So from Eriba Ted's recent posting, some of you will have seen my Wife's purchase of a 'Hymer Touring GT'. Again,some of you will know that Kari lives and works in the US whilst I live over here. We use the Troll as much as we can, but of course that is a little limited. Kari loves the Troll and recently we started talking about how we could have similar opportunities for travelling the US. The norm in the US is for much larger caravans (or trailers as they are known there) but something Troll like was what we wanted. A couple of local small trailers - Scamp and Casita - proved to be non-starters for various reasons. Then we started thinking seriously about exporting a Troll from the UK/Europe and I nearly bought one with that in mind. We then started thinking about the changes that would have to be made for a US van - gas systems are different, US voltage is 120v and so it goes on. As we were thinking about this and asking various people if they had any experience of importing, a chap said, Why don't you just buy one from Canada. Well, that made it much easier!

There was a downside, however. the company making them had gone bust. Seems that when Hymer was being bought by Thor In preparing a financial audit of the North American operation for the sale, Hymer accountants discovered extremely serious financial “irregularities.” News reports unconfirmed by EHG but so far undisputed by the company allege that they involved false invoices paid to family members of key managers, falsified titles, inflated sales figures, inventory discrepancies and other problems totaling between $70 and $100 million. Anyway, that meant that Thor dropped Hymer NA like a hot potato and as a result, they went bust. If you want to follow up on that, Google 'Hymer scandal' and all will be revealed.

Anyway, many of the completed vans were bought by a dealer in Ontario and were selling them off at a bargain price, the downside being that they came with no warranty. You have to remember this was a new van, being built by a new workforce in a new factory so there was always going to be the chance of snags and niggles to sort out. However, a Facebook 'self-help' group of owners across North America has formed and is sharing issues and solutions. For instance, the fridge falling out seems a common fault, but as people resolve that problem, solutions have been found and shared.

It seems that Hymer NA imported a few Eribas to show to prospective purchasers what they might get but then seemed to take them apart to see how they were made! Here are a couple of images snagged from the Administrator's Auction when they sold off all the asssets..

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Anyway, back to the van. It has to be said that it was recieved with mixed reviews when Blueyonder posted here US Eriba Touring model and RS540 posted here 2019 Eriba Retro - USA however, it has to be borne in mind that the North American market has different needs and expectations from Europe. Comments were made about the van having no awning rail for instance, but in America an awning, as we know it, is an unknown extra. Although it is very much based on the design philosophy of an Eriba, construction is quite different. The shell is a fibreglass moulding with an internal framework to stiffen it..

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Similarly, things like an air conditioning unit and hot and cold water tanks are necessities - imagine camping in South Carolina or Arizona in the summer where temperatures exceed 40c (100f plus) then you can see the need for a/c. What's known as 'Boondocking' (ie camping off grid) is also very common, so on board water supplies are always a necessity..

However, internally, all is very familiar and really quite nice, actually. Very Troll like, though the size of the wardrobe has been much reduced to allow a bigger seat on that side of the front dinette, allowing that to turn into a double bed..

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Some things they didn't get quite right and the door for instance, although stylistically Eriba, is not as well designed and you cant fit much in it

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I do particularly like the window blind arrangement where the blind and fly screen share the same track and can be snapped together so when the blind is raised, the fly screen comes up with it from below...

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Anyway, there it is. We're looking forward to using it and already have fledgling plans for a trip to South Dakota next year to see such things as Mount Rushmore and explore the Badlands. I'm looking forward to experiencing an American way of camping, which will have different elements to it from our experience in the UK and Europe..

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It sounds like you're going to have some fantastic trips! Very exciting.

A really interesting read and I look forward to hearing more about your travels. It makes my summer outings in the UK seem very tame!

Cabbie.
For Mnt Rushmore etc is Hill City convenient? If so can recommend Rafter Bar J ranch campground.

Well, according to Google maps, HIll city appears to be only 12 miles from Mount Rushmore, so sounds perfect..

Thanks for the tip!

It’s a good campground with wide open spaces.

In my very limited experience, camping in the US is very different from our experience over here. Hopefully, I'll be able to give better insight next year...

Nice big pitches but didn't see the Ablutions Block! Dig a hole perhaps!

Uh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6f9ooGR9iU

Which one was you?😄