Porch Awning erection

[Surfer]

Why is it that manufacturers are so econimical with the erection of awnings. Generally all you get are instructions about fitting the poles together and that is about it. No suggestions on the best location for the poles, tensioning, and the bits of groundsheet at the bottom of the awning or any other handy hints. You have to obtain these hints from forums such as this one on Practical Magazine. That is my whinge for the day and now a question about Bradcot Portico awnings.

I do not have a problem putting up my Dorema full size awning as that is fairly straight forward and we get it erected in well under an hour but this little Portico seems to bamboozle logic.

I can get the front bits and pieces in place but when it comes to the rear bit one has the top frame pole with a hook thing on it and then a pole that is up against the van that has a closed hook on it. It appears that the idea is to hook the two together and then hook it all into a piece of plastic that then fits up against your van. This then slides onto the awning and everything is held in place but somehow I am not sure if I am doing it right because there is no mention in the instructions about this part. Advice and help will truly be appreciated. And I thought porch awnings were a 5 miniute job!

 

[RayS]

Agree that a porch can be very misleading. Have Dorema with many more parts than the previous full sized awning.

Only suggestion is to take you time - perhaps at home ? and construct the frame, then mark the matching ends with bands of coloured insulating tape. you will probably need at least three colours, although of course red/white/red is different than white/red/white. All this looks not too wonderful, but hardly anyone actually looks into the roof, and most that do will say - "hey what a great idea". Plan your colour markings in advance and remember which convention for "right" and "left" you have used i.e. facing towards the van or away from it. sorry if this sounds a bit elaborate, but I assure you it will cut dwon the time needed.

 

[Sean_5041551]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I will be interested to see the replies to your question, as I have considered the Portico Plus for next year.

Sean

 

[Noproblems_5041246]

I thought 'buy a porch awning it will be simpler'. Ah the benfit of hindsight. I am sure a full wning is far easier to erect - you do not have poles against the 'van trying to keep the fabric against the side of the body - the awning rail does hat for you. Plus you get more room to work in AND far more pace once erected. In the last year+ we have not bothered putting up the awning.

 

[ray_5039995]

i have had three full size awnings over the years, after my arm was twisted ,by the missus, we opted for a porch as ,her words, what ever the size we still manage fill it up with junk/ worst mistake i ever made .the thing was a nightmare to errect .poles falling out of one side whilst doing the other side. the fitting to the walls the hooky bits would never fit properly. i finished up putting those screwup things on the ends of every piece to ensure it didnt fall out whilst trying to put it up .

it neverlooked right at all took me over a hour to put up <on my own> . wife would walk the dogs whilst i struggled ,didnt like the language. i sold it in my local free ads this september as soon as i finished touring and bought a full size again. peace restored

 

[Ian_5040598]

And I thought it was just me! Have to admit the people at Bradcot phoned me and were very helpful with advice, but it still did not help me get it up any quicker. I would suggest that manufacturers add some more pictures to their instructions like showing the inside of the awning once erected oo how the poles are married together in thier little corners under the awning. I am very tempted to dump it in favour of the Sun scenic porch awning.

 

[Mike_5041089]

Ian - the simplest solution I've found is to borrow a few Viagra pills from a friend, put several down each awning pole and hey presto it's up in no time at all!

 

[Eric_5040318]

Having had all the frustartions of the puting up of porch awnings I parted with just over