Figure of Eight Awning Fixing

[markcat7]

Hi

First post on forum - bought a T6, got it converted and have recently added a drive away awning to our rapidly growing collection of 'must-have accessories'!
We recently bought a kador strip and figure of eight connector, but one question I do have is how do people carry it? Ours is a 2.5m length and I don't particularly want to carry it in the van (and keep tripping over it!) and although I've tried to drive with it attached to the van, I'm worried about it falling out?
What's the collective wisdom on the forum?
I guess the other option is to cut the fo8 into 3 pieces, but have read comments about problems when connected to the awning with leaks when it rains?

Appreciate your thoughts!

Thanks

 

[Spaghetti]

Mine’s in 3 bits and I’ve not noticed any issues with leaks.

 

[markcat7]

That's encouraging - thank-you.

 

[Pete C]

Mine came in 3 bits, and it does leak in heavy rain.

Pete

 

[markcat7]

That's less encouraging! Oh well, I've cut the f08 into 3 pieces now, so we'll see how we get on!
Appreciate the speedy replies from both of you - cheers.

 

[TrevorK]

If you drill a 3mm hole about 20mm from each end of the Fo8 (right in the middle of the 8 cross section) you can link sections with 3mm bungee or similar, and fold up after use.
The Kador will still feed through. Before that we found the back section could work it's way loose overnight.

 

[Tuttz]

Hi,
Has anybody found a metal version of Outwell’s plastic figure of eight drive away connectors, as ours split through the centre on its first use?
TIA

 

[Ayjay]

@Tuttz. No to the question but I suspect you just got very unlucky with the split!

 

[stu3467]

I bought my kit already cut into 3 pieces and it got really annoying when it rained as it only leaked between the 2 sections directly above the sliding door which meant you couldn't sit there with the door open as the rain splashed in and soaked everything ! So I bought a 2.5m length (postage was dearer than the part ) and cut 1/3 off the end leaving a double length piece over the door .A lot easier to transport than the full length and works a treat to stop the drips.Also waterproofed the cloth joining strip just in case !!

 

[Ayjay]

I'm the same as @stu3467 in that I bought a long piece of figure 8 (mine was 2.4M) but I have left it in one piece. For storage, I've found that if I slide it into the back of the van and along the side of the bed, it goes just in front of the fridge and up against the back of the drivers seat base with about an 2cm to spare and there's no trip hazard either. I got mine from a firm called Camper Interiors - it was £12 plus £12.50 shipping and worth every penny. I had previously found another supplier on line who was slightly cheaper for the Figure 8 but IIRC they wanted something like £30 to ship!

 

[Bargy62]

our figure of 8
2.4 mt lives under the pop top along one edge but we have no bed up there so that might make it easier to store

 

[Ayjay]

I'm guessing the dimensions of pop tops marques differ vary as it was very slightly too long for ours - it could have been curved to fit but I was worried that it might damage the 'canvas' hence my other solution.

 

[stu3467]

I'm the same as @stu3467 in that I bought a long piece of figure 8 (mine was 2.4M) but I have left it in one piece. For storage, I've found that if I slide it into the back of the van and along the side of the bed, it goes just in front of the fridge and up against the back of the drivers seat base with about an 2cm to spare and there's no trip hazard either. I got mine from a firm called Camper Interiors - it was £12 plus £12.50 shipping and worth every penny. I had previously found another supplier on line who was slightly cheaper for the Figure 8 but IIRC they wanted something like £30 to ship!

Yes that's where I got mine from as well (yes it was 2.4 m not 2.5m) . I store it on top of the wardrobe and the other end just fits on top of the ram for the poptop bed so totally out of my way