Ive had my Xplore 305 for a few years now and on the last trip I saw a elderly couple put up one of the Vango air connect awnings.
Ive been looking at one of these air awnings for quite a while, but had concerns that they may not fit.
The reason why I think it may not fit is that the hatch to access to toilet container thing is at the back of the van (see my one of my pictures to see what I mean)
As far as I can see the two options of putting one of these awnings up is to have it further forward (between the door and toilet hatch) but this would mean the door is impeded. The other option would be to have it much further back, with the beading of the awning going slightly past the bend of the awning railing.
Anyone out there have the same van and used one of these air awnings?
Hi we have the 304 and use it with the Vango Varkala connect awning but it is 280 and not 260 as you mention (I don’t think there is a 260 version). We have it so that it goes to right to the back of the van and the door to access the toilet is inside the awning and therefore the door wil also open fully back. You need to position it so the air beam is right on the corner of the rail - we got used to the correct position after a couple of try’s and it works perfectly fine. It does, however, sit through the middle of the front window - we don’t have an issue with this and it doesn’t cause any issues with the awning. The ‘connect’ extension attaches to the front and comes out to roughly the hitch of the caravan - it creates a fantastic large awning space. We love it. There is a Facebook group for 304 owners - come join us!
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Quote: Originally posted by navver on 13/9/2018
Would it not be better to simply have a full awning especially with such a short van.
For us, we like the versatility of being able to just have the main porch awning on for shorter trips and then add the extension for longer stays - this on actually gives more space than a full awning would, great for us with 2 kids and a dog! We also wanted air and not poles and canvas - we’d done all that when we had a trailer tent!
Like slj76 said, its the versatility of the Vango Connect that appeals to many people.
If its a short stay you can only use the porch awning, if its a longer stay you can attach the extension and it becomes an awning that extends past the front of the caravan.
I wont be getting one this year, the 2018 model currently doesn't have fly screens (big design flaw in my mind) but next year no doubt they will have them and then I make the purchase.