I struggle to pull my awning through the rail and I've looked at a Kampa awning pulley which looks good.
My only problem is that on my caravan the only "openings" in the awning rail are at the front of the caravan. I need to put one near the back so I cn fit then remove the pulley system. How do I do this?
------------- We camped for years. In 2019 we bought an Elddis Avante 454. We like it as it is short (6.9m) and fits in our driveway and has a fixed bed.
We had 127 nights away in the caravan in 2023.
i thought the idea of them was to leave them in place? anyway you can open the channel up using needle point pliers and being very careful. maybe worth trying to give the channel a good clean and put some lubricant in it first tho
Ok, may be a compromise answer, and a support of previously suggested answers.
I use a Kampa type (homemade version of, at a fraction of the cost!) pulley system, to fit my rather heavy air awning on my own. I can fit the pulley from the rear end of the rail through a factory 'fitted' entry point, whilst feeding awning from front of rail.
I ALWAYS clean (small bottle brush) and lubricate the rail with a silicone lubricant before trying to fit the awning. It really does make a difference!
My service engineer was 'annoyed' by the 'redundent' (never used for awning or anything else by me!) opening/entry point in the rail on the offside of my van, he closed it up with pliers, implying that it had been 'opened' after manufacture, by a similar method for purposes unknown! The implication being, you can create a convient entry point of your own in the rail by a simililar method!
If you don't wish to modify the rail, simply feed the the pulley in first from the front, use it to fit the awning, then leave in situ. On removing the awning (never needed the pulley for that!) simply remove after the awning.
Thanks for the replies.
There is no "entry point" at the rear but I will make one with needle point pliers very carefully.
I hope that I can leave the awning rail stopper in place permanently as it is one less thing to do.
I have to put up the awning on my own as my wife can’t help much from her wheelchair.
------------- We camped for years. In 2019 we bought an Elddis Avante 454. We like it as it is short (6.9m) and fits in our driveway and has a fixed bed.
We had 127 nights away in the caravan in 2023.
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Topic: awning rail opening
