3.5m deep Awnings

[Whittakerr]

Hi all.
We’re thinking of upgrading our awning in the coming months and we have seen some nice ones that are 3.5m deep.
Has anyone had any problems with a 3.5m deep awning, particularly on club sites in the UK with regards to the 6m spacing rules, or on any continental sites.
I don’t want to spend a lot of money only to find out we are restricted to the site we can use.

 

[AdifferentJim]

I've got a 3m Isabella and it's very heavy so the extra weight of a 3.5 should be considered carefully. It's potentially 45% heavier than a standard 2.4m awning.

I don't generally use it on sites in the uk. I take a lightweight porch awning for short stays but I do use it abroard in the summer. Some sites it is quite tight on (a 3.5m one would be almost impossible) but on others there is plenty of space. If you go ahead I think it would be wise to do your homework on available pitch sizes at sites you choose.

 

[Whittakerr]

Jim. Thanks for replying.
I had thought about the weight and intend to go for the fibreglass poles to help keep the weight down, someone else mentioned the weight when wet, I hadn’t thought about the weight when wet, I bet this makes a big difference. We have looked at 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5m deep models and think the extra space makes sense. We have got a porch awning for short breaks, but want the extra room for longer stays.

 

[AdifferentJim]

I've got carbon fibre poles, but the extra weight of the poles (whatever type) between a 2.5 and 3.5 awning isn't going to be much as it only affects the length of a few. The majority of the weight is in the extra fabric and pulling that through the awning rail on a very hot or windy day will sort out the men from the boys

 

[TimM]

We have had a

 

[Steve L]

We have a 3mtr deep Inaca Mirage awning. It is quite heavy with steel poles. We use a roof box on the car to store it in when we move sites, to avoid excess weight in the van and getting dirty/wet marks on the upholstry.

Our stone hard standing pitch was designed for a 2.4 mtr (8ft) awning plus caravan and water barrels. So when we pitched up last march, I asked the warden what he wanted on the grass. Barrels or awning over sail? We opted for barrels as they would only leave two round spots. You see, the previous year his predesessor opted for the awning and had a 18" X 20ft bare patch of mud. After educating him that 2.4 mtr awnings are now being superceeded by 3 or 3.5mtr ones, he has widened the pitches to take 3mtr awnings. Obviously if the site has been laid out leaving the bare minimum of 6Mtrs between vans they then end up 1/2 a metre shy of the standard fire break distance. On grass pitches there isn't such a tight squeeze on room so you should be fine.

I've experienced sites not wanting twin axle vans, right hand door vans (continental, hobby or LMH) and there might be the same said about larger awnings. I've even had wardens ask how old my van is. It's amazing what they will "nit pick" over if they don't want your business. So I always ring in advance stating the age, length, awning and axle configureation, just to be on the right track before giving them our business. That way if there if a jobs worth or rulebook charlie on the otherside of the phone line, they don't waste my time.

 

[Surfer]

It may not be advisable to have fibreglass poles with such a large awning especially if in a high wind. More than likely the maunfacturer will recommend steel poles. A 3m awning would be easier to put up than the 3.5m awnings which requires 2 people and a lot of patience!

 

[forestgump]

they tend to be for seasonal pitches as you get a plot not for touring.

 

[Dustydog]

Our 3m Izzie is very heavy and does really need two to erect. One to pull through the awning rail and one to feed into the rail.
I've had all sorts of poles over the years and imo there is no doubt the carbon fibre x poles are actually far stronger than steel or ally. They are lighter and offer more flexibility. They do not sag under the weight of the canvas. However with awnings of this size and greater you will find a "Hercules" pole tensioner tool is excellent for getting the tensions correct.
As for 3.5 m just remember not all pitches may be large enough to accomodate such a beast.

 

[Steve L]

Our 3mtr deep awning is a proper all weather seasonal awning and as such is made from heavy duty materials. In standard format it comes with steel poles which are very heavy. The awning fills our thule atlantis 200 roof box, and I put the poles into a strong canvas bag and strap them to the roof rails alongside the roof box. I would estimate the weight on the roofrack to be 100kgs which is the max for our Rover. I am considering changing 4 of the roof braces to carbon fibre and leaving the 3 main roof poles as steel to save some weight. But I don't want to compomise the strength of the frame as, we had 7" of snow on it last year which probably amounted to about half a ton of snow loading. As and when I return to conventional touring, I will buy a light weight nylon awning as then we will be fair weather caravanning.

In january we had to pack up the awning with 3" of snow fall on it and that was blooming hard work and nearly defeated us. This time around, I will be choosing the day based on weather and not by the saving of £12 a night

.

I think a full awning is a team effort to put up and in any case, why struggle on your own when your OH could be feeding the awning into the rail while you pull the beast round. Our awning has an eyelet at the leading edge so that you can thread a cord through to avoid stretching while standing on the steps to pull the awning round the rail.

My awning companion is a great help with tensioning, also I have a long handled paint roller frame that hooks through the clamp screw to lock the awning in place. With my arthritic shoulders, elbows and a bad back, I need all the help and gizmos I can get.

If you have those plastic clamps or twist lock poles. A piece of cycle inner tube and a jubilee pipe clip fitted to the sliding pole, will stop the poles slipping in high winds or heavy snow, causing your awning to droop.

 

[MichaelE]

I think fibreglass poles are much better in high winds as they have more flex whereas steel poles dont flex they just bend.
I have a 3mt awning and it is big and its been tight on some pitches , but as easy to put up as a 2.5 mts awning and the extra space is great

 

[emmerson]

For nearly ten years we struggled with a 3.5 metre Dorema. Wonderful dry weather awning, but in even the lightest shower, it proved impossible to stop the roof from sagging under the weight of water. The awning went back to Dorema to be "tailored", which did nothing for the problem. It then went to two different awning repairers, to "tension" the roof panel, but to no avail. It cost £900 new, and over £500 in attempts to cure the problem. I eventually gave it away, and last month the man I gave it to tried to return it, as he couldn't cure it either.

 

[Steve L]

Having sailing experience, it's no suprise to me that awnings stretch and loose shape. There is one hell of a lot of square footage of canvas being presented to the elements of weather. In the case of our 3Mtr deep awning it works out to about 700 square feet of materials. That is arguably why steel poles are standard issue. However, seeing how much our expensive and heavy weight Inaca stands up to 40Mph winds and just how billowed some of the lighter and cheaper awnings look, it is clear that some manufacturers use very stretchy materials. One awning on our site which is a cheaper copy of the Inaca Mirage. Right down to the storm panels that can be zipped down over the windows, has stretched very markedly and now looks very sad for a 1 year old awning.

Our awning cost us about £1300 three years ago and apart from initial poor manufacturing process which didn't allow the end panels to be interchanged without looking a very bad match of seams, which was resolved after two free of charge replacements. The only other signs of wear are door zips that occassionaly seperate and the built in storm straps have the stitching failing. But after 3 years and gales upto 60Mph, and two of the worst winters on record, i'm quite pleased with the condition of our awning.

We looked at dozens of the popular brands of tourer awnings before settling on ours. Summer weight awnings do look more stylish but with manufacturers having to compete more fearcely in that sector with keen pricing etc. Something has to give and that usually is quality of automated workmanship or quality of materials.

When I had our engineering business, we made 6BA and 8BA (3 & 5 mm) brass nuts for the telephone exchanges worldwide. To make the product profitable I had to make parting off blades (cutting off) only 1mm wide max and also make sure the bar end waste was under 1 1/2". Even then there was no profit until the brass swarf was sold and to do that I had to ring the London metal exchange every day to speculate on the price of the day. Then plastic and synthetic materials took over and my competative price of just £1-81p per thousand was blown out of the water. We had to close that product down despite making about 3 million nuts a week, just because cheap imitations took over.

 

[Surfer]

Why don't awning have eyelets at either end of the section that goes into the awning rail. If you then had a hook on a pole you could easily pull it until it was reachable again.

 

[DeliDave_]

Re Surfers post when I had my old Dorema awning altered at Canvas Repair Center they put an eyelet at each end and included a rubber handled puller about 18" long that worked very well.