leaky awning /ill fitting skirt

[wendy_5041806]

hi all

we just been on our first outing , first van , brand new awning etc ,.it rained all week on us ,..no probs with that , but the awning leaked ,its a dorema , nice looking thing it is but it leaked through the seams ,read up about it from the book it said it may do this forst time but after it will swell up and close the seam ,...not ,spent all week mopping the groundsheet ,also the skirt is really bad , nothing to fix it to each end and it will not go across the wheel it has a big droop in front of the wheel if we pull it taut each end it pops back when released,we tried mole grips ,etc ,if we took the wheel arch off and then pulled it across it may solve the prob , but i certainly dont want to do this ,i am sure it should fit better than this ,has anyone else had these probs , any help would be much appreciated, thanks ,...wendy

 

[Surfer]

On the wheel arch I would suggest using a strip of velcro on the piece that is meant to cover the wheel arch only then it does no matter about the saggy bit, however I suspect someone will come up with a solution to the sagging skirt bit.

 

[Damian]

Wendy, first, the leaks, if it rained all week, then the material never had time to dry out, therefore the material never had time to shrink back and seal the seams, as would be the case if it had been better weather.

Once it has been dried out thoroughly, the leaking should not happen again.

As for the skirt over the wheels, get some self adhesive velcro, cut 3 or 4 pieces about 2 inches long from the roll.

When you have the skirt in the place you want it, stick the velcro strips, one at each end if the wheel arch, and one or two, depending whether it is a single or twin wheel van,equally along the top edge of the wheelarch. Attach one half of the velcro to the awning skirt, the other to the van body.

My awning came with these velcro strips, and it works.

 

[ANDREW SAYLE]

HI I had the same problem with a new awning with the seam i bought a tin of wterproof spray fro tents/awnings from a local army ,navy store as for the skirt my local shoe repairer was more than happy to put in two eyelets to which i bought two suitable rubber pegging points and once i pulled tight pegged out solved the first problem as for the wheel arch i was lucky to get some extra grey skirt to which again my local cobbler put in four eyelets to which i place a rubber suction cup which is designed for this purpose and this then means no unsightly velcro/screw-on press studs to my brand new van i got the suction cups from a very nice man called paul at awning land in glossop ( i think its at glossop caravans ) hope this rectifys your poblems!

 

[audiorob]

You can get legths of plastic that are like twin awning channel to fit an additional cover to the wheel arch area. I never use the extra bit but find that the plastic, cut just shorter than the wheelarch width, keeps this section stiff and keeps out the drafts.