Pole or air awning

[Conkydonk]

Hi, we are new to caravanning and the site and have just purchased a 2016 Swift Conqueror. We will be siting this on a seasonal pitch and are looking to attach an awning. We will likely take this down maybe 3 times in the season when we go abroad on holiday but plan to live in the van maybe 3-4 days a week.
Question is do we go for a pole or air awning?

Any advice / views much appreciated

 

[borderbilly]

chalk/cheese, black/white, each to there own, you will get various answers, Me, im a poled man.

 

[otherclive]

+1 for a pole awning on a seasonal.

 

[Beardy]

The main advantage of an inflatable awning is the ease of putting it up / taking it down. If you're not going to be doing this often you'd be better off with poles, especially as you won't be there every day to keep an eye on the pressure in the bladders.

 

[Buckman]

It takes a bit longer to erect an air awning. After owning an air awning, we are nor firmly in the poled awning camp. Whichever you choose, you still have to peg it down.

 

[GaryB]

We're on the other side of the argument and prefer air! Comments from me:

• Air awnings are significantly heavier as everything is on one assembly (ie there's no separate bag with the poles in).
• The awning bag is fairly large (see point above).
• Due to the weight it can be a challenge/awkward for one person to feed into the awning rail if they have any mobility issues.
• The air beams can leak/burst, but not as common as some would have you believe.
• We have had zero issues with pitching one on uneven ground as the flexibility of the awning means it bends/conforms to whatever shape is needed.

The advantage for us is that putting it up can be done by one person and in our experience is a bit quicker than a poled awning.

However, as you're on a seasonal pitch a heavy duty poled awning might be the better option.

 

[Buckman]

As Gary states, the air awning is a lot heavier than a poled awning plus the large awning bag. One of our issues was removing the air to compress it to fit into the awning bag. We used ours on about 5 occasions and took the hit and sold it.

Watch this and then decide.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGibcUJBWew

 

[JTQ]

Seasonal use awnings, almost my implication means left unattended need to be suited for this, many more normal touring type use ones are not ideal.
I have witnessed water pooling rip a touring duty Isabella full awning right in front of us. Site owner was anything but happy sorting it and all the wet stuff out, together with carrying the seats etc to his barn, as the rain continued.

Certain brands do seasonal specific awnings, Those I know of were steel poled making them very heavy therefore unattractive as a touring awning.

 

[GaryB]

As Gary states, the air awning is a lot heavier than a poled awning plus the large awning bag. One of our issues was removing the air to compress it to fit into the awning bag. We used ours on about 5 occasions and took the hit and sold it.

It's as if they supply a bag that JUST fits the awning when it leaves the factory in it's completely deflated state! As soon as it's got a tiny bit of air in it or it's not re-rolled as it left the factory it never fits back in the bag!

 

[noggin16460]

We have a Vango 330 air awning, the first thing I did was to take out the 4 panels, pump, pegs, and draught skirts, store them separately, which makes the awning in its bag more manageable and also easier to pull through the awning rail, then install panels when inflated lot easier

 

[Buckman]

We have a Vango 330 air awning, the first thing I did was to take out the 4 panels, pump, pegs, and draught skirts, store them separately, which makes the awning in its bag more manageable and also easier to pull through the awning rail, then install panels when inflated lot easier

Probably takes a lot longer to do that than a poled awning. We did try it with the air awning, but was too much of a hassle.

 

[Beachball]

We use to own a Outdoor Revolution Compactalite Pro 325 Carbon porch awning when we were seasonal so my vote would be a poled awning .

 

[Dustydog]

Walk around any seasonal and you will see an abundance of Isabella and a few other upmarket makes. Carbon x frames . 24/7 durable materials. No contest

 

[Conkydonk]

Thank you all, for your replies, seems to me the lean is toward a pole awning. However I do have one/two questions, caravan insurance policies, appear without exception, to not allow an awning to be left unattended, one well known insurer, does allow upto 48 hrs, however seasonal pitch implies we wouldn't necessarily be there 168 hours, (7 days). Therefore is the answer, to take the awning down every time we leave, in order not to invalidate our policy, or indeed, as we see so many left erected, is there a company that caters for extended erection?

 

[Oscarmax]

We to have a Swift Conquerer 2016 we have advertised on this site Market Place a Isabella Magnum 250 porch awning with lightweight carbon poles.

 

[Buckman]

Thank you all, for your replies, seems to me the lean is toward a pole awning. However I do have one/two questions, caravan insurance policies, appear without exception, to not allow an awning to be left unattended, one well known insurer, does allow upto 48 hrs, however seasonal pitch implies we wouldn't necessarily be there 168 hours, (7 days). Therefore is the answer, to take the awning down every time we leave, in order not to invalidate our policy, or indeed, as we see so many left erected, is there a company that caters for extended erection?

I have never seen that restriction on any caravan policy we have had, but then I have never analysed the policy clause by clause. After all you are insuring the caravan and not the awning. The awning is an add on that increases the premium which means that you can leave it off the policy.

 

[Oscarmax]

In freak weather condition awning have been known to break loose and cause damage to the caravan. Personally I would not leave an awning up unattended in extreme weather conditions they need to be taken down.

 

[Conkydonk]

In freak weather condition awning have been known to break loose and cause damage to the caravan. Personally I would not leave an awning up unattended in extreme weather conditions they need to be taken down.

Thank you, so in answer to my question, not only is it not recommended, but there is not an insurance company that doesn't have the exclusion, and everyone on sites who leave them are throwing caution to the wind, (or the awning ha ha) of course there is the potential of damaging neighbouring vans also. So ease of build, and removal is paramount then, cheers.

 

[otherclive]

Thank you, so in answer to my question, not only is it not recommended, but there is not an insurance company that doesn't have the exclusion, and everyone on sites who leave them are throwing caution to the wind, (or the awning ha ha) of course there is the potential of damaging neighbouring vans also. So ease of build, and removal is paramount then, cheers.

I cannot ever remember having an exclusion for the awning from my insurers. I’ve had poled awnings and never had any issues with them withstanding stormy weather. But as Buckman said above use storm guys too. What we did ensure was that if there was a bad forecast we would try and drop the awning, but that wasn’t always feasible. But we did ensure that we didn’t leave the caravan in such situations.

 

[Conkydonk]

"Do read the small print to make sure you know what your getting, and more importantly what's excluded." Copied and pasted from insurance and security thread on this forum, anyway once again thank you all, in giving your OPINIONS,and helping us make ours.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Thank you, so in answer to my question, not only is it not recommended, but there is not an insurance company that doesn't have the exclusion, and everyone on sites who leave them are throwing caution to the wind, (or the awning ha ha) of course there is the potential of damaging neighbouring vans also. So ease of build, and removal is paramount then, cheers.

Having read all the posts in this thread No one (apart from you) has claimed that all insurance policies only cover the awnings to when the caravan is in use. I seriously doubt any one has read all the policy T&C's of every policy to be able to give you a copper bottomed answer to that question.

But having been on many camps with Scouts, and at one event the site was struck by a very sudden and severe squall, which lifted many tents on the site and sent them scurrying down the field resulting in a mighty mess of belongings and a lot of damaged canvas bent and broken poles. don't under estimate the power of the wind!

When I was about 7 years old, we went on a caravan trip years ago to the South Downs. this was before it was common to have inside loo's so we also took a toilet tent. The wind was blowing a bit, and my father and big brother decided they'd like to do some kite flying. The problem was they didn't have a kite. I don't know who thought of it, but they decided the toilet tend was close to a box kite if the top was unlaced, so they tried it. I seem to remember it wasn't too successful, but they realised they could reconfigure the frame to make a single wing, and that was a bit more successful, but it needed some additional ballast and I was about the right weight, so I was told to hold onto one of the poles under the wing and run down the hill lifting and holding the pole. I did take off and land about 20 feet further down the hill. Was I the first hang glider?

With increasing occurrence's of stormy weather, it does mean awnings may be damaged or may cause damage to other peoples property if left up over a whole season. You could be held liable for such damage. The risks of an incident increase. But also the materials used in tents and awnings do wear out with the constant movement of the fabric and exposure to sunlight which over time embrittles and weakens the material rendering it more likely to fail. Consequently awnings should be seen as a short term solution.

 

[Buckman]

When I was about 7 years old, we went on a caravan trip years ago to the South Downs. this was before it was common to have inside loo's so we also took a toilet tent. The wind was blowing a bit, and my father and big brother decided they'd like to do some kite flying. The problem was they didn't have a kite. I don't know who thought of it, but they decided the toilet tend was close to a box kite if the top was unlaced, so they tried it. I seem to remember it wasn't too successful, but they realised they could reconfigure the frame to make a single wing, and that was a bit more successful, but it needed some additional ballast and I was about the right weight, so I was told to hold onto one of the poles under the wing and run down the hill lifting and holding the pole. I did take off and land about 20 feet further down the hill. Was I the first hang glider?

I think Icarus beat you there, but thanks for the amusing story although you may not have been amused at the time being +10 foot above the ground. 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

[ProfJohnL]

I think Icarus beat you there, but thanks for the amusing story although you may not have been amused at the time being +10 foot above the ground. 🤣 🤣 🤣

I never said I 10 above the ground I only moved about 20 feet, as I remember I skimmed along with 2 feet of the ground (in both senses). More like an assisted long jump.

 

[Buckman]

I never said I 10 above the ground I only moved about 20 feet, as I remember I skimmed along with 2 feet of the ground (in both senses). More like an assisted long jump.

Maybe you were an early Olympian practising for the long jump? 🤣 🤣

 

[Beachball]

The seasonal we are looking at it says awnings can be left erected from 1st day of season but in our case we might be looking at Fiamma caravanstore roll out awning that easier for me