We are new to this caravanning lark having purchased in the Autumn last year a 2001 Triton 420GT. We used to camp but as we are progressing in years the midnight trips were becoming more frequent so we bought a Motorhome for the convenience. Although we found it cosy and no cold and wet midnight walks we found the Motorhome a pain when wanting to visit places of interest. As we want to see more of the UK and the continent and we saw an Eriba Touring being towed by a VW estate and the lights came on.
After lots of research (including visits to this site) and meeting some owners we sold the Motorhome and purchased our first caravan. Having bought the van from Dom Fox in Norfolk (highly recommended a real pleasure to business with) and having not towed for years the trip back to home which is south of Canterbury Kent in the pouring rain was a dream I hardly new it was being towed. The reports of how easy they are to tow are spot on.
So for we have had one trip away last year before putting her away for the winter to Bournemouth and again found the van to be easy to tow. The hardest thing is to keep the speed down and my reversing skills need more honing ( more trips away should sort this out). Being 6 foot 2 tall the 420GT beds are just right for me and I have no problem height wise with the roof up. Only one trip away and we have been so please with the van, which we have named as Eriba Mae. She may be small but she puts a big smile on our faces and we are sure we will have some great time away in her.
We are hoping if any of the folks out there could helps us as we are thinking of fitting Eriba Mae with a wind-out awning as we found the Fiamma one fitted to our Motorhome was so handy and easier than fix you up awning( had enough of that with camping). Any thoughts pros and cons would be handy and what recommended make would be appreciated.

Hi Sleeping Dog and welcome to the Eriba Folk Forum..... Pleased that you are enjoying your Eriba....
I am sure that you will find that there are a lot of Eriba Folk on here with experience of the' wind out' style awnings, who will be only too pleased to give you the benefit of their knowledge....

from us 2, Jen & Gray we use a fiamma caravanstore awning, it's an awning in a bag that stays mounted, it attaches via the awning rail, I'll put a picture up for you just need to switch to my mobile for that

Hi and welcome.
A wind out awning like those on motorhomes, Fiamma or Omnistore (now Thule?), could be fitted to your Eriba. They require special brackets and will add a substantial weight. However the brackets cover the awning rail so that you would not be able use a full awning. The alternative Caravanstore is a much more usable alternative. It can easily be added or removed from the awning rail to allow you to use a full awning when necessary.
TonyP

Morphy

Hi from Clive and Sheila

to you and 'Eriba Mae' - sorry can't give any wind-out awning advice, but I'm sure there'll be plenty forthcoming from other Forum members !

Hi Sleeping dog,
As Frantone has said, there is a substantial weight issue to consider with a roll out cassette awning. I did like the ease of winding out the Fiamma I had on the side of the campervan, but decided that a pull out Omnistor 2000 was a little harder to pull out physically, but once out, there was little difference, but at a much reduced weight consideration. (and cost)....You might get a youtube clip to watch, or go to the Thule/Omnistor site. Ian

Bonjour from moi! We have an Omnistor wind-out awning on our 1999 Eriba Triton 430 BSA. It is bolted on to the Eriba so cannot be easily removed. It is therefore a more-or-less permanent fixture and as others have noted above precludes the use of a full-awning. It does add to the weight of the caravan. On the plus side, it is pretty easy to pull-out/wind back. I can actually do it by myself, but it is better to have 2 pairs of hands on the job. Our model (Omnistor 2000) has 2 side panels and a front panel. These simply hook on and are pegged out as usual.

The Omnistor came with the caravan, but if I were to be staring from scratch, I think I would go back to the CaravanStore, simply because it is easily removed to give you other options. It is probably also cheaper then the Omnistor.

On a previous post I recounted the story of our CaravanStore being ripped off the van during a storm. All these systems are a bit on the flimsy side and so if a storm threatens, we always put the awning away. Best of luck!

We have an Omnistore windout out awning on our 230GT - it seems to have been fitted directly to the roof above the awning rail, so the awning rail is still usable, if a little fiddly to access. It might be something that is only possible on the older Eribas with more roof above the awning rail?
Rob

Hi and welcome from Rob & Pat

Regarding your awning question. I was in Automotive Leisure a few days ago and picked up a Thule News brochure for 2015 giving details of wall and roof mounted awnings. The Thule Omnistor 1200 is a lightweight bag system which has optional sides and front. A 3.25m awning weighs 12.2kg.
If you want an Omnistor wind-out awning attachment is either by brackets attached to the guttering or there are two versions (Eriba year dependent) of extrusion that can be attached to the roof to support the awning cassette. The nice thing about roof attachment is its more waterproof than the gutter mounted ones. The people to talk to are Rose Awnings, Unit 10, 565 Blandford Road, Poole BH16 5BW Tel 01202 620427 They, Rose Awnings, are at most of the shows - more motorhome than caravan. Rob

Welcome to Eriba Folk, sleeping dog, from a recent newcomer myself.

Being without an Eriba van at the moment I would be interested in a contact for Dom Fox. I tried a quick google but nothing came up.

Thanks