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At one time you bought plastic fittings to screw to your van for the hooks to fit in--not such a good idea as you can get water ingress and other damage.  Modern awnings have a second awning bead tape that allows you to attach adjustable fittings (allows you to move them to the best place for you van) to take the hook. These have a rubber grip backing that cushions and protects the van.  I assume your awning doen't have this.  You can have a second awning bead  sewn in at a repairers--probably £50--if you think it is worth it.  The alternative is to unscrew the hooks from the ends or the poles, and replace them with large suction cups --available from your accessory shop or dealer.

Brian

I had an old awning that came with hooks on and I replaced the hooks with the big rubber sucker type connections. They do not act as suckers though they simply stay in place by virtue of the pressure on them. I could not get the hooks out so used a hacksaw to cut them off, but now I would try to remove them by pushing a rod of some sort down through the pole and giving a quick tap with a hammer.

I presume that the three of the poles have hooks permanantly fitted. If this is the case then you can purchase 3 quick release pads to do the job. You fit the 3 pads to the beading (if you have one) which is near to the awning rail and should go all the way round, then when positioned accordingly you clamp the pads up and fit the pole hooks into them. Once this is done you can start assembly of the rest of the frame. Click on the link below and see the picture 'Quick Lock Pads' and this will give you an idea of how they fit.

http://www.dorema.co.uk/accessories.php

Another alternative is to sew in small bits of 'secondary beading' at the points where you would expect the poles to go and attach quicklock pads (or the eqivalent other makes).  The hooked poles would then fit into these.  IMHO this would be a better/ more stable solution.

Edit: Sorry Tango55.  This is basically what you are suggesting.  Can't understand why I didn't see your post before writing this.  I'm obviously having a bad day!!

The main point to make is that you may need to sew in some secondary beading' if it is a slightly older awning.  Our Kampa Fiesta, which has the Kampa equivalent of the Dorema quicklock pads, just has small pieces of secondary beading sewn in at the appropriate points.  I would have thought this would be sufficient and would save a lot of bother.

Quote: Originally posted by bobmel on 27/5/2011

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These pads fit on the awning and then press up against the van, padsAlthough these are for an NR awning I have seen similar things around

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