Awnings, too much faff?

[Stay Frosty]

Thanks to Covid we've only managed to get away a couple of times this year however with just the two of us I'm thinking that there's more cons than pros with even just a canopy awning.

Cons have to include having a whacking great fugly square tube along the drip rail as a permanent feature making the camper look like a plumbers van or with the various driveaway awnings spending ages tethering your highly mobile holiday transport to a circus big top... it's not that I don't get it as it does feel a bit odd either sitting eating in the van while the sun beats down outside or equally odd looking sitting outside eating while being scorched by the suns rays.

Flame away but we've just come back from staying at Scarborough and over the four nights there we watched an adjacentT6 camper gradually disappear into a sea of rip stop nylon to the point where you could just see the bonnet peeping out from an F45 canopy that then turned into a Vango driveaway awning plus wind break annexe, the owners were coffin dodgers like us but had succeeded in land locking their holiday transport... I don't get it?

 

[DXX]

Thanks to Covid we've only managed to get away a couple of times this year however with just the two of us I'm thinking that there's more cons than pros with even just a canopy awning.

Cons have to include having a whacking great fugly square tube along the drip rail as a permanent feature making the camper look like a plumbers van or with the various driveaway awnings spending ages tethering your highly mobile holiday transport to a circus big top... it's not that I don't get it as it does feel a bit odd either sitting eating in the van while the sun beats down outside or equally odd looking sitting outside eating while being scorched by the suns rays.

Flame away but we've just come back from staying at Scarborough and over the four nights there we watched an adjacentT6 camper gradually disappear into a sea of rip stop nylon to the point where you could just see the bonnet peeping out from an F45 canopy that then turned into a Vango driveaway awning plus wind break annexe, the owners were coffin dodgers like us but had succeeded in land locking their holiday transport... I don't get it?

Totally agree, may as well have an estate car and a tent.

 

[T6ARF]

I agree too.... keep it stealthy and simple!

 

[Pete C]

Our Vango drive away awning takes us 20 mins to put up, 5 mins to disconnect from the van so we can drive away, and 20 mins to pack away. We also have a simple sheet awning that slots into the same rail for day use.
I definitely don’t get the cassette awnings on the side of the van thing.

I think we all like different things. Some people want the space of a massive awning, but we like to keep it simple. We also need an awning to protect other things we carry like bikes.

Pete

 

[Davenjo]

I agree we all like different things - I definitely get the cassette awning thing - unlike our other awnings, we have used our F45 every time we camp and don't think a camper van is a proper camper van without one

When we first got the van, as well as the F45 it came with, one thing we really thought we needed, primarily to get the space we had enjoyed over years of camping, was a driveway awning. However, in practice, we found it detracted from our main reason for switching to a van, i.e. the faff of setting everything up and then packing away again and we found that unless we were staying in one place for more than 3 or 4 nights it wasn't worth it. Also, we found that once set up, we were never actually doing driveways so we have now switched to a Fiamma Privacy room that gives us that little bit of extra space on the few occasions we require but it does "bolt" us to the pitch.

Dave

 

[huw169]

Never had one of these roll out awnings, but had an outwell drive Away one. Such a faff!
Not so much the attaching bit, but we slept in the van, so breaking down the beds to go anywhere was a pita!
Now have a big tent, and use van as garage. Far less faff.
We don’t have pop top, just a day van that can be slept in.

 

[Oldrat]

Try a Crafter, the MWB is very manoeuvrable.

Plus no neck ache, no back ache and plenty of space.

 

[SENTINEL]

Our Vango drive away awning takes us 20 mins to put up, 5 mins to disconnect from the van so we can drive away, and 20 mins to pack away. We also have a simple sheet awning that slots into the same rail for day use.
I definitely don’t get the cassette awnings on the side of the van thing.

I think we all like different things. Some people want the space of a massive awning, but we like to keep it simple. We also need an awning to protect other things we carry like bikes.

Pete

We prefer the keep it simple arrangement too.....our little Vango Palm can accommodate the basic needs, including a loo (in the tunnel) where sites have covid restrictions in place etc, and takes about 20 mins to set up, but where practical an easily detachable Debus Canopy in either "full" or "half mode" is a great alternative. The poly cotton one is really nice.

 

[Northern Monkey]

As the van says

 

[cgtmiles]

We have a ridiculously large drive away awning to use for the kids to sleep in and a debus canopy, the C&CC recommended we purchase 2 pitches next time we want to use the awning! I hate the awning but the space if gives to dump stuff is great. The canopy is superb and goes up and down in seconds providing shade on a hot day and a dry area round the door on a wet day.

Whichever you have I think it makes your camp a camp and not just a parked up van.

 

[SENTINEL]

Try a Crafter, the MWB is very manoeuvrable.

Plus no neck ache, no back ache and plenty of space.

Would if we could.... Looks great.....just not possible at the moment.

 

[SENTINEL]

We have a ridiculously large drive away awning to use for the kids to sleep in and a debus canopy, the C&CC recommended we purchase 2 pitches next time we want to use the awning! I hate the awning but the space if gives to dump stuff is great. The canopy is superb and goes up and down in seconds providing shade on a hot day and a dry area round the door on a wet day.

Whichever you have I think it makes your camp a camp and not just a parked up van.

Yes, it's all the stuff that is the problem....
Another plus for the detachable canopy is that is so much easier to dry, pack and store. Even the little Palm seems to have grown inside the storage bag, so much so that it takes up a huge space in the van and can be a problem (space) to pitch back home to dry it off after a rainy trip away! How ever do you manage a large drive away awning in those circumstances?
We are having a rethink this winter - like "what do we actually really need to take", "can we make it smaller", "do we need a spare of everything"????

 

[cgtmiles]

+1 for reviewing the stuff we take away. When we went away for three weeks in the summer we took the awning and the canopy, 2 2-man tents (for the kids so we didn’t have to pitch the awning, lucky as we couldn’t on some pitches as it was too big!), a toilet tent (used at one stop over the 3 weeks we were away), a wind break thing. Add in the booze for the first few nights, clothes for 4, some food, 4 bikes and then you are along way from the basic sort of camping we used to do pre kids.

We have since been away without kids, luxury, sorry I meant to say it wasn’t the same without the whole family , and everything was so much easier and basic but because of the van still comfortable and convenient, that’s what we got the camper for!

 

[Broadside]

A simple canopy like Debus is cheap, brilliant and versatile. The C channel rail in the roof gutter cannot be seen unless you are a T6 nerd, the canopy slots in and can be pegged out in 5 mins flat, packing away neatly is a 10 min job.

For beach days this year the shade it provides has been a godsend. We are tent campers but also used it in France for 2 weeks everyday to provide a large shaded eating area for the family, of course we could have survived without it but the step up in comfort when on holiday was brilliant. Unhooking it from the van each day to go out takes less than 30 secs and lining up and re-erecting when coming back in literally took about 1 min. For the extra comfort it provides it was anything but a faff.

 

[Loz]

We have actually just put our wind-out in the shed as we are staying on sites for a minimum of 2 nights we are using our new drive-away awning and have the stitches and steel Bawdsey if we just want a sunshade.
We were finding that attaching the kader strip to the c-rail on the lower edge of the awning caused the door to catch on the figure 8.

 

[benp1]

Interesting, I've always thought the same

I don't really do normal camping, but parking up for the day with some shade or rain protection sounds great. I like the idea of the wind out awnings for that reason, but they do look awful. Canopy is the poor mans version but also not visible when not in use.

The upside to campervanning is the low faff. If it feels you're moving house and having to create your area that sounds a bit too much like hard work.

 

[DXX]

At a festival last year it took 15 minutes to set my van and shower tent up after parking.
By the time my mate had set up his van and awning I was 5 beers in, painful to watch, I’d rather just take a tent in the car.

 

[ThreeBridgeT6]

Having only had our van a few weeks, we're on the steep learning curve of what we think we need vs what we really need. We have a Thule 'whacking great fugly square tube' on the side and love it. IMHO this is what makes it look like a camper van instead of the pipe tubes on the roof of a plumber's van (I know, 'cos I'm a plumber and a spark)! My main worry about the wind-out awning is losing it over the top of the van if the wind gets up, and as a result I was out in my undercrackers at 2am down at River Dart the weekend before last, winding it back in! If you were there, I apologise!! However, being able to just park up and pull it out is fab, as is just being able to wind it back in and drive off without the faff of folding up canvas and stuff it in a bag.

We've discussed getting a drive away 'awning' (it's a tent by another name really, isn't it?), but I too feel that this introduces a degree of permanence to what is ultimately a home designed to be moved around. We have a Quechua 'pop-up' tent that goes up in a couple of minutes (and provides great hilarity to the rest of the campsite as you try to twist it back into its bag!) that we just chuck everything in from the van - including the kids! Works for me!

 

[Davenjo]

@ThreeBridgeT6 if you haven’t already done so make sure you have invested in a tie down kit and use whenever the wind is above a light breeze - we use our Fiamma equivalent virtually every time the awning is deployed - takes a couple of minutes but gives great piece of mind! Thule 'Hold Down' Side Straps - Awning Storm Strap Kit

 

[Stay Frosty]

Glad to see I'm not the only conflicted camper then!

I did put in the post that there's only the two of us coffin dodgers camping if we had had our two sons with us as kids then it would no doubt be a different kettle of fish.

I guess we're still tin tent virgins as we always get a flat pitch and hookup so far but the saving made by not working our way through a dozen rip stop alternatives to a mobile home covers the cost of the electric.
Factor in dropping the pop top, opening the curtains and turning the seats back forwards and we can be out on the road again before the morning dump has cleared the shower block!

ThreeBridgeT6 I think you've done enough to your van that the pipe rack tube on the roof is the last thing you look at, looks mean!