Awnings + strong wind

I think common sense prevails John. We have a Vango Air Awning that collapsed to half its height on one occasion in Grafham just with the force of the wind, but I was more concerned with damage to the caravan.

At Damage Barton when we had a full size pole awning, the storm straps came loose and were flailing around on the top of the caravan in the middle of the night. I had my head out of the skylight trying to catch it!

If your on an exposed site, just keep your eye on the forecast, or get advice from the wardens. Most sites will post a notice if its going to be rough.

Just be aware that air awnings tend to 'buffet'. As I said, ours went down to half height, and then snapped back. It was very wet, so pegs came loose with the force

We do the same, but use the storm straps as well in all but extremely 'no wind' circumstances.  I don't know what canopy you use, Obernockle, but we also use the optional telescopic/ spring loaded roof poles for each side as well as in the middle.

Peggy pegs stuff is not cheap, but they are excellent.

David

14 or so days, David  I do so hope you've not been  seen floating high over the Cotswolds this last week  

....no, I'm still here ABM, although we've not been out in the van for a few weeks.  It looks like the beginning of November before we can get out - just so much going on! 

Tend not to bother with the awning this time of year.  There are only 2 of us and the dog - tend not to sit outside when it gets colder... 😀😀

David

Having said we've had good service from both our air awnings, I've recently made the switch to a 'poled' awning in the form of a Thule Veduta which fits onto the Omnistor roof canopy which is to be fitted by our dealer next month when the van goes in for service. In all honesty, it was just getting too much for me to lift and drag the awning - particularly the Kampa - along the awning rail.  I hope I've made the right decision although others I know who have the same set up have been pleased with the quality of construction. Particularly important was the fact that in strong winds, the strain is taken by the Omnistor rather than pressure being put on the side of the van.  Time will tell but I'm hoping I haven't made an expensive mistake

I'm be interested to hear how you get on with it richardandros.  We have a Thule canopy and we also have the sides which make an enclosed room (not the Veduta).  However, we've hardly ever used the sides... it's just an extra thing to carry and put up, and with just the two of us  if the weather is poor, we just stay inside.  If the weather is good, we just sit underneath the canopy or out in the open.  The canopy is sufficient to keep our outside tabe, chats and Cadac dry, when it rains.

I have toyed with the idea of a Thule Quick Fit awning, but I don't know how often we would use it.....  Also, there is a gap between the roof of the canopy and the roof of the Quick-Fit and I wonder if this might be a problem should the wind whip up.

...you my have seen it before, but this is our set-up....

David

Plus one DSB. We gave up on awnings when the grandkids stopped coming with us. We now have the Fiamma roll out canopy, very similar to yours. I used to dread the work involved with erecting and dismantling full awnings to  the extent that we were considering giving up with the caravan. Now it is so easy - I can roll it out, fix it and put it away again in minutes, without OH needing to help. Avoids a lot of arguments too!!!

I’ll let you know David! First real test will be at Sandringham at Christmas but I shall try it on the drive at home before then. No intention of being the afternoon’s entertainment on site!

 I suspect we will also just use the canopy quite a lot - which is the advantage of such a system.

For us, the canopy serves the purpose of keeping the outside chairs, table, Cadac and just one or two small things dry, during the late Spring, Summer and early Autumn.  For the rest of the year, we don't bother with the canopy, and don't take 'outside stuff' with us... the caravan an is warmer... 🙂🙂

I'll keep a look out for your review of the Veduta, richardandros

David

David

As promised – here is a ‘review’ of the Veduta – perhaps not a totally fair review – more of a ‘first impressions’ since this is the first time I have erected it. I am sure things will be easier next time! Apologies if it’s a bit long!!

 Initial reaction – all the structural parts are of high quality and over engineered and their assembly is very straightforward. Getting them in place is a different matter!

Since the instructions are pretty hopeless (pictures), I used the following video for guidance:

 Veduta assembly

 He makes it look so easy and then I realised this guy must be a giant.  I had to stand at the top of a set of steps to get the roof beams in place and even threading the side / front panels wasn’t possible without using the steps. The roof beams aren’t light, either!

 Neither are the panels as light as they appear to be in the video – indeed they are very substantial and – being new – are not at all flexible especially in respect of the cord that runs in the channel in the roof beams and across the front, this meant that getting that last bit in place took a lot of effort.

 The biggest problem, by far, was getting the rear uprights sealed against the van.  Probably due to the cold weather, the PVC seals aren’t very flexible and it took considerable effort to get them to splay out against the side of the van.  I got there (eventually!) but the end result wasn’t totally satisfactory in my opinion. Pegging the bottom of those poles out so that the pole was pressed against the van, again, took a lot of effort. The end result, in terms of sealing, was probably not as good (and certainly not as easy) as getting a seal with foam pads on an air awning.

 Once assembled, the awning feels very secure and stable and looks as it would withstand considerable winds – especially with the very heavy-duty storm straps fitted.  There are so many pegging out points that it’s unlikely it could ever come adrift! That also means that assembly takes a long time. Plus the diagonal braces between the rear uprights and the roof beams ensure that it would be almost impossible to ‘lift off’ in high winds.

 It is a big awning at 4.5m wide and over 2.5m wide – indeed, in practice I reckon it’s about 2.75m wide – judging by the carpet that we pinched from our 3.9 x 2.5m air awning. The extra height produced by the fact that the Omnistor is on the roof is very apparent.  Indeed, inside the awning – it feels huge!

 The double mud skirt is an excellent feature as is the fact that it’s PVC rather than canvas – making it easier to keep clean. In the photo, I’ve obviously got the front poles a bit high since the mud skirt is only just touching the ground in places.  I also like the fact that the substantial awning material is a light grey, rather than the black of our previous Kampa, therefore making it less susceptible to sun damage / fading.

 It is very versatile in terms of openings etc and both front panels unzip and can be swapped around with the side panels to give doorways etc just where you want them. Although all the zips are substantial, they are a bit fiddly where they go through a tight 90 degree turn in the panels.  A smoother curve, as in the Kampa, would have been better.

 Is it easier to erect than the Kampa air awning?  Jury’s still out on that one.  It certainly takes a lot longer but – like all pole awnings – the components are split up so there’s no single bag of awning to try to lug around (and get on the awning rail). I’m also looking forward to the fact that I don’t have to get down on my knees to roll the awning up as I had to with the Kampa.

 Would I buy it again, knowing what I know now – to be honest – I’m not sure – but probably a bit unfair to make a judgement on the strength of one experience.