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Subject Topic: Porch awnings fibre poles Post Reply Post New Topic
19/8/2020 at 1:56pm
 Location: N W Yorkshire Border
 Outfit: Bailey Pageant Monarch Series 5
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I have had this a couple of seasons now - Doremo Starcamp with two sections, for use with my Bailey caravan and I'm looking for a bit of advice to improve the fit.

https://www.towsure.com/starcamp-magnum-lightweight-porch-awning

It uses 3x sectional fibre poles, from the caravan roof, down to the ground, 2x alloy poles horizontally end to end to stretch roof, then two vertical alloy poles along the sides where awning sides meet the side of the caravan.

The problem seems to be the fibre poles, which for a curve. As purchased, with the poles in place, where the awning should meet the ground with the mud skirt, the awning was lifted until the skirt just contacted the ground. In addition it was very difficult to get a seal between awning and the side of the caravan, plus very difficult to do up the awning door zips, due to the tremendous pull away from the caravan of the bowed fibre poles.

A further problem is that heavy rain collects on the section of awning roof and the awning rail, between awning rail and the upper horizontal roof support rail.

I have the caravan and awning set up on my lawn at the moment to attempt to find solutions to the issues. This seems to be a matter of shortening the fibre poles a little. I reduced their length by 3", which seemed to help, so I have now cut and extra 2" off the length it seems to be helping but I am wary of the fact that there is no way back if I cut too much off.

Has anyone else come across this problem?

Another issue I have found with setting this type of awning up, is that they need a peg to be knocked in actually underneath the caravan, where each awning side meets the side wall of the caravan. Knocking a peg in to hard ground is almost impossible - has anyone found a workaround?



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Harry (M1BYT)


via mobile 19/8/2020 at 3:31pm
 Location: Royal Forest of Dean
 Outfit:  Swift Major 4SB
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Ooh you have got yourself in a pickle, close the door/doors before you start, the mud walls should be flat on the ground not just touching most probably going inwards toward the caravan , put the 2 pegs in under the caravan, make sure the awning is parallel to the caravan, peg out the rest of the awning then open doors, it sounds like you are pushing the flexy poles in towards the caravan too much so it goes up too much.

Tina


19/8/2020 at 3:39pm
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might be helpful if you put a picture of the awning as it is now on your caravan and then we can tell you where you have gone wrong putting it up?


19/8/2020 at 3:42pm
 Location: N W Yorkshire Border
 Outfit: Bailey Pageant Monarch Series 5
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Hi Tina,

No the awning has got me in a pickle due to its poor fit :-)

As the fibre poles were, there was a choice between the door zips being so tight they were unusable, or the roof being pushed up far to far. Cutting the poles down has helped a lot, but I'm still not quite there.

The two pegs under the caravan are almost impossible to get in, due to the lack of space to use a mallet under there. I'm busy looking at alternative ways to tackle those. Like a guy lines from the two ladders, under the caravan, to a couple of pegs placed at the far side of the caravan.   

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Harry (M1BYT)


via mobile 19/8/2020 at 4:19pm
 Location: Royal Forest of Dean
 Outfit:  Swift Major 4SB
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Have you checked that the Flexi poles are pushed right up in the sleeve so they are touching the side of the caravan, we have a problem sometimes as ours get caught up in the sleeve a few inches short of the caravan.

Tina


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19/8/2020 at 4:29pm
 Location: N W Yorkshire Border
 Outfit: Bailey Pageant Monarch Series 5
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Quote: Originally posted by Rob and Tina on 19/8/2020
Have you checked that the Flexi poles are pushed right up in the sleeve so they are touching the side of the caravan, we have a problem sometimes as ours get caught up in the sleeve a few inches short of the caravan.

Tina



Yes, they are all way in to the pockets. I had an earlier porch awning, which burst the poles through the end of the pockets. To reinforce the pockets I found some plastic aerosol can tops, which were a perfect fit in the pockets. They also make it a little easier to ensure the pole goes all the way into the end of the pocket.    



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Harry (M1BYT)


19/8/2020 at 4:29pm
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if you get some pipe lagging foam and put that around the upright poles, and then put into the sleeve against the caravan that will seal it better. everyone has the same issue regarding the pegging under the caravan, we carry a small hammer to give a bit more room to whallop them in place


19/8/2020 at 4:50pm
 Location: N W Yorkshire Border
 Outfit: Bailey Pageant Monarch Series 5
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It might be useful if another owner of one of these models of awnings, who claims there awning is fine, were to measure the length of their poles. I'm convinced my awning was sent out with the poles made up too long.

You see, I have not been able to use the caravan much since I bought the new awning. I have only visited one site and that site had a side to side slope, with the ground on the awning side slightly higher than caravan which acentuates the problem, so I have been wary of cutting the fibre poles. I became more confident about cutting the poles down, when I set the caravan and awning up yesterday in my garden.   

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Harry (M1BYT)


19/8/2020 at 5:58pm
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ok so why not phone up towsure and ask them?


20/8/2020 at 8:22am
 Location: Nairn Highland
 Outfit: Rexton W Coachman VIP 675
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Go Outdoors sell replacement fibre pole sets so I wouldn't worry too much about experimenting with your ones. I've replaced split ones in the past and modified odd poles to fit.


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20/8/2020 at 9:10am
 Location: N W Yorkshire Border
 Outfit: Bailey Pageant Monarch Series 5
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I managed to track Doremo down and have messaged them via the online form on their website, explaining the problem and asking how long the poles should actually be. I tried emailing them via the email address on the their website, which bounced.

I had assumed Doremo were a continental company, but to my surprise they are located only 8 miles away from where I live.

I have been experimenting with my idea to run a guy lines under the caravan to pegs at the far side of the van, from the bottom corners of the awning nearest the caravan wall. I must say it works very well indeed, pulling the awning much tighter against the caravan wall, making it easy to get a good seal. Much easier to bang a peg in with clear space above it and the guy line makes it easy to set the tension.

marg6 - Thanks, I knew about the pipe lagging trick, I used that trick on an earlier awning I had, which lacked any cushioning seal. My problem with my Doremo, is that the sides of the awning were being pulled much to tightly away from the caravan wall by the fibre poles to get any sort of seal.    

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Harry (M1BYT)


20/8/2020 at 10:20am
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ok well once you get the pole length sorted out, how about for sealing up, if you use the pipe lagging idea but also add something similar to bike clips to hold the fabric around the upright pole so once you get it pegged under the van it should hold it more securely? even a couple of bag clips from a babies buggy would do the job, properly a better idea as they are plastic and wouldnt mark the caravan


20/8/2020 at 6:11pm
 Location: N W Yorkshire Border
 Outfit: Bailey Pageant Monarch Series 5
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Quote: Originally posted by marg6 on 20/8/2020
ok well once you get the pole length sorted out, how about for sealing up, if you use the pipe lagging idea but also add something similar to bike clips to hold the fabric around the upright pole so once you get it pegged under the van it should hold it more securely? even a couple of bag clips from a babies buggy would do the job, properly a better idea as they are plastic and wouldnt mark the caravan



It has a series of three ties on each side, next to the cushion. They work well enough, but thanks.



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Harry (M1BYT)


20/8/2020 at 7:12pm
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I dont know what you are doing, but it cannot be right having to slice lumps off the poles to get a somewhere near fit. And bursting though pockets on others, into the bargain. Maybe you should look at an air awning that puts itself up?



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