Hi, I’m pretty new to Caravanning and pick up my new van on Friday! I’m wanting to put a roll down awning on it and torn between the Thule omnistor 1200 or the kampa revo zip. I’m looking at 4-4.5 m . Has any one got one of these or experience of these and can shed a little light. Tia
We have had an Omnistore for a number of years - bought second-hand through Ebay. It has been fine for what we need (which is a bit of cover from the elements and a little additional privacy). We now leave it permanently fixed on the caravan (even in store) and rarely use one of our other awnings. We don't have any of the panels.
We do have storm straps, although we roll it back up again if the weather is going to be particularly windy. It has now developed a small tear at one side, so is probably nearing the end of its useful life. We would certainly consider replacing it though.
The ideal would be something that would fix above the awning rail, so that we could put up an awning if we wished to, without having to remove it.
The main down-side is the size of it if we don't want to use it. We really have to decide before we go away which awning we will use, as, once we are on site, we don't really want to be taking it off and putting it back on again each time we move on (it is too big to travel any other way). Fine if we are heading for the south of France, but not so good if we are planning (as we are at present) a couple of weeks in Yorkshire. We also find it a pain to clean, as we don't have anywhere at home that we can lay it out flat and it's usually impractical to do this on-site.
Does any of that help?
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Thank you that’s great. I did read that the roof ones need bolting on to the van which I’m a bit reluctant to do. I plan going to the local shop at the weekend and have a look at them all. The roll ups seem to be really good and your responses have confirmed what i thought . How do you get on with travelling to France , do you go on the train? I go to France quite often as my dad lives there but towing the van mildly terrifies me a little at the moment 😁
Yes, Joanna .... the Roll-out sits just below the fixed awning rail, so that an awning could be rigged if needed.
We don't actually have a standard awning as we are only fair weather continental campers ... the number of rain affected days we encounter are usually less than 10% of our holidays ... so the rollout works perfectly.
Like you, we are generally fair weather continental campers, but this year have stuck to the UK - mainly because at the beginning of the season it was uncertain as to what documentation we would need for the dog. The confusion still reigns, but we hope all will be clear by next year.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
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Picked the new caravan up on Friday and went straight to a site for a try out. I went for the Thule 4m . It’s really good quality and seems more robust than the revo . My friend has a fiamma and ,thinks it’s better quality than his. Managed to also fit new motor mover on the van as well whilst we were there which gained a few comments from the other campers 😁