Advice on Vango Air Beam for new Cali please

[alwhi98]

Hi,
Just bought Cali and looking at getting a Vango Air Beam Awning.
Just wondered if they are easy to attach bearing in mind that our Cali has an integral Wind Out Awning and therefore not able to use the roof gutter I assume.
Really grateful for some advice.
Cheers

 

[Bramco]

Hi,

We use 3 figure of eight connectors slid onto the Vango awning, then wind out the awning on the van a bit, drop the connectors in (easier said than done of course) and then wind the awning back in trapping the connectors and hey presto the awning is attached to the van.

Hope that makes sense. I guess the other alternative is to use the straps over the top of the van to the other side. These are included in the Vango when you buy it.

Simon

 

[alwhi98]

Cheers Simon - that all makes sense.

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

As above, very easy, and you can put them up in under ten minutes, as we demonstrated at COTF 2014. We will have the new stock of 2015 awnings, around march next year, and will be offering a similar VIP offer as this year

 

[Ma77sc]

Pic here - viewtopic.php?f=125&t=6160&hilit=kela#p55618, that shows the Fig-8 strip (x 3 sections) on the top 'rail' of the awning (ignore the Kador strip at the bottom). Not sure if that's what Bramco's suggesting but it's what I do and it works well in that it's cheap, not at all faffy and raises the awning high enough to stop the door catching it.

One problem I need to tackle is the gap between the awning and the wing mirror / front window pillar in that depending on the wind and rain, a fair bit of water can get in making the stuff in the 'porch' damp. I'll save that investigation for April 2015 though.

 

[teeboy]

I use the 3xfigure of 8 - onto the top of the awning method and I am happy with it.

In really heavy rain you can get drips from where the figure of 8's join.

I did give someone a hand fixing an airbeam directly onto the awning gap in the roll out awning (without a Kador) - it is a faff as you have to drive the van onto the awning, but it gives a very tidy finish which will be watertight. Problem is it needs 3 people. 1 to guide the awning in at the front, one to help it in at the back and one to drive the van!!!

T

 

[DavidApp]

There is no getting around the gap at the front, you cannot get the side flaps flush with the van. We used our awning for the first time at Beautiful Days last weekend. Overall I am happy with the awning, it's easy to put up and provides a lot of space. My main issue with the awning is the doors. Unless you have the fly screens zipped up the door frames have no rigidity. What you end up with only the door panel closed is a flap at the bottom and every time you undo the door, the bottom flaps in and all the rain runs into the tent. I'm currently drying ours out in the garden and there was a shower earlier. Even with the main front door closed there are only three crappy patches of Velcro to hold the bottom of the door closed. So rain ran off the door, the bottom of the groundsheet fell outside the bottom of the door and a puddle gathered inside the tent. The groundsheet areas below the doors should be higher and of a thicker material. I also don't like the additional groundsheet as water gathers on it underneath the awning groundsheet.

Vango should have made the fixed groundsheet on the awning a little more robust. Unless I have an older model and Vango have addressed this?

 

[Nigel]

My tango airway kela arrived all in one big bag... I have never been able to get everything back in the bag. I'm sure when they pack them at the factory they must laugh knowing it will never go back in the bag the same way.. I also have never been able to get a good seal against the van so when it rains water pools on the inside groundsheet. I does however only take about 10 mins to erect.

 

[teeboy]

Same problem with the water pooling on the ground sheet, we just fold the ground sheet under the tent in heavy rain as normally the grass let's the water drain away pretty well.

We do find that the Kela is the best tent we have ever had for getting back into the bag. If we are showing off we can also get the groundsheet bag also into the tent bag.

Do you roll the pegs, pump, straps etc into the middle of the tent and then roll around them?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[Bramco]

We've found the trick to getting it back in the bag is not to use the internal tent - fits every time. Simples as the rodents would say.

 

[nottsknight]

Hi,
Just bought Cali and looking at getting a Vango Air Beam Awning.
Just wondered if they are easy to attach bearing in mind that our Cali has an integral Wind Out Awning and therefore not able to use the roof gutter I assume.
Really grateful for some advice.
Cheers

We have recently purchased a Vango Kella 2 Airbeam for our Cali. We have the wind out awning - if you wind out say 100mm you will see a slot with accepts a figure of 8 connector to the awning (you will need to purchase separately) - make the connection and wind the integral awning back in. The only issue is that the wind out awning projects from the van which means that the elasticated edge to the awning passage does not fit tight against the van - this does not bother us. Hope helps.