Royal Tunnel Awning

[MaddyJ]

Ok........I know this awning has been mentioned quite often but I do have a question. Our awning came with our van we purchased in Oct. Today (at last) is the first time we've been able to work out how it fits (or doesn't fit) together. After some hours of frustration what I thought would be easy with a ridge pole system worked out far harder than we thought (especially after much swearing from my hubby and nearly taking his eye out). Although we do have very limited instructions our main problem is how the poles attach to the ground/tent. There are 6 big rings and each ring has a pin, but where does the pin go? There is no hole for it to fit in at the bottom of the ridge pole (that is just full of mud from the previous people that used it). Also, we managed to work out how to put the inner tent up but there is no way of securing it at the bottom. If anyone could help with this it would be great, thanks.

[leeroy]

Hi
pm sent

[Red Westie]

Needs two people but a 15 minute job....really
lay flat, assemble all the fibreglass poles, push them through the loops (awning still flat on the ground) attach the awning end to the van (solid pole that lays in the gutter and fastened by two/three clamps on the bare sections of pole)
NOW....using two people, push pole one from the ends and make an arch (pole closest to the van) push the large pins in the end of the poles (the straps will determine the width of the arch) do the same with the other poles until all the arches are formed. (the pins fit very loosely in the ends of the poles but don't move because of the spring tension from the bent pole)
Get someone to hold up the end arch (furthest away from the van) whilst you space out all the arches evenly (you could just use a guy rope for this)
use velcro loops to further secure poles (these are already attached to the awning)
Make sure the guy rops are on the right side of the poles.
Pull Guy ropes square to the canvas (do them in pairs so you are not pulling the awning unevenly)
Now fit the two rigid poles internally to hold out the tunnel (through loops and into end pockets)
Finally peg down
Put down ground sheet.
Hope this helps.
Martin

[MaddyJ]

Thanks Martin, that is really helpful. We are away for a couple of nights at the weekend and are going to try again with the camper, (yesterday we tried at home on the grass). We did get in a fashion, but it was the pins that we couldn't work out because the ends of the poles were full of mud yet the pins really clean and the two just didn't seem to marry together. Your instructions are great, so we'll have another go at the weekend. Thanks again.
Alex

[Red Westie]

This is mine....



Martin

[MaddyJ]

Thanks Martin. Ours one has 3 ridge poles. We are off camping later when hubby gets back from work and I'll take some pics of ours ..................thats assuming that we get the thing up!!

[MaddyJ]

Wooohooo here we are in Dudley, Hubby has beer and I've got wine, feet up. Took us an hour to get the awning up but yes we did it and no plasters needed .....................now just wondering why when the pc and fan heater are plugged in and the zig unit is switched on both the leisure battery indicators are on and creating a disco......lol

This is the life

[leeroy]

well done guys it does get easier

lee

[illzlee]

practice does make perfect, we can now do ours in hurricane conditions or fending off horses in the new forest in under ten minutes!

[Bessie the camper]

This is mine....



Martin

thats not an awning thats more like a grow tunnel

puts my little driveaway outhouse awning to shame

i want one

[Red Westie]

Agreed...a little on the big side for an overnight or weekend camp but then we only use it when we are camping for a while in one place otherwise it's just the Fiamma roll out.
This tunnel also works very well as a double, with each end fixed to a T3 sliding door.

Martin