I'm only 35 and have two kids, 8 and 4. On the few occasions that I put the awning up, it is only used for storing things like the wheel brace, barbecue, toilet chemicals etc. If you want to sit outdoors, then you don't want to sit in an awning. If you want to sit inside then sit in the caravan (or go home)
I see very little point in the awning for what use ours gets. The main reason it gets so little use is due to the time it takes to put up and pack away again afterwards.
For this reason, we bought a Porchlite XL but so far have only used that once. The Dorema full awning was a nightmare to put up, at almost 5 meters long. The Porchlite is quick and easy to put up, but if I'm only away for a weekend, I don't want to waste my time putting an awning up and down.
Having moved to caravanning from a trailer tent, maybe that contributes to my "downer" on awnings, as putting a glorified tent up on arrival is exactly what I moved to caravanning to avoid.
Quote: Originally posted by LegsDownKettleOn on 23/11/2007
The easiest is to have a caravan that is big enough that you don't need an awning.
Well I know its fairly stressful putting the awning up but I would never go away without it, the main reason I like the awning is that the kids can play in there and leave me and the 'dragon' in peace inside the van, also we take the kids bikes, loungers and other bit and bats, so the storage space is useful, also when the camp site is wet then wellies and muddy boots can be left in the awning instead of treading mud and dirt in the van and risk the wrath of the 'dragon'.
Perhaps if we were just a couple without kids maybe I would think different.
I do recommend aluminum telescopic frames, they are quick and easily adjusted.
Had a Bracott Active with the easy up aluminum poles and it was a one man job. In fact it was so easy that there never seemed to be much point in putting up our little porch awning in its place.
Now have an Isabella Opus and it takes a lot more effort to erect.
Quote: Originally posted by billy on 25/11/2007
I would have thought the easiest would be a roll out Fiamma or Omnistor-often see these fitted to Hobbys-you can buy sides & front for them
My father has the Ormnistor canopy. He considered buying the front and sides for it, but after speaking to a few people with them, the generally concensus was that they are a bit of a compromise over the standard awning and are very expensive. A few people actually had them, but ended up buying a normal awning as the Ormnistor was not up to the job.
the fiamma caravanstor zip is quite handy. It stays fixed to the awning rail in a zip up bag and just unravels when needed with the legs sliding out to make an instant canopy.
The sides and front or any combination complete with curtains are kept in a seperate bag and can be added if required. Best of all worlds, just the canopy for sunny days/short visits or full get up for longer stays wet weather. Can be erected single handedly and easily in anything from 2 to 30 mins. The only downside is that they are only 4 metres long so don't encompass the full side of the van.
i think you`ll soon get used to any that you buy, needing practice is a good reason for going away!!! on multi pole options, use different colour tapes to identify legs and sides, if you find it helps
------------- a bad day at golf beats a good day at work!
there is just two of us and wouldn't dream of going away without an awning (and we have quite a large 5 berth caravan) we keep our walking boots, dog gets fed in the awning, and when we took the grandchildren their bikes and and othe toys were kept in the awning. For weekends we use porch panaramic and for longer periods we have a spacelite which is very easy to put up and very large inside
We have a Dorema Calypso awning it`s a nice awning and fits our van great. Alloy poles are very lightweight, the only winge is the metal zips can be be a little awkward to enter and start also the zippers meet in the centre above the front windows and rattle against the centre pole. We made up a thin foam sleeve that we slide into position to stop the annoying rattle when there`s a breeze up. Much like the large white plastic zips that our two previous awnings had Bradcot and Apache
I have a 540 uk and 3 kids under 4 (yes we do have a telly just don't know how to work it!) we have a pdq fitted to the side of the van used it for the first time today and it fits perfect took us 10mins including pegging it covers from the back end upto and including the kitchen window and outdoor plug socket. It was really easy putting it away although it did take both of us to roll it up!
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Topic: easiest awning
