Alex p
Got to be the best option till you test it all out I recon. Wish I'd bought the Cali years ago had such a good weekend in the rain!! Does anyone know if the popup roof is actually water proof? Thought I read somewhere it's sower prof? Would love to know before I get flooded out!
P
Pippa
Thank you!
To be truthful I was fine on the top bed although I think we might invest in some extra padding. Bottom bed + extra mattress was really comfortable!
P
Pippa
That's great - thank you. I think for a longer than a weekend trip it's something we will definitely use!
P
Pippa
Thank you - it definitely seems to be a bit of a Marmite....
Smiffy4bikes
VIP Member
This is us in The Lakes last week. That's me and my nearly 14yr old twins, and we were there for 5 nights.
We went out most days so being able to pack up and go in less than 15 minutes was essential otherwise we wouldn’t have bothered, which kind of defeats the object of driving there in the first place!
The separate tent has a central living area and a bedroom either side. It was from Decathlon and cost £99.
The initial plan was for my daughter to sleep in one of the bedrooms but she prefers the smaller pup-tent that you can also see in the pic, which at night I put under the awning as a) I like to have her close to the van, and b) to also offer protection from the weather! I move it out of the way in the mornings. My son and I have a bed each in the van.
So for these longer breaks I cook in the living area of the tent, and use one of the bedrooms for storage. This also means that packing the van up for a day out takes no more than 15 minutes, as all the food and cooking stuff is in the tent.
I've had drive-away awnings in the past and they are very useful, but for me its a faff lining up the van all the time, and also, I don’t like the idea of an awning rubbing against the paintwork on the van, so a separate tent works for me.
Horses for courses as with everything.... we all have a different way that suits us best
We went out most days so being able to pack up and go in less than 15 minutes was essential otherwise we wouldn’t have bothered, which kind of defeats the object of driving there in the first place!
The separate tent has a central living area and a bedroom either side. It was from Decathlon and cost £99.
The initial plan was for my daughter to sleep in one of the bedrooms but she prefers the smaller pup-tent that you can also see in the pic, which at night I put under the awning as a) I like to have her close to the van, and b) to also offer protection from the weather! I move it out of the way in the mornings. My son and I have a bed each in the van.So for these longer breaks I cook in the living area of the tent, and use one of the bedrooms for storage. This also means that packing the van up for a day out takes no more than 15 minutes, as all the food and cooking stuff is in the tent.
I've had drive-away awnings in the past and they are very useful, but for me its a faff lining up the van all the time, and also, I don’t like the idea of an awning rubbing against the paintwork on the van, so a separate tent works for me.
Horses for courses as with everything.... we all have a different way that suits us best
Elly Swanson
Top Poster
VIP Member
Khayam quick erects are fabulous to put up/down and can even be done on your own. Easy to put up in windy conditions. But if they go home wet you need space to dry them properly as you don't/can't remove the shell from frame.
Air designs seem heavy and cumbersome and unless you use a lecci pump need A lot of pumping action.
Pole and sleeve are harder to put up in wind but the canvas can be dried easily in a small space when you get home.
Think about the groundsheet. Many awnings have a sewn in groundsheet which makes life easier in that everything is together, but if you want to go without the groundsheet, tough. In a warm summer it's lovely to be on grass with no groundsheet (and some sites will only allow some types of groundsheet). Also if you're on a gravel or pegable hard standing you may need a footprint sheet to protect a sewn in groundsheet!
One word of advice, when working out the size of the awningdon't forget to add the “tunnel” or you can end up quite wide, sometimes too wide to some pitches on very regimented campsites.
Air designs seem heavy and cumbersome and unless you use a lecci pump need A lot of pumping action.
Pole and sleeve are harder to put up in wind but the canvas can be dried easily in a small space when you get home.
Think about the groundsheet. Many awnings have a sewn in groundsheet which makes life easier in that everything is together, but if you want to go without the groundsheet, tough. In a warm summer it's lovely to be on grass with no groundsheet (and some sites will only allow some types of groundsheet). Also if you're on a gravel or pegable hard standing you may need a footprint sheet to protect a sewn in groundsheet!
One word of advice, when working out the size of the awningdon't forget to add the “tunnel” or you can end up quite wide, sometimes too wide to some pitches on very regimented campsites.
Elly Swanson
Top Poster
VIP Member
This is us in The Lakes last week. That's me and my nearly 14yr old twins, and we were there for 5 nights.
We went out most days so being able to pack up and go in less than 15 minutes was essential otherwise we wouldn’t have bothered, which kind of defeats the object of driving there in the first place!
The separate tent has a central living area and a bedroom either side. It was from Decathlon and cost £99.
View attachment 24381 The initial plan was for my daughter to sleep in one of the bedrooms but she prefers the smaller pup-tent that you can also see in the pic, which at night I put under the awning as a) I like to have her close to the van, and b) to also offer protection from the weather! I move it out of the way in the mornings. My son and I have a bed each in the van.
So for these longer breaks I cook in the living area of the tent, and use one of the bedrooms for storage. This also means that packing the van up for a day out takes no more than 15 minutes, as all the food and cooking stuff is in the tent.
I've had drive-away awnings in the past and they are very useful, but for me its a faff lining up the van all the time, and also, I don’t like the idea of an awning rubbing against the paintwork on the van, so a separate tent works for me.
Horses for courses as with everything.... we all have a different way that suits us best
Elly Swanson
Top Poster
VIP Member
To save the stress of perfect alignment, we roll out the side awning, put the legs down and attach the driveaway to that (depending on weather, a metre or more). That way you only need the van to be straight when you connect as you wind the awning to meet the driveaway. In hot weather you get some fresh air through and in wind the rollout is fine as the driveaway stops it from lifting. In wet or windy weather or at night, for privacy, we use some good quality dark coloured shower curtains to act as sides. It's all very flexi and stress free.
OConnors
Get a decent pop up tent, you can put a lot inside it. We use drivea way awnings if 2 nighting in the UK but in Europe we use a roll out and pop up tent. We tried a Kela awning, it didn't seem very taught ad was very disappointing and when it rained due to lack of "gutters" filled with water unless you ziped it shut. We sold ours after our three week European tour where we only used it twice.
Amarillo
Tom
Super Poster
VIP Member
We bought our Kela second hand - about half list price.
We have probably used it for 200 of the last 280 nights. It has been brilliant as a store room, kitchen, dining room, living room, playroom and dog kennel. Some seams now leak a little, but that should be easily fixed. It also needs a good clean.
Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu
M
Matthew Wood
We are in a very similar situation. Had the Cali for a couple of months and only had a few outings, but really think we would like a drive away awning; for storage, somewhere to sit out. Also, my partner is pregnant so she is keen to have a toilet out there!! We are looking at the Vango Kela air away. We want something easy to put up and take down and to detach from, too many memories of my parents falling out putting up awnings on caravan holidays!!
GreggB
In a Beach with 2 adults and 2 kids, camping mostly in the UK I’d say an additional dry space of some sort is almost essential. To be able to move from this dry space into the van without getting feet or head wet is great. Also means we can keep food/drink mess to a minimum in the van.
As already mentioned, the time taken to detach a drive away awning from the van is minimal compared to putting beds away and leaves a less cluttered vehicle for your day out.
Before kids and the Beach in our T4 we would leave the bed out (no pop up) and be gone in 5mins!
Current drive away is a Kampa Travel Pod Action Air, previously had an Ourdoor Revolution Movelite S. Been pleased with both, now using the Kampa as the air beams make it easier to put up single handed and the Movelite was showing its age.
Regarding lining the van up on return, a yellow plastic peg in the ground by each offside wheel make it a doddle. You can just make out the yellow dot in the pic below.
I’m still not completely happy with how our drive away attaches to the Cali awning, easy enough just doesn’t sit quite right. Loath to remove the roll out awning so may look at adding side panels to fully utilise it.
As already mentioned, the time taken to detach a drive away awning from the van is minimal compared to putting beds away and leaves a less cluttered vehicle for your day out.
Before kids and the Beach in our T4 we would leave the bed out (no pop up) and be gone in 5mins!
Current drive away is a Kampa Travel Pod Action Air, previously had an Ourdoor Revolution Movelite S. Been pleased with both, now using the Kampa as the air beams make it easier to put up single handed and the Movelite was showing its age.
Regarding lining the van up on return, a yellow plastic peg in the ground by each offside wheel make it a doddle. You can just make out the yellow dot in the pic below.
I’m still not completely happy with how our drive away attaches to the Cali awning, easy enough just doesn’t sit quite right. Loath to remove the roll out awning so may look at adding side panels to fully utilise it.
P
Paul Cannell
Totally agree we have a Vango airbeam and couldn't live without it especially with two kids and a dog
Waggonner
Totally agree that in the UK an awning is a must.
We've had several 2 or 3 night outings in the glorious summer this year, and decided we don't need the awning for a 2 night stay with guaranteed no-rain weather. However, this weekend we knew it was going to rain, so the drive-away awning got packed. We have a Khyam and find it really easy and quick to put up. Attaching to the van takes practice. We don't have a roll-out awning attached to our Cali (for purely aesthetic reasons) so it gets attached directly to the van. We have trouble with this and I don't think we've got it right yet. It attaches okay, but we have to put the sliding door on manual else the awning gets caught on it.
As for the actual driving away and then re-attaching, we did this for the first time this weekend and it was a lot easier than I expected. A couple of attempts and we were re-connected.
The Khyam doesn't take up a lot of boot space and is invaluable in the extra dry space it gives you on a wet weekend.
We've had several 2 or 3 night outings in the glorious summer this year, and decided we don't need the awning for a 2 night stay with guaranteed no-rain weather. However, this weekend we knew it was going to rain, so the drive-away awning got packed. We have a Khyam and find it really easy and quick to put up. Attaching to the van takes practice. We don't have a roll-out awning attached to our Cali (for purely aesthetic reasons) so it gets attached directly to the van. We have trouble with this and I don't think we've got it right yet. It attaches okay, but we have to put the sliding door on manual else the awning gets caught on it.
As for the actual driving away and then re-attaching, we did this for the first time this weekend and it was a lot easier than I expected. A couple of attempts and we were re-connected.
The Khyam doesn't take up a lot of boot space and is invaluable in the extra dry space it gives you on a wet weekend.
SallyHG
Thank you for this post. We’re new to the Cali and looking for a drive away so the info is invaluable. Best wishes. Sally
sensisuperstar
Wibble
VIP Member
Quechua no longer sell their Base pop up tent and used eBay prices can be more than the old rrp.
A company called Cinch! make a similar product that is available via crowd funding, but they aren’t due to be delivered to U.K. customers until mid September...frustrating for those of us who backed the campaign and expected delivery in June!
As an interim measure we bought the Khyam Motordome Dub Hub drive away awning, mostly because it’s quick and easy to put up on your own and provides a good 3m x 3m footprint next to the van.
Camping with it this week has given us valuable space and shelter. I really cannot see how we would have managed without it, it’s also gives you a buffer between your pitch and the next.
A company called Cinch! make a similar product that is available via crowd funding, but they aren’t due to be delivered to U.K. customers until mid September...frustrating for those of us who backed the campaign and expected delivery in June!
As an interim measure we bought the Khyam Motordome Dub Hub drive away awning, mostly because it’s quick and easy to put up on your own and provides a good 3m x 3m footprint next to the van.
Camping with it this week has given us valuable space and shelter. I really cannot see how we would have managed without it, it’s also gives you a buffer between your pitch and the next.
sapto
Super Poster
Lifetime VIP Member
Before we took off two weeks ago I compared and checked for an awning tent.
I liked this ones:
Outwell Milestone Pro Air
DWT Isola Air Turbo
In the end I didn‘t buy one. I liked both and pricewise they are both not cheap. However atm it works well for us just with the Sun Blocker but I can see the advantages of having one
I liked this ones:
Outwell Milestone Pro Air
DWT Isola Air Turbo
In the end I didn‘t buy one. I liked both and pricewise they are both not cheap. However atm it works well for us just with the Sun Blocker but I can see the advantages of having one
Bellcrew
Top Poster
VIP Member
We just bought an Outwell Milestone Pro Air from a club member yesterday, tried it in the garden today, practically perfect.Before we took off two weeks ago I compared and checked for an awning tent.
I liked this ones:
Outwell Milestone Pro Air
DWT Isola Air Turbo
In the end I didn‘t buy one. I liked both and pricewise they are both not cheap. However atm it works well for us just with the Sun Blocker but I can see the advantages of having one
This site is just great.
sapto
Super Poster
Lifetime VIP Member
Great to hear! Thanks for sharing!
iballan
We are looking at the "Outwell Milestone Pro Air". Can you add some more comments now after having it in 5 months?
Still happy with it? A hassle to set up, or just perfekt?
Bellcrew
Top Poster
VIP Member
Still great, the sewn in groundsheet can be a problem on some sites, otherwise we find it ideal. The packed awning fits lengthwise under the bed frame leaving plenty of room for the 64 ltr really useful box alongside.
We have only used it twice as we tend to stay for only a couple of nights on camp sites when touring. Will expect to use it more this year with children/grandchildren coming with us on some trips.
Joker 1299
We have a Vango Sapera airbeam. Used to use it a lot when we had the Caravelle. Not used it once since we got the Cali in March 2017. We really enjoyed the space (it is quite big, probably too big for most regimented sites) but we feel we might still use it with the Cali at the appropriate time and on the appropriate site. If you have one you have a choice, use it or not. If you don’t, you don’t.
W
Winterrai
VIP Member
Do you have any link to the tailgate version or photos of yours please
MattBW
Here to help
Super Poster
Lifetime VIP Member
There is a review on here somewhere, I’ll try and find it later when I’m home
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