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I appreciate this will vary with different ones,  but wondering if on the whole the majority are a lot quicker & easier to erect than the average full awning.

Thinking a porch one might be very handy & perhaps (hopefully) a lot less hassle.  Btw sorry in advance for boring people as I'm betting this has been asked before more than once !

We had a Harrison porch awning which took as long as a full one so sold t!

We have one of the small Sunnicamp ones with the flexible poles which is about 8 foot square used for weekends 20 mins max (most time is pegging out!)

Full awning 30-45 minutes as we are well practised!

when we very first started caravanning (as long ago as last year ),we had an nr full awning,which came with the tin tent,1st time we tried to put it up took us 3/4 of an hour, only to find it was too big for our 'van, so much so that we almost could have used it as a garge for the 'van, so we ebayed that , bought a newer one , again a full size model, this one only took half an hour to get up but the oh decided she didn't like it and so it had to go, ebayed that one too and bought a porch awning ( a 'carefree' isabella), this one is a 1 man job to put up, up and pegged out etc in 10 minutes, fits the tin tent nicely, oh loves it ,looks like a winner

as theres only the 2 of us a porch awning is plenty big enough as we only us it for taking off /storing  muddy boots etc , not really extra living space as such, normally use the nearest pub for that

We used to have a full awning with our last van but only used it for longer stays.  Not only is it longer to put up than a porch it is much harder to pack away.

With our new van we use a sunncamp with flexi poles, which goes up very quick and is great for storing muddy boots etc.  Admittedly it doesn't look as good as full awning but there is no comparison in time taken to erect.

Would like to find a posher and slightly bigger porch that is light and goes up fast.

I've heard the lightweight ones are quicker to put up but I'm personally not a fan, we like to use ours in all weathers & they're too flimsy in the wind, I did buy one to try & attempted to erect it in the wind & it was horrendous and once it was up the wind & rain howled around the edges so I returned it.

We've now got a "normal" porch awning & it stands up well to the weather but it can take longer to set up as it's more fiddly to get it weatherproof against the side of the van, theres actually one MORE pole but just 1 less panel of pegs to knock in. Plus side is that it's a doddle to thread through the awning rail.

Both awnings take 1/2 hour from fetching them out of the bag to knocking the last peg in.

Quote: Originally posted by andcow on 20/7/2011

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the lightweigh porch awnings with tent style poles, particulary the ones with only one flexible pole, should go up a lot easier than a porch designed like a smaller version of a full awning.

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Sorry to intrude in posting ...BUT

Andcow ...you have a Pennine FC

Have you found any for the Pennine then as we have a Fiesta and the big one is far too big I heavy for us 2 to put up. Just a small one like they have for caravans other made small awning is still too  big for us or does it mean a. separate annex tent

I have gone the adpated route like many before!   I bought a caravan porch awning secondhand on here (techlite Outdoor Revolution) and then paid Tent Valeting Service to remove the caravan beading and replace with a zip that matches the one on the pathfinder for zipping the full awning on.   Only difference to using on a caravan is that it is zipped on rather than threaded on through the beading rail. Cost me a total of £100 in all)  I managed to get the awning in green and cream so matches well with the green/cream pathfinder. 

Someone on the tt section adapts new awnings and sells them though it costs more than my version.

The techlite only has one pole in place that is threaded through the outside and then bent into postion in the same way you do with many dome/tunnel tents so is a very lightweight fibreglass pole system.   Just peg it down after that.  Once the awning is zipped on you can actually leave it attached when you take down the unit though you do take out the poles of course.  this would be really good if you only intend to use the porch.  

Gives enough room for the dog cages x 2 a small table and chairs and storing coats though is not quite as fitted as the full awning is as the sides are not attached.  I am working on a simple way to improve that now.