In our quest to make our caravanning life easier, we are considering changing our current Isabella Magnum porch awning for a 2024 Dometic Rally Pro Air 330 S.
This would be mainly used in the spring, autumn and winter for short breaks, as we need somewhere dry to change out of wet gear and sort the dogs out before going into the van.
Our concern is the weight when pulling the air awning onto the caravan awing rail, as we don’t want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire, as it were (the Magnum is quite a heavy awning).
Also, would the Rally Pro Air be suitable for the times of year we would be using it?
We would appreciate hearing people’s experiences.
Sold our air awning earlier this year purely due to the weight. With advancing years and various other considerations it was just to much.
We replaced it with a Quest Falcon 390 poled for longer breaks and a Rally Pro 200 for weekend breaks. Both can be put up and taken down by 1 person.
I've got a Kampa (Dometic) Rally AIR Pro 330 dating from 2018 which I bought same time as I bought the caravan. I believe the 'S' version may be the more durable/better UV resistant 'seasonal' fabric.
First comment, it's a great awning! I did make life easier for myself with the Kampa Pully accessory (I actually made my own version) to drag the awning along the rail. And I invested in the Kampa Gale electric pump too, the supplied hand pump works OK, but you work up a sweat with it! As I was erecting the awning single handed, I was looking to make it as easy as possible, and both accessories are much appreciated. The 'Limpits' are a convenient and effective way of securing the sidewall draft flaps to the van wall, but they are a little fragile and mine have broken when strongish winds have strained them. IMHO, they are a little too costly to be regarded as disposables, but conventional poles can also be used instead.
Second comment, it's a large rather cumbersome and heavy (mine's circa 20Kg) package in the holdall, and there's nothing you can do to improve that, it's an all in one construction, as are most airbeam awnings! Makes it a bit awkward to get through my quite narrow caravan door! Anyway I'm a distinct 'oldie', albeit generally in good working order and quite strong, and I can cope with it and erect it single handed - but not everyone can!
TBH, those that complain airbeam awnings are too heavy to fit to the rail, are likely not using the best techniques! The entrance to my rail is at the front bottom, on the sloping bit. If you heap the awning in such a way that it feeds freely into the rail rather than dragging the bulk along the ground, you are lifting a relatively small amount of quite manageable weight IMHO. Once you've reached the top flat bit of the rail, especially if using the pully, you are not lifting very much at all, just feeding the bead into the rail entry point, the rail is taking the real weight.
I bought the optional roof liner after a few uses, which does seem to improve the heat build up in the sun, and certainly prevents the inevitable condensation dripping on you!
I chose it over competitors because of the single point inflation coupled with the isolation valves between all airbeams, that makes it easy to inflate, but also means if an airbeam springs a leak, you can isolate the leaky section, and the awning remains erect (albeit a little distorted perhaps!), with no isolation valves, as is the case with some awnings, a single leak collapses the whole awning!
Having extoled it's virtues, because of my lack of space to dry it conveniently at home after a wet pack up, and the bulk and weight making it a handful, I invested in a slightly smaller much lighter poled porch awning for times when a wet pack up was more likely, and for short stays where a quick erect/breakdown was desired, it's a Sunncamp Swift Deluxe 260 SC. TBH, if I'd discovered that first, I'd have never bought the Kampa! Good as the Kampa is, the Sunncamp is SOOOOOO easy and quick, it's so much easier to dry at home as flysheet is very light. I've got lazy, the Sunncamp is now my main 'go to' awning because of it's ease, and the Kampa hasn't been used for a year or two now! The Sunncamp is available in various sizes, and they do seem to push the airbeam (single hooped airbeam, instead of single hooped pole) version these days.
I too use my awning as a true 'porch', to shed wet/muddy outdoor gear, and dry/clean the dog before letting her in the van, but I've found both awnings are fine used as a fair weather sun shade/covered space for socialising and eating.
Whilst airbeam awnings have improved immeasurably from the first incarnations, the dreaded airbeam leak still lingers as a risk, and replacement airbeams can be a lot more difficult to find spare parts for than poles! With the Sunncamp, the airbeam version offers so little benefit over the pole, which is just a single hoop of two adjustable steel side poles and a roof spanning single fibre pole, which is simplicity itself to fit.
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Topic: Considering awning change
via mobile 13/2/2026 at 8:00pm
