Has anyone got any tips for fitting a porch awning so there's not a gap down the sides? We've got a Harringtons porch awning and we can't seem to get it so there's no gaps.
It's got the thick pads each side and poles that clip on and run down against the pads and we can push them close but as soon as we let go they spring away, we've also pulled the material in at the bottom and pegged it as far under the van as we can get it to pull tight there.
We've only put it up 3x after always having a full awning so don't know if it's just the way they are or if they should sit tight?
Try to peg the foot of the pole so that it's as far under the van as is reasonable. But I've found that this is the weak point on a porch awning - no matter how hard I try there's always a little gap, and if the wind blows in the wrong direction the awning will flap a bit against the van. I don't think you can reasonably expect it to be watertight.
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How level the ground is, is a factor in how "snugly" these type of awnings fit. We have a Magnum, but the issue is the same.
If the ground at the awning's front [away from the van] is high or you have the front's height set too high this tends to pull the lower part of the pads away. There is a set amount of fabric in the sides, thus a fixed diagonal length; so if the front top is too high then the rear bottom will not reach the van.
I also pin the base of my drop poles tight to the van as number one pegging out operation, prior to placing the front corners. Moving the front poles in temporarily if needed to do this initial rear pegging.
If its not going well I then lower the front as much as practical.
Quote: Originally posted by jeepster on 10/7/2009
Always had a gap! Don't see how you can stop it as the awning rails top and bottom are proud of the side of the van!
Our Magnum has foam in filled pads to accommodate the bottom awning rail; the awning is fitted in the top awning rail just like a full awning so there is no gap there?
We have an Outdoor Revolution Compactalite 400, as we had a gap I bought some foam 7ft high by 4inch wide and 2 inch depth. I covered it with waterproof (tent like) material and stuck the material with Gaffer tape. When the awning is up we then wedge the foam between the awning and the van and we have quite a good seal as the foam bridges quite nicely. it wasn't cheap it cost about £25 to make the wedges but we dont have the draughts that we did before and its water proof with the material. The foam then coils away when we take it down and its lightweight.
We used to have the same problem with our NR awning some years ago, and bridged any gaps by using some of the sealed foam type pipe lagging from B&Q.
We bought the wide grey stuff and atached it to the poles to trap the pads closer to the van, and it worked well for usand stopped any flapping noises in windy conditions, although these days we dont need an awning as theres just the two of us!
we had a PDQ awning that had a gap down both sides so we bought a pack of foam pipe lagging from B n Q (£1.50) and just slid them onto the sides and pulled tight , they worked a treat, now we have a full awning we use the lagging to stop the clothes airer marking the van side where it hangs on the window in the awning. Bill
------------- Bill n Kay
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Topic: fitting porch awnings tight to the van
