I originally posted this in anything Eriba but as I have heard not a dickie bird I thought I would try here.

Does anyone in the South of England have a Troll 554 or a Troll 660 Pontos that we could take a sneaky peak at please? We like either but can't really make up our minds. We would obviously be prepared to travel a reasonable distance.

We have seen the 660 at A L in Poole but it didn't have any cushions or mattress as they were away being re - trimmed so it was a bit difficult to really get the measure of it.

Since then we have come across the 554 but have only seen pictures and we really want a look inside. There was a 554 for sale in East Sussex but although the ad is still showing as live until Feb 20th, when you click the contact details it says not available anymore so I presume it has sold, must have just missed it, bugger....!
Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi
You could click on the 'search' key above and put in Felix. They have a Pontos 660 and think live in Wilts. Give them a PM....

Thanks for the info, I have just sent him a PM.

I found a post from last year re a table leg for a Troll 554, so assume someone has one on here. The post was by Troll1234 but he doesn't seem to exist anymore as it has been deleted.
I have found two 660's and five 554's (one has since been sold) in various parts of Europe but it is a hell of a long way to go only to find that you don't like the layout.
We are giving up motor homing for that very reason, we're on our forth one in five years. They all seemed right at the time but it doesn't take long to realise your mistake after you live in them for a while, particularly when you add 2 dogs to the equation.

'scuse me butting in but we are a two dog famille and have had experience of campervans, motorhomes, Eriba Tourings and white wobblies.

I recently came to the conclusion that, as far as dogs go, our first choice was by far the best and funnily enough it was the smallest and with the least 'facilities'. I'm talking about a Horizons Unlimited Innovation 1 hightop camper. Built on a SWB Transit it had 4 belted travel seats that turned into two single or a double bed, a fridge, 3 burner hob/sink combo 5 roof lockers, a half height wardrobe, diesel fired warm air, gas/mains hot water boiler and a proper swivel Thetford toilet. It's unique feature was a 2ft deep empty space under the worktop and wardrobe, between the wheel arches. That was originally designed to store a disability scooter but in our case we had a made to measure, removable, two dog Barjo crate in the space. It was also great for golf gear, scuba stuff, bikes, flat pack furniture, stuff for the dump, garden centre raids etc. The metal crate was very strong and allowed us to store a folded grooming trolley, folded puppy pen, folded chairs etc on top, stuff that there's rarely room for in a 'normal' camper van. Using the two singles gave the dogs the whole central gangway plus their crate to sleep in.

What I've recently come to realise is that though the Innovation was just 16ft long, we rarely had issues of dogs getting 'in the way'. That's because invariably at least one beardie was snoozing in the crate and if we wanted the space we just put them both in there. Using any other camper/motorhome/caravan the dogs just lie on the floor and have nowhere out of the way to go.

Our Pippin spends here nights between our two fixed single beds up against the bathroom door and if you want to visit the loo you have to wake a sleeping dog and you know what they say about that. During waking hours, whenever you want to move you have to pick your way between doggy limbs.

The Innovation was sibling to HU's more popular Cavarno and was identical up to the back of the rear seats. However the Cavarno had an oven and a full washroom instead of the rear 'bootspace'.

HU stopped producing in about 2014 and, as said, there were far more Cavarno's than Innovations converted, but funnily enough a Swindon dealer has had an Innovation for sale for several months. It's the same colour as ours was and the same year, but it's on a Mk 7 Transit, whereas ours was on a Mk 6. I believe it's on a 110PS engine, whereas ours was 125PS and it hasn't got a boiler. It also really needs the Ford alloy wheels that ours had to set it off right and the blob of an awning light and added plastic kitchen roll holder and front bullbar really do nothing for it. Ours also had the optional alcove in the roof to allow a wind-out awning to fit flush, whereas the one for sale hasn't got the slot and an awning has been fitted that sticks out and doesn't provide such a clean finish. It does have the same blue leather seats as ours, though I think that's wasted in a campervan. We'd go for it in a shot BUT it's 12 years old now and Tranny's of that time rusted, especially around the wheel arches and the side door bottom track rear corner. Getting a problem like that repaired would be a very expensive business.

Hi Len

If it's of any use we have a Triton 418 and until fairly recently two German Shepherds (now alas only one). Initially the dogs slept in crates in the awning which was fine for them, they have also slept in crates in the back of the car without any bother. The third place we have bedded them down for the night was in the van. The 418 has the option of a double berth at the front in addition to the rear double. Phil made an infill platform to bridge the gap on the front dinette, we removed the cushions and stored them overnight in the car and put a couple of non slip vet bed material on the seat bases and infill. This gave them a lovely big sleeping area off the floor and they were as happy as pigs in the proverbial do do. Easy to re-assemble the area as seating in the morning and the cushions stayed dog hair free.
Now we only have Holly she sleeps in the gap on the floor at the front of the van on a bit of old duvet less faff but we miss the big old boy.
The 418 does not have a toilet compartment but we manage with a porta potti in the awning if it's put up or in the doorway for overnight convenience.
So may be you will have to broaden your layout choice and look laterally at alternative soloutions.

Hope this is food for thought

Denise & Phil

I have a Pontos 660GT. New in 2008 it has been used for only 9 nights ever! Happy to show it as it will be up for sale soon. Based in Surrey. Took us a long time to find it and sad to see it go but have decided to go seasonal.

The sun has got his hat on, hip, hip, hip hooray, the sun has got his hat on as we bought a 554Gt today :-))))

Where on earth did you find one Len?

If I told you Andy, I'd have to kill you :-) I'll give you a clue "Shall we split the bill"?
Answer on a postcard, first correct reply wins a chocolate fireguard

You've been spliffing again Len.

I've been keeping an eye on Marketplatts but haven't seen a 554. So is it from a dealership or private sale?

(E)Damn, you got it first time.

Regretfully a dealer, I managed to knock them down a couple of hundred € & include their "transfer" of ownership fee (€350) which they normally charge on top of the purchase price. Seems very steep for a bit of paperwork but I've seen that magic figure at the bottom of other dealer's websites in Holland. A bit like the "administration fee" that has suddenly started to appear in car ads on Auto Trader, just another way to bump up the bottom line. I don't think it was overpriced though & we couldn't really expect to do much better as it had only just been advertised so we're reasonably satisfied.

We're a little bit miffed we missed a couple of absolute crackers (554GT) a couple of months ago in Switzerland. The best one was on an auction site at a starting bid of €10200 with a buy it now price of €10500, trouble was, at the time, we hadn't actually been in one (still haven't) so my finger hovered too long over the buy it now button. Lo & behold, when we finally made up our minds the b****y thing had gone, we were then going to go for the other one at a Swiss dealer, not quite as good, but hey ho, guess what? Yep, sold.

Since changing tack from a 540 to either a 660 or 554 in January, I had found 2 x 554's in France & 2 in Germany, one of which had probably been burgled as there were a couple of patches riveted either side of the door & one across the door, quite well done but off putting.

The most frustrating thing is, despite using a translation site to communicate in their language, they all seem very reluctant to deal with us Brits as no bugger would reply to me.

I then missed out on a '09 Pontos a month ago in France, again an absolute gem at €12500. It had been stored under cover since new & had very little use. As above, it took several attempts to elicit a response, then spent 3 or 4 days texting back & forth in french & then nothing for a day & a half. Sent a chase text to which came the reply, sorry but selling to a friend, bar steward! If he had replied to my enquiry for more photos a week & a half earlier, it would be sitting on our drive not his mates.

I had also found several 660's but the main problem is knowing if the ad is current, a lot of the sites don't say when it was added so you end up chasing vans that could have been sold yonks ago

On reflection though, I think we had been going off the Pontos, so re focused on a 540 but they're almost as rare now as the other two. Again found a beauty late one evening last week in Brittany, an '09 at €9000. I was going to phone in the morning but it was sold before I had the chance, it had only been on the site 2 days.

In frustration, we started looking at anything & everything & found our one yesterday. It was described as a 550GT but I thought I would have a look anyway, surprise, surprise, it was a 554GT. We talked it over for about 10 mins & then I phoned them & did the deal, paid a €10000 deposit & the balance when we collect it probably next week, just have to book the dogs into kennels as they don't have passports yet.

We'll do a shakedown tour for a few days in Holland as both of us have only been there on business years ago, only hope that sites are open although I'm sure we'll manage.

Just goes to show how quickly they sell if the price is right, unlike some people who have no idea of the demographics of the people who buy Eribas & are just out to try & make a fast buck.

You know of Marketplatts but here are some of the sites I have found in my travels around Europe on the web:-
https://www.truckscout24.com/caravans-motorhomes
https://caravans.nl
https://www.leboncoin.fr
https://www.toutypasse.com
https://www.mobile.de
https://www.truck1.eu
https://www.machinio.com
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-wohn...ba-troll/k0c220
https://www.ricardo.ch/?utm_source=1026_...ent=header_logo
https://www.caraworld.de

If you fancy a trip to Spain there is an '09 Pontos at a dealer just outside of Madrid, it's €18000 (£15735) but apparently has been on sale for some time so they might take an offer, I've got the contact details if you're interested. Brittany ferries are actually quite reasonable to Northern Spain so you could make a holiday out of it.
I can also give you a very good currency exchange company if you go down that route, commercial rates & no commission or charges.

Congrats on finding a 554, I hope the deal goes to plan and that she brings you joy.

Back in the days when I bought Mr Frantone's old '05 540 I remember looking on Marktplaats and seeing two or more pages of ads for Eriba Trolls. These days it seems you get under a full page and 99% of those are Witoma's ads for brand new vans. I wonder why they've become so scarce?

Mrs SDA's refusal to countenance a fixed transverse bed limits our search options as does her dislike of the nose type kitchen, the car's 1200kg towing limit and my height.

Ideally a post 2010 540 would be great except for the car towing limit, so we need a pre-2010. Having established all of that the requirement for a hot water boiler only adds a further fence to jump, which sometimes looks like Becher's Brook.