Hi everyone, we need your advice. We are due to take the FC to Cornwall for 10 days over Easter for our first outing in it. As we are going to be away for quite a while we will likely be using the awning, apart from pegging it down will we need storm straps? Just thinking that our tent held up in very strong gales last season without anything more than pegging out all the guylines etc. I'm struggling to see the need for storm straps on a FC which is much more sturdier and stable than a tent.
Please help?!
------------- Paula, Andy & Drew
Roll on the next camping trip!
I bought them after a caravan owner told me their sad tale of the awning taking off in a storm. We did use them a lot last year with the awful weather we had. We do put padding around where the awning straps rub the frame.
They are really good. The instructions on mine say not to leave them on all the time as they do rub on the roof fabric & can cause wear. they do make you feel a bit more secure on days like today.
Only the top of the range awnings work without: they have an additional set of pegging points through which you can attached a slighlty elastic rope.
The pegs aren't enough in Cornwall: they will work loose, due to no "give" in the pegging. There's nothing quite like having to repeg at 3 am on a stormy night, or fetching the car round to give some shelter.
Buy a storm strap, and relax and listen to the wind blow!
I have a conway challenger, when we us our awning which is quiet a lot, we just use the guy ropes, which are provided, & we have been in some pretty heavy weather, up in Scotland, also directly overlooking Morcambe bay.I had wondered if you constantly use straps in time may start to wear the canvas, I think the conway awning is a bit more substantial than a caravan awning, after 10 yrs not had any problems, always a first time I suppose!
Last year we got a storm strap, and used it on the front of the chantilly awning. The awning zips onto the frame in places around the top, so we decided to run it over the frame, but under the canvas. Not sure how well it worked, but we had some strong winds [ a few caravan awnings buckled] , and ours stayed put. It didn't seem to do any harm having it there.
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Topic: Awning Storm Straps
