Driveaway Awnings

[starider]

Hi Rojie, been trying to find any firm recommendations or definitive comments on "inflatable drive away awnings". We are looking at the Outdoor Revolution Cayman Low. My main concern is the fitting of the awning rail, either a permenant or magnetic rail, any ideas or comments please. Thanks.

[Rojie]

30 minutes ago, starider said:

Hi Rojie, been trying to find any firm recommendations or definitive comments on "inflatable drive away awnings". We are looking at the Outdoor Revolution Cayman Low. My main concern is the fitting of the awning rail, either a permanent or magnetic rail, any ideas or comments please. Thanks.

 

Hi Starider,

 

No, sorry. Nothing to say other than there are some threads on here discussing this.

I am looking at small tents but only so I can 'unload' on arrival at camp sites.

 

Hopefully, some awning users will respond to your enquiry.

[starider]

Hi, my wife has been researching the various awnings and her research seems to point to the Cayman Low having one of the best reviews  We are going to have a chat with our converter in Barnstaple re the awning rail and perhaps getting them to fit a rail, unless they recommend the magnetic option.

We're quite used to awnings from the many years of towing caravans, which of course had built in awning rails,

. When we owned our VW Camper we bought a drive away awning for it, but it was never used before we sold the VW in favour of the Ford Freda.

[Oddcouple]

On 3/7/2022 at 11:14 PM, starider said:

Hi, my wife has been researching the various awnings and her research seems to point to the Cayman Low having one of the best reviews  We are going to have a chat with our converter in Barnstaple re the awning rail and perhaps getting them to fit a rail, unless they recommend the magnetic option.

We're quite used to awnings from the many years of towing caravans, which of course had built in awning rails,

. When we owned our VW Camper we bought a drive away awning for it, but it was never used before we sold the VW in favour of the Ford Freda.

We just managed to get a cayman air midi low for £300, used once and is pretty much immaculate. Probable going to go with a drive away magnetic strip and use the storm ties for extra support. Lots of very mixed reviews about the magnetic strips….

[Oddcouple]

To add to the above, we grabbed a 2.4x2.4 carpet from go outdoors for £32, fits perfectly.

[starider]

Hi, we are going to have a dry run in one of our fields tomorrow and put up our new drive away awning, We have in the past owned caravans and awnings, but see these inflatable "drive aways" somewhat different so will make all the mistakes/dithering out of public view!!

Will post a report on our labours.

[starider]

Hi, the first fitting went well and the magnetic awning rail worked well. Now we have fitted it once all should be well with future fittings. The one thing we did do wrong was not ensuring all the air was expelled from the inflation tubes as it would not fit in the carrying bag, but quickly finding the inflation valves and releasing the trapped air all was well so it's all packed away ready for our forthcoming mini break.

We did wonder whether an electric pump might be a good idea, but the hand pump supplied worked extremely well and inflated each "tube" in very few pump strokes.

[Oddcouple]

1 hour ago, starider said:

Hi, the first fitting went well and the magnetic awning rail worked well. Now we have fitted it once all should be well with future fittings. The one thing we did do wrong was not ensuring all the air was expelled from the inflation tubes as it would not fit in the carrying bag, but quickly finding the inflation valves and releasing the trapped air all was well so it's all packed away ready for our forthcoming mini break.

We did wonder whether an electric pump might be a good idea, but the hand pump supplied worked extremely well and inflated each "tube" in very few pump strokes.

Magnetic strip on order, just need the van to stick it to now, not that we’re over excited and impatient or anything….

[Pritch]

We have a 230cm rail fitted to our Alph, and after much delving and investigation, we went for a Vango Faros II Air driveaway.

 

Reason...the strip that attaches to the van is smaller than most at 250 (max), which means 10cm each side outside of the rail (driveaway strip straightens this and have had no issue whatsoever). 

 

Weve got it down to about 15 minutes from bag to fixed, and tbh has changed our away ventures massively.

Easy to 'drive away' and re attach, so genuinely does what its supposed to

 

HTH

[Rojie]

12 minutes ago, Pritch said:

We have a 230cm rail fitted to our Alph, and after much delving and investigation, we went for a Vango Faros II Air driveaway.

 

Reason...the strip that attaches to the van is smaller than most at 250 (max), which means 10cm each side outside of the rail (driveaway strip straightens this and have had no issue whatsoever). 

 

Weve got it down to about 15 minutes from bag to fixed, and tbh has changed our away ventures massively.

Easy to 'drive away' and re attach, so genuinely does what its supposed to

 

HTH

 

Looks just what I need.

Atm, we 'unload' in to a small (jaw breaking) pop up tent.

It certainly isn't pop down

Getting it back in the bag takes seconds, but only if you have arms like Popeye.

[Arthur]

Snap. Think I must be stalking you Pritch - just bought the last Vango Faros II  Airbeam in stock from  Winfields in Chester this morning!!! Been practising putting it up in the garden this afternoon. Winfields wouldn’t sell me the magnetic attachments as they said there wasn’t enough roof available with the pop top to enable them to work properly but have assured me that the over roof straps will do the job fine. Only time will tell but if they don’t I know a man who has had a roof rail fitted 😂

[OldWellhouse]

That looks great Pritch, I've been looking at the same this week but still a bit unsure of fitting a rail to hold one. I already have a great tent that I'm going to try and 'join' with an area tarp. Probably just tie it over the van rather than using a rail, but will see how it works out. The plan is to just park up tight to the side. 

[Darren Eyles]

I asked the same on another thread, I’m doing a dry run tonight on a vango awning and magnetic strip, I may also fix Velcro pads to straighten the strip, will let u know how it goes

[Darren Eyles]

4 hours ago, Darren Eyles said:

I asked the same on another thread, I’m doing a dry run tonight on a vango awning and magnetic strip, I may also fix Velcro pads to straighten the strip, will let u know how it goes

So the magnetic strips don’t work on the roof as it’s probably fibre glass, it works perfect if you use Velcro strips

[Rojie]

25 minutes ago, Darren Eyles said:

So the magnetic strips don’t work on the roof as it’s probably fibre glass, it works perfect if you use Velcro strips

 

Interesting, magnetic strip worked for Starider, as above.

Pop top will be fibreglass, I doubt very much that the roof is !

 

Maybe a stronger magnetic strip was needed.

 

Great that the Velcro worked though.

[Oddcouple]

We had a play with the magnetic drive away kit today. The magnets really are not close be being useful without tie down. However once secure over the top gave a really nice seal

[OldWellhouse]

On 5/7/2022 at 4:20 PM, Oddcouple said:

We had a play with the magnetic drive away kit today. The magnets really are not close be being useful without tie down. However once secure over the top gave a really nice seal

That looks pretty decent to me. 

I've decided I'm definitely not paying the premium for a proper drive away awning just now. The mark up on similar tents just annoys me considering the extra material and manufacture can't be that much. 

I've just ordered a small utility/kitchen tent for use on short stays and hard pitches. Just somewhere to put the bog and outdoor furniture etc. when out for the day. 

[Oddcouple]

14 minutes ago, OldWellhouse said:

That looks pretty decent to me. 

I've decided I'm definitely not paying the premium for a proper drive away awning just now. The mark up on similar tents just annoys me considering the extra material and manufacture can't be that much. 

I've just ordered a small utility/kitchen tent for use on short stays and hard pitches. Just somewhere to put the bog and outdoor furniture etc. when out for the day. 

Yeh, sounds about right. We’ve not decided on pop top yet so it gives us a bit of space.

[starider]

Hi, Just had 4 days away on the Caravan and Motorhome Club's excellent site at Merrose Farm near St Mawes, Cornwall. All went very well,the awning worked a treat and made us realise that an electric air pump would be a pointless expense, as the hand pump supplied with the awning is perfectly adequate. The magnetic awning rail worked quite well,but we're considering a fixed rail.

All in all an enjoyable mini break!

 

 

 

 

 

[Rojie]

7 minutes ago, starider said:

Hi, Just had 4 days away on the Caravan and Motorhome Club's excellent site at Merrose Farm near St Mawes, Cornwall. All went very well,the awning worked a treat and made us realise that an electric air pump would be a pointless expense, as the hand pump supplied with the awning is perfectly adequate. The magnetic awning rail worked quite well,but we're considering a fixed rail.

All in all an enjoyable mini break!

 

 

 

 

 

 

River Fal. Very nice.