Firstly I've never named my Eriba's, but I might call this one Ivor. I will let you work it out.

My ownership of Tourings started back in 2003 and I've had four of them. The time had come for something a bit bigger than our Triton and first thoughts suggested a Troll. I'm sorry to say I discounted this for several reasons. I cannot see how Eriba can justify the price for one of these vans. The new style did not meet my aesthetic requirements and come across as being" Bling". Finally, build quality has not made the steps forward it should have and lacks sadly behind earlier vans.

So I bought a Feeling. I'm first to admit it lacks the style and gorgeous looks of a Touring, but it came in about £8K cheaper and appears to be in a different league where it come to build quality. It is very well put together. The observant amongst you will notice solid top cupboard hinges and catches along with the old school wardrobe catches bar and a nice positive lock mechanism on the fridge door. It also tows like a dream. I'm guessing this is down to the wider track and lower to the road stance.

I bought from Wandahome near Hull, a 750 mile round trip from Devon, back via a family visit to Merseyside. I'd initially discounted the van as it appeared to be a "poverty spec" but after a £4K reduction I phoned and made enquiries. The van was in fact a good specification and they had not listed it or priced it correctly. Extras such as 1500kg axle, electric hot water, electric heating, autonomy pack, spare wheel, door screen, extra locker under front seating etc had all been missed in the listing.
The collection had to be rescheduled as Hymer had shipped parts out and the arrival date had been unknown. It took 6+ weeks from order to arrival to get alloy wheels, Alko Premium jockey wheel and the wrong cycle carrier. I've subsequently ordered and received this through a third party in 3 days.
The collection from Wandahome took nearly 4 hours whilst they sorted things out. I'd noticed the mover fitting had resulted in unsealed holes through the floor, which upon sealing gave the engineer an electric shock. It looks like this was static as a strip down and re-wire of mains in and continuity test showed no problem.

I've now spent a couple of days fettling it.
- Fiamma Caravanstore in place on the back
- Extra sockets installed, the front doubles on the window area not an easy job making the oak boxing due to compound angles and curves.
- TV bracket to side of wardrobe and hanging bar under top lockers at foot of bed fitted
- co-axial outlets and 12v socket fitted for above
- usb touch spotlight replaces one of the rear spotlights
- isolator switch for water pump fitted
- some boxing in of wiring, in particular the spaghetti found in top locker over long front seating cabinet. If I bought the appropriate unit I could power the front speakers.
- adjustment to bathroom door that DID open during travel. The problem was not cabinet work flexing but the projection of the door lever into the lock plate. A large screwdriver blade was inserted into the gap between door and hinge and the door eased over a few mm, meaning the lever threw further into the lock plate.

The rubber gasket around the pop-top is often mentioned on Tourings. This does not have a gasket. The edge pulls down onto black rubber pads at key points. This leaves a 5mm gap for water to drain away.

At 6.07m total length the van is a little longer than a Troll and feels feels very spacious. Splitting hairs, the top lockers could be a bit deeper, but so far that is my only gripe. The bathroom storage is excellent although the seating a bit tight.
Mrs eribaMotters does not like the curtains so has volunteered to make something more tasteful. The originals will then go in the loft along with the nets the Germans think we like.


I have a few bits to still do, including a drop-in storage box behind the gas heater [I'll leave a 75mm clear air space] I also need to fit the cycle carrier.

I did have some initial concerns over the mover to be fitted. A Reich 1.6 was dealer specified but I upgraded to the Reich 2.0. The fully auto unit of this was in fact fitted along with the Remote switch instead of the red/black isolator lever and is a nice touch [Thanks for the suggestion JohnE] Ground clearance at 150mm is better than I had hoped for and exceeds the chassis to road clearance of 130mm and bottom suspension mount to ground clearance of 120mm.

Colin

1 - door side from front.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)2 - door side from back.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)3 - back side from rear.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)4 - gas locker.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)5 - mover.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)6 - jockey wheel.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)7 - roof.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)8 - underbed from outside.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)9 - underbed socket.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)10 - underbed water tank etc.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)11- bathroom 1.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)12 - bathroom 2.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)13- bathroom 3.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)14 - bathroom 3.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)15 - behind gas heater.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)16 - Co=axial in.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)17 - wardrobe locking mechanism.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)18 - wardrobe inside.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)19 - wardrobe outside.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)20 - long seating.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)21 - locker over long seating.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)22 - front diner sockets.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)23 - switches near door.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)24 - fridge catch.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)25 - top cupboard hinge.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)26 - top cupboard latch.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)27 - bar for tv.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)28 - usb spotlight.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

I don't think I'll ever get up to the full/max load on the van, as the Frenchies will not allow me to bring home a swimming pool size quantity of vino any more and the payload is so high.
The tow back had the van at about 1100kg, but the car was also running light with just me and a weekend bag. Nose weight with the spare wheel in the front but nothing else in the van was 50/55kg. This bodes well for two bikes on the front as the loo, fridge and main storage is at the back of the van.
I think when both van and car are in normal holiday mode the ratio should be similar to the empty tow, with the noticeable thing being a higher fuel consumption. I achieved 36mpg from Formby down to Devon with heavy traffic and delays on the M5, so not to bad.
If I load it as the Triton I will probably be running at about 1350kg, so will still have 150kg left for any shopping Mrs eribaMotters decides to sneak in.

Colin

Andy, the great thing about the on-line configurator is that you can now get an accurate weight. It starts off with the basic bare vehicle and as you add on the extras the weights are added for you.
If you look at the attached you should see I've got all bases covered. I have the 1500kg axle.

Colin

As requested, here are some internals, and the front cycle carrier.

Eriba say the Thule Superb is the model they fit, so that is what I ordered and received. A short version is available, which means short in depth and not width. This may be the model fitted by Eriba, I'm not sure. I've looked through as many photos as I can find, most in NL dealers and it is not clear as both models seem to have been fitted.
The short is about 10cm less in depth so your two bikes will sit the same distance off the van but fit very snugly together. I've had carriers where the wheel runners are close together and have found it very difficult at times to load the bikes. If I do find the second bike is close to the back of the car I've always got the option to relocate the wheel runner back towards the van.
One thing is sure and that is everybody removes the A frame cover to fit the carrier. I could not see why, and as it would look better in place I tried to leave it. I had to drill out some of the embossed lumps so the mounts would sit flat and all was going perfectly until I could not get the U bolts to fit through the rear mounts. It all came off and I tried without the cover only to find the same problem as the mounts definitely needed another hole. They got the hole and the cover and I'm please with the end result. It certainly beats drilling holes through the back of the van.
I've just got to play around with the loading now to get the nose weight correct.

Colin

29 - door side with roof up.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)30 - diner from door.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)31 - diner from centre.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)32 - bed from door.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)33 - bed from centre.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)34 - kitchen from door.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)35 - sink and hob.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)36 - kitchen drawer.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)37 - cycle rack up.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)38 - cycle rack down.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)39 - cycle rack mounts.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

An administrative error on my behalf sir. Yes it is a 425. We would have liked a 470. Imagine a Troll 540 but with a larger dinette and back to front layout. At nearly 6.5m this would have been to big. Perhaps with a larger car in 5-10 years time before we all go electric.

Colin

We used to bring back a lot, enough for the year and extra in case our next crossing was later in the summer the following year.
There are a few wine boxes we like so 55 x 3L boxes = 165L = 220 bottles.

Colin