Awning blew up and is damaged

[Ch1pbutty]

The specific bracket is actually a VW part, not a Thule part. The part no's are on the brackets. Careful: the front and back bracket have different part no's!!

£159.99 at the Club shop:

Thule Omnistor 5102 Full Roll-Out Awning California

Thule Omnistor 5102 Full Roll-Out Awning California for use VW T5 T6, T6.1 Same as the factory roll out awning. With fitting kit and rain seal.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Perfectos]

£159.99 at the Club shop:

Thule Omnistor 5102 Full Roll-Out Awning California

Thule Omnistor 5102 Full Roll-Out Awning California for use VW T5 T6, T6.1 Same as the factory roll out awning. With fitting kit and rain seal.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Also from CVT site slightly cheaper

 

[calikev]

just order the one you need

 

[Borris]

And don't drop the leg at the door end like I did last night. The ground is now a boggy mess just where you need to walk.

Currently camping in a C and MH site at Winchcombe. I've just woken up having nodded off whilst reading my book. During those forty winks the rain had increased to cats and dogs. Unfortunately because I had previously leveled up the awning after last night's rain in order to prepare our breakie, it was now sagging in the middle from the weight of at least thirty thousand gallons of very cold water.
In order to relieve the groaning structure I did the first thing that came to mind which was to push upwards on the distended awning canvas. The result was a sudden deluge onto the already boggy grass entrance.

It will soon be time to swing out the life boats!

---

 

[Wogga]

I leave mine out most of the time, I always use pegs in the legs and the storm straps. However I am mindful of the weather forecast and as soon as gusts are mentioned I wind it in overnight not had it lift yet even though the gusts have tried and give it a bang the pegs in the legs certainly do a better job than the storm straps alone. Interstining video to watch

 

[Perfectos]

The conclusion I drew from that vid :

all awnings, if left out, will damage your van in high winds !

 

[Karlos]

As soon as we were free after lockdown last year we had a few days on a small site in Somerset, sat outside the Cali without the awning out a family pulled up with a twin axle caravan and so started one of my favourite past times (watching people set up) Whilst watching the guy came over admired the Cali and asked why I didn't have the awning out. Too windy I told him and he laughed, it's only a slight breeze he remarked. he went back to his Caravan and set about rolling his awning out, it was a beast of a thing virtually the full length of his unit with legs that seem to slide out of the roller drum.

10 minutes later I was helping him haul the twisted mess that used to be his awning back over the caravan roof. He never said a word except THANKS.

 

[icic]

Yea be careful Jenny, it could happen even if you have it pegged down, when you are packing it away, a gust could do the same thing! Especially if you are solo camping like I am!
I feel a bit daft because I just left mine out all night and if this had happened when I was asleep it would probably have been worse! I never considered it because wind is not that bad. I was in the van and heard a bang and it was up in the air! I was able to pull it down quickly. Doesn’t seem too much damage other than the bracket at the rear. But it feels solid so It should be ok to drive home and assess properly.

We have the Thule tie downs, when winding in if it’s breezy, we keep the tie downs attached throughout the process, just slacken of the straps each time we wind in a bit and then move the legs, takes a bit longer but means it’s still got the tie downs attached if there is a big gust, works well as there is so much extra length on the tie down

 

[Perfectos]

It’s not just wind out awnings that fly like a kite

I had one of those concertina type pull out Gazeebos with a steel frame.
I was setting it up for an event, calm sunny day.
I was doing it solo about 30 feet away from the Cali.
When I had the structure pulled out half way, a sudden gust of wind ripped it from my grasp and took it about 10 feet in the air!
it was heading directly toward the Cali as it came down,
luckily I managed to run towards the van as it came down, grabbed a leg and pulled the whole thing to the floor, the whole lot smashed to the floor in a crumbling mess, fortunately the leading edge missed the van by a few feet .
The consequences of that striking the van does not bear thinking about

morale of the story:
two of more people are required when erecting anything that has the ability to catch a gust of wind, particularly when it’s near anything else that can be damaged. (Including other people)

 

[hirsty]

Awning on my first van flew up totally out of the blue on an otherwise perfectly still day in Highlands - sheared one bracket completely & had to remove / stow the whole unit inside for the long journey home ...

I now always put at least one tent peg through each leg & have the very heavy duty yellow Fiamma straps for when using it for longer - an expensive lesson could've been a very expensive lesson if it'd gouged a 2m arc across the side on the way back down.

 

[Tony hylton]

IMO,
It’s just not worth leaving the awning out unattended/overnight, pegged or not.

I remember a few years back at the Italian Lakes. Beautiful day, sunbathing at the waters edge. Within minutes, a fierce wind blew in. Ran back to the van and wound the awning in. The Caravan opposite had his awning pegged down very well. It ripped half off...
Proper nightmare.

Ever since, I only use the awning whilst at the van. As others have said. Drop one leg lower than the other. Let’s the rain run off...

Agreed ,don't leave it out at night, for five minutes extra work , wind it in

 

[SimonB]

We use the awning quite a lot and have two types of tie-downs. The one below that goes over the bars and is a very firm support and the other type attach to the Kador strip that goes along the outer edge of the awning and come out at right angles to the wall with the big window in it. Both types have a spring in them which helps to absorb some of the shock load from strong gusts. At Highland End in Bridport last year we had a meal in the awning and as the wind was so strong we had to use both sets of tie-downs. Loz had some plates that he screwed into the soil around the foot of the extending poles. When we took the awning down we had 5 adults holding it down and the last person was quickly taking off the awning walls and then winding in the awning.

That was the strongest wind I have had so far in the 5½ years we have had a Cali. I had bought a anemometer which was registering 50.8mph.
I personally wouldn't rely on the awning room being pegged down firmly as being enough to hold the awning safely in high winds. There are often strong gusts and the awning room just increases the area for these gusts to blow against. Watch how fast a dingy goes under sail in an estuary and you probably have a similar amount of canvas as them.

There have been some posts above about water pooling on the awning and causing problems. There was a curved rafter pro made by Thule which made a slight dome in the roof of the awning so the water ran off before becoming an issue.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

. There was a curved rafter pro made by Thule which made a slight dome in the roof of the awning so the water ran off before becoming an issue.

Avoid the curved rafter as it can stretch the awning fabric over time. Thule also do a straight Spring loaded one (G2?) but you need a small additional adaptor (£5) which screws into the outside edge to make it fit the Omnistor properly.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

Awnings and roofs are the biggest cause of California grief. So far we have been lucky with the Awning although we are now on our Second Awning not through wind damage but due to The dreaded “Seam” coming unglued. Replaced under warranty..The roof material was caught in the mechanism, luckily it wasn’t severe but caused a small crease in the alloy roof. which was totally repaired and even looking along the roof line you can’t see anything at all, a perfect repair.

 

[SusiBus]

The cost of having the roof repaired makes me just consider the awning as a sun shade only.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Similar thing happened to us two years a go. We had an overnight stay at a campsite in Oban prior to taking the ferry to Mull.

Sunny early evening, awning out, beers, new puppy curled up on front seat. I was feeling just a tiny bit smug and started to FaceTime my daughter Meg when a squall arrived out of nowhere. I could see the awning legs hovering 6” above the ground (that’s SO cool I thought) .…then all h*ll broke loose. The awning took off and wrapped around the van’s roof. I dropped the phone but not the connection - Meg said it was like watching Dorothy’s house lift off in The Wizard of Oz. “My parents have just been blown away!” she told her boyfriend.
In the background she could hear a man shouting at her Mum - in my defence there was a massive spider with metal legs dancing on the roof of my van.
The squall left as quick as it arrived. Puppy found shaking in passenger footwell. It was genuinely scary and several lessons were learnt:

1. Calis are great, but don’t get smug.
2. Never EVER shout at your partner.
3. Secure your awning. Always.

 

[Soton Campers]

Me too, I won’t leave mine unattended and won’t even bother winding it out if there’s anything more than a gentle breeze.

Can I ask - does the Comfortz Awning Room reduce the risk? I guess it does because it’s pegged down all round and stops the worst of the wind getting in and under the awning canopy.

Take it from me, it doesn't!

 

[WelshGas]

Question.
Would you put a pop up tent or drive away awning out without carefully pegging it down?
If the weather allows the roof up, then my awning is out, but it is properly pegged down with Rock Pegs that have to be inserted with a hefty mallet.
2 pegs for each leg and each at an angle. Then a Brandrup guy rope fixed in the awning channel around the rear of the leg and set at 45o to the leading edge and secured with 2 Rock Pegs, once again at an angle into the ground. One guy for each leg. Then the awning is tensioned against the pull of the guys.
At night or if raining you can do one of two things. Drop both legs and adjust guys so that the awning slopes away from the awning cassette or just one leg so the awning is angled towards the direction the wind/rain is coming from.
No flapping of awning or pooling of water and this is because the awning fabric is tensioned there is no way the awning can be properly tensioned without using suitable guys to provide a counter pull.

 

[Beachbum140]

What is the point of having an awning if up have to pull it in every time there is a breeze? We learned the hard way with our awning being blown over thebroof of the van. Now whe we stop i put two guide ropes on each leg, and two diametrically opposite pegs in the feet. For good measure I hang two sandbags over each leg to weigh it down. Sorted!

 

[Chilly Cali]

Hard lines, finding out what the wind is capable of on such a new van.
We had similar incident early in our lives with ‘Connie’, but caught it just in time. I looked at the tie down kits, but actually just use some good old heavy duty para cord and a couple of massive pegs. You don’t need to tension it down at all, it’s just to stop the awning lifting - the wind will provide all the tension! When it’s not blowing, the cord just needs to be taught enough to stop any fretting at the pegs.

I had seen the ‘one short leg’ trick on plenty of awnings for years before I ever owned the van, always perplexed me until I woke up one night to the sound of half a tonne of water tearing through a neighbouring camper’s awning. I employ this trick every time, but I still bang my head at least twice a day…

 

[Bulli Ocean 1]

Just thought I would share a photo of the Thule tie down straps in place, highly recommend this easy to use kit. This photo was taken at Hawes CAMC site last week and with the sudden downpours and occasional gusts kept the awning safe. We bought the kit following a very costly mistake on our first trip in Dec 2019 when high winds during the night totally wrecked the awning support arms which resulted in a new awning being fitted at our cost. We have used the Thule kit in high winds (40 mph), which were not expected and had no damage. But totally agree with all the comments about not putting the awning out if high winds are forecast even with the tie down kit.

 

[Jenny H]

Just thought I would share a photo of the Thule tie down straps in place, highly recommend this easy to use kit. This photo was taken at Hawes CAMC site last week and with the sudden downpours and occasional gusts kept the awning safe. We bought the kit following a very costly mistake on our first trip in Dec 2019 when high winds during the night totally wrecked the awning support arms which resulted in a new awning being fitted at our cost. We have used the Thule kit in high winds (40 mph), which were not expected and had no damage. But totally agree with all the comments about not putting the awning out if high winds are forecast even with the tie down kit.

View attachment 78555

Can I ask how the top attaches to the top part of the leg?
The awning worries me somewhat so havent used it - appears quite flimsy & easily damaged - need to get a tie down kit so just wondering the difference between the Thule & the Brandrup?

 

[Bulli Ocean 1]

Hi, I can only comment on the Thule awning tie down kit as I haven’t used the Brandrup one.
All the instructions come with it in the box and the Thule one is designed specifically for the Thule Omnistor Awning that is fitted to the California.
I have attached a photo of how the strap attaches to the top of the awning legs (both of them). It is very simple and quick to use.
As I have said this kit has been great and we have secured the awning with it is very windy and stormy conditions without any issues.

 

[Jenny H]

Hi, I can only comment on the Thule awning tie down kit as I haven’t used the Brandrup one.
All the instructions come with it in the box and the Thule one is designed specifically for the Thule Omnistor Awning that is fitted to the California.
I have attached a photo of how the strap attaches to the top of the awning legs (both of them). It is very simple and quick to use.
As I have said this kit has been great and we have secured the awning with it is very windy and stormy conditions without any issues.

View attachment 81828

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

This is the same for Awnings. Roof lowering. Closing of glass tops. Opening and closing of sliding cupboard doors. Turning of front seats. All should be done methodically and Slowly. Because you can guarantee if you don’t something is going to fail. The biggest problem is complacency and oh that’s never going to happen to me..
Believe me if you do everything at warp speed it will happen to you.