hi all how do you hold your awnings down, we are new to this only used the van once without the awning so not needed to fasten it down yet, and wondered if guy ropes like on our old tent would be enough?
also the awning is old and not sure when it was last water proofed how long can they go without waterproofing them?
i would not put my awning up without guy ropes.found best are the green washing lines,one at each end and one in the centre.i use a tie-down kit as well as i hate getting up at three in the morning to secure the awning.and it has happened on a few occasions.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
As regards waterproofing - if the awning is cotton canvas it can go years before it needs re-proofing. Might never need it at all if it's been looked after.
we only use tie down kit if we away for more than couple days or we know wheather report is not gd, so just be ready hun as we lost our awning over van few yrs ago an it ripped an was repaired so we dont take chances any more, we usually tie down an relax, its so much easier, x
Quote: Originally posted by Jusy on 15/7/2011
We always put our tie down straps on, no matter what the weather.
I agree with Jusy. No harm in the tie-down/ storm straps for that extra piece of mind. Not that expensive if you consider ther cost of the awning or van.
I think some of them actually attach over the awning ,I wouldn't use one of those all the time as the strap could could wear the fabric ,but some attach via a buckle and they should be fine to use all the time .Even if not using you should really have one with you in case.
We just peg it down and if needed clip on the storm straps and peg them down too. The second hand one we bought originally had no buckles to click the storm straps onto and came with suckers to hold to the caravan, so I sewed in the buckles and added secondary awning piping so we could use the pads.
We always use tie downs & extra straps I put on myself on our awning, we may well go over the top with them too but, it takes me a few minutes to add tie down security at my own pace wheras it would take a long time to battle with a blown awning should mother nature decide to have a go at it.
We've had one blow in at 3am with torrential rain & I can tell you it was no joke, the following year on the same pitch the gale came in at 3pm but we were prepared for it.
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