In the post-war years, the demand for mobility and even holidays abroad was growing and Eric Bachem, a former aircraft designer, developed a line of camping trailers in the late 1950s under the Eriba name. One of the most attractive examples of these camping trailers was the light and aerodynamically designed Eriba Puck. The early models weighed only 230 kg and were first manufactured in 1958.

Eric must have had a "thing" for Northern European mythology, because he chose names like Puck, Pan, Troll, and Odin for his caravan designs - and many of these are still in production, albeit in an updated form, and Eriba is now a part of the successful Hymer AG company.

The Eriba Puck proved to be very reliable and was noted for its robust tubular steel construction and outstanding towing characteristics. The beauty of the Eriba is that a small car like the original VW Beetle could pull it all over Europe, and today's models continue the lightweight tradition, weighing in at 500 kg. In addition to sleeping accommodation, Eriba was a pioneer in offering contemporary living amenities like a fridge, stove, sink, wood floors and cabinets.

The famous Eriba tubular skeleton design gives the caravan great rigidity and strength, eliminating the panel joint flexing experienced by wooden caravans, which keeps the Eriba watertight years after a conventional caravan design has been damaged by water ingress. It is not uncommon for Eriba caravans to provide their owners with a lifetime of caravanning service and many of the original Eriba vans are still on the road today.

Eriba also pioneered the pop-top roof. This makes for a low aerodynamic towing profile and a full standing height roof when in use.

The Eriba caravans were insulated well from their inception, This was because the aluminium body panels would not retain heat. Ironically this provided superior insulation when compared to other caravans of the time and Eriba quickly capitalised on this over the years to further increased body panel design and insulation, making the current range of Eriba vans fully winterised. This allows 365 days of caravanning each year and many of our members freely use their Eriba caravans in arctic conditions.

Below are a few photos highlighting some of the points above. :-)