And the prize for the item most often bought, never used and resold goes to...

HKF said:
We're just searching for our first MoHo and one of the things on our 'Must Have' list is an awning. Why do people NOT use them, please? Thank you :)
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The novelty of setting up wears off fast. Then you realise you do t need a football sized castle and the block the views. Have to put away dry so you’re always weather watching instead of just enjoying your trip. Don’t even put windbreakers up anymore after few years… waste of life when away
 
monzer said:
Awnings.

Congratulations awnings.
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Foot spas?

Pasta making machines?

90's food processors?

Bread makers!

To name a few less useful than awnings!

Cheers James
 
Our wind out Fiamma awning without any panels gets used whenever there is a sun out and not much wind. We have bought the proper tie downs to stop it flapping in light winds and we are thinking of buying the roof support that stretches from van to outside length to give the whole thing more strength.
we don’t leave it out overnight
 
Jamesh said:
Foot spas?

Pasta making machines?

90's food processors?

Bread makers!

To name a few less useful than awnings!

Cheers James
Click to expand...

Have three out of these! But none make it onto the bus for trips.
 
Emmit said:
The Sun, even in France, is not directly overhead, even in High Summer.
The shade afforded by an awning is not therefore immediately under the canopy.
Depending where you park the van, you will find that the shade is either covering the van itself or towards the front or rear of the van.
If the Sun is shining on the opposite side to the awning then the van itself will provide the shade.
You will also find that the rear of the van could give you shade if the Sun is shining on the front of the van.

Put it this way. Our last van didn't come with a wind out and it was, at that time a 'Must Buy.'

With the benefit of hindsight, we would not have bought it. (And in our case it did impact on payload.)

Hope this helps.
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That's a point I discovered too, on a sweltering trip away - I was always trying to chase the shade! So I now have an additional panel which improves things. :)
steve69 said:
At risk of stating the bleedin' obvious - use your internet to get up-to-date weather forecasts for your area. The accuracy of these over 48 hours is spot-on these days. It will help you decide if you want to leave the awning out overnight and sleep easily as well.
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As AndyPK says below, weather forecasts don't always predict 'microbursts'. Thus, while I was away in Holland a couple of years ago and the weather was absolutely roasting, I left my Fiamma canopy rolled out as I set off for the day's activities. A couple of hours later, while I was about 10 miles away from the van, there was a sudden and extremely intense thunderstorm...
I got back to find the canopy partially collapsed due to the torrential amount of water suddenly deposited (despite the awning being set 'unlevel' to facilitate water run off), and the sudden violent increase in the wind strength. Luckily, because I always without fail use storm straps, the canopy hadn't broken loose or damaged the van, but the incident did twist the awning casing, and I was VERY lucky that the awning fabric wasn't torn by the frame, which I thought had happened when I first arrived back on site. The casing has been 'corrected' and the awning canopy is still in regular use, but now has a 'battle scar' where you can see where the twist was! I also now have a central rafter.
AndyPK said:
Weather forecasts cannot predict ‘microbursts’ or sudden strong gusts of wind…..and it only takes one to demolish your wind-out…… o_O
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These unpredictable weather "microbursts" that people mention.
1 They are very rare.
2 If they happen as sudden as you say, then you ain't going to have time to put a canopy/awning away before it happens are you?

If you live or sleep in fear of these microbursts, then why have an awning/canopy at all?
 
HKF said:
Wouldn't they still get used if you park and want to sit out in the shade, though? I'm not being awkward, I'm genuinely interested in hearing why they wouldn't be used.
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We usually find we sit out mainly in the evening when the sun is too low for the awning to provide any shade. We've got a wind out one. We do use it occasionally but wouldn't be desperate to get another.

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The Wino said:
We usually find we sit out mainly in the evening when the sun is too low for the awning to provide any shade. We've got a wind out one. We do use it occasionally but wouldn't be desperate to get another.
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We bought a sunshade which attaches to the front beam of the awning. Not had chance to use this year due to the vagaries of British weather!
 
Lenny HB said:
They no like wind, wind them out 20min later you are winding them back in.
However with the really calm conditions at Stratford last week we left ours out for the first time in 10 years.
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With a Fiamma Magic Rafter wind anxiety is a thing of the past. Add a simple front screen slid into the kader groove and they're proof against anything bar a storm.
 
Otter Spotter said:
Our wind out Fiamma awning without any panels gets used whenever there is a sun out and not much wind. We have bought the proper tie downs to stop it flapping in light winds and we are thinking of buying the roof support that stretches from van to outside length to give the whole thing more strength.
we don’t leave it out overnight
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Consider the Fiamma Magic Beam. Our solves all wind / flapping problems.
 
The Wino said:
I thought about getting one of those.
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We use a Sunblocker with its attached waterproof layer. That in conjuction with a Fiamma Magic Beam has seen the awning out for a fortnight at a time. The Sunblocker goes in a stuff-bag - no folding.

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Had a wind out one on first van. Used once in three years. Wouldn’t have bothered for this van, but it came as part of a package. Had van in June, been away three or four times, not yet used! Usually find there is somewhere in shade of van to sit
 
Found our awning good when abroad in hot hot weather. Definitely don’t like leaving it out here at night in uk would never sleep worrying if wind got.up As for sun - well like following it anyway and can always move round t’other side. Dogs like lying under vehicle then. Think now after years of motorhoming if having a new van - I’d opt out the awning and have one of those blow up things attached like caravans have nowadays. . Mind you not sure I’d like the packing and unpacking part.
oh and I just hate cleaning the awning,
 
We are not sun worshippers, we are very fair skinned and need to stay out if the sun so the awning is great for that. Don’t use it to protect from rain, we just stay in the van or wear a waterproof jacket.
yesterday was a very good reason for ‘Awning out’ 33% in the van and blinding bright outside.🥴
 
tonyidle said:
With a Fiamma Magic Rafter wind anxiety is a thing of the past. Add a simple front screen slid into the kader groove and they're proof against anything bar a storm.
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Hiya Tony, can you please expand on how the magic rafter solves wind problems, The reason I ask is we have just had a Fiama wind out awning fitted, I have ordered a tie down kit but was still going to take it in at night when we use it.
Does the magic rafter mean that you dont need to do this? https://www.leisuredepot.co.uk/fiamma-magic-rafter-canopy-awning-support.html
 
We use our wind out awning a lot as a sunshade. It is always used if we are on a site and quite frequently on an aire. I know you're not supposed to but if there's room and you're not encroaching on another space then why not. May sometimes only wind out a couple of feet to shade the side of the mh. Only takes seconds to put in or out.

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Of course a Magic Rafter won't completely solve all wind problems (having just experienced storms Malik and Corrie) but they are a good upgrade. It stops the angled supports from varying their angle as the wind blows the fabric, so the fabric doesn't flap as much.
 
We have a wind out fiamma canopy also a vango kela tall airbeam, the latter is sleeping accommodation for me and/or the grandkids also somewhere to relax and have breakfast or a nice drink in the evening in inclement weather, normally only put it up if staying put for a few days. Previous van we had a sun camp porch awning, again great for the kids, but as a 6 berth not needed for sleeping, was good for storing stuff as we had no garage.
This is the second van we have used the kela with I can put out up on my own, with a bit of manoeuvring of canopy and awning, but much easier with us both.
I also have apples awning which came with the doblo, so far it has only been up in the garden. If it wasn’t for needing to accommodate 3 camp beds i would have a quest or similar, but 3 awnings would be overkill.
It also gives some me and you space for our smaller van
 
These bars/end supports (below) seem to the biz, but not sure if they are available in The UK, or what the make is, as it not mentioned, the end supports look like a great design in the way it clamps the fabric down at the ned facing the wind.(y)
Probably not cheap either.
LES
 
Back to subject, I like my awning, 1st thing to go was the microwave, I can cook, haven’t missed it, looks lovely in my dining room as a place to put bits n bobs
 
I thought someone was having a dig at me because im trying to sell a brand new fridge I bought in error.

Anyway, its still for sale on the classifieds.

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We have a Fiamma Zip complete safari room. It was my preference if we are going to be on a site for any length of time, especially if somewhere hot like Spain. When it's pegged out properly (and that means double pegging the front and sides) it's not going anywhere. However since we've had to de-rate the van the extra weight is too much, so.........
We had a Windblocker which is pretty good but cannot be left out at night or in adverse weather conditions as the pegging isn't good enough, so......
We now have a Quest pop-up which whilst not as big as the Fiamma it does for just the two of us. It takes about half as long to put up as the Fiamma and if it does collapse in a storm it's not going to damage the van.
 
We use ours a lot……happy to sit outside our van, not only in the sun using it as a shade, but in the rain using it as an umbrella. 🤷‍♂️
 
Motorhome = flexibility = drive on/off with the minimum of fuss

If you need to build an awning then you should be a tugger, or you've got the wrong motorhome.

Windout sunshades are a different topic.
 
Langtoftlad said:
Motorhome = flexibility = drive on/off with the minimum of fuss

If you need to build an awning then you should be a tugger, or you've got the wrong motorhome.

Windout sunshades are a different topic.
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Takes us less than 10 minutes to wind the awning out and peg it down. About 3 minutes if we don’t peg it.

Putting away isn’t much longer. 🤷‍♂️
 
Sapper520 said:
Takes us less than 10 minutes to wind the awning out and peg it down. About 3 minutes if we don’t peg it.

Putting away isn’t much longer. 🤷‍♂️
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That is a sunshade - not an [extra room] awning...
...so I don't disagree.

Motorhome/caravan "awning" to expand living space [weighs a lot]
img_2052_1.jpg


Wind out sunshade "awning":

fiamma_f45s_motorhome_awning5b175d.jpg


I believe the OP is referring to the former, not the latter.

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