administrative lady at Tebay "found" our stamp and is keeping it for us until we collect our van so we can then paste it in and show it to any Hymer dealer if we have a problem (in the wilds of Slovenia perhaps?). But Airstream continues to insist that no other warranty documentation exists anywhere and cannot be provided. Please can anyone comment on this? Finally I would echo the point, already made elsewhere on this forum, that Airstream's Technical Director (Anthony Slocock) is good. He is competent and has been unfailingly helpful to us (actually in some non-technical aspects as well), always "doing the right thing". I would also say that John, the workshop manager at Tebay, inspires a lot of confidence. The jobs completed on our caravan in September (not just the electrics, but also fitting a Gaslow system) were done thoroughly well. So anyone thinking of buying an Eriba from Airstream should not be deterred by my experience as there is much to be said for a good workshop side. The part procurement situation may be of some concern though. And just be careful on the administrative and commercial aspects of buying from them. If anyone can comment on warranty documentation from their own experience, I'd be grateful. Sorry for a long post. Roger.

Do any of the Eriba's have shower facilities ?

If you want to see loads of different ERIBA models of all ages then get yourself down to the http://www. eribaforum. co. uk/ meet this weekend at; The Lawns, Lowgate Grange, Lowgate, Fleet, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12 8LN Cheers

Ellen's post on movers has reminded me that quite some time ago Hymer announced that Airstream were to become Eriba dealers. Since then I'd heard nothing, except that the southern Airstream dealership was not going to sell Eriba Touring models, which were going to remain the province of Automotive Leisure in Poole. I had mixed feelings on hearing about Airstream moving in on the Eriba market. Clearly for them it fits, if only because a lot of people who don't know much about the brands seem to think they're either one and the same or linked in some way. Of course neither is the case, with Airstream having a US heritage and being built there, whilst Eriba is the founding brand of the German Hymer Group and is very Continental in heritage and these days built in Germany. My concerns are that the market for Eriba Tourings is relatively small and likely to remain so. As such dilution of those sales across a wider range of outlets risks diluting AL's business, whilst Airstream might conclude that the volume is too low and will discontinue the brand as well. You can already see AL thinking along those lines in their move to handling Dethleffs Tourist range to broaden their business base. Having heard nothing about Airstream for so long since the initial announcement, I was beginning to think that the whole thing had been dropped. But after Ellen's post I checked their website and there's an announcement that they're holding an Eriba Weekend at Tebay on the 25th to 27th May Bank Holiday weekend. Their website also proudly proclaims that Eriba Touring models are now in stock 'including the 5, 4 and NOVA Series'. This is splitting hairs but by that I think they mean that they have some, or a Troll model/s (5 series?) and a or some Triton/s (4 series?), however the referral to NOVA vans is a bit baffling as they're definitely not Eriba Touring models. There is room for confusion here since Hymer announced last Autumn that all their caravan product is now branded 'Eriba' whilst the 'Hymer' brand is used exclusively for motorhomes and campervans. As to whether it will affect my own situation, I'm not sure, I'm used to having Jandi up in Scotland 250 miles and 4 hours drive away and AL 200 miles away in the opposite direction. Having Airstream 120 miles and 2 hours away in either direction really makes little difference. I just wish that out of four outlets in the country at least one could've been selected that was near the centre, rather than at opposite ends. I don't think the next Bank Holiday will find me beating a path north up the M6 to Tebay though. .

You may have seen the thread about the sad tale of the freestanding table from my Eriba which to put it briefly has been modded by a previous owner so that it's no longer freestanding and no longer securely fits in it's storage point under the o/s bench all of which which has led to substantial damage to the table edges and surface. In addition the original four legs have been removed and dumped, I know not where. Enquiries of Eriba/Hymer dealers elicit that if I wanted a matching table it would have to be made to order and the legs would cost £246 plus the tabletop a thumping £417. 24 plus around £30 for carraiage. getting on for a ginormous £700 for the whole thing delivered. Regrettably Eribas are relatively rare in this country and layouts with this sort of table are very few and far between, therefore the chances of picking one up from a breaker is virtually nil. How refreshing therefore to see on the Bailey Parts Direct website that the Orion range main table (albeit without the stick leg) costs £40 plus carriage. My allegiances may be shifting.