We are just getting ready for our first outing in our new to us 2009 Triton. It only has cold water and we will be using it off of EHU quite often.
We know through previous experience that we can still be self sufficient, we can boil a kettle for washing up and we put up a toilet tent and have showers using warm water from solar shower bags which can again be added to with kettle water if needed. We use a rechargeable shower with submersible pump, available on Amazon or eBay and just transfer the heated water into a bucket and dunk the pump into it. It works a treat.

As said we're all different in the way we use vans.

The only one that's just wrong is Roger, he should really be towing a greenhouse on wheels.

The only time we've used pitches without EHU was when we had a campervan and pitched on site at dog shows. Even then we started looking for nearby proper sites after 6 months of muddy fields and insanitary facilities.

Since then it's been sites of all sorts and sizes but always with hook up and if you have a hook up, why not use it to heat water? We had an 18 month spell of only ever pitching at Old Oaks, Glastonbury and still miss it. And for the past two years the van has been stored at Wheathill Touring Park, on the side of Titterstone Clee, above Ludlow. All pitches full service. Plumbed in fresh and grey water, no Aquaroll or Wastemaster trundling and empty your toilet cassette into your pitch drain. £25 a night and £5 each time they towed the van from the compound.

It's going to be hard going back to touring.

We use a super kettle, it keeps 3 litres of water at a constant boil and it's enough for brews and a wash....

We have had it now for 3 years using it in the house as well as in the Eriba.

Quote: Poptop320 wrote in post #18

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We use a super kettle, it keeps 3 litres of water at a constant boil and it's enough for brews and a wash....

We have had it now for 3 years using it in the house as well as in the Eriba.

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Back to the scoring table idea on page one of this thread. For me, the smaller the Eriba, the higher/better the score, so a Puck (rather than a Troll) would be the ultimate Eriba, given the ethos of an Eriba vs a generic caravan. Of course, there are reasons why a Puck or Familia may not suit many people. Sky TV would definitely lower the score IMO, but dual fuel hot water, leisure battery, solar panel, basic washroom etc. are features/accessories which would allow you to be self-sufficient in the most basic campsites, which are often the most interesting, beautiful and remote. They would therefore increase the score for me.

I understand that Eribas are referred to as 'tin tents' in some parts of Europe, because they are considered the next step up from being in a tent, and this exactly why we bought ours (fixed double bed and duvet vs blow-up bed and sleeping bags was an easy decision to make). Having said that, I still feel that our Triton is a tad too big, given what I had envisaged, but we couldn't get a Familia with a fixed bed and a washroom. For me, an Eriba is a good alternative to a campervan (VW Cali size), where a full blown motorhome is an alternative to a big white caravan. This is my opinion and I know it will differ from others.

You can, of course, argue a scoring system either way. I opted for increasing the score for additional utility, so extra space and extra facilities means higher points. If you're a real hair shirt enthusiast then a Puck on 1 would suit, whereas if you wanted more space and more facilities you'd be up in the 9/10 bracket. Whilst on your own personal score a basic Puck might score 11, if the system was adopted people would know just how basic, or otherwise, their Eriba was likely to be.

Ahh! The ideal Home Exhibition, I manned a stand there regularly throughout the '80's. Doughnuts and mariachi bands. Some odd chap even gave me an origami elephant.

Why am I not surprised that Roger actually DID tow a greenhouse on wheels?

If they bought a big white wobbly box they wouldn't be the discerning sort of people you find in Eribas and on this Forum, they'd be caravanners

OK, you can't do an oven or large fridge in a Touring but you can do hot water and a shower (of sorts), and if you stop eating pies you can get in the washroom. Fixed beds are available and there's plenty of storage as standard plus the lounge areas are just as big on an Eriba, sometimes bigger and certainly as comfortable as most WWB's. Microwave, if you feel the need can be freestanding. TV, we've never bothered with one in the van and doubt we ever will but there's no difference in using one in an Eriba.

So the 'benefits' a WWB provides are an oven, a fitted microwave, a larger washroom and possibly a seperate shower, plus a larger capacity fridge, but it won't look as good, it'll leak and bits will fall off, crack, split and break. All this comes in something that averages a foot wider and 4ft longer, whilst weighing about a third more.

They would be vilified by Jeremy Clarkson and by every motorist that found themselves stuck behind their 8m long twin axle, swaying from side to side on the A303. Jokes aside, most people have a pet name for their Eriba, so they must be special. A Swift Conqueror would be known simply as 'the caravan'.

Back to the point of this thread, we're very happy to have the red and blue taps and the dual fuel boiler under the front seat. However, we could easily manage without hot water to the taps, even on a basic campsite. Our shower curtain is coming out before the Easter trip, because having a shower in an Eriba washroom is one of the most ludicrous things I can imagine!!

Never having had the pleasure of attempting to shower in a post 2013 washroom I'm wondering if it has improved matters compared to earlier models.

The current washroom got rid of the basin cupboard where your right (or on some models left) knee would prefer to go when sat down, so it's an improvement in that respect. Removing that intrusion should have meant more showering room but I wonder if it actually improved matters?

My memory's hazy about whether the extra 4ins of width on all Troll's post '09 actually gave them more washroom depth or whether it just resulted in the kitchen aisle being wider and the washroom was the same size. Of course that change wouldn't have made any difference to non-Trolls.

One improvement on post '09 vans was the raising of the fixed roof height which meant the roof edge no longer rests on one's shoulder when standing at the toilet. Again, that should increase the overall volume of the washroom, giving a feeling of marginally more space, though, again, it would be interesting to know whether it makes a practical difference.

Quote: granddadgrape wrote in post #19

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Quote: Poptop320 wrote in post #18

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We use a super kettle, it keeps 3 litres of water at a constant boil and it's enough for brews and a wash....
We have had it now for 3 years using it in the house as well as in the Eriba.

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What is a super kettle? I've never heard of them.Alan

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