Got my levelling ramps, BBQ, bottle jack and waste water tank under my R&R bed. Just the canvas of my awning fills the whole floor space of my westy or half the area behind the back seat. The pole bag is 4ft long and nearly a foot wide.
No it wouldn't. The first thing you do when you pitch up is erect the awning. That leaves you with a completely empty cupboard. You're better off filling under the bed with clothes, beer etc and just dumping the awning in on top the bed or the floor just before you set off.
just taken mine to the tip, been in Belguim / Holland for a week and it didn't just rain it hissed it down every day, very heavy at times. was intending to drive to Dusseldorf yesterday then Koblenz and onto Oberwesel to see the Rhine in flames, bet they couldn't even light a squib. So got really Peed off ripped the awning down as every thing was saturated and just finished dumping it poles the lot. now looking for one that doesnt leak and easy to put up. Am I annoyed yep you bet your A***e i am
Have not got a picture of our newish awning , but did camp beside a mate with an airbeam .....put me right off buying one , not that I could afford it but all the same ...
It was a bit of a faff, and hard to anchor as there was a bit of a wind ( not huge) , it also did not seem to steady, probably much better if not on wide open land , it could of course been our lack of experience ....but still for my tastes it lacked that stability you get with poles or roads ....I am sure others love them and will whole heartedly disagree . To be fair prior to this I had looked at them several times but has put me off them ...
I'm starting to bloody hate awnings 1st - you end up taking loads more stuff 2nd - they take ages to put up. I prefer pulling up in the van and cracking a beer, rather than erecting an awning. 3rd - they cause you to fall out with you partner! 4th - when you leave the awning up and got out for a day trip in the van, some idiot always parks where the van is meant to go. We had an amazing view of the sea in Wales, went out for the day, when we came back some idiot had parked in our vans spot blocking our view. He completely ignored our yellow ramps and pitched his tent so close that we would have practically been in bed with him! So we parked elsewhere and had to walk to and from the awning. 5th - takes up loads of room in the van if you are only stopping for a night and can't be bothered to put it up. We took it to Mull, awning up in one place for 3 nights and then everywhere else we stopped was just for one night so didn't bother putting it up. 6th - they take ages to take down and if they are wet you have to put them up again!
I've got a perfect vango airbeam awning listed in classified with carpet, extra groundsheet and fig eight strips included for only 300 quid or decent offer, if anyone fancies If I don't sell it soon need to list on eBay. selling it cos my kid is getting older and prefers privacy of his own tent
I'd love not to take ours although it's a pop up one and doesn't take long it's still a pain. I'd rather handbrake on, roof up and kettle on.
shame you didnt look for one in holland . they have massive camping stores there with outstanding quality tents etc , none of this hi gear rubbish we have here , abit more expensive but three times the quality
Ours isn't to bad to put up, the wife can do it in the time it takes me to drink a beer Fires nice when it's nippy outside and enables us to camp further into the year
@paulcalf, have you thought about just taking one of those sun shade type things, just a couple of poles, guy ropes. Or get a fiamma or thule wind out awning. When we went to France in 2013 we just bought a cheap blue tarp and used that. We have a Khyam Motordome tourer, which is very nice and goes up quick enough, but I agree when you get to a camp site, especially if its taken you a while to get there, your priority is a cuppa or beer, rather than wresting with a tent you stick on the side of your bus
