I have had a bad experience with the Jovi freestanding awning I purchased a couple of years ago. Jovi went into liquidation and left me without the tunnel to attach to my motorhome. After a lot of hassle I had one made and it turned out to be brilliant. It has, however, left me with a hang up over freestanding awnings - particularly the bit that attaches to the motorhome.
The Jovi is a superb freestander but is now superfluous to my requirements and I need to buy a lighter awning. I have looked at the Navigator which seems fine, but I still breathe deeply at the thought of connecting and disconnecting it. I would really appreciate advice on freestanding awnings generally and the ease in which they can be connected to the motorhome on arrival back at the site.
In short I would like to know which freestander to look at now. Any ideas??
The Jovi will be up for sale shortly at a knockdown price. If you are interested post a reply and I'll contact you as and when.
I have used free-standing awnings for years, but last week was the 1st time I personally had to drive away and re-connect. I left a marker which I'm sure moved while I was out and it took me 3 attempts to park in the right place. My awning, the Sunncamp Cruiser has a very deep joining tunnel which I think makes it a bit easier to line up.
Thanks for this, missElaineous. Surely the deeper the joining tunnel the more difficult it is to get taut. If it sags won't this catch the wind and create a rare old flapping noise on a windy night?
Yes, it was a bit less taut when I rejoined it, so I used a fibre-glass tent pole to tighten it up and it worked perfectly. Just form an arch with the pole inside the tunnel. I use this pole anyway to prevent rain pooling on the tunnel which often happens on joining tunnels from what I have read on this board. You can actually buy a kit from JustKampers which has 2 of these poles, but one does the job OK I have found.
I too chose to buy one with a slightly longer joining tunnel as I thought that this would give more chance of parking correctly. (Bought it on German Ebay). So far have only driven away once and re joining was ok. However this was done on a dry non windy day in daylight. How we'll manage in the dark when it's windy and rainy I wouldn't like to say.
I was thinking that if we put up a windbreak along the other side of the van, it will give us a guide for driving back in again. Maybe just leave a foot gap between van and windbreak, so parking should be almost spot on each time. What do you think?
It clamps on to the van with a pole & 3 clamps, which we find easy to use, although again I'm not sure how well this will survive stron winds.
I'm a little dubious about your idea of a windbreak as a marker. Why not place two levelling ramps in front of (not under) the front wheels before you drive off. Then, returning to pitch all you have to do is to line up both wheels with the ramps. Bingo!
I think I would prefer to attach an awning to my motorhome using the Fiamma cassette slot and an 8 rope on the awning. I've used clamps on caravans and have never found them to be satisfactory. Either they slip in high wind or you have to stress them so tight that they mark the caravan wall when removed!
Your comments are very useful. I'm now beginning to get my head round things so hopefully when we go to the York Show I'll know what to look for. Many thanks.
Our freestanding awnings pretty good - a just campers one, dont know whether its one specific for a VW or not but is perfect and massive. So glad we bought one and not that much trouble to reconnect either as long as theres 2 of you when reconnecting one can direct the other as to how far / near you need to be its great for that extra room and at £199 it was a great price too
We were thinking of getting a Khyam motordome - but they're pretty pricey. I like the idea of how easy they (apparantly) are to put up / take down. Has anyone used one of these?
I understand that the Khyam motordome is very similar to the old Jovi. The Jovi is extraordinarily easy to erect. One person can do it in five minutes. I know this because have erected mine in that time on my own. You have to have the correct height for the connection tunnel and usually this was made to measure. Mine will be up for sale soon - as soon as we return from France at the beginning of September.
If you are interested in buying it, let me know. I'll be happy to take about £150 for it, including the tunnel, but you will need to collect it from North Yorkshire. It's pretty well perfect and hardly used. I will sell as it is now the wrong size and too heavy for the much smaller motorhome trhat we are purchasing.
By the way - use your search engine to search for "Jovi". Ignore all the "Bon Jovi" stuff and you will find an awning very similar, but costing £650!!
Thanks for the offer, but I notice that you said it's now too heavy & the wrong size for your smaller motorhome - we're converting a Mercedes Sprinter van (about the same as the Fiat Ducato / Citroen Relay conversions that are on the market) - do you think it'd be too big for this?
We are downsizing from an A class Laika H680 to a high top van conversion. Whereas the height of the tunnel is easily alterable downwards to fit our new Renault Master conversion I am concerned about the weight. I will soon be age 70 and do not want to go through the rigmarole of a health check each year to drive class C1, over 3.5 tonnes. If you can put up with carrying the weight (ie it's within your maximum payload) then it would be ideal.
As far as I am aware it weighs about 22kg in two bags (fibre glass poles + awning). If you are still interested I will try to weigh it for you.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Freestanding awnings
