Essential advice for buying the right awning for your leisure vehicle
What is an awning?
An awning is a fabric extension to your leisure vehicle. It fits on the side of your caravan, motorhome, or campervan, providing extra covered living space. They come in various shapes and sizes, which I’ll explore below.
Why do I need an awning?
If you find your caravan a little small to store all your gubbins (and kids!) when on-site, an awning can double the amount of room you have. It can provide an extra annexe for dining and entertaining, daytime living, storing outdoor leisure kit, a separate pet space or just somewhere for the kids to chill.
If you don’t want to literally ‘chill’, four-season touring fans will find an awning also creates an ‘air-lock’ space between the freezing, windy outdoors and your cosy, warm interior space.
How do I build an awning?
The majority of caravan awnings attach securely to the side of the tourer using the awning rail. The rail is essentially a C-shaped profile metal strip that runs right around the front, back and roof edges on the door side of the caravan (Some caravans have rails on both sides)
A strong and robust cord on the edge of the awning slides into and through this rail, creating a solid connection with the vehicle.
The awning cord can be inserted at the very end of the rail for full awnings, or halfway up the rail for porch awnings.
Once the awning is in position, peg down the base closest to the side of the leisure vehicle, before inserting the awning poles or inflating it. Once the awning is erect, peg the base down fully, and add any extra support poles or inserts. Then, peg out the guy lines.
Finally, make the minor adjustments necessary to ensure the awning sides are taut, and add any accessories such as awning draught skirts.
What are the different types of awnings?
Full awning
A full awning covers the entire side of the caravan and can literally double the living space in your outfit. Full awnings are large and heavy to store and transport, especially those with steel poles.
Porch awning
A porch awning covers a proportion of the side of the caravan or motorhome. It’s connected to the leisure vehicle along the roof line, but the sides are self-supporting. Porch awnings come in a huge range of sizes, from smaller 2m-wide models to large 4.2m versions.
The former is just for storage and insulation purposes, while the bigger one provides useful living space.
When buying a porch awning, you should choose a size that covers the door but one where its sides don’t cross the windows or hatches and prevent them from being opened.
Drive-away awning
Motorhome and campervan owners will appreciate a rigid awning that can be quickly detached from the vehicle, allowing them to drive away without too much hassle.
Drive-away awnings feature a cowl roof panel between the main body of the awning and the side of the leisure vehicle, to stop wind and rain getting in.
These cowls can be temporarily fixed in place with long straps. Alternatively, you can use a drive-away/’limpit’ kit containing a kador strip and a ‘figure-of-eight’ strip to go between the awning cord on the cowl and the awning rail on the side of the vehicle.
Whichever you choose, the awning can be quickly detached, allowing you to drive away for your day out or a shopping trip.
Wind-out awnings
For the ‘elbow-grease-allergic’ touring fan and those that tour in warmer climes, a wind-out awning could be a great option.
These are long, slim metal casings, that are permanently fixed to the vehicle across the top of the door side panel.
To erect them, you simply wind the awning roof fabric out of the tube with a winder handle. You then secure the front of the roof panel with supporting legs and guy ropes. In sunnier countries, where you just need some shade or protection from the odd shower, wind-out awnings are ideal.
However, most designs also feature optional side panels that can be added to create a fully-enclosed space in cooler weather.
Pole Awnings
Traditionally, only pole awnings were available, and most came with a bag full of heavy steel poles. In recent times, many manufacturers have begun offering lightweight composite poles as an option.
In my experience, there’s nothing quite as smart as a well-erected Isabella pole awning, with its tight sides and robust design. I remember on the weekend of the Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee, we were caught in a wicked storm in North Devon.
I watched from our caravan as 50mph winds battered the site, certain that the Isabella awning opposite would be in Wales by morning. How wrong I was. That beautifully-built awning didn’t flap a bit, never mind fly away.
For long-term pitching, and when the weather’s going to be really bad, a pole awning can’t be beaten. However, if I were an underworked chiropractor, I’d also recommend them!
Air awnings
Air-filled awnings have been around since at least the 1950s, but it’s in the last decade that they’ve come to the fore, as advances in materials technology have meant they are sufficiently durable and robust, and will stay fully inflated for days, before needing a little top-up.
I love air awnings. They typically weigh only around 75% as much as their pole awning equivalents; there’s no pole bag to store, and, best of all, they erect in about 10 minutes.
Feed the cord into the rail, insert the pump connector and in a minute or so, you have a shaped-up awning.
This speed advantage is particularly important in bad weather… or if you have to put your awning away wet and have to re-erect it at home to dry out.
How do I choose the right awning?
Just ask these simple questions and the awning gurus at Raymond James Caravans or your local shop, will help you shortlist the most appropriate awnings:
- What amount of space do you need?
- Consider how often you will use the awning.
- Determine the duration each awning will remain up during your trips.
- Do you prefer pole or air-supported awnings?
- Set your budget for the purchase.
- Are you comfortable setting up a pole awning, or is the quick setup of an inflatable model more to your liking?
- Identify the model of your caravan or motorhome to find the best fitting awning.
- For a full awning, measure your caravan’s A-measurement—the length of the awning rail in centimetres. Assess the appropriate size for a porch awning based on your caravan’s door, windows, lockers, and vents.
- Awnings from well-known, reputable manufacturers are made of robut and long-lasting waterproof materials. This is something you can’t guarantee with cheap imported awnings found on the web. So, while some deals may look like bargains in the medium or long-term, it may pay you to invest a bit more in your awning purchase.
Awning accessories
Here’s a range of accessories that can enhance your awning-living, and keep your awning in tip-top condition:
• Awning carpet. These hardwearing nylon mats minimise grass, sand or dirt getting into your caravan via your shoes or feet. Buy one to match the size of your awning. They’re also handy for building your awning on, if wet or muddy conditions.
• Awning annexes. Some brands now offer ‘zip-on’ additional rooms for your awning. These are typically used as extra bedrooms.
• Awning cleaner. Keep your awning looking smart with a spray cleaner to remove dirt, sap, marks and bird muck. Isabella Isaclean costs £12.95 for a one-litre spray, but cheaper options are available.
• Inflatable windbreak. In open-plan campsites, it’s easy to use a windbreak to mark your space, provide some privacy and to actually act as a windbreak!
• Hardground pegs or Rock pegs. These super-tough tent pegs are designed for use on hard and rocky ground. Some designs screw into the ground for added grip.
• Cordless drill. From around £45, you can get a cordless drill, which, combined with a long masonry drill bit for pre-drilling, will make it much easier to hammer pegs into hard ground.
With the correct socket attachment, you can also use it for winding your corner steadies.
• Double-action pump. From as little as £12, you can purchase one of these pumps. It makes inflating air awnings super-quick.
• Electric pumps are available to minimise the effort required to erect an air awning. The Kampa electric pump costs from just £4.99 at RJC.
• Raymond James Caravans offers a wide range of lightweight, stylish and durable furniture that’s both practical and comfortable, to enhance your awning living.
Contact Raymond James Caravans to enquire about top-quality awnings from Isabella, Dometic, Telta, Westfield and Soplair. Alternatively, you can explore the RJC’s selection of pre-owned awnings.
RJC’s awning experts will always help you make the right choice.