have a porch awning at the mo, but need to buy a new awning as this one is damaged cannot decided on a porch awning or a full awning this time, have been to some sites that dont like u using your heater in the awning, if we had a full awning we would be able to use the caravan heater from the outlet into the awning.
Full awnings are very nice. We have both. But every time you change your van ou think the old one will fit but it often doesn't.
We need a new awning now due to changing our van. I have decided to buy a half awning. One that we can fit our sleeping annex on. So this should give us the best of both. We would never part with our little porch. This is useful for weekends or out of season uses.
The cheaper thin awnings are very good and easy to use but I don't think they last or are as strong.
We have a porch awning and a 3/4 awning, with an annex if needed, we found that with the Senator Indiana 1009 awning was just to large, and we need an awning as with 2 springers you just need some to dry them.
We have both and rarely use the porch as we find it takes longer to put up with all the fiddling trying to get the sides close to the van, theres only one less pole to put up and about 6 less pegs to knock in.
The only difference is that that the porch is lighter to pull through but with the full awning I sit on the floor feeding the beading through & hubby pulls it along so it's no problem.
The full awning is easier to warm too as there aren't any gaps down the sides.
Whatever you choose have a look at buying second hand, there are some bargains.
Likewise, we would never buy another full awning, not only because they are not generic size wise, but the extra weight, and struggling with them in high winds where they can have rather sail like qualities lol, has put us firmly as lovers of porch awnings, both the full 390cm and the 260cm Kampa rally models in our case.
They are a nice tight fit to the sides of the caravan when you buy the rear upright poles, so you should be ok to use your caravans awning heater into one.
Julia
------------- Just love to be out amoungst Nature and Wildlife
Celebrating 37 years of Caravanning in 2019, Recently Considered Retiring, but Totally Addicted for Life!
We only have a full awning and the reasons are because there is little difference in setting up time between the two, you gain more space and the main reason is that it shuts out any draught all the way around as it slides along the awning rail the length of the caravan. We also use a 12 volt strip light clipped to the top centre pole with the small cable going through the front nearside window which is then plugged into the caravan 12 volt socket. This means that you use the leisure battery power instead of keep having to buy batteries for a hanging lamp. With a porch awning the advantage is that it is lighter to carry but apart from this I can't see any other advantage really and it has been known for the 2 vertical poles next to the caravan can rub against the paintwork which can also be annoying with whistling winds coming through. So the choice is yours which you decide to have but I hope this information will help as to why we chose to have a full awning opposed to a porch awning.
As others have said it depends what you intend to use it for but also how long you intend to keep the current van? Full Awnings are fine but are van size specific so unless you are keeping your van for a long time (or manage to change to one with the same "A Measurement") then you will have to change it when gettting a new van. We brought a full awning last year for our bailey ranger but have now sold this as we pick up our provence in a few weeks time. As the provence is much longer I don't think we will be going for another full awning as it would be a fair size (and weight!) and also we intend to keep this one for 4 yrs and then change to one with fixed bunks. At the moment we quite like the look of the Kampa Rally pro 390 which seems to offer a good quality awning that is still a resonable size and is one that will fit future vans...they also cost a lot less which is a factor having just changed vans. Don't get me wrong we did like the awning on our smaller ranger as it gave us a good space to sit out in in the evenings when our baby was asleep but with the end bedroom layout on the new van we hope not to need this option and just want somewhere to store things and for extra daytime space. We also have a small and simple porch awning that we intend to use use for weekends just to put shoes and coats in.
We bought a porch awning for cheapness and ease of set up but quickly found it took almost as long to set up as the full awning despite being half the size. The last time we used it, it ended up covered in my blood due to the stupid thin poles held together with shock cord snapping together with my fingers in the way. We had some windy weather and had to take it down due to it rubbing on the side of the van and the loose edge flapping all night. Never again.
I think it rather depends on how you caravan, and at what time of the year. We reserve using our full awning for longer stays on site, which usually means the warmer months with better weather. We like the room. For shorter stays, when the weather is less good, then a lightweight is good for us. Slightly easier to put up and much easier to dry out if wet.
David, just bought a brand new Fiesta 350 for £114!!! Very pleased even if its red not blue to match the van. It was such a bargain we couldnt resist. Do you know if Kampa make a breathable groundsheet to fit?
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Quote: Originally posted by savanne1 on 25/2/2012
David, just bought a brand new Fiesta 350 for £114!!! Very pleased even if its red not blue to match the van. It was such a bargain we couldnt resist. Do you know if Kampa make a breathable groundsheet to fit?
Excellent Savanne. We just use the Kampa Easitread - and find it really good. The Easitread is not 'specifically' for the Kampa, but it'll be what Kamps will recommend. In fact we have an easitread for the Fiesta and a larger Easitread for the full Eurovent. Excellent IMHO. Pleased to hear about the Fiesta - excellent price too.
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Topic: porch awning, or full awning
. Don't get me wrong we did like the awning on our smaller ranger as it gave us a good space to sit out in in the evenings when our baby was asleep but with the end bedroom layout on the new van we hope not to need this option and just want somewhere to store things and for extra daytime space. We also have a small and simple porch awning that we intend to use use for weekends just to put shoes and coats in.
