Message Forums

After two full awnings, we now have a Pyramid Tuscan Ultra porch awning.

It has the full height across the width of the awning which some of the smaller ones do not.  It also has the advantage to accepting awning pods just like the full ones so you can extend for additional guests too.

As homebird says, the main restriction is the height of the van, but also check you have full height of the van for the length where you want the awning to be.

It is also worth checking if you can position the awning without splitting windows in half, but it is not the end of the world if this is not possible. Some porches have poles that fit against the back wall, & you'll get a better fit if they are not passing a window as some windows can be proud from the van even when closed.

When positioning remember to allow for the door to swing fully open and you can still get to the catch.

One company advertises awnings in their brochures that are fitted to caravans like ours, but when you look closely the end of the awning is between the door & the catch so they are not as suitable as they first appear!!!!

We have two awnings aswell. We had a new one from the dealer when we bought our van and that is a Dorema Isabella (I think!) full size which we use for two week trips.

We recently got a Scenic Plus Porch awning too and found it to be brilliant for weekends or a week long break. Plenty of room to set up our kitchen area and sit down if we want. We keep the kids bikes inside it at night. We got it secondhand but it was practically new so worth looking out locally to see if anyone is selling? Worked for us!

I'd personally recommend buying a more expensive brand 2nd hand than a cheap one new, you can get some real bargains on 2nd hand awnings and they tend to be in excellent condition as it's something that's not used regularly.

We made the mistake of buying a new cheap awning & hated it, it leaked on the joints, had terrible condensation & was flimsy.

If you want table/chairs/beds in there it may be worth considering getting a full awning, it's a bit heavier to pull through the rail but has the same amount of poles to put up & only about 6 or 7 extra pegs to knock in, we tend to spend longer putting our porch awning up as it can be fiddly getting it flush to the van which is another consideration if you want to sleep people in there as porches are drafty.