Awning alternative?

[Stevef]

So still learning lots about this Motor homing and while I like the idea of a drive away awning I’m not really sure we can justify it. In fact I’m wondering if we could just make do with old fashioned staked wind breaks. They give a little privacy and actually protect you from the breeze, but am I missing something obvious?

cheers
steve

 

[pandas]

I have one of these.....

View attachment 413207

I bought it when I had my little PCV, but it’s been used for all sorts, communal seating area, cooking area, eating area, it’s been used in the garden, as a sunshade for the grand kids paddling pool, at the TT (inc. as a garage for bikes at night). It takes literally about 3 mins to put up, came with 4 sides that toggle in and some sh*t pegs, weighs about 7kg and fits inside a small hold all.

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I have seen those on one of those Spanish sites.

 

[TCG]

we have a blow up vango hex.. great bit of kit

 

[cb_stalbans]

Is it easy to peg down the quest pop-up onto a gravelly hard-standing pitch? Do you need special pegs?

 

[Sunny]

I too wanted something quick and easy to put up but without the fuss, bulk and expense of a full size awning and after alot of research I got some sides that zip onto side poles and a front that just slides on, so you can just use one side or the front or the full safari room. The whole kit was around £300 and I got it from Obelink.nl very good service. Each side fits into its own 14" square bag along with four poles. They do different versions heavy or light fabric. I went for Queen which was thicker and kinda plastic coated.

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[Fraggle 22]

We have a Colman Event Shelter which is great though we only take it if grandkids are coming otherwise we use wind out awning always with Thule tie downs. Stable in even fairly high winds less than 10 mins to put out.. Our best buys are 2 Isabella windbreaks. Easy ish to erect, never sag or move. Much admired.

 

[peterc10]

We couldn’t do without a canopy as a sun shade even if staying just the one night somewhere (talking mostly Europe). But a few days in the New Forest this week it has been invaluable. Also helps to emotionally claim the space.takes 10 min to put in place and put the ties on.

If you try emotionally claiming a space in a busy Aire with your awning and you are likely to be disabused of that emotion by a Frenchman or German pretty quickly.

 

[pandas]

If you try emotionally claiming a space in a busy Aire with your awning and you are likely to be disabused of that emotion by a Frenchman or German pretty quickly.

Never on an Aire of course, not in the spirit of what they are for.

 

[pandas]

Gazebos, Quest popups etc. can be very useful if your style of travelling suits. But as always the penalty is weight and storage, and in reality how often do you actually NEED them? To me it's just something else to do when we pitch up and after 11 years of motorhoming I can safely say, to us, they'd just be a nuisance. We carry a quite substantial (read heavy) windbreak which lives at the bottom of our under-bed storage, but now that I think about it, we haven't deployed it for several years - so that's coming out next time we go away.

We have the standard wind-out awning which does get used a lot but, after nearly losing it one time, at the first sign of an increasing wind it gets retracted, tie-downs or not. Personally we've no desire to sit out in a gale! Our one concession is a set of Windblockers, which are light and pack down to nothing, but even they tend to get used more as a sunshade than actual draught excluders!

My advice to the OP is wait a bit until you actually have experience of what you need, not what you think you may like. Then you can probably buy it from the Classifieds from someone who has found they don't actually use it............................!

I couldn’t agree more, for that very misguided logic we initially bought a Fiamma 45 Zip total enclosure 10 years ago that’s only been used 3 times and will happily give away.(subject to contribution to a hospital fund). With some of these set ups I am thinking one might be better off with a caravan and a fully enclosed awning.

 

[Hawkstone]

We never drive away But we do have a wind out awning that we use storm straps with if it’s too windy. We use Lillypad windblockers with it, often only one end depending on wind direction. They are fab and keep all the wind and droughts out. We used to have the full safari/privacy room but it weighed a ton and was very bulky.

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[Snoopy]

Pop up quest for us.

 

[Bognor Saint]

I managed to purchase a Quest pop up 4 Pro yesterday. I had been trawling the Internet for a few days but all I got was "out of stock".
One retailer had some and in spite of advertising free delivery for orders over £100 wanted to charge me £15, blaming covid! The answer was no.
Anyway, I got one in the end.

 

[AndyPK]

We never drive away But we do have a wind out awning that we use storm straps with if it’s too windy. We use Lillypad windblockers with it, often only one end depending on wind direction. They are fab and keep all the wind and droughts out. We used to have the full safari/privacy room but it weighed a ton and was very bulky.

Too true about the safari room - I’ve still got my ‘camp-room’, can’t give it away......so it’s going to the dump (when I can get an appointment).

 

[Wellington]

It depends how you use it. In the Uk, we don’t use an awning at all, although we usually take a gazebo as communal space if camping with friends and somewhere to chuck chairs and so on out of the inevitable rain (friends are all tuggers and expect to stay in one place for a while) Abroad, we use the roll out for shade. I’m too short to fart about with awnings (they really are impossible for one short person to deal with alone) and with just two of us, it works fine to lounge inside if it’s raining. Everything is set up to have a place to be stored out of the way, so we don’t really use an awning except for weather.

The proper gazebo is lovey, but weighs a ton and I can only just manage it on my own. I’m minded to upgrade to a quest pop up or blow up gazebo (which must be fairly new on the market. When I was looking for one a couple of years ago, I couldn’t find one amywhere. I’d be interested to see one in person sometime) but I’d worry about pegging out, as a lot of sites and aires abroad are at least semi hard standing. I had an awning, but sold it, as it was such a faff to put up, I never bothered. The roll out is all the shade we need, and if we need windbreaks or it’s hacking down, I’d rather be inside!

 

[TheAleMan]

we have a blow up vango hex.. great bit of kit

View attachment 413216

We bought one of these about three months ago and it‘s brilliant. Very roomy too.

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[Minxy]

I’m too short to fart about with awnings (they really are impossible for one short person to deal with alone) and with just two of us, it works fine to lounge inside if it’s raining. Everything is set up to have a place to be stored out of the way, so we don’t really use an awning except for weather.

Once you've got the knack you can put awnings up on your own too so long as they're not stupidly large ... I'm usually doing it whilst hubby's nattering! The Quest is the easiest of all to do singly and so quick, we've got one for using at MH shows now so hopefully with it being so quick to do I'll get time to have more of a natter too!

 

[Doobray]

I managed to purchase a Quest pop up 4 Pro yesterday. I had been trawling the Internet for a few days but all I got was "out of stock".
One retailer had some and in spite of advertising free delivery for orders over £100 wanted to charge me £15, blaming covid! The answer was no.
Anyway, I got one in the end.

Where did you get it as they all seem to be out of stock

 

[Bognor Saint]

You're right, everywhere was out of stock until I remembered Norwich Camping and leisure. Phone call confirmed they had stock. Good luck.
PS speedy delivery