Walker Awnings

[Mel]

Next season we are planning to leave an awning up on our seasonal pitch during the summer (3 months). Having a jolly time considering all our options. Looked at full poled awnings from Dorema, Isabella, Bradcot etc. All good. However, also come across Walker awnings. These are made by a Dutch company and are reportedly very good quality. Thing is display awnings are tricky to find.
Does anyone have any experience of this awning.
Thanks in advance.
Mel

 

[thosoneill]

Walker awnings are a favourite choice of hymer/eriba owners - that alone must say something of there quality

 

[Hutch]

Mel, I have seen a few of them in use in France by the Dutch, koed very good.
Also found this page.
http://www.walker-awnings.co.uk/retailers/

 

[swpostie]

I was quite interested in the Walker Concept awning - a heavyweight PVC awning that was a similar spec to the PVC Eurovent/Trigano Montreux.

The Walker uses a slightly heavier canvas than the Montreux and I think the poles may be a tad bigger but the Montreux has a lot more poles!

The Walker looks a bit more stylish than the Montreux but costs about 60% more.

The Montreux also comes with a cotton roof liner.

 

[Martin24]

Hello Mel, hope you are both fine and dandy.

Just been looking on Hutches link and the write up by the retailer I looked at, seems to claiming they are better than an Isabella. The descriptions though just seem a bit more Bradcot. It would be interesting to see them side by side. As an Isabella fan I would take a lot of convincing. Nothing we have owned has gone up as easily, or looked as good once up.

Good luck and keep us updated on progress.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Mel.
Never seen a Walker but I suspect the quality is in the detail.
My Kampa air is pvc type. It needs a roof lining to stop condensation.
The Isabella is a heavy duty canvas. It's worth checking the Denier rating of the awnings you short list.
A seasonal awning needs to be fairly robust to withstand high winds. The Isabella storm straps are internal and anchor the actual frame rather than the canvas as in the Walker. Nothing short of carbon fibre would be my order of the day.
Overall like Martin I will need convincing the Walker will make a good seasonal.
Whereas I know first hand the Isabella can handle whatever's blown at it.
However where price is important the Izzies are not cheap.

 

[otherclive]

Our Trigano Pop top came with a brand new Walker awning and its easily the quality of our previous Isabella awnings. The poles are grp made by Campion, a Danish company who I believe make the poles for Isabella too. If not they are very similar in style and quality. Here's link to their website.http://www.campion-production.com

 

[Sproket]

Hello Mel

This is the awning that i will be buying for next season having enjoyed our first full season on a season pitch but the awning that i have up at the moment has degraded with the sun which i was expecting but i accepted that would happen when i bought it. So rather than buying another of the same type and only getting possibly two seasons out of it, when this one comes down in mid December the one in the link will be put up and although it's expensive hopefully it will work out cheaper in the long run.

 

[Dustydog]

Well well. Sir Sproket is also an Izzy fan :cheer:
I've noticed over the years that the CC wardens awnings are either Isabella or Bradcot. Maybe that tells you something about seasonals?
Steve what you are buying will go up and down very easily. Ask Martin and Jenny.
Does that mean there will be another Kampa air for sale in the spring
Bags I sell mine first B)

 

[Mel]

Thank you everyone. I agree that the Izzy is probably the superior awning, however for a full awning it is several hundred pound more than a Walker ( or Dorema etc). May be money well spent in the long run provided we don't change the van. I suppose we could have it resized. :dry:
I am tempted to give the Walker a punt, however I am planning lots of trips to caravan awning emporia, shows and whatever to check out the market. B) :cheer:

BTW Sir DD the awning can only stay up in the summer ( very sensible site rules) so the Kampa will definitely not be on eBay.
Mel

 

[Dustydog]

Mel.
The one Sproket is buying will fit most caravans. Ie a very big porch awning no smaller than a "sized"one but with flexibility for the next caravan.
Food for thought maybe

 

[Sproket]

Does that mean there will be another Kampa air for sale in the spring
Bags I sell mine first B)

The Kampa is staying
The Isabella Universal is available in 360 or 420 Walker Maxi is available in 300 or 380

 

[Martin24]

Mel, we went from a full down to the ordinary Magnum and it's been plenty big enough for us. The girls had stopped using the full one as a play pen. We happily fit our two chairs, storage cupboard, shoe crates and dog crate in there along with room for the wheelchair as well. We were pleasantly surprised. When we changed the van last, the fitting of the awning so it wasn't cutting across any windows was a deal breaker. That shows how much we put this awning first.

The Bradcots previously were very good just more of a fiddle to put up. Quality wise though no problems and if only putting up once a year the ease I suppose isn't such a big issue. What we did do with these though was cable tie the adjustable peg ladders to their hooks to save time.

 

[alan29]

We are on a seasonal pitch and have a Walker awning. A Europa 250.
Its made of tencate material and uses the identical poles to Isabella - the spares are interchangeable.
I bought it off e-bay for £105. Had it for 5 years now. reckon it must be at least 10 years old.
It only started to show its age last year - some slight damage to the mudflap where it got tangled with a steel peg in a gale. Not the awnings fault!
It's going back on the van next month when it comes out of winter storage.
A real quality bit of kit.
Even though ours was an e-bay bargain, I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with another new one.