Metal frame - check
No oven - check
Tiny washroom - check
Good payload - check
Excellent storage - check
No hot water as standard - check
Seats 4 - check
Sleeps 2 - check
Three mains sockets - check
Door on nearside - eh?
5ft 10ins door height - what?
No poptop - now you're being daft
Four wheels - No!
Two 7ft single beds - this is getting silly
Built in Turkey and Tamworth - what, not Cernay or Bad Waldsee?

Let me introduce the Eriba Innovation 3

Actually I lied it's the Horizons Unlimited Innovation 3, but, but, but, at heart, struggling to get out, is Eribaness.

Back in 2006 we ran an Innovation 1 for two years. It was based on the SWB Transit, with a hightop GRP roof. The '3' version uses the MWB Transit with Ford's high metal roof and an extra 13ins of length. That extra length has gone into the rear 'garage', which is about 3ft deep. Above it the L- shaped kitchen worktop is also 3ft deep and the wardrobe a foot wider whilst there's an extra roof locker too.

In the end I was swayed by the how a relatively small campervan would suit our lifestyle. Mrs SDA is darting round the country this year, leading singing short break holidays at Hf country houses. Most won't take dogs, so the theory is that I drive her to the gig and then pitch nearby and the Eriba Innovation (sic) makes that possible with minimal hassle. Chief among the requirements was that the dogs had to have somewhere to secure them when I left the van for shower or shopping etc. Whilst their crate in the rear of the Yeti does that, there are virtually no other campervans which can oblige. So my thought is that if Erwin Hymer had been a dog person Hymer motorhomes would have a model like the Innovation.

Of course that 5ft 6ins by 3ft 'boot' or 'garage' is ideal for all sorts of stuff. Our '1' had a custom-made 2ft deep removable dog crate but at various times it had bikes in it, collected furniture, helped daughter and son when they moved flats and trips for waste disposal, garden centres, days out for a picnic were a breeze. It does make you wonder why other converters don't leave such a versatile space.

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Our Innovation 1

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The Innovation 3

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Do you have a sticker for the back door which reads 'Dogs in Transit' ?

Quote: Randa france wrote in post #2

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Nine hours later Andy and no reply. I don't think you've convinced them.
Randa

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Quote: swa49 wrote in post #3

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Do you have a sticker for the back door which reads 'Dogs in Transit' ?

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So is this the result of all your ramblings and ‘weighty’ decisions about only considering a 540 and worrying to death about the towing capacity of a Yeti?
Beggars belief really.....but no doubt you will explain in great detail why etc......

To some degree, yes.

It was always a flick of a coin as to whether we stopped caravanning altogether because of the self inflicted wound of buying a 1.2 litre petrol Yeti or moved back to a lower weight Eriba.Having said that the Yeti is a great car and as a solo vehicle the 1.2 DSG is brilliant.

Then Mrs SDA got these short break assignments and it changed the scenario. A lot of longish journeys with me pitching on my tod and two dogs to wrangle. The thought of a campervan started to appeal. But there are very few campervans suitable for running with two bearded collies. The only recent model I could find costs £50,000 new, with very few used ones available at about £45,000. Even then the dogs would have to travel in canvas crates erected behind the cab seats and we know from experience that if you leave them to go for a shower, or whatever, you either have to erect the crates all over again, or they bounce around inside barking like mad, with potential for damage to dogs and/or van interior.

When Mrs SDA said there was an Innovation for sale in Blackpool I'm afraid I leapt at the chance of something that we knew would work for us. There has been an Innovation 1 for sale for nearly a year in Swindon https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/...rice-asc&page=1 but it's £5,000 more, two years older and has done 30,000 more miles. They wouldn't shift on price and so lost the chance of selling to me.

Of course if you haven't got dogs and prefer your campervan with oven and washroom with shower and basin then there are two Cavarno's by the same converter on Autotrader. Nobody ever believes you can get 7ft beds and a full suite of motorhome gear in a van the same length as a Disco or Mondeo Estate.

Quote: steamdrivenandy wrote in post #4

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Quote: Randa france wrote in post #2

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Nine hours later Andy and no reply. I don't think you've convinced them.
Randa

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But 'you know who' hasn't jumped in with a poisoned barb yet

There again he's got to be brewing something really vicious

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>The thought of a campervan started to appeal.

So have you bought one ?

Yep, as per the OP.

It goes without saying that I'd rather have gone for an Eriba Style, though they're rarer than 544's and would still present dog management issues.

Collection date 24th May.

I believe that is the purpose of the post, to advise what SDA has bought for himself and Mrs SDA and the two dogs....

The son in law is converting a LWB VW crafter van at the moment, Ill post some pictures when he has finished...

Quote: steamdrivenandy wrote in post #10

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Yep, as per the OP.

It goes without saying that I'd rather have gone for an Eriba Style, though they're rarer than 544's and would still present dog management issues.

Collection date 24th May.

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