A 2 Year Review of Eriba Ownership
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- Опубліковано 31 лип 2024
- A flying visit to storage to run through all the things, which have gone wrong over the last 2 years.
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Here’s a list.
Outside
1. Dropped onto the Jockey Wheel.
2. Drove off with wheel clamp in place.
3. Backed into another Caravan.
4. Number plate light corroded inside.
5. Canopy winder pops out.
6. Canopy strip light water ingress.
Inside
1. Water pump failure on second outing.
2. Tables coming loose.
3. Bathroom door opening.
4. Electric switch loose contacts.
5. TV point broken.
6. Sink Blocks up hence plunger.
7. Shower head comes loose.
8. Gas Hop rubber inserts.
9. Kitchen drawer comes out.
10. Dampness around rear window.
11. Bed mattress drops in the middle.
12. Kitchen Light kept popping down.
13. Rusty hinges.
14. Door not fitted properly at the top.
Our only Eriba problems during seven years of ownership have been - fridge thermostat, bathroom tap ,a all 13 pin plug and a couple of fuses.Our van is 26 years old.
Hi Heyden, I think the older vans are of better quality and I heard that they used to be built in France.
@@whereverawayThat's true Gary.Ours was built in Cernay, France.It's lighter than the Familias - 750kg loaded.I thought your video was good.Shared experiences are always useful.Hope William gets sorted out re education.
By the way. Ours has a built in France. Information plate.
Thanks , we are Thinking about getting one.
Don't let this put you off. We have had over £10,000 worth of holidays already and its a great van.
We have a 2012 troll, and had similar issue with the aluminium poles bowed by previous owners. We bought 30mm mild steel poles from b&q (£7 odd pound each!) to replace the aluminium which are much more sturdy, we just had to file a little bit out of the hole where they sit across, but they still fit in the clips fine!
We also had a few lockers and doors open in transit - have resolved these by packing out the catches with very small washers, and also adding magnetic catches to help them remain shut. Just driven back 7.5hrs from Cornwall with no lockers/drawers/doors opening which is a big win!
We did have an issue with the toilet flush not being connected, water pump failed, step screw came out but all now sorted (still have a mildly wobbly step, but other half going to investigate this weekend!).
We love our eriba, it’s great to see a video showing the true side of eriba ownership, I’m sure standard white wobble boxes and motorhomes also have their own niggles!
Hi Samantha, thank you for highlighting these points and solutions. I hadn't considered the aluminium poles could be bending.
Go to an aluminium supply store and get some solid aluminium poles ,that should cure the bends in the bed ptoblem..
Or put some aluminium solid poles inside the hollow aluminium poles…for strength….before you bend them in the bed..
Like the videos. 👍🏻 we have a 2008 eriba 320gt. In great condition. Must have made them better back then. Need to change the front Alko hitch. To the newer type. As fitted to yours. We have it. Just needs fitting. And the jockey wheel handle. Needs replacement as it catches on the hand brake: needs the cranked alko handle.
Hi Simon, only small upgrades to a quality Eriba.
well done Gary you have certainly used your Eriba to its full usage👍. A lot of Eribas a couple of years ago were recalled to have their window seals replaced under warranty it may be worth asking if yours is one of them (have a look on Eribafolk forum). I put my wheel lock on my door side, it just prompts me before using the motor mover. The door misalignment is common and they do flex, mine did the same, I just opened the door held the middle and gentle pushed with the flat of my hand on the top corner to realign it. I have been locked out of my Eriba when closing the door with the keys on then kitchen top inside , I too now carry a spare key😀. The wall table rail and the rail on the table usually come loose if you travel with the table attached, mine did the same, the Eriba suspension is very rudimentary and the table will be dancing on its peg leg like Michael Flatley doing the riverdance when towing, I travel with the table on the floor. The bed bars do bend and dip, they can be strengthened with a wood dowel in the middle.
Thanks and all comments taken on board. I have been thinking of using a bit of spare oak flooring to shore up in the middle, to prevent too much cuddling in the night.
@@whereveraway 🤣
We’ve had the same problem with the front single bed and the end bit coming away. I noticed that the central leg that supports it when made up is a little way back and any weight put on the corners of the table was enough to rip it out of the wood. I have since bought some wardrobe centre bar and cut to size with the end plates on the underside of the table and a couple of rubber end bits. When the bed is made up I put these in place to further support it.
Hi Mark, thanks for the advice. It's not a problem anymore and maybe our issue was caused by putting items down the side of it.
Hi Garry I’ve had the same problem with screws coming loose in fibre boards I cured this by drilling out the screw hole and gluing wooden dowels in the hole. Start the hole with a small drill first and buy new screws I had some dowels left over from an IKEA project which were perfect Good luck Jim
Hi Jim, yes I think that would have been a better and more tidy option that the one I used.
Great video Garry We have had our 540 gt almost a year our one major problem is the overhead lockers at the rear came undone during transit and the hinge screws camen lose an one split the frame. Eriba use thin screws m3 which do not grip the composite wood
Hi Graham, the composite wood does seem to cause an issue, especially the bathroom door.
We bought a new Troll 540GT in 2000 from Lechlade and kept it for 15 years. Major niggle was rust at the front of the outer frame, I believe they are galvanised now. The bathroom door opened in transit which was fixed with a bungee cord. We had the rear seat cushions re uoholstered to remove the tired springs but other things were just maintenance, taps, blinds etc
We sold it un 2016 and would still get the same for it today !, we loved our Troll, easy to tow, comfortable and quirky. We took it all over Europe
Hi there Frank, thanks for the comment. You are right re the galvanising. The bathroom door issue has been fixed on the 2023 models. The cushions on the later models are just some kind of memory foam. I wonder if you have bought a newer Eriba or changed to something different.
@@whereveraway we bought a Hymer Nova 425L after we sold the Troll, we still have the Nova
Best wishes
Thank you Gary a great summary of life with an Eriba.. One question Where can you get your white locking flexible brackets. Well done
Hi David, thanks for the compliments. Those are child locks from Argos. They stick on and don't require any drilling.
Ours is a 2001 Troll. We’ve had it two years now and no major issues. Minor one was 240v switch on fridge was cracked and completely broke. Bought a replacement off eBay. Bathroom tap/ shower started leaking so bought a Comet London. No real issues feels like the older ones have less niggles tbh.
Hi there, yes I think you are right re the older versions were better quality. The only downside with the older models is that the floor would corrode, whereas the newer versions have been galvanised.
We have the same issues with the bed poles bending. We are not particularly big people but this is a silly design. Going to make some little central support legs up
We are thinking of a piece of oak flooring slat to support the middle. We also use the Duvalay mattresses, which should alleviate any bulge in the middle.
We had the same problem so bought online some solid alloy bar of the same diameter as the tube. This was cut to length by the supplier. Now have a perfectly flat bed.
These may be small problems but caravans are not cheap now and you do wonder whether these companies ever do any sort of checks on the build quality ie use the van for a couple of years to see what problems customers might experience before they go on general sale to the public. I would certainly be taking that back to Eriba to have those faults fixed under warranty..
Hi there, the dealer is 1.5 hours away and nearly a full tank of Diesel, so for minor things we are just living with them. Most of those things are common to all Eribas. I doubt they do a live usage test over say 2 years, however I think they do consider and rectify based on Customer feedback.
I have the same reflection as you. For the premium price you expect premium quality. It's unacceptable that doors and drawers dont stay in place, hinges come off as wel as the table strip. I have also noticed at the dealer there were several Eribas with sealant coming out of the middle strip that runs around the cabin. Looks ugly... I was thinking of going from my self build tear drop to an Eriba, but seeing this!? My tear drop is better quality than that!
Hi Gary, you seem to have a few minor problems with your van, as you say they are minor things that were sorted without much effort. We have a Familia 320 GT, we are on holiday at the moment in Cornwall. The problems we have had are :- toilet door dropping off, sorted by drilling screw holes larger and putting in rawlplugs and new screws. Overhead locker door opening when moving, drill centre of catch and put in a bigger screw. All in all our van has been ok. Love the Skipton vid cheers AL
Hi Al, yes I think the issues we have had are common with the newer vans. Hope you are enjoying Cornwall.
@@whereveraway Hi Gary Cornwall is baking hot, we've had 30° two days running cheers AL
Hi Al, we must have chosen the wrong weeks. Drink plenty of water and enjoy.
@@whereveraway hahaha happy camping 🌞🌞
Was yours pre-owned? You play them down, but these are (metaphorically) the RR of caravans. I bought a new Eriba Ocean and the front table-bed collapsed the first night due to lack of bite into a polystyrene filled front panel, plus a load of little annoyances. So I sold it. What a fool I am, my new one will arrive in February, but I won’t be disappointed, since I know what to look out for!
Hi There, we bought ours new in May 2021. As you know, all caravans and motorhomes have some quality issues. The challenge for manufacturers is how best to make Quality, Light Weight, Cost Effective. If you try to maintain it perfectly, it will cost dearly, however as small things go wrong, you can do some fixes yourself and live with the minor imperfections and just get out and enjoy the places you see.
The front bed collapsed on our first trip, like you say the bite on the lightweight board was not strong enough. Bearing in mind we were being super careful with it as it was brand new. I went back to Automotive Leisure, and they told me they’d never seen this happen before, sounded unlikely to me. They did give me a piece of right angled aluminium and some of the special tapping screws, which I fastened beneath the original fixing point as a support. It’s never happened since, would definitely recommend doing this if anyone is thinking to use the front dinette as a bed.
We had a leak around our shower head in the bathroom, it turned out to be a split on the seam under the head, very difficult to see, replaced the head problem solved.
We checked inside the cupboard, no water, so ours wasn't too bad, it was just a quick tighten of the shower head. Glad you got yours sorted though.
How did you find the space available inside? What was difficult? What would you have liked?
Hi Helen, the space is better than a van and is ample for two people. Nothing was difficult. The Eriba is simple to use, especially with electrics. We bought new, so we got everything we liked. We had researched the Eriba well before we bought it.
That window leak worries me…
We made covers for all the seat squabs to keep the covers mint..and bought little trays to fit in the shelves from Dunelm..
Dampness ingress. It's fixable.
@@whereveraway where do you buy Cyclex ?
Has somebody been leaning backwards on the wall ? Or do you think eriba were a bit sparing with the cyclex at the factory ?
It was the latter. It looks like someone had emptied a tube and not gone back to finish the job at the factory. You can buy Sikoflex from most hardware stores.
@@whereveraway surprisingly few problems considering you use it 20 trips per year..you could be a chief tester for Eriba..
Haha that's an idea....it would require a certain amount of furnishing with funds.
Our eriba was made in France. It has a French info tag. 2008.
Hi Simon, yes that makes sense re the dates.
We’ve got a leak from the shower pipe..where it goes into the underside of the shower tap…ive got no idea how to make it leak less…it emerges down the wall inside the cupboard…turn on the tap it gets water in the cupboard…
The tank drain showers all over the mover too..the dealer made no attempt to pipe it away from the mover housing..when he fitted the mover..
We had the shower attachment tap leaking too. It just needed tightening up where the shower attachment screws on.
@@whereveraway i have solved the shower tap curly lead problem….i followed the chrome curly lead to a chrome knurled finger tightener that attaches to a brass junction that continues to a black rubber pipe that terminates to a white nylon fitting with a black “O’ ring on it…this needs to be pushed hard into the underside of the tap..you hear a click as it locks into place..(the factory and the dealer hadn’t done this ,so enabling water to soak the floor every time we turned the tap to on )presumably to disassemble you just pull hard on the black rubber pipe..the tap was never tested for leaks before we took new delivery…what else dont Eriba check at the factory ? Or predilivery at the dealers? It wasn’t an easy fix for an amateur…access is awful…
Interesting, thanks. So much for the myth that continental made caravans are better put together than UK manufactured units!
They are all made from self tappers screwed into cheap chip board.
Try spraying the rubber seals because after a few years of perishing they might need replacing….rubber treatment spray….my vw golf sunroof rubber seal has just been destroyed in a auto car wash by the whirling thread thrashers…cost to me over £1000…..lesson learned treat your rubber seals..
We wouldn't take the Eriba through a car wash but yes, your point on putting silicone on the window rubbers etc is something that we do.
wow, did you say you paid £28k for the van 2 years ago?? how old is it? why so expensive? certainly doesn't look like anything special, build quality looks mediocre at best.
Hi there, that was the going price back then for new. It's £35k now. Compare it to any camper van and you will find it is only a 3rd of the cost. Agree re build quality, but all caravans and campers are all the same. The Eriba is worth around £21k now, so that's £7k depreciation for 30 holidays.