Air Awning choice

I have now used our Kampa air awning on 6 trips this year and have experimented using air pressures well short of that recommended by Kampa's maximum figure of 9 lb psi. I have settled on 4.5 to 5 psi which allows a minor indent when firmly pinched. This last week we had temps of 22C during the day and 8C during the night. The awning remained well pitched and the lower pressure provides a greater safety margin from the bursts reported by some. I find the Kampa gale air pump provides the easiest way of setting PSI as you just dial the figure in and the pump cuts out when it is reached.

The last time I inflated our Kampa air awning was the first time I'd inflated it with something that had a pressure gauge. I'd always used a manual pump & squeezed the awning till it felt OK. Using the battery pump I chickened out when it was inflated to about 5 or 6 psi ..... god know what the recommended 9psi must feel like. (I'd to Google to find out what pressure it should be)

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the correct pressure is 10 PSI, and in fact when i bought the Kampa Gale it defaulted to 10 PSI. Must admit i normally set to 9 PSI, especially in hot countries, but in my experience, and I have had my air 390 for 4 years now, the lower the PSI the more chance there is for the legs to bend in strong winds, i.e. the more rigid the legs the better they are in strong winds. I have seen legs bend almost double, but they normally come up straight.