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 hi denise!!

 i symphosise with you in your delema,suggest carry a pair of fold-up kitchen steps with you when you go away,just put pads under feet to stop them sinking in ground in use.

 will give you height then to assist hubby better,but try and get the uprights of your awning set first and then work on the roof bars for tension against the van,go round and fine adjust all poles with the sliding adjusters,checking all is level on each side.

atb.

Hi

Use your caravan step

And once up mark all the poles and mark on the awning the position of the roof poles for next time

I also mark the awing runer with an X so i knew that it went into the Caravan runer on the right hand side looking at the caravan

That help me

I always start by first laying out the poles on the ground in roughly the place they will go once the awning is up, then feed the awning around the van making sure its level back & front of van, I use the side rail as a marker, start off with the centre upright pole get this in position on the awning and then connect the centre roof pole to this, now you have a starting point, just continue working from the centre pole along to the first corner and repeat process above, you can adjust height and tension the poles afterwoods, we use the awning step too for attaching the roof poles if you are still struggling with tensioning the poles towsure do a pole tensioner, never used one so can't comment - hope this helps, remember its part of the fun getting the awning up. mind you don't tell her indoors I just said that!

Steve

I start from one end - get the leg & roof pole together and roughly the right length, then one of you hold that leg while the other moves on to the middle poles - once they are up the other end is a doddle. Unless it's a very short van in which case do the two ends first.

You can buy a tool which will help you with tensioning the poles:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.towsure.com/category/6831-Awning_Accessories

The suckers don't "suck"  and hold on to the caravan side - it's just the tension that keeps the roof poles in place. The suckers just protect the caravan.

I go along with Steve. Basically, once you get used to the initial method for assembly, the speed and ease will come with practice.

I bought one of those tensioners a few years ago, when I had an arm injury.  It has rubber grips and works on a lever principle.  Frankly, I found it to be of very little use; I reverted to using both hands and shouting "Ouch!"

Bertie.

 another tip here!!

 use different coloured insulating tape on the poles that fit together at each joint,just a couple of turns next to the ends that meet,makes life a lot easier,no arguments , then,bottle out ,corkscrew at ready,have a laugh.relax!!!

 my wife helps all the time,otherwise she wouldn't get her drink made for her!!!!!

It certainly does help if the walls and front are removed or at least rolled up when putting up an awning.  And practice does make perfect.  The more you put it up the quicker it gets. 

Mrs UM calls the awning " an argument in a bag"!

Mr UM