Message Forums

Hi All,

have just come back form our first trip out in the Designer. It was great but have had a bit of a problem last night. Can you help me to figure out what went wrong please?

After a night of rain we awoke to find a lake in the awning (well, truthfully I knew that there was a problem  at 2am but after making sure nothing was on the ground I went back to bed and left it to this morning) I could hear a sound like pooled water splashing onto the ground sheet- which makes me think that there was a reservoir building up somewhere and then overflowing.

We put the awning up as per the instructions but I am not sure on the bit about pulling the excess awning roof material into the cab area. I noticed that the awning roof material has eyelets and cords, and that the cab roof also has eyelets- should I have tied the awning roof cords to the cab roof and pushed the excess awning roof material under the cab roof so it folds back on itself?  I pulled the awning roof material through into the cab and because the eyelets didn't line up I tied the awning roof directly to the roof bars in side the cab.  Is this were I went wrong?  There are no rips or tears that I could see.

Also, I noticed that on the inside of the awning, at the bottom on the reverse of where the rubbers for the pegs are sited, there seems to be press studs. Am I right in thinking that these are for a Dandy ground sheet? If so, does anyone have any experience with them and would you reccommend one?

Despite this little problem we had a great time and can't wait to go away again.

regards and thanks,

Nichy

Hi Nichy,
You did the right thing tying the awning to the roof poles of the cab. But you do have to be careful make sure that the front of the awning roof is lower than the back at the join with the Dandy. We had a case of the rain gathering on the roof a couple of times and found that this and putting a set of guy ropes on near the middle of the sides of the awning pulled the roof tight enough to stop this happening.
The holes in the main unit roof are so that you can put bungees or guys onto the roof if you feel the need to.

Julian
P.S. Forgot to say that the poppers are for a Dandy awning but I haven't seen one in use yet so I'm afraid I can't comment on them. I don't use a ground sheet unless the ground is really wet when we pitch.

Hi

I havn't got a dandy but was wondering if you had your groundsheet sticking out further than the awning wall, if it was the water would run down the wall then on to the groundsheet and into the awning. just a thought!

Hi,

We have a dandy destiny and have had one go at putting the awning up. We tied the cords to the bars inside like you, so the awning went under the roof IYSWIM. I must say i didn't notice poppers around the bottom, but will check next time it's out. Actually we didn't find the awning as bad as expected once we fathomed which way up it went  

We have the PVC groundsheet which came with it, but to be honest we didn't like it. It was slippy in the wet, not good with kids, and just seemed to get everywhere filthy. I've ordered a breathable groundsheet called carpetina which looks good, it should come today hopefully. It's closeweave so doesn't let so much moisture through.

Kath

Thanks everyone for your replys.

I think that Julian may have hit the nail on the head with regards to the pitch of the awning roof. I seem to recall we fiddled about a lot to get the front poles the same height but I'm not convinved that we actually thought about the pitch!

We'll have another try next time!

many thanks,

Nichy

dont think the poppers are for a awning ground sheat  i think they may be to reinforce the joining of the pvc , it may pay you to ring riva and ask

happy dandying

Quote: Originally posted by debcon on 03/5/2006

---

dont think the poppers are for a awning ground sheat  i think they may be to reinforce the joining of the pvc , it may pay you to ring riva and ask

happy dandying

---

I have a sheet of instructions that say they are for a groundsheet so there!

Julian

They may not do the poppered groundsheet anymore, and I'm jealous of your Destiny.

Julian
P.S. the awning instructions are in the files section here

Thanks folks,

I contaced Riva and they said that 'apparently' (I'm guessing this is because they took Dandy over post 1996) the press studs are not for the ground sheet- they are just a strong way of attaching the rubbers!

Well, that sounds like a Blue Peter challenge to me! I'm off to find me press stud kit and a breathable groundsheet!

BTW- bu**er me if I didn't go and win tickets to the Outdoor Life Show at the end of the month- looks like i've go a little craft project to do while I'm there!

Nichy