?Eriba Puck?

Thanks Al. So not common in Australia then?!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Every Kombi owners dream caravan
I recently heard of on being found in Adelaide but until I see it
I will take it as an urban myth as it is the old a friend of a friend story and we all know how they end
If I see one for sale I'll buy it then you can have a look at it
Good luck to me I think
All the best finding one

Cheers
retro1

Hi All

Must admit that reading this post did bring a smile to my face. I used to own a VW Camper, 1974 type 2 Bay with a Devon conversion, not a Westfalia, called Harriet. And behind her I used to borrow a friend's classic Eriba Puck. Great little vans, and used to make a fantastic combo with the VW. They are quite often seen in the UK and the vintage ones do go for good money.

Marshy if you want more info this has been taken from one for sale on Ebay UK at the mo. Item number : 150209390822.

SO WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT AN ERIBA?

If you don't already know then read on because there are Caravans and there are Caravans and then there is the Eriba, totally different, totally superior.

If you are an Eriba fan then you already know how different the Eriba is but in case your not then first take a look at the pictures and compare then with all the other vans you will see here on bay. Right away you will notice something, the Eriba looks different, its more 'curved' less boxy looking, has fewer joins and angles. That visual difference is more than just cosmetic, its to do with the way the Eriba is constructed which, with the exception of the American Airstream, is totally different from every other van on the market.

To understand this difference you need to know how other Caravans are made. The basic construction method uses a very simple principle. Each of the 'walls' consists of a flat panel constructed rather like an egg box made of expanded polystyrene or alternativly, with some Caravans, a wooden frame with an insulating material between the struts. On to one side of the polystyrene or wooden frame is glued an aluminium sheet, on the other a thin laminate

These' flat' panels are fixed upright around the edges of the Caravan floor, glued together to form a rectangle and the roof is then placed on top. Some more recent vans have a fibre glass moulded front section and some have the same on the back. But the side walls and usually the roof are still flat panels which are fixed to these front and / or back moulded sections by gluing the edges together. What you get is a lightweight fairly rigid 'box' but it doesn't take much working out to realise that this design, simple and lightweight as it is, has inherent built in weaknesses.

For a start the four edges of the box, where the joins are made, are subject to 'flexing' every time the van is moved. These edges are also very prone to slight knocks and so on when parking or manoeuvring the van etc. They are also the points at which most stress is going to be placed whenever the van is turned or subject to high winds etc etc. When the van is new this is OK because the glue used to join the four panels together is non setting and simply moves with the van and is able recover its initial position. As time goes on however the glue starts to dry out and at this point movement of the joins begins to allow water into the van. Worse still if the panels are on a 'wooden' framework once the damp has got in the wood will also start to rot. If the walls are made in the 'egg box' fashion the internal spaces simply soak up water like a sponge.

The result,the average life of a Caravan is about 15 years. Yes there are a few that last longer than this but there are also those that leak from the very start. Look on any caravan owners web site and you will find reams of letters from people who have had damp problems even with brand new vans. Almost all vans will, if they do survive beyond the 15 year period, have had at some time, or still have problems with water ingress and dampeness

Then there's the weight. The timber frame needs to be strong enough to support the side walls and all the internal fittings and the stronger it is then the more its going to weigh. Manufacturers usually make a compromise between strength and weight, often this will involve cutting down on the quality of materials used on internal fittings so that the frame can be made heavy enough to do all the tasks its required to do.

However the Eriba is different, completely different. Designed by an Aircraft engineer the Eriba uses the same construction techniques that are used in the building of planes. A tubular steel frame is welded to the floor pan and the aluminium skin is then formed more or less in one piece around this frame. The results are plain to see. To begin with the Eriba is not simply a 'box' on wheels' its curved and streamlined. Then there aren't any joins on vulnerable corners, instead the few joins that are needed are placed away from points of stress or areas where water might ingress, in other words exactly as a modern Aircraft is built.

The tubular framework is much lighter, more rigid and far stronger than any wooden frame can ever be. Lets face it they stopped making Aircraft with wooden frames 50 years ago so its difficult to understand why the Caravan industry, with the exception of Eriba and Airstream, hasn't made the same transition. If you thought your next trip on a Jumbo was going to be in an aircraft made of balsa wood, paper and compressed cardboard then you'd be just a bit worried, so why settle for a caravan using these construction methods which went out with Manfred Von Richthofen?

With its lightweight Steel Alloy frame the Eriba is much lighter than a conventional Caravan. The lightweight construction allows for the internal fittings to be more robust than an ordinary van, the furniture inside the van is made of real solid wood, not balsa wood and cardboard which so many conventional vans use to save weight.

There are many benefits of this construction technique, for example because the van is more or less one piece there's nowhere for water to get in and even if it did the galvanised steel frame cannot rot. The result? there are Eriba vans on the road that are 40 years old and still going strong. The use of an steel frame allows the overall shape of the van to be 'curved' and this aerodynamic shape coupled with a lower profile than other caravans means that the Eriba has a much lower drag coefficient than even larger vans made in the traditional shape. The entire structure is far more robust whilst at the same time much lighter and these are just a few of the many advantages.

So you don't need a tank to tow an Eriba. Won't please the Chancellor or course, but then you can't please everyone can you? With an Eriba, if you want, you can wave your 20 miles to the gallon 4 x 4 goodbye, and get yourself a smaller car which should make your bank balance healthier as well as save the planet when you start to spend half as much on petrol, road tax and insurance. In fact we tow an Eriba Triton with our Skoda 1.4 Automatic which averages 38 mpg and is more than some of the cars needed to pull an ordinary caravan will return even when they are not being used to tow. The Puck advertised here will make little if any difference in fuel consumption to almost any car.

I have seen the Eriba described as the 'Rolls Royce' of Caravans and that description is probably reflective of the build and finish quality. However there is a better description. The first Eriba's were designed from a commission by Volkswagen. The remit was to build a caravan that reflected the build quality, the looks and the famed reliability of the early Beetles. At the same time the Caravan needed to be light enough to tow behind a Beetle, which at that time had quite a modest power output, it needed to be compact and finally it was required that two Skiers and all their gear could spend a weekend in the Alps without freezing to death! All in all quiet a tall order and one which most Caravans today would fail miserably. So personally I think that the VW of Caravans is a more apt description than the 'Rolls Royce'

Finally there is one other major advantage to the Eriba. We've all been there, you arrive on a camp site proud owner of a lovely caravan. Then next to you Mr Mumpty arrives in the latest model, satellite dishes, motor movers, microwaves, judging by the size of his van he's probably got a swimming pool in the back. Suddenly your van looks 'cheap' 'run' down and even downright shabby.

Well the Eriba doesn't even go there to begin with. Its unique, its different and no matter how 'posh' Mr Mumpty's van is, its still going to be just a dolls house on wheels. Chances are Mr Mumpty's huge great brand new shoe box will look silly besides an aerodynamic streamlined Eriba even if its a 40 year old Eriba. Eriba's don't change, they are more or less the same now as they were when they were first made 40 years ago. That's not to say they haven't moved with the times, they have on the inside but on the outside the perfect aircraft design remains the same and apart from a few extra vents to allow for fridges and gas heaters etc there's not a lot of difference between an old one and a new one.

Eriba's are not a 'fashion statement' they don't age simply because some trendy designer decided to change this years colour, the size of the windows or where the door is placed. An Eriba never looks dated and it never looks like the latest trendy gimmick. An Eriba looks like an Eriba and nothing else, unique, different, perfect

So lightweight, robust, timeless design and long lived the Eriba is not just another egg box on wheels its a Caravan in its own league. If you haven't owned one yet now is your chance to get your hands on the best designed Caravan in the World, only the American Airstream, which uses similar design techniques comes close to this, the perfect Caravan. We say only the Airstream comes close because the Airstream was designed for US roads, US fuel prices and US size vehicles to tow it so its not really suitable for narrow European roads and smaller European cars. The Eriba on the other hand was designed in Europe, its smaller, more maneuverable and better suited all round to European conditions.



There is also a 1974 version being sold, item number 180203668241, it is listed under the classified secion for a price of £2,095.00 ($4.725)

Hmmm, if they are that unusual in Australia I wonder how much it would cost to export........

Cornish Lass