With our original Kampa Rally awnings now becoming a bit of a chore for my 75yr old Husband to erect, despite them being very good awnings, we are now considering buying a new air awning to hopefully make this task a bit easier for him. We also like the idea of the zip in annexes, which would be handy when the entire family turn up to join us for a short break away.
My main question is how heavy/difficult are these awnings to thread through the awning rail? Are they as easy as they look to inflate? (we would use a 12v pump to do this) Do they regularly suffer with leaks to the air poles? Are they difficult to deflate and store?
I have had my fair share of buying camping 'white elephants' in the past, mainly with Chairs and smaller items of gear, and a couple of 'Pop-up tents that refused to 'Pop down', but l just want to get it right first time with purchasing a new suitable awning, especially as they are quite expensive compaired with the poled version.
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!
Had our Kampa Rally Air for 2 years - absolutely fantastic. Never had to top it up - stays inflated all week with no air loss. Bit heavy to thread initially compared to a traditional Kampa Rally as you are pulling the (air) poles as well as the canvas, but easy with 2 people and certainly doable for a lady camper on her own :-)
We have a dorema air awning and it's very heavy to pull through the rail. I'm 43 and not small and I struggle on my own. Much prefer a pole awning as I'm not convinced they take much longer to put up once you know what you're doing.
I agree heavy to pull through (we have Rally air pro) but no more difficult than an awning of the same grade of material. We both have heart problems and are fine. What we struggled with a pole awning was the lifting once the poles were in, and the pump does this for you. You can get lighter weight awnings than the Rally Pro AIr
------------- Started with a motorbike and tent.......my gallery, my life.
Hi,
My wife and I bought a Kampa Air Pro 330. We had used conventional Full size Isabella awnings for 25 years. Once erected we were pleased. No leaks but.
The Pro has the thicker material. The walls are fixed to the awning. We've always removed the sides before threading thru the rail. You can't do that with the Air Pro. So we found it extremely heavy to thread thru the rail. Don't invest in the 12v pump. It relies on connection to the caravan battery which in our case was on the opposite side of the caravan! The hand pump is very good and only takes a couple of minutes to pump up. We've now sold our AirPro and gone back to an Isabella half awning. We have two dogs and securing the inside of the awning with the skirt didn't work. The skirt on the Isabella does work. Hope this helps.
Thankyou for all your replies and help on this matter, just as l thought, the Air Awnings are heavier to pull through the awning rail, and my husband already struggles with the Standard Kampa Rally poled awnings.
Im now wondering if the poled version of the Rally Ace would be easier for him. Given that he wouldnt have the extra weight of the air poles dragging whist threading through, and with the side panels removed for the the erecting process. Tbh, he spotted someone trying to put up a brand new poled version of the Rally Ace for the very first time on our last trip out with our caravan, and went over to lend a hand. He also fell in love with the wider bay shape front, which would be ideal for our large family gatherings.
I think we will wait a littte longer and hopefully find one erected that we can have a propper look at. The poled version will save us a lump of money over the Air version, around £400 in fact, but would it be worth upgrading at all when we already have a perfectly good Rally 260 and a 390?
It rather looks like the Air awnings are not as easy and instant for the less fit and able caravaner as l hoped they would be.
------------- Just love to be out amoungst Nature and Wildlife
Celebrating 37 years of Caravanning in 2019, Recently Considered Retiring, but Totally Addicted for Life!
Quote: Originally posted by issym on 09/3/2016
I agree heavy to pull through (we have Rally air pro) but no more difficult than an awning of the same grade of material. We both have heart problems and are fine. What we struggled with a pole awning was the lifting once the poles were in, and the pump does this for you. You can get lighter weight awnings than the Rally Pro AIr
My size 1100 Full awning is much easier as I can zip out the side panels. This is where much of the weight is in the window panels.
Have you considered having a roll-out canopy fitted that you can zip walls onto? Something like the Fiamma or Thule models. You wouldn't have to pull anything through the awning channel then and you'd have the best of both worlds, sun canopy or awning.
The Rally Ace is a lovely shape awning and most likely our next awning.
there is a huge amount of space inside as 400 long and upto 350 deep in the middle - it really is a viable replacement for pretty much a full awning.
One other possible issue is you can separate poles and awning for carriage with a traditional poled one but not an Air awning
Quote: Originally posted by checkley1973 on 09/3/2016
Quote: Originally posted by issym on 09/3/2016I agree heavy to pull through (we have Rally air pro) but no more difficult than an awning of the same grade of material. We both have heart problems and are fine. What we struggled with a pole awning was the lifting once the poles were in, and the pump does this for you. You can get lighter weight awnings than the Rally Pro AIr
My size 1100 Full awning is much easier as I can zip out the side panels. This is where much of the weight is in the window panels.
Can I hijack here, we used to struggle with lifting the awning once the poles were in, we both had angina attacks. Presumably taking out the panels will also reduce this weight, but how much effort is there putting the panels back in, bearing in mind carrying and having to lift are arms can set us both off. We are ok with the air awning but have to take it slow, husband stands on caravan step and I push through rail from the bottom. I would love a full awning if we could erect without killing ourselves
------------- Started with a motorbike and tent.......my gallery, my life.
Quote: Originally posted by romany girl on 08/3/2016
With our original Kampa Rally awnings now becoming a bit of a chore for my 75yr old Husband to erect, despite them being very good awnings, we are now considering buying a new air awning to hopefully make this task a bit easier for him. We also like the idea of the zip in annexes, which would be handy when the entire family turn up to join us for a short break away.
My main question is how heavy/difficult are these awnings to thread through the awning rail? Are they as easy as they look to inflate? (we would use a 12v pump to do this) Do they regularly suffer with leaks to the air poles? Are they difficult to deflate and store?
I have had my fair share of buying camping 'white elephants' in the past, mainly with Chairs and smaller items of gear, and a couple of 'Pop-up tents that refused to 'Pop down', but l just want to get it right first time with purchasing a new suitable awning, especially as they are quite expensive compaired with the poled version.
Julia
We bought a Kampa Air Ace in October 2015 and it took nearly 5 months for all the bits and pieces to arrive. The anwing is nice once erected.
However we are in our sixties and really struggled to pull it through the anwing rail as it seems to weigh a ton. We had an electric pump otherwise we would still be pummping it up. We constantly had water pooling in the middle section.
After using it about 5 times we took a hit and sold it with the main reason that it was too heavy for us. We reverted back to our traditional Ventura Marlin Porch awning which is easier and quicker to erect as you still have to peg the air awning except that you need to use a few more pegs.
Think very carefully before investing in a large air awning!
We have a Kampa Air Ace 400 and love it. The easy way to erect it is to do less pulling and push instead - thread it onto the awning rail from the low point not the high one so you are not holding all the weight as the caravan is. We make sure we spray the rail with lubricant first then I feed the awning onto the rail and my husband pulls it along. It really is ok and doesnt seem heavy at all. No cross words or anything and I have to say we had near divorce situations when we had the full awning to erect on our folding camper!
We love the extra space and as I am chair of a ladies fishing club we have had 11 people in it before!
This was before we got the proper groundsheet but gives you an idea of the amount of floor space The pic below gives a better idea as you know how big a westie is so you can use Jimmy as a comparison!
It has stood up to near gale situations last year so I really can't fault it. Hope this helps
Quote: Originally posted by checkley1973 on 09/3/2016
Quote: Originally posted by issym on 09/3/2016I agree heavy to pull through (we have Rally air pro) but no more difficult than an awning of the same grade of material. We both have heart problems and are fine. What we struggled with a pole awning was the lifting once the poles were in, and the pump does this for you. You can get lighter weight awnings than the Rally Pro AIr
My size 1100 Full awning is much easier as I can zip out the side panels. This is where much of the weight is in the window panels.
Can I hijack here, we used to struggle with lifting the awning once the poles were in, we both had angina attacks. Presumably taking out the panels will also reduce this weight, but how much effort is there putting the panels back in, bearing in mind carrying and having to lift are arms can set us both off. We are ok with the air awning but have to take it slow, husband stands on caravan step and I push through rail from the bottom. I would love a full awning if we could erect without killing ourselves
Hi. We find it no hassle at all. We have an Isabella Capri Coal which is their touring awning and is lighter weight than their seasonal awnings. Add the carbon X poles and it's a doddle. I can put it up in roughly the same time my mate puts up his air awning including pegging etc. He is quicker to pack away though.
We have the Kampa 260 and love it. It is a lot sturdier than the traditional awning. We bought it from a friend otherwise we might have thought of the 290. We find the 260 big enough for us. We have had 4 people sitting in it quite easily, could get more. Unless you need a lot of space for a lot of people it might be worth you going for a smaller one. For weight and also pegging time.
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Topic: Kampa Ace 400 Air 2016 Pro`s & Cons pleas
