Drive Away Awning Question

[RosscoPCole74]

Apologies if this has been asked many times before. I was trying to work out how to attach the kador strip and figure of eight to the wind out awning. The slot that is there appears too low to open the door when the kador strip is attached.


Am I being stupid and missing something obvious or is there another way to attach the drive away awning?

 

[Ch1pbutty]

The front flap on the awning is hinged, so just pull it up so that that kador strip comes out the side rather than below (if that makes sense).

 

[Neuromancer11]

attach the figure of eight to the top of the awning directly and ditch the kador, will give you much better results

 

[Californication69]

attach the figure of eight to the top of the awning directly and ditch the kador, will give you much better results

Will the fig of 8, not just pull off the top of awning rail ?

 

[RosscoPCole74]

The front flap on the awning is hinged, so just pull it up so that that kador strip comes out the side rather than below (if that makes sense).

Like this? It just looks like a very small gap between the kador strip slot and the top of the open sliding door. I'm worried that the awning and sliding door will catch. On our old camper the gap was much bigger.

 

[Californication69]

Got it.

Post in thread 'Drive away awning attachment'
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/drive-away-awning-attachment.32667/post-604626

 

[Californication69]

View attachment 124093
Like this? It just looks like a very small gap between the kador strip slot and the top of the open sliding door. I'm worried that the awning and sliding door will catch. On our old camper the gap was much bigger.

Pop the fig 8 directly on top of awning metal work and then shut the awning.
So it’s trapped into the top.
The tunnel part of blow up awning will then fit direct into fig 8.

 

[Californication69]

Glad I saw this as fitting the blow up for the first time ever tomorrow evening in The southern most west tip of Cornwall tomorrow !

 

[RosscoPCole74]

Pop the fig 8 directly on top of awning metal work and then shut the awning.
So it’s trapped into the top.
The tunnel part of blow up awning will then fit direct into fig 8.

I like that a lot. Will get some PFF tape to stop ant scratches.

 

[Maidment_Ocean]

I did

Pop the fig 8 directly on top of awning metal work and then shut the awning.
So it’s trapped into the top.
The tunnel part of blow up awning will then fit direct into fig 8.

I did this a few times but always felt there was too much force needed to get the figure of 8 on and off.

 

[Hawthorn37]

As others have said, either wind in the Thule awning as far as it’ll go, or fit the plastic fig of 8 strips to the top edge. We use both techniques depending on some factors:

Use the bottom connection with a driveaway kit if:
- going to be disconnecting / reconnecting a number of times
- the ground slopes upwards from the drivers side

Use the top connection with fig of 8 strips only if:
- not going to be disconnecting much / at all (Tricky re-attaching the awning once fully pegged down, and its a 2-person job)
- the ground slopes down from the drivers side (making it impossible to open the sliding door if using the bottom connection)
- it’s going to be raining quite a bit (fewer drips past the van door with this method).

A few other things we’ve learned :

1. We started off with helicopter tape on the top edge, to limit scratching, but in warm weather it gets soft, and it’s harder to clip on the plastic fig of 8 strips. So we removed it a few weeks ago. I don’t think the plastic strips will do much damage.

2. The top connection method puts more angular force through the plastic strips. One of ours started to crack in half the last time we did this a few weeks ago. It was about 3 years old - Vango. Luckily we had some spare (Dometic) strips which are softer material, but can pull out of a kador.

3. We’ve also tried the top connection using a kador strip, and 2nd set of fig of 8 strips, to try and improve the reconnection method. It was hopeless ! Everything kept sliding around - as Brucie would have said, ‘Good game, good game!’

4. When using the bottom connection, it’s worth cutting the kador strip to the inside dimension of the Thule awning, so you don’t crease the kador when winding in the Thule, and it can be wound back to the max. A few mm can make the difference in the side door catching the strips or not.

 

[BeeBee]

Just wind out the awning a few inches when connecting the Kador strip. Set up your awning, which lifts the awning attachment away from the van door.

 

[Californication69]

As others have said, either wind in the Thule awning as far as it’ll go, or fit the plastic fig of 8 strips to the top edge. We use both techniques depending on some factors:

Use the bottom connection with a driveaway kit if:
- going to be disconnecting / reconnecting a number of times
- the ground slopes upwards from the drivers side

Use the top connection with fig of 8 strips only if:
- not going to be disconnecting much / at all (Tricky re-attaching the awning once fully pegged down, and its a 2-person job)
- the ground slopes down from the drivers side (making it impossible to open the sliding door if using the bottom connection)
- it’s going to be raining quite a bit (fewer drips past the van door with this method).

A few other things we’ve learned :

1. We started off with helicopter tape on the top edge, to limit scratching, but in warm weather it gets soft, and it’s harder to clip on the plastic fig of 8 strips. So we removed it a few weeks ago. I don’t think the plastic strips will do much damage.

2. The top connection method puts more angular force through the plastic strips. One of ours started to crack in half the last time we did this a few weeks ago. It was about 3 years old - Vango. Luckily we had some spare (Dometic) strips which are softer material, but can pull out of a kador.

3. We’ve also tried the top connection using a kador strip, and 2nd set of fig of 8 strips, to try and improve the reconnection method. It was hopeless ! Everything kept sliding around - as Brucie would have said, ‘Good game, good game!’

4. When using the bottom connection, it’s worth cutting the kador strip to the inside dimension of the Thule awning, so you don’t crease the kador when winding in the Thule, and it can be wound back to the max. A few mm can make the difference in the side door catching the strips or not.

I’ll have a go later today.
Wish us well for the 4 hour drive

 

[Californication69]

Just wind out the awning a few inches when connecting the Kador strip. Set up your awning, which lifts the awning attachment away from the van door.

Got 8 nights so will try both ways !
Thanks !

 

[RosscoPCole74]

Got 8 nights so will try both ways !
Thanks !

Looking forward to hearing what you think works best. Please take photos do we can see the pros and cons of the different ways.

 

[Hawthorn37]

You can use the top mounting method for either a driveaway awning or a side tarp.

 

[Californication69]

On a flat pitch, the lower one works ok. Just have to be careful opening the sliding door as i see now why my 2nd hand awning has a slight rip in the area where the sliding door could rip it if not careful.
I open door halfway, then push up the fig 8 with thumb and open sliding door the rest of the way. !

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I’ll have a go later today.
Wish us well for the 4 hour drive

Or mount the free standing awning on the non sliding side of the van, then you can still people watch from under the vans roller awning.

 

[Californication69]

Now that’s a bloody good idea.
Why didn’t I think of that ! Doh.

But we just stopped bathing in the sun and 3/4 of campers have gone !
They at School on Monday I guess

Or mount the free standing awning on the non sliding side of the van, then you can still people watch from under the vans roller awning

 

[Hawthorn37]

View attachment 124163
On a flat pitch, the lower one works ok. Just have to be careful opening the sliding door as i see now why my 2nd hand awning has a slight rip in the area where the sliding door could rip it if not careful.
I open door halfway, then push up the fig 8 with thumb and open sliding door the rest of the way. !

You’d get the Thule awning slightly more retracted if you cut the kador strip so that it doesn’t protrude. It’s only a few mm, but a little bit makes a difference to rubbing on the door or not.

 

[Californication69]

Campsite Awning and blow up awning.
How can you have it all ?

Been told I leave a car width, with enough room to get doors open, between me and the caravan next door. So let’s say 2.5m

So if I have 2m width of Cali, then 3m of Blow up awning, I still have 5m between awning and caravan next door.
So how can I have the Cali, have 2m of awning out, so I can escape the sun, then the blow up awning, but I loose the private space of 1m width from the drive away bit.

I guess the best way is to have a separate blow up tent square.
Then leave a 2m space between Cali and blow up tent, so I can pop the awning out a bit while I’m too hot.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Or park passenger side running parallel to access road, about 1m to allow for dodgy driving (by others), and deploy the Thule sun awning, then attach your blow up driveaway on that? Depends on the depth of the pitch.

For safety you need to have a minimum of 3m separation between you and other units. Campsite fires happen!