Hi there Eriba experts! A prospective Eriba owner here looking for some advice.
We're looking at replacing our old Abbey caravan with an Eriba, but one thing is worrying us and that's how cold it might get with the pop-top. Obviously there isn't much insulation from the material part, and we have been known to go touring in Scotland in May, when near zero temperatures are not unusual at night. My question is, are we worrying about nothing, is there a way round the problem, or is an Eriba best avoided when it's cold outside?
Thanks for any advice. Malc

Welcome Malc. We have used our Eribas all year round and often in snow. The 'canvas' pop up surround provides excellent weather protection and the inside becomes very cosy with the usual heating. The caravan body insulation is excellent and there are many Eribas used for winter holidays in Europe! The main problem when cold weather camping is more likely to be condensation than cold!
TonyP

and i hope you find the forum useful, helpful and friendly

We use ours all year round as well. We seldom put the roof down, except in high winds and / or really heavy rain. When on site we always use EHU and have a small oil filled radiator for when it is really cold. We like the fresh air so we enjoy the roof being up, it's even better if you can hear the sea or wildlife as well

We use good quality sleeping bags and are seldom cold, we put the radiator on a timer switch for those icy cold mornings. I have hardly used the Truma or even the hob, we use a steamer and an induction hotplate and we are well fed

With a previous van and in Germany we ranout of gas on a very cold -28 night, i went out in my twosie (pyjama's) to change the bottle, i came back in frozen stiff (i think it was the cold )

Take care and enjoy looking around the many Eriba variants

We had two Trolls for a total of five years and never felt cold in them.

We even got snowed on three Easters ago and the weight of the snow on the pop-top caused one end to lower overnight against the strength of the springs. Interesting to wake up and walk to the end of the van and find your head gradually rubbing the ceiling more and more. Took a while for what had happened to sink in. Even that time we were toasty warm.

Like others the only time we've lowered the pop-top on purpose has been during howling gales where the lower profile helps stop the van rocking on its springs.

One thing you do need to be aware of is that you can hear things outside more easily than a non pop-top type of van and people outside can hear those inside too

if its too cold
or someone is breathing loudly
you can drop the top and open a far away window on vent to allow some air
weve been mostly toasty with no electric hookup and a blast of gas heater before switching off and retiring. we have awoken to frost on the outside, but didn't notice on inside.
I read somewhere a gent, made a insulation blanket to place inside round pop canvas from the silver insulating window stuff, not sure of the temperatures that required that to be done perhaps was belt and braces approach..

forgot to add welcome to the forum

The Truma heater brings the temperature up quickly and we then maintain this
by switching over to an 800 watt oil filled radiator.
We try to go February to November as our caravanning year.
Our Danish friend Henning, fitted a self tailored fleece liner to the inside of the pop
top "canvas" There are several other mods that can be done.

We have the top up most of the time and use the van up to late October when it can get very frosty, the top comes down in high winds or very heavy rain when the dripping off the top roof to the lower roof can get a bit noisy. We also use the built in electric element in the Truma gas fire and find it plenty warm enough. Also bear in mind that in summer it can get very bright inside the van early in the morning. We have eye masks so that it doesn't disturb us too early. I like the idea of insulating blind in the last post and has got me thinking

But why?
There is just no need for any extra insulation!

perhaps in campers case the bed is up top and it gets too warm in sun??

perhaps sourced from the motorhome window place that goes to all the shows, we have never needed
http://www.silverscreens.co.uk/
https://www.taylormade-covers.co.uk/
http://www.campervanconversion.co.uk/sho...rvan-insulation

Quote: Frantone wrote in post #11

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But why?
There is just no need for any extra insulation!

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That was Hennings original reason, to shut out the early morning sun.
a suitable and reasonably priced insulation is around £12 a roll, best
stuff would be the sort used on narrow boats to insulate the steel hull
it has a very high thermal efficiency and is quite thin. http://www.alububble.ie/