i am considering buying a president vario awning with a depth of 3.5m does anybody have any experience of this awning in particular on a windy site i am looking for extra space but am concerned that with the extra span i am inviting trouble with leaks,water pooling and wind. any comments would be very helpful
dorema awnings
- Thread starter lukebfox
- Start date
Morning Luke. If you've got a day or two to spare, I'll tell you about my experience with a President Vario, and Dorema's attitude to my request to fix it!
Basically, the design of the awning is good, and the extra space is marvellous. Being able to arrange the floor space to suit your needs is also good.
However, unfortunately, the execution of the design leaves a lot to be desired. The main roof panel on my awning appeared to have too much material in it, and consequently sagged badly when wet, and flapped in the wind. I asked Dorema to rectify this when it was about ten months old, to be told that it was my fault, I had bought the wrong size. As it was the same size as my Isabella, that argument was fatuous. Evenually they did agree to take it back and "tailor" it to fit.I also asked them to replace a faulty zip. They ignored my comments about the excess material in the roof, and took 20cms out of the "ground to ground" measurement, making the awning almost too small for the van, and did not repair the zip. When I contacted Dorema again, I was dismissed, as they wouldn't look at it again, as it was now almost two years old.
I put the thing in my shed and left it there, vowing never to use it again. However, I did need it last October, as I was hosting a rally in Cheshire, and the extra space was needed.
Whilst on the Rally, we visited Harringtons at Delamare (now Discover). A caual chat with their awning guru John, resulted in my awning being sent to their agent, Sqirrell Awnings to have 2" all round removed from the two roof panels.
Result? I now have a spacious awning that I can use!! Sadly all this took almost five years from purchase date, and Dorema's attitude left a bad taste, but now that the awning fits the van, it is great.The only problem is that Herself takes extra kit, cos we've got extra space!
That's my story. The choice, however, must be yours.Good luck.
Basically, the design of the awning is good, and the extra space is marvellous. Being able to arrange the floor space to suit your needs is also good.
However, unfortunately, the execution of the design leaves a lot to be desired. The main roof panel on my awning appeared to have too much material in it, and consequently sagged badly when wet, and flapped in the wind. I asked Dorema to rectify this when it was about ten months old, to be told that it was my fault, I had bought the wrong size. As it was the same size as my Isabella, that argument was fatuous. Evenually they did agree to take it back and "tailor" it to fit.I also asked them to replace a faulty zip. They ignored my comments about the excess material in the roof, and took 20cms out of the "ground to ground" measurement, making the awning almost too small for the van, and did not repair the zip. When I contacted Dorema again, I was dismissed, as they wouldn't look at it again, as it was now almost two years old.
I put the thing in my shed and left it there, vowing never to use it again. However, I did need it last October, as I was hosting a rally in Cheshire, and the extra space was needed.
Whilst on the Rally, we visited Harringtons at Delamare (now Discover). A caual chat with their awning guru John, resulted in my awning being sent to their agent, Sqirrell Awnings to have 2" all round removed from the two roof panels.
Result? I now have a spacious awning that I can use!! Sadly all this took almost five years from purchase date, and Dorema's attitude left a bad taste, but now that the awning fits the van, it is great.The only problem is that Herself takes extra kit, cos we've got extra space!
That's my story. The choice, however, must be yours.Good luck.
I have to agree with emmerson as we had a similar issue with our Dorema Madison and it was only because we threaten to take them to court that it was repaired free of charge. They did not reposnd until the received a "Letter before Action" from us. i think our next awning will be a ventura but I will miss the storm strap side attachmenst on the Dorema. Good design but poor quality finish and zilch back up service!
Thanks emmerson i know exactly what you mean its because of herself that i need such a big awning,anyways i hope that problem with the bad fit might be sorted now due to the fact that you at least have made dorema aware of the issue and that we are a few years down the line so there is no reason why it should not be sorted. I was pleased to hear it all worked out in the end for you after you got the roof tailored, but was wondering if it is possible to use the lightweight alloy frame with this dorema awning given that its such a big awning and so must be heavy, but looking at the dorema website i think thats not possible but cant find a definite yes or no. By the way i was more than happy to read your post which was all to my benifit thanks again luke
Hi,
Our third Dorema awning is a Madison with a total of five roof supports (inc side ones. It fits a Bailey S5 Pageant. On our first trip out we had terrible trouble with roof puddling and no amount of tensioning would help. In the end I had to string duct tape across the worst affected areas to stop the puddles and to protect the awning from stretching. I contacted Dorema and sent them photos and they suggested a different method of erecting it. It made no difference as it still tended to collect water puddles. There was no problem with the sizing as I had confirmed Baileys dimensions by checking myself with a string line. All I can assume is that the Dorema sizes may be too generous. The salvation came when I heard about a tools called a Hercules tensioner which allows me to put some extar tension into the poles. More than anyone ever could by hand unless they are Atlas trained. It was amazing what a difference just that extar *** made. I can now sleep at night when its raining without having to worry that the awning will tear itself due to water puddles. Howver I would say that we should not really have to resort to such a method of tensioning as the norm. My advice would be to choose an awning that you have seen erected on a van such as yours. Looking at Doremas on other vans I have to conclude that their roofs do not ever look as capable of running off water as most other makes. They never seem tensioned or to have adequate slope.
Have a chat with the owners and ask how easy it is to erect. It should not be a battle to get it up correctly. My previous Doremas were okay (albeit smaller) and my NRs have always been good to set up.
Other Clive
Our third Dorema awning is a Madison with a total of five roof supports (inc side ones. It fits a Bailey S5 Pageant. On our first trip out we had terrible trouble with roof puddling and no amount of tensioning would help. In the end I had to string duct tape across the worst affected areas to stop the puddles and to protect the awning from stretching. I contacted Dorema and sent them photos and they suggested a different method of erecting it. It made no difference as it still tended to collect water puddles. There was no problem with the sizing as I had confirmed Baileys dimensions by checking myself with a string line. All I can assume is that the Dorema sizes may be too generous. The salvation came when I heard about a tools called a Hercules tensioner which allows me to put some extar tension into the poles. More than anyone ever could by hand unless they are Atlas trained. It was amazing what a difference just that extar *** made. I can now sleep at night when its raining without having to worry that the awning will tear itself due to water puddles. Howver I would say that we should not really have to resort to such a method of tensioning as the norm. My advice would be to choose an awning that you have seen erected on a van such as yours. Looking at Doremas on other vans I have to conclude that their roofs do not ever look as capable of running off water as most other makes. They never seem tensioned or to have adequate slope.
Have a chat with the owners and ask how easy it is to erect. It should not be a battle to get it up correctly. My previous Doremas were okay (albeit smaller) and my NRs have always been good to set up.
Other Clive
Clive, I used to use a Hercules on the Dorema, but it made no difference. You might also find that using a tensioning tool will invalidate any warranty.
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