Limpet system for air awnings

Hi Tambo,

We recently bought a Kampa Air Awning due to us spending long periods of time in Spain. I have never in almost 25 years of owning motorhomes had an awning before. It was very simple to erect and very happy with it. Anyway, to answer your question, I bought 4 packs of the Limpets and the punch for cutting the holes to install as the awning I bought was reduced by 75% due to being a 2016 model and not being "limpet" ready which basically meant the holes precut.

I used the limpets to attach the awning to the van on the side sections. I installed 4 on each side as the awning is large at 3.10m high and also used them to secure the draft skirt along the length of the van to make the awning more draft proof.

I have had mixed results. The ones which are meant to hold the awning side walls in place are not very good. From what I can gather the limpets are very secure if you try and pull them off by pulling them directly away from the van. However, as soon as any side ways movement occurs they pull away very easily. It has become a daily task for me to re-secure all eight of them every morning. I also have a pole on each side which was per-limpet and this works far better.

As for the draft skirt the limpets perform better here. They still fall off every couple of days but are fit for purpose and have done a good job.

If your awning has poles to hold it against the van my advice would be don't bother with the limpets

I brought a set of eight together with the hole punch and fitter them to my Kampa Air Pro 330.

The hole punch worked well and was easy to use.

Due to a warning in the instructions not to over-tighten they didn't hold very well at first. I then tried wetting the suction face and tightening them up hard and they then stayed in place during some quite windy weather. 

I'm very satisfied with them and will now leave the side poles at home.

I tried the same as dmiller555 and found 2 of them actually snapped internally. They were okay when I put them on but found them broken a few hours later. The clear suction cup snapped at the part where it attaches to the screw thread. My fault as they all have a piece of paper attached saying do not over tighten.

The problem is that "over tighten" is rather vague as one persons tight may be another's loose. 

Perhaps I should buy some spares? 

Hi, side question, sorry to hijack, how did you get on measuring what height your awning needed to be? Did you level the van and measure from floor to the kadar rail it slots into? And how do you find it for keeping weather out as it has no groundsheet? And lastly what do you use as a groundsheet? Thanks!

(We have the Vango option and find it great but a little cramped)

Craig,

I had little choice in the measurements as the biggest awning Kampa make in the Motor Ace Pro range is the XXXL which fits up to a height of 310cm. The distance between the ground and the rail when measured was 305cm on my van on a fairly level pitch.

As you identify this would be on a level pitch. A number of pitches we have been on the self levelling has raised the front of the van considerably causing the distance to increase. The skirt along the awning is quite long and has never been raised to the point where it would be off the ground. The issue it did cause was the awning appeared twisted due to it being high at the van side and lower at the front and this made the zip hard to open and close.

My first solution was to manually level the van best I could without lifting the van too high which was a compromise as we were not always level and that was not acceptable. The solution I came up with was to have an extension made for where the awning attaches to the Thule wind out awning. It is basically a piece of canvas 12 inches wide with 4mm awning bead stitched on both sides. I use a figure of eight 4mm x 6mm to attach it to the awning and the other 4mm slides into the Thule rail. This gives me an additional 12 inches to play with. It took a lot of thought on how wide I should  make the extension, but opted to go to the max given I can always raise the van but cannot lower and it has worked very well.

If you are trying to decide the length to go for and you have the luxury of 2 sizes, I would suggest you measure the height from the ground to the rail with the van on the max height of your levelling blocks. Just like my extension, you can always add height but cannot make lower. So work on what you feel will be the maximum height you will have the van and ultimately the max distance between the ground and the awning rail. You always measure it on level ground with no blocks and with luck the both heights will fall into the min and max of a size they make. If it does not I suggest you go for the bigger size. As said you can always add height but cannot take it away.

With regard to the ground sheet, I bought the factory manufactured soft feel carpet. I have no idea about water ingress as we have only used it in Spain and so far have not had an issue as we have had no rain ( I should not have said that as the heavens open), but do see it being a bit of a problem when it does happen.

The one thing we did buy as an extra was the inner roof liner (can be seen in the photos) and we were amazed how much condensation it catches. Most mornings it is very wet, but soon dries out when the sun comes up.

Cannot fault the awning and it is very simple to install. Takes me around 10 minutes from taking out of the bag. The only issue or concern I have is the weight, I’m very conscious after sliding it onto the Thule rail how heavy it is and how much pressure it puts on the awning gear. My awning is electric and I worry how much strain it puts on the motor as it winds in, to the extent I have the other half support it with the cleaning brush to remove the weight and lessen the load as it winds in. It would be the same if you were winding in with extra strain on the gears.

Ebay have some great deals on Kampa 2016 models at the moment.

Brilliant, many thanks for that!!!!!! No rain eh? How I look forward to packing in work!!!

I was / am thinking of using limpets, or even a couple of Draper type suction handles for lifting glass.

My initial thought is, what does the suction do to the gel coats on most modern finishes on m/homes ?

Would it cause cracking or lift the gel coat ?

Rgds

By what I can see the Limpet system has been designed in such away they should not cause damage to the van. Each one comes with a warning not to over tighten and in the event that you do they seem to shear and snap. That may not be the case with a GPR van, but from experience of GRP they are far more resilient to dents and dings than aluminium ones.

I worked on the premise that the majority of users will be people with caravans and the aluminium sides used on those are far softer than that used on my Niesmann so it should not cause an issue.

I would however be very carful using the heavy duty tile/glass lifter suckers. They must exert a huge pressure onto one area and are not designed for motorhomes or caravans and think they w potentially cause damage.  

Thanks for your reply. I will take a look at the limpets 

Rgds