Drive Away Awnings

[Jeremy Auton]

Hello, New to a Cali but have had T5 Caravelle's for quite a few years and had a caravan when the kids were young. Looking for advice/pro/con's in relation to drive-away awnings.
Can they be used when the standard roll out awning is attached but not deployed or does it need to be removed ?
Are the air-beam type quicker/easier to erect ?

Any recommendations on make or helpful tips will be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[MattBW]

Yes you should be fine depending on the awning you have.

The Thule Omnistor is the standard awning, that has a kador channel hidden underneath. If you have a Fiamma F45 like me the kador channel is visible on the side.

 

[calikev]

You can unwind the cali awning about an inch and then trap the figure of eight by winding it back in

 

[Esandar#1]

You can unwind the cali awning about an inch and then trap the figure of eight by winding it back in

Hi Calikev,
Do you need figure of 8 all the way along the wind out awning or just short segments (say 10") one at each end and one in the middle? Question is: do I need to buy1, 2 or 3 of the 30"/ 75cm sections.
Thanks in anticipation!
Esandar#1

 

[Julian_Camper_Man]

Has anyone experienced exhaust emissions from the heating unit leaking into a blow up or any enclosed awning? Is there a solution to this problem?

 

[Lewis]

Has anyone experienced exhaust emissions from the heating unit leaking into a blow up or any enclosed awning? Is there a solution to this problem?

If you use a drive away and it has cowl access doors and a porch section you can leave the cowl doors open (ideally on both sides) and that should clear the diesel smell. This allows you to leave the main awning tent zipped up. We find this means very little if any smell of diesel in the main living section of the awning.

That being said we still wouldn't risk sleeping in there with the heater on - but my logic is if it's warm enough to sleep in the awning it must be warm enough to sleep in the Cali without the heater on.

 

[Esandar#1]

Hello, New to a Cali but have had T5 Caravelle's for quite a few years and had a caravan when the kids were young. Looking for advice/pro/con's in relation to drive-away awnings.
Can they be used when the standard roll out awning is attached but not deployed or does it need to be removed ?
Are the air-beam type quicker/easier to erect ?

Any recommendations on make or helpful tips will be appreciated.

Thank you

Hi Jeremy,
FYI, We put up our new Kyham Driveaway Sleeper awning for the first time last Friday. It was relatively simple and quick to erect, well made and very roomy, even with the four sleeper section deployed within the main awning.

Attaching it to the van was interesting. I had bought a pack of 3 Figure of Eight strips from Go Outdoors for £8.99, but the awning on our Cali Beach seemed to need a kador strip to join it via the Fo8 that attached perfectly to our Kyham. We ended up clipping it the top of the awning casing and closing the casing to clamp it is place - which also kept it out the way of the sliding door. I will have a another check of this tomorrow in the daylight and whichever way we tried it, it was hard to get the sides to adhere closely / tight to the van sides.

Having the awning was great - not least as I failed to pack our entire comfort mattress (oops) - so the kids slept in the awning and the wife and I up top for the first time. Very comfortable it was too. The extra space is great, but as it like having to erect a simple tent, we'd only take the awning for a trip of min two or three nights (all on the same site). Bothering for anything less rather defeats the objective of having the lovely flexibility and simplicity of the van!