Putting up a large awning advice

[Bazzel33]

Can anyone advise the best way to put a large awning up please. We have an 8m caravan and a full size dorema pole awning.

Last year when we was putting the awning up in France we had majority of the poles in and then wind picked up, causing the awning to collapse and scratch the van (we had 3 of the 5 roof poles on, and 3 of the 5 legs. We had not zipped the sides on the awning at this point.

I am terrified of this happening again and causing more damage to the caravan.

How and what order do you put the awning up?
Do you peg the awning as you go?
Do you put the sides and front of the awning on before? (I've seen people put their awnings away leaving the sides and front zipped in place)

Any advise would be great.

Thanks

 

[otherclive]

Can anyone advise the best way to put a large awning up please. We have an 8m caravan and a full size dorema pole awning.

Last year when we was putting the awning up in France we had majority of the poles in and then wind picked up, causing the awning to collapse and scratch the van (we had 3 of the 5 roof poles on, and 3 of the 5 legs. We had not zipped the sides on the awning at this point.

I am terrified of this happening again and causing more damage to the caravan.

How and what order do you put the awning up?
Do you peg the awning as you go?
Do you put the sides and front of the awning on before? (I've seen people put their awnings away leaving the sides and front zipped in place)

Any advise would be great.

Thanks

I used to follow the makers instructions. Dorema do videos on how to assemble it. But in occasions I would use a few precautionary pegs if breezy, and my wife would be around if required to lend a hand. There were some times when I would defer if the wind was too lively.

 

[Buckman]

If there is a hint of wind , we always peg down the outer most corners. You will never want the awning to blow over the top of the caravan and get stuck there with poles still attached.

 

[audiorob]

Not had a full awning for many years but even on my porch I put the front corner guys in while I build the rest - once self supporting I move and re - tension the guys as needed then ped front and rear corners before adding all the intermediate pegs.

 

[Mel]

I seem to think that there was a helpful video on you tube of an Isabella awning being erected. They used the poles in a self supporting way. However, we were rubbish at it and share your anxiety,
Can I suggest an air awning? (Runs and hides whilst other forum users say that air awnings are really difficult and poles are better.)
Mel

 

[GaryB]

I seem to think that there was a helpful video on you tube of an Isabella awning being erected. They used the poles in a self supporting way. However, we were rubbish at it and share your anxiety,
Can I suggest an air awning? (Runs and hides whilst other forum users say that air awnings are really difficult and poles are better.)
Mel

That was one of the reasons we switched to an air awning. My wife is on the short side and trying to put up a poled awning was proving a challenge when the wind picked up, we tried full and smaller poled awnings but found that an air awning allowed me to put the awning up on my own while she did other stuff (still not quite figured out what exactly yet.......). Air awnings have many drawbacks and I don't necessarily believe that they are actually "better" than a poled awning, but in some instances they are easier for some folks.

 

[borderbilly]

Me and my awning get on great, 100%. Reason? I leave it in the shed when I go away. No hassle on site, no packing away at end of stay, the list goes on! Ain't caravaning without a awning brilliant!

 

[Deleted member 23278]

For those of you who have found the need of the Tumbleweed gif here it is...


...there are so many posts that would benefit from its inclusion...

 

[Deleted member 23278]

I leave it in the shed when I go away.

From your posts on here I can see how your awning benefits - being locked in a shed may be considered preferable to your being in your presence...

 

[Buckman]

We cannot understand why people have such a fear or erecting an awning? OH and myself have always had a poled awnings and never an issue erecting them even when we were novices. However it is always advisable to read the instructions first.

 

[Dustydog]

I can only speak for Isabella. Only the roof without any doors is threaded through the rail.
Centre roof pole attached and centre upright. Both tensioned and canvas pegged at bottom. SWMBO holds the centre pole and thereafter I attach the two end roof rails and uprights. The poles link into the canvas at the bottoms and hold it reasonably well.
The special Storm straps are attached to the two end roof poles. QED. Never blown away but as said by Buckman best not erected in wind😉. It does get easier with experience. Have you marked the poles with tape so you can quickly see which one goes where? Colour tapes works well

 

[borderbilly]

From your posts on here I can see how your awning benefits - being locked in a shed may be considered preferable to your being in your presence...

Your replys flatter yourself.

 

[JTQ]

As soon as the roof, minus sides and front panels has been run round the rail, I peg the two front corner tails of fabric down, plus any front centre tail, so if the lot ballons it is going nowhere. At that stage the pegging positioning is not important, what is, is anchoring the whole thing down; I leave plenty of slack as the next stage is to add in place as one operation te centre rafter and its vertical front pole.

The whole is then "almost" fixed, just needs the extreme ends pegged down to stop any chance of it sliding sideways. then its "Fixed" and time to relax and accept that drink.
Coming back on job, its one side at a time to fit the front rafters and the corner verticals, leaning these with the base well towards the van; that is stable, till you put in the side rafters and straighten and approximately fully extend and peg the attended corner. Again no precision needed, it's just security at this stage.
In this now secure state zip in the windward panel, be that a side or front, immediately pinning the centre skirt to the ground; again with no precision just to "tame it". Much of this initial pegging can be done with rock pegs as often these can simply be pushed in with no hunt the club hammer., Except those first two front tail anchors they need to be really secure.
The rest to follow, extra rafters and sides all go in as they come to hand.
Then we address precision pegging, the start here is the two extreme side ones abutting the van side, "A" measurement points.
Next tension roof rafters and front "gable" poles. [inserting any canopy poles and the front "poletts".
Following these place the two front corners, "dancing" the poles up and down a bit in your hand "feeling" the required tension and best fit location, On falling or rising ground it may be impossible to have a perfect side panel set, there can be a diagonal crease.
Systematically set all the rest of the pegs.

Taking down reverse the procedure leaving the centre rafter and its vertical to the last poles to come out
But fundamentally, have those front tails pegged down till all poles are removed.

Edit: I do "prefer" to be left alone, its only in extreme wind do I "need" the mass of a helper to best cope with what is a significant sail. Only myself to sour relationships with if I **** any bit up, tend to support the assertion awning can be a "divorce in a bag", and are certainly something that is way easier to live with if you know what you are doing. Erecting an awning can end up being a satisfying element of our hobby, and so nice to have, good weather or bad. my "tenter pedigree" coming through?

 

[trevormonty]

Me and my awning get on great, 100%. Reason? I leave it in the shed when I go away. No hassle on site, no packing away at end of stay, the list goes on! Ain't caravaning without a awning brilliant!

That is recipe for happy marriage.

 

[Buckman]

We now prefer to use our sun canopy. Easy to set up.

 

[Deleted member 23278]

Your replys flatter yourself.

Correct - but only partly so...

 

[Mel]

For those of you who have found the need of the Tumbleweed gif here it is...

View attachment 7336
...there are so many posts that would benefit from its inclusion...

Don’t really understand how so many posts would benefit from its inclusion, other than to wind up or be dismissive of other posters. Whilst this seems to be rife on FB, it would not be in the spirit of this forum and I would suggest that the use of this gif is considered carefully.
Mel

 

[CEWWTyke]

Can anyone advise the best way to put a large awning up please. We have an 8m caravan and a full size dorema pole awning.

Last year when we was putting the awning up in France we had majority of the poles in and then wind picked up, causing the awning to collapse and scratch the van (we had 3 of the 5 roof poles on, and 3 of the 5 legs. We had not zipped the sides on the awning at this point.

I am terrified of this happening again and causing more damage to the caravan.

How and what order do you put the awning up?
Do you peg the awning as you go?
Do you put the sides and front of the awning on before? (I've seen people put their awnings away leaving the sides and front zipped in place)

Any advise would be great.

Thanks

We too have an 8m extra wide caravan. In our limited experience of this season, we have put up and taken down our full size poled Isabella awning 6 times. The last two times we have done it without resorting to the Isabella video.

We use awning rail glide every time we put the awning up, it makes pulling it through the rail rather easy.

We put the entire awning up at once, the weight helps prevent it lifting and flying around. I’ve not managed to persuade my husband to try it without the sides in.

We had to take it down once in gusts of 30 mph and that took four of us, the two of us, the site owner and another caravanner.

We’ve decided big awnings are hard work especially when knocking in close to 100 pegs, even with the peg system that we have that saves kneeling down. However our Isabella has stayed fully in position in 60moh gusts that lasted for over 24 hours so we know it won’t let us down.

 

[Buckman]

We too have an 8m extra wide caravan. In our limited experience of this season, we have put up and taken down our full size poled Isabella awning 6 times. The last two times we have done it without resorting to the Isabella video.

We use awning rail glide every time we put the awning up, it makes pulling it through the rail rather easy.

We put the entire awning up at once, the weight helps prevent it lifting and flying around. I’ve not managed to persuade my husband to try it without the sides in.

We had to take it down once in gusts of 30 mph and that took four of us, the two of us, the site owner and another caravanner.

We’ve decided big awnings are hard work especially when knocking in close to 100 pegs, even with the peg system that we have that saves kneeling down. However our Isabella has stayed fully in position in 60moh gusts that lasted for over 24 hours so we know it won’t let us down.

If you are threading it through the rail with the sides in, it must be extremely heavy? Most people would remove the sides on a full size awning before erecting it. We do not have the sides in when we erect our much smaller porch awning. Makes life a lot simpler and easier.

 

[Dustydog]

If you are threading it through the rail with the sides in, it must be extremely heavy? Most people would remove the sides on a full size awning before erecting it. We do nto have the sides in when we erect our much smaller porch awning. Makes life a lot simpler and easier.

You made me wonder if there really people out there who do not remove all the fronts and sides when decamping. I cannot imagine in a million years being able to fold it all up and get it in the bag!🤪

 

[Buckman]

You made me wonder if there really people out there who do not remove all the fronts and sides when decamping. I cannot imagine in a million years being able to fold it all up and get it in the bag!🤪

Many years ago we were on site and watched a couple erecting the frame first and then they tried dragging the awning over the frame. Eventually someone went over to them and explained how it should be done.

 

[otherclive]

Many years ago we were on site and watched a couple erecting the frame first and then they tried dragging the awning over the frame. Eventually someone went over to them and explained how it should be done.

Why didn’t you go across and offer a few sage words of advice. Although it can be intriguing watching people particularly if a “divorce” is imminent 😂

 

[Buckman]

Why didn’t you go across and offer a few sage words of advice. Although it can be intriguing watching people particularly if a “divorce” is imminent 😂

At first I was not sure what they wanted to do and did not want to interfere. It was only when they started trying to pull the awning over the frame we realised that something was not right.

 

[Dustydog]

Why didn’t you go across and offer a few sage words of advice. Although it can be intriguing watching people particularly if a “divorce” is imminent 😂

Maybe he didn’t fancy the husband😆😆

 

[kbrad]

Follow the Isabella video on you tube,keep all doors on.The Isabella guy has perfect conditions and must be 6 ft 6” tall so bear this in mind.We put it up this way and we are only 5ft. 6”.We use a small stepladder to attach poles to van