When is an awning not an awning?

for caravanners, an awning seems to be a mandatory addition to the myriad kit carried, sometimes taking ages and much effort to erect and disassemble.

Not for us YT. We didn’t start caravanning until our 50’s after 30 plus years of tenting. The main reason for the change was more comfortable beds and not putting a tent up anymore.

Steve, you might well be an exception for whatever reasons but on sites I've visited awnings are very popular.

however, should putting an awning up (on a caravan or a MH) become difficult then, as I and others have mentioned, a wind out Thule or Fiamma will give shade from sun, shelter from rain (to a degree) and is simple to deploy and wind back in, gives more space on the pitch..and can be used on a non awning pitch.

nothing about MH V Caravan, merely similar advice to others....if it's hard work, what's wrong with asking the question 'why'?🤷🏻‍♂️

I like the ‘drive away’ awnings. I tried those windy out things but nothing can be temporarily overnight stored for fear of theft, wind & rain creates the need for sides which then makes it look boxy & ugly. I gave it a run for a while then sold it on🤷🏻‍♂️. Drive away awning also books your spot for your return-win win👍🏻😊

I think another drawback with the wind-outs is that they’re at risk left out in windy conditions. If you’re going to start pegging down storm straps as well as the canopy legs and fit a rafter bar to it, you might as well peg out a small awning.

As I understand it, some folk find the drive away type tricky to park next to on returning to the pitch in order to connect the tunnel fabric to the van but I suppose that’s down to their manoeuvring ability. Otherwise, it seems a great idea as you can still up and go👍

Drive away Awning-trick?, yup I get that. I use *technology to solve that. I have a 3”x3”x6” wood block with 2 steel spikes to hold it in the ground, I drive that into the ground when I first set up, when I return I gently touch it-Bosh jobs a gud un, perfect alignment👍🏻😊.

*old technology👍🏻

Getting back tot he title.

We were at the Brighton site a couple of years ago. We wanted an awning pitch so we could use our Isabella Shadow on but none was available. The lady in reception told us we could put the Shadow up during the day but it should technically come down at night. She then added that due to our small caravan size [Shadow and van had smaller footprint than most "normal" vans] and size of our pitch, she would not be coming around at 11pm to check.

I must admit I always enjoy the awning or not debates.

I think the Brits [all of us on this side of The Channel] are a fairly unique bunch. Large awnings seem to be the norm. Travel abroad and I'd think it fair to say if you see large caravans with an awning then it belongs to one of us. If it has a canopy it is more likely to be owned by one of our Continental brethren.

Colin

Something simple is all it needs👍

PS. I’ve just had a thought. My van’s got a wind out on one side and an awning channel on the other. I could have a drive-away as well as the wind out and also use the tailgate awning at the rear🤣🤣🤣🤣

I think you would like this set-up from back in 2011 that we used for a long pitch when in France.

Colin

I remember, about 20 years back, on our previous van, when we still had both the Trio porch and the small Fiamma canopy, we used the Fiamma on short stops, but had taken the Trio for longer ones and had put the Fiamma in the rail on the other side of the van to transport it.

We arrived on the Club Haycraft site and were putting up the Trio when the warden appeared on our pitch and said "you cannot put up that thing on that side you know" ,  pointing to the Fiamma.  It took a while to convince him that we had no intention of doing so!

I've been mulling this one over and I'd be surprised to find anything "in the rules" to say it is not possible. The awning and van must sit within a defined area for fire regs. Some awnings erected with a canopy would have space to do this, so why could the canopy not be used on the other side of the van instead?

Coin