My Troll is from 2001 and is still in great condition. The first owners were fastidious with their maintenance and I've kept on top of it for the 7 years or so I have owned it. That clearly pays off. And as far as travelling to find the right van for you, I bought mine from a small town in Northern Holland having spent 3 days travelling there and back because having followed the market for a while (I even created a spreadsheet to keep track of the adverts) I knew this was the right van for me. Such effort is soon forgotten of you have found the right van. I was prepared to walk away from it if it didn;t come up to scratch. Fortunately it did..

Best of luck with your search...

Hi Fiona and welcome

You sound in many ways to be in a similar situation that Kath and I found ourselves in around 2014 after me being retired for a few years.

We had always been avid tenters and loved it to death, camping all over in our various sized tents. However I developed hip problems and pitching up and pegging out was causing me pain. We even bought a Berghaus Airbeam tent which was a bit easier but not a solution.

We had one of those long honest discussions about what to do in the future. We identified that although we loved camping that two issues had developed. One was that although we had tried a number of bed configurations neither of us were sleeping as well as we had in the past. The other was finding our Kampa Portapotty less desirable than a walk to the toilet block even in the rain.

We spent almost a year looking at alll sorts from Trailer tents, Pennine collapsible caravans, and caravans themselves. We went to dealers all over and sat in loads of things. We didn't seem to be getting anywhere until I saw an Eriba and was mystified but also captivated

I need to say that at this stage Kath disliked Eribas with a passion and wanted us to buy a smallish Big White Box. I bet she had less enthusiasm than your partner seems to do.......! Also like you we had no dealers nearby.

I had a cunning plan. Someone had recommended a B & B to us in Southbourne and I realised that the main Eriba dealer was in nearby Poole. To her delight I booked a three day break (she loves new places) but also booked an appointment with what is now Leisure First. We spent two hours with a young enthusiastic Cameron who sat us in every size and style of Eriba. We liked the 420 but really fell for a 540 with the multi-function beds. The rest is history.....

Kath now loves our Troll with a passion so don't give up on converting your partner

Colin & I have had lots of discussions re a fixed bed against the multi-function bed available in some Triton & Troll models. He likes the height of his fixed bed but we prefer the flexibility the multi-function bed offers. You can sleep as singles, have a single & a doublle or a massive king size. It is unbelievably comfortable to sleep in with a Duvalay on. It also gives you a large lounge area with the beds up. It takes us about 5 minutes to get the king size bed ready to sleep in.

The bathroom also instantly solved the midnight walks to the toilet block problem and is highly recommended. However we don't shower in our bathroom.

In terms of build quality our 2016 van seems to be a good one. We have had minor problems with one cupboard door & the bathroom door both easily resolved. We have our van serviced each year by Adventure Leisure at Tebay and they have done bits and pieces under warranty. This year they had a lot of Eriba Touring vans in stock both new & second hand so they might be worth a visit from you to sit in all the different styles. Mike would make you very welcome

Getting the right one for you both may take a matter of time and a bit of travel but in our experience worth it.

I still occasionally go tenting in the Lakes for a couple of nights with old friends but could never imagine Kath & I going back to it from the luxury of our Troll. We absolutely love it and are thinking of a final trip somewhere in November before we prepare it down for winter.

Good luck with your search - I'm sure its a decision that you won't regret.

MikeT

HI Mike,
Thanks so much for your detailed reply. It certainly sounds like you and Kath were in a similar position to us! In fact we haven't yet bought anything - although it was a close thing. We decided that we'd do another year of car camping - this time with our monster family tent. This has a couple of compartments, one of which will be where the small chemical toilet goes. We'll need to buy a roof box to store everything though.
Having looked at the 420 we realised that the Troll was the better candidate. Unfortunately the car doesn't have the power to tow a new Troll (max of 1200 kgs) and we are a bit anxious about buying very old because neither of us has much of a clue about mechanics etc. But it seems that the risk is lessened by the fact that people do seem to pay for regular services etc which no doubt is recorded in a service history.
So anyway, for the moment we are going to try the big tent and pause the Eriba search. The car will need upgraded in a few years as it doesn't meet the LEZ requirements and no doubt these will gradually be extended. I see that loads of cities in France already have their equivalent in place as well. So that might be when we take up the search again.
It's really good to know that you convinced Kath in the end! Maybe Monster Tent will drive us nuts and we'll be back to the hunt even sooner .... :)
Fiona