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 Topic: Caravanning without an Awning
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14/9/2022 at 10:51pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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We only use our awning, a huge poled one, when we stay somewhere for a week or more, otherwise we don't bother. Just the two of us now, and we no longer have a dog, so if we haven't got the awning, wet coats go in the shower and shoes on the doormat.
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Best Regards,
Colin
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17/9/2022 at 7:59am
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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When I think back to our earlier caravanning days when our kids were young there were two adults, three kids, and two dogs, and we didn't even have an awning. Hardly anybody seemed to back then but we managed just fine. Our caravan was a 1960s Sprite Musketeer.
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Best Regards,
Colin
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19/9/2022 at 8:27pm
Location: Northern Ireland
Outfit: Sterckeman Alize Concept CP480
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Quote: Originally posted by Janice Corbett on 14/9/2022
How heavy was the fiama pull-out and how did you address the weight imbalance issue please? I was thinking of one of these
Not sure of the weight ... I'm sure the Fiama website will tell you ... obviously depends on what length of awning you get.
There doesn't appear to be any imbalance ... the weight is evenly distributed along most of one side, and is, pretty well, over one of the wheels.
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20/9/2022 at 1:36pm
Location: Near Alton Towers
Outfit: Bailey Burgundy S7 H
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We only use or porch awning when we are away a fortnight or more, the Isabella Eclipse sun shade does us very well for most of our jaunts away these days. So much easier to erect, dismantle and dry. Plus, it is very stable in almost any wind, I wouldn't like to be without it.
Dave.
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Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.
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21/9/2022 at 3:22pm
Location: Nottingham
Outfit: Eldiss Affinity 482
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We only use our awning for trips of longer than 5 nights and never in the winter. We have a Labrador who is constantly in the water and somehow just manage. Wet boots under van, wet coats in shower cubicle. Dry the dog off as much as we can and Chuck her in. It’s easier with the awning but I can’t be messing about with it for short stays
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Debs
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21/9/2022 at 3:32pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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We had 4 nights at Felixstowe recently, and couldn't be bothered with the awning so we left it at home.
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Colin
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21/9/2022 at 6:25pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Bit of a 'theme' emerging from replies, big awnings too much trouble and shower sacrificed as wet store for many!
Can't argue with a bigger awning often being too much trouble, but I would really miss not using the shower for it's intended purpose! I don't really have option of hanging wet coats in doorway entrance ('hall'), as bathroom door slides up to entrance door on one side, so no free wall space for hooks, and cooker flames/cooking splatter too close to any coats that would be hung on other side! Besides it's a very small doorway I can't walk straight through anyway (my shoulders are 2 inches wider than door frame, I have to sidle through one shoulder first and duck my head to avoid banging it), so hanging coats would be a real nuisance!
My lightweight 1 pole, 15 mins erect 2.6m porch awning is without doubt one of the smartest caravan accessories I've bought, in fact if I'd bought it first, I probably wouldn't have bought the big awning at all! It really is so quick and easy to erect and dismantle, it's worth it for even the shortest stays if a hint of inclement weather.
Only time I've really needed to hang wet cloths in shower was when I got absolutely drowned and jacket and trousers were literally dripping and weren't going to dry naturally for days, so hung on shower 'towel' rail (standard fitment in my van, I assume it's a towel rail, but it's above head height and right across centre of cubical, it may well be a clothes drying rail though) and a fan heater set up to blow warm air into cubical. A few hours and I had my shower back. All the wet dog towels, harness and lead, and my walking boots stayed out in the awning.
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29/9/2022 at 11:37pm
Location: S Wales The Badland
Outfit: Swift Challenger 530
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To revisit a thread I started a few weeks ago, we have just returned from 3 weeks in Cornwall (without an awning) on a fairly exposed site.
Given the pretty strong winds over the last week[1], if we had taken an awning with us, I would have had to take it down or lose it.
(As we lost the previous two awnings - at this time of year - on this particular site.)
We did have a fair amount of wet weather but we managed pretty well.
We kept wet footwear in a plastic box (sold as an under-bed storage unit) shoved just under the side of the van next to the door. It just needed a few ballet steps to remove your shoes/sandals, put them into the box, and get into the van without getting too wet in the process.
We will stick with "Awning Free" holidays in future.
[1] Your wind velocity may have varied.
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SamP
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30/9/2022 at 10:22am
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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There is definitely for and against having an awning. The advantage is that you have much more living space and somewhere to take off wet clothes or towel-dry the dog, and the disadvantage is that it greatly extends setting up and taking down time. That is why we never bother if we are only staying a few days. Another disadvantage of having an awning is if it rains just before you are going home. Drying the thing out when you get home can be a pain!
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Best Regards,
Colin
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via mobile 17/9/2022 at 4:16am
it went in a black bin bag, I went in the shower after I'd finished coat got a rinse to shift the mud and hung up to dry. 
