Attached or driveaway awning - pros and cons

[Snoozie]

Here it is

The Sunncamp taller one was £65, but this similar Outdoor Revolution one for campervan height 180cm-220cm is £125 from Leisure Outlet (11% off, RRP £140).

http://www.leisureoutlet.com/caravans-a ... rettyPhoto

Must say I quite like the look of this, if it is not too difficult to attach. It says 'with twin beading to attach to either your awning channel or wind-out awning'. I can't wait to get my Bongo back from the garage (Tuesday I hope) to see if I have an awning channel.

An attached Fiamma or similar would be great but as Mikeonb4c said, it would cost a packet with side panels too, probably about £500+ I would think.

Hi Snoozie,

Did you have an awning channel?! Interested to see how easy this particular canopy would be to fit as it looks like the sort of thing I'm after. I have no idea what 'twin beading' is... am a bit in the dark with awning-speak!!

B

Must admit I like that too. I'll be interested to hear how you find it in use Snoozie

Hi bunnymac and Mike - I have a rail/gutter but still need to get some figure of 8 to fix it so I haven't tried it out yet.

I have had a couple of post-party overnighters in the van but haven't had a chance to get away for longer so as yet no need to fix the awning. I'm buying a pull-out one (not a cage one like the fiamma, but a cheaper one) from a fury member so I will probably use that and not the porch one. But I will get some figure of 8 before too long just to see how it fits on the bongo and take some pics because I may decide to sell the Outdoor Revolution porch awning.

[Muzorewa]

When they say "gutter rail" I think they mean the kind of channel nailed to the side of most caravans.

A driveaway awning can normally be fixed to the side of a Bongo with a figure-8 strip attached to the gutter. If you have a pull-out or wind-out awning permanently attached to the van, both Omnistor and Fiamma are similar in that there's a groove on the top of the casing where you can connect a double-bead gusset, and then with a figure-8 you can connect your driveaway awning directly instead of to the gutter. There's also another groove on the free edge of the wind-out bit. That enables you to connect your driveaway awning with the windout awning either extended or retracted, via a figure-8 and a gusset strip....



Note that on the Omnistor, Fiamma probably the same, you need the gusset with different sized beads as the groove in the awning is smaller than a figure-8. This type of gusset is called a Safari-Kador....



A gusset with both beads the same (larger) diameter is just a Kador or Kador-Kador gusset which you'd use to connect a figure-8 to the awning channel nailed to the side of your caravan

[Snoozie]

Useful info there Muz

[wilnx005]

Just another quick vote for the fiamma all the way! Best accessory I've purchased.
We got a drive away awning with the Bongo and in 5 years I've used it once - far too much "faffing" around and would cause arguments before we started. It's been in the loft ever since!
The fiamma awning is out in 30 seconds you're protected and dry. You do need to peg it down well - and we have a privacy room for extra space when needed. The base seconds pop up tent always comes in handy too!

[Mrs Muppet]

Well ... just coming to the end of a 2 week Cornish tour with our newly fitted (by Wellhouse Leisure) Fiamma. Windy conditions meant there were times we could not use it but it was great when we could. Used windbreak as well and felt we had a lovely private area. A few solar lights and a jug of cider at The Lizard nd it was even better. All in all a good buy .... now heading to Dodgey on way home for a solar panel.

[bunny_mac]

Ooh, thank you Muzorewa - very informative! I learn something new every day on this forum!

Ideally we'd love to get a Fiamma (well, *I* would, my other half isn't really a fan) but they're SO expensive and we just can't afford it right now. So an easy-to-put-up driveaway is the dream.