I know tables have been discussed before,

but, we have, in our 1998 Triton 430, the big dinette at the back. I find that I struggle with the wretched table morning and night due to its weight.. Having to hold on to the short end and hold up all the weight to get it in the track at the back of the van is doing my back in! Have any of you replaced the table with off the shelf stuff and if so, any advice? People tell me that if I go and get some wood and try and make another, it will be just as heavy.Ours seems to be incrediby thick/weighty/unwieldly....... any advice most welcome!

Just to add, We love having the space in the day so don't want a fixed bed.

We had a 2005 430 until recently and the table wasn't too heavy - Claire used to do all the taking it out and putting it back in again and never complained. Our 2000 430 before that had a relatively heavy table I seem to recall, but we were younger then... With our "new" 2016 540 being sold with no table I needed to get another one and I ended up making one (but 430/540 style) from an older table from another caravan make (no idea what). It is just as sturdy and even lighter. I'm quite impressed. I have ended up with it being almost exactly the same size as a 430/530 one. The latest ones, judging by the front one we have, are also very light and they don't have real wood trim around the edge anymore - just glued on edging. That table is really light - I guess they have gradually redesigned them to be lighter...

If you get the chance, weigh your table and we'll make comparisons.Perhaps others can do the same? Someone with a modern 430 or 530 perhaps?

Simboc I saw your thread about modifying the table you found and was very jealous! Oddly, our little front dinette is made of much lighter stuff than the back one that you could use as a tank battering ram.If only they'd made the big one out of the same materiels.

I think there's a lot of solid wood in those older tables - the lipping round the edge is certainly substantial! I now others on here have talked of their tables having been cut up to expose the lightweight inner core, so that's, maybe, a change from the mid 2000s? Without some table weight data we can't prove anything though...

The other thing is that the older tables had a metal rear attachment strip, whereas the front one on our 2016 Troll has a plastic strip. Another sign of lower weight, perhaps? The single-legged, clip on tables are much lighter than the freestanding 540 table, though - they are notorious for being very heavy indeed.

You won't be buying a new one though - Eriba want £800+ for a new 430/530 rear table... And £1000 for a free-standing rear table for a 540.

Simon

I wondered about replacing it with an ordinary table but I wondered about the leg arrangement as the back of the van floor is sloping.

I might have to go into production. If only I knew what caravan the one I have adapted came from...

So, having got my Troll out of storage, the first things I have done is weigh the two tables.

The standard front table (2016) is the same in a 540 and a 430 (maybe others?). It's 63.5cm x 54cm - and it weighs 2.94kg

The table I have built (single, folding leg and hook for attachment to inside or outside the caravan) is roughly the same size as a 430 rear table (it's 104cm x 60cm) - it weighs 5.4kg.

It's really light to move around and sturdy enough (so far anyway!). I will, at some point, add a top sheet of Formica just to get a close colour/texture match to the rest of the interior. That will add about 0.5kg at most.

The front table is so light it clearly has a cardboard "egg box style" interior (like the cheapest IKEA furniture). The rear one I converted has solid pine ends and sides with a groove machined in to take the edge t-trim. The solid ends is what allowed me to cut it square to take the end "hook" strip. Yet it still manages to be light...

Well, today, out of the blue, I received a large parcel from Highbridge Caravans, containing a brand new freestanding 540 rear table - at no cost to me. I hadn't actually complained, just told them that it was missing, when I bought the caravan from them. At least they took the hit for it - Kool Classics had quoted me £1000 for a new one, which is why I made a new one (and, actually, a clip on one suits us better...) So now we are a three table Eriba family

We're off away tomorrow, so I'll assemble it and weigh it when we get back!

It’ll come in handy at home possibly. Our freestanding table lives in the summerhouse. Very useful for parties. It came out of our 420, which was written off, the table wasn’t in it at the time of the accident.
Alternatively you need to buy another Eriba, then you can be a 2 Eriba, 3 table (or more) family. As our other 2 Eriba owner might say, “there’s posh” 😂

The size and weight of the latest style 540 free-standing rear table is:

100cm long x 55cm wide - the total, assembled weight is: 10.9kg...

I'm guessing that is lighter than pre-2010 tables. The fixing screws go into "real" wood, so there's obviously a solid strip through the centre. TBH it's not as heavy as I feared (Double my self-built lightweight, single-legged table).

We'll keep it (because it's what our Troll should have in it), but actually use the one we can move to the outside wall when camping. I may trial it on a quick camp to see how easy it is to move around.