T6 Awning - Any recommendations

Dave; been there too. A 110 Defender, a little speed boat, much luggage.

But as the kids have grown, the kit level has reduced (plus we sold the boat) to very manageable levels. In fact we took too much on our five week trip to Spain yet still had plenty of space in the van.
 
I have a large Vango airbeam that's about 4 years old now which I used with my T5.1 SWB but it does fit much better on the LWB T6 giving better access to the side door opening.


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15C might be a problem if you are trying to heat an awning - buy her a wooly jumper :laugh:

This year was the first really long trip, 28 days, with a dog and we had to take a whole sack of his "special" food so we had to travel light :eek:
 
15C might be a problem if you are trying to heat an awning - buy her a wooly jumper :laugh:
15c might have been a slight exaggeration but she does always complain of being cold long before the rest of us. Part of our packing problem already is the stacks of warm clothes we take. At least with the van if we do get cold we have the option to batten down the hatches and turn the heater on for a while - worst thing about camping currently is getting cold sat out of an evening and then not being able to get warm again.
 
@VanBlanc - this is my current setup - quite a lot a gear to squeeze into the van (or not!). Really looking forward to the T6 coming as breaking camp with all of this and everything inside takes us around 3 hours - even with the Vango awning to take down I would imagine we will be able to stow everything and get off with about 30 minutes notice.
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I recall our original Kyham One Touch back in 1989 - they were advertised as "be the first one in the bar" and they were not wrong :whistle:

Now we have are set and have a brew in under 10 minutes - decamping is always a more leisurely affair :D
 
Evening,

I was at a show last weekend and was impressed with the whole vango airbeam range. So much so, we bought a Kela III Low. This model has been designed specifically for the Transporter due to high demand.

Despite not having the van yet, and so like other posts can't comment on how I have got on with it but I am familiar with Vango as a brand and have had tents they have manafactured in the past. They are at the top end of the "basic" camping brands in my opinion.

If someone like arcteryx got hold of this market you'd be looking at something spectacular but would need to re-mortgage your house to own.........well, a tent.
 
We used our Vango Kela 3 last week at Ullswater. It was quick to set up and drive aways were very easy with the kador strip and figure of 8. That said, we didn't use it quite as much as we expected and, aside for one night when we used it, as we thought we would, for additional outside seating, it became little more than a storage and drying space for our outside tables/chairs and sailing gear. The bit between the closed off awning and van did make a nice undercover cooking area though (the Fiamma wind out with a windbreak would work equally well though).

The footprint worked well and made lining up, both when pitching and for drive away, a lot easier - it covers the whole of the awning not just the closed in area.

The Fiamma roll out did make it easier to set up and put additional tension into the roof of the open part of the awing - we had no issues with the roof or sides flapping and/or slapping the sides of the van. Just roll the FIamma out a couple of inches, attached the awning and then roll the Fiamma back in to tension the awning roof and then use the storm straps to put a bit of tension in between the roof and floor.

In short, we will use again but maybe not until the warmer months and/or when we are sailing (our boat is now stored away in the garage and probably won't be out again until March/April).

Pictures below of awning set up - not perfectly set but, in our defence, it was pouring with rain when we put it up and we couldn't be bothered to redo it!!

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Just picking up this thread as I've been looking at awnings...how easy is it to get back in the same spot to reconnect? Not sure whether I'd be better with a small day tent..?
 
Just picking up this thread as I've been looking at awnings...how easy is it to get back in the same spot to reconnect? Not sure whether I'd be better with a small day tent..?
I did this for the first time at the weekend. I just drove out and dropped straight back in as the depressions in the grass where quote obvious. I did think about it afterwards and I reckon that putting a tent peg on the outside centre point of the tyres should make it a piece of cake to equally get back in perfectly positioned (unless some little oi'k moves them whilst you are out for the day).
 
That's what we do, couple of tent pages to help, it does get easier.

Me personally, I'd prefer a simple pup tent, the mrs has a thing about getting from the van to the tent with shelter, has come in handy in bad weather but honestly, a brolly next in the van and your fine.

That's my opinion, the mrs disagrees and so she wins :)
 
I did this for the first time at the weekend. I just drove out and dropped straight back in as the depressions in the grass where quote obvious. I did think about it afterwards and I reckon that putting a tent peg on the outside centre point of the tyres should make it a piece of cake to equally get back in perfectly positioned (unless some little oi'k moves them whilst you are out for the day).
This is what I do, when we first put the awning up I then have a bit of white string with 2 tent pegs that I put in the ground at the wheel centres and about 35mm out from the tyre. Then when we return we align with that and the awning clips back on no problem
 
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Hi there, we are v interested in this post: what do you need to fix the awnings onto the van? we dont have anything yet on our kombi except the sca.. do we need an awning or a rail?
 
I have a reimo multi rail for mine. You can also get a rail that sits in the roof recess where a roof bar would normally sit (@Pauly has one of these).
Alternative is to use straps that come with the awning (don't know if they all have these) that you throw over the roof and peg down on the opposite side.
You could equally get something like a Fiamma F45 awning which has a kadar channel in it so you can hook an awning into it, and on the days you go out and just want sunshade just use the F45 on its own; best of both worlds if you don't mind having it permanently bolted onto the side of the roof and it's not exactly sleek.
 
Im having the reimo multirail on mine.

I understand the connection principle...figure of 8 connector between the rail and the awning for easy connecting....its more the getting in the same place that's bothering me, but some good tips above and I'm having a reversing camera put on, so that might make it easier.

@scotia I just looked on you tube to see what I needed...loads of clips on there.

Still toying with the idea of a day tent.
 
ok thanks for that. The reimo multi rail would solve our issue of water soaking us after its rained...

we'll have a look..

@Victoria Alletson reversing these T6/T5 is a doddle really. they are a great shape of vehicule to reverse precisely - flat wih no real curves like some cars.. a little bit of practice and you'll see!
 
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