Hi, I'm a new member, currently a canvas camper and never owned an eriba. Looking at possibly at a new Troll 530...

We're currently lost between rear dinette or fixed bed. Difficult one that.
But, being new, the options and choices beyond the base spec are quite daunting from water heaters to sprung seats to on board water....

Everyone has their ideal combination of love and hates - so...

What would you consider essential?
What would you consider desirable?
What would you consider nice if you fancy it?
What would you consider unnecessary?

Your experience is much appreciated!

In the end it comes down to budget and each individuals preferences.

You can run through the cost options on the Eriba Price List and make a case for most of the cost options but you have to bear in mind that they all weigh something and therefore use up payload and that there are a number of different options that provide the same function in different ways and different prices and weights.

Starting from the outside, you haven't been able to get the classic white top to well below the waistline with silver underneath for quite some years now. The standard spec is plain white in a bobbly finish, referred to as 'Stucco' by some, though I'm not sure why. The all over silver finish comes as part of the GT Pack but, surprisingly is significantly heavier than the bobbly finish. Then you have the 60 Edition special which is probably the nearest to the old classic, but the white and silver meet at the waist, not below it as in the past. On top of that we now have the scarlet or royal blue Colour Editions. As in all such details it depends on how classic you want your Eriba to be or how much you enjoy being different or retro, depending on your viewpoint and how deep your pockets are.

Of course colour/finish choices come into the interior as well with different fabrics and different furniture finishes. To me the current standard darkish wood finish isn't a patch on the veneers of the noughties, though the lack of panelling and the curves are much better than some of the older stuff. Then you have the 60's with their lighter oak finish, dark worktops and tables and shiny white roof locker doors with chromed handles or the Colour Editions with the lighter oak again but with crackle finish roof lockers and their bright highlights.

All that without really touching on equipment options.

Running down the GT Pack I'd have the following comments:
Stone Guards - almost essential to prevent or absorb damage from stuff thrown up from the road and a clasic Eriba Touring feature.
Alloy wheels - not essential and I still prefer the look of the early noughties alloys, rather than the current ones.
Flyscreen - in all the caravans we've owned I can't recount a time when we actually used it, though maybe we've just not been out in places where they're a necessity.
Doorbin - a necessity
Exterior locker door - very handy, would not be without.
Sink cover - not certain on this because we find that mostly the sink is in use when the kitchen is being used so there's little point in covering it. You also have to have somewhere to put it when washing up etc.
Two reading light - it really depends where they're fitted and switched and whether that fits with the way you use the van.
Two utensil bags - nice to haves but not essential
Interestingly Hymer say those items in the GT Pack would be £2,480 if purchased separately and you save £670 by buying the pack. Well if you knock off the £860 of the silver exterior finish you can save a further £190 when you buy everything in the pack separately and then you can save even more by deciding not to buy the sink cover or utensil bags.

Moving on to other cost options the weight upgrades are debatable, depending on the model you're buying. My view is that if you're fitting a motor mover and speccing the van up to UK accepted standards then you're going to be using around 130kg of the payload before you load the van at all. If you reckon that you need around 150kg of payload to cover your gear that means you need at least 280kg of payload to start off with. The Familias and Tritons will all need an upgrade to reach such a figure, the Trolls just about provide it as standard. Anything over 280kg is getting a bit profligate and you need to pack less shoes and stuff.
Spare wheel - a necessity
Weight indicator nosewheel - a luxury
ATC - not strictly necessary on an Eriba Touring but a nice to have
Motor mover - excellent bits of kit, just don't buy the factory fit job, it must be plated in gold and encrusted with rubies for the price they're charging. A rip-off.
Floor storage space - £200 seems a lot for a hole in the floor.
Roof awning - I assume are the Fiamma or Thule wind-out sunshades and again the listed ones seem way overpriced.
Drawbar bike carrier - depends if you want to carry bikes
Sprung mattresses and sprung seating depends on whether you prefer it to the standard foam and if you can spare the extra weight and cost
Opposite seating Group - is a convoluted title for what used to be termed the Multi Use Bed format. This consists of a central chest in the lounge and beds that can be made up to 2ft wide, 2ft 6ins wide or a full 6ft 6ins wide double bed. It also has a freestanding folding table can be positioned anywhere whilst the standard spec has no chest and a table which latches on the rear of the van with one folding leg and can only be used in that position or latched the the fitting outside the van.
Carpet - we found to be essential in our '05 540 Troll. The vinyl floor always seemed hard and cold though easy to clean. With the carpet down the whole atmosphere of the van became more homely and comfortable, even with two bearded collies to mess it up.
Socket package - I'm not sure about the value but these days you can never have enough sockets.
Awning socket - useful
Autonomy Package - essential
Warm air fan and ducting - essential
Electric boiler - essential. Our '01 Troll 540 didn't have warm water on tap and we swore 'never again'.
Gas/electric boiler - an extra £500 for warming water by gas when we always have a hook up seems a waste. Unless you do a lot of off grid pitching.
Fresh water tank - seems like a good idea as it'll be warmed indoors rather than having a frozen Aquaroll outside.
Waste water tank - not sure where it's fitted and how you empty it so I'll pass on that.
3 burner hob - I suspect a bit of overkill as you rarely use more than two burners and there's rarely space for three pans on the hob.
Shower equipment - showering in an Eriba Touring washroom isn't easy due to space restrictions and there's the issue of the clingy shower towel. Maybe for emergencies only and if the shower hose will reach through the window for dog/boot washing.

HTH

Essential: A toilet (for those who do sometimes need to go during the night)
Electric heater (for overnight, either the fitted option or freestanding)
Not essential but useful: Dinette (saves making bed up every day and gives one person the option to go to bed/get up earlier.
External socket (very useful for cooking outside or lighting)
External locker (easier than lifting seats to get at stuff)
Not at all essential: On board water tank
Water heater
TV system

All the above are just my opinion, other people will have their own needs/wants. I'm not fussed about a fixed bed, we leave our rear bed made up in the Troll and just use the front dinette normally. However when we went away with the grandchildren they had the rear bed, which was then put away everyday so they could use the rear seats and table and we slept on the front bed/dinette.
I'm happy to use site facilities for showers and washing up so water use is minimal and hot water is a luxury we can manage without.
It is a very personal choice but having had hot water and an onboard tank I'm quite happy without. That van didn't have an external locker though which we really missed. This one doesn't have the external socket which I miss
No van is perfect, just find the one that is nearest to perfection for you.

You tell I’m starting from a low understanding point

Dinette seats - worth upgrading to sprung? Does it effect sleeping?

Hi Nthurrzzz and welcome to the Forum

As others have already said all of this is purely personal choice with what you need perhaps being different to what I want.

However we were in similar circumstances to you in 2015. We were lifelong tenters and loved our Outwell Bear Lake. However my hips were getting dodgy and the pain caused by bending down and hammering in the mass of tent pegs was becoming too much. We didn't really want a van and looked at trailer tents and campervans until I saw an Eriba and was smitten by how unusual and quirky it was - my wife didn't share this view at all to start with!

We spent 12 months looking at all sorts of options but eventually my wife began to be smitten as well. The best thing we did was to go to the National Exhibition at Birmingham and spend ages like groupies at the Automotive Leisure and Hymer stands. We arranged an appointment with Cameron from AL to visit Als Poole site. That was a real eye-opener and we sat in every model of Eriba as Cameron talked us through the different options.

Like you the outcome we came to at first was the Troll 530 and we spent ages discussing fixed bed or not. at that stage Cameron talked to us about the Troll 540 and the option of the slightly longer multi-purpose bed. Once we saw this we were totally sold as for us it gives us the total flexibility we want with the beds. We sometimes have then as two singles, sometimes as wider singles but most of the time on site we turn it into an enormous fixed bed across the van. We then keep the front dinette totally for eating.

If we want to take the bed down and revert to the table and two bench seats it takes us no more than 5 minutes to put all the bedding away. The base of the bed is very strong and we don't seem to have the problem that some owners have with bed poles bending. Oh and we also bought two single Duvalay mattresses to go on top.

i know I am bised but I would suggest that if you are thinking of a Troll you have a look at a 540 before you make your mind up.

The others who have responded to you are right the options are mind-boggling and very personal. For example I think the silver GT option is brilliant but others disagree.

As to other options. We thought we had ordered the warm air ducting and hadn't - mistake I would recommend it
We got the gas & electric boiler for hot water - had the van 18 months and not used it yet as we use campsite faciliies
Would get on-board water tank
Motor mover is essential for us
Awning - wouldn't get one to start with until sure you need one
Same with roll-out sun-awning
Got external locker door but never opened it yet
External electric socket has been useful
We have used the door fly screen a lot
Being a Troll we have the toilet which is essential for in the night
We have bought a small oil-filled radiator and a fan heater for cold nights rather than use the gas

the thing for me is to sit in as many variations as possible, get the feel for what you wantt, talk to people with experience and then go for it. Whatever model you get will be excellent and you will have lots of pleasure from your Troll. Enjoy MikeT

If you are going to make dinette up into a single bed a fair bit I would go for the sprung for more comfort. I am nearly six foot and over 15 stone and I slept like a log on it when our daughter and grandson stayed with us for two nights. All four of us got round the dinette table for breakfast, but it was a bit cosy. MikeT

Having bought a new 530 a year ago with rear dinette I can advise that it has been the perfect choice. Sometimes we travel with the rear dinette made into the double bed and sometimes we travel with it as a dinette. Far better to have this choice than not to have this choice in my view. Some say the under-bed storage is vast with a fixed bed. I think its enormous with the rear dinette made into a bed as you can put loads of stuff under that bed.

We are 2 people and a dog and for us the Troll 530 is absolutely the perfect choice. To reinforce this view, we changed the 2017 MY troll for a new 2018 MY Troll a few weeks back and although we could have had any designation we bought another new 530.

We have a new 540 on order and requested the sprung seating. Cameron informed us that Hymer will no longer fit that into the small dinette ( I think you can still have that option in the 530 double dinette). If anyone knows any different I'd be interested. Cameron seemed a bit puzzled too.

Looking at the cost option list the sprung front dinette is only available on the 530 size dinettes. In other words 530, 535 and 418. No idea why.

Look on it as saving £130 and 5kg

I appreciate everyone replying and sharing their experience. Very very helpful.

Hi there,
Just caught up with this thread. In the 'items for sale' section we have listed our 2013 Troll 530. The specification it has ticks all our boxes and covers what other members have classed as 'essential'. We are only selling as have decided to go back to a motorhome (we have changed a number of times, and kept various dealers busy over the years). Have you considered trying a pre owned to see how you like the Eriba experience? We are in Highcliffe in Dorset if you want to come and have a look and a chat.
Regards.

There's no going back know. A new 530GT (with dinette at the back) is coming in about 8 weeks...