Drive away awnings

[Stubfin]

Can I pick brains of people who use these drive-away awnings. Pros/cons, type and suppliers? We dont want to add half a ton of canvas but a kind of add-on tent/shed would be useful for the snorer.

[R0B]

If you do a search for "awnings" in the search facility.Theres a fair bit of info on this subject.

[Stubfin]

Thanks Rob I already did that , just wondered if anyone had more up to date advice or if opinions had changed, longer use of products might have revealed defects etc. Thanks.

[nevill3]

Hi we have a movelite XL by outdoor revoltion We bought it last year and was a little dissapointed at first, the poles are the fibreglass type bendy ones and it was a little worrying sat inside it when the wind gets up. Also the corner seams leaked at first, but I have resealed them so I hope that problem is cured. I have also modified some old rigid tube poles from our old tunnel tent to use this year to replace the corner upright poles leaving just the flexible ones for the roof section. The Movelite XL is easy to erect. fairly light and doesn't take up too much room and is big enough for a double airbed etc. They are quite cheap now (less then £200) I would love a canvas awning but they were too expensive for us last year so we made do with the one we now have.

Good luck in your search

[mwheatley]

Hi,

I am having this problem myself, and have had for a few years......which is the best solution? After much research I intended to buy a Quechua Base XL and have it just outside the van with the Fiamma wind out creating a covered walkway. The Quechua are light (14kg) and very quick to erect & take down. After a quick search on fleabay I ended up with a Jovi system 2000 (a cheeky buy it now offer that I thought they would never accept, and they did ), see pic (excuse family!!). This is a great piece of kit, proper canvas, drive away awning section, zip out sides, canvas left on fold up system, but it weighs 32kg & comes in two large bags!!

So now I am going back to the original Quechua plan for Europe trips. I will keep the Jovi as it is great for UK stuff and I have never seen one before, the company have gone bust & they were hugely expensive 10yrs ago, about 1000 pounds by all accounts!

Hope this helps a little.

[lloydy]

i bought this
http://www.justkampers.com/shop/outwell ... 18232.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(wait for end of summer sale, i got it for a £100 less)
used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, really is good. Size is perfect, having a carpet makes a big difference too. And you can zip a bedroom in and out as well

[mrdp]

Hi we have an outdoor revolution handi drive away awning for quick weekends - very quick to put up and somewhere to put stuff at night/when it rains. We have a Kyham 5000 drive away awning that came with the van for very long weekends- it has huge living space ,However when out the other weekend in Devon we had moderate winds and snapped two poles and ripped the fabric I have now fixed it but in my opinion they aren't the strongest and not cheap either. Also we have just bought a second hand canvas awning from fellow 8090 member -(nice one fodtommo) a DWT Bregenze which has a steel frame, very strong and good general size but yes bulky in the boot. If I had to only keep one it would prob. be the cotton canvas DWT Bregenze one as it covers all of the points I need an awning for. I have started to think maybe I have a bit of a thing for awnings lol do most people have this many...... At the end of the day we spend alot of time without the awning attached as I like an open outlook from the van but they are great if it rains and somewhere to store stuff and join them up to the van at night.Hope my input helps

[Stubfin]

Thanks for the very useful replies. Interesting to hear that people have multiple awning solutions. I came across some stuff on the forum for T4/T5 owners that suggests they have similar debates (http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). We have a large frame tent but it takes about 45 minutes to set up and probably wouldn't survive a strong wind. I am not convinced that you have to have your 'extension' actually connected to the van. I am going to suss out these pop up base seconds in Stockport next weekend. Anyone else wants to pass on their words of wisdom?

[dirtygertie]

Thanks for the very useful replies. Interesting to hear that people have multiple awning solutions. I came across some stuff on the forum for T4/T5 owners that suggests they have similar debates (http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). We have a large frame tent but it takes about 45 minutes to set up and probably wouldn't survive a strong wind. I am not convinced that you have to have your 'extension' actually connected to the van. I am going to suss out these pop up base seconds in Stockport next weekend. Anyone else wants to pass on their words of wisdom?

I put my quechua base seconds tent up for the first time this weekend at Deva; It is very quick to erect (its pop up, what would you expect!!!) it is extremely well made - I was actually very surprised at the quality of it.
You could seat 6 people in one but it would be a squish........if you are using it as an actual living space I would suggest it is a little small - if you are using it as a storage space then its spot on.
very easy to put down too; watch the video several times then think to yourself 'willy & 2 balls' (thanks Alice ) I also have a Khyam awning that attaches to the van but tbh I can't see it getting much use now that I have the base seconds.

[Stubfin]

Karen/Gertie, Which particular base second model did you get? I have got a bit confused about all the variations having spent hours ont webnet. And on top of that all this talk about speed of erections and willies and two balls has got me quite hot, bothered and flusterated!!

[paulo999]

There are/were three Base Seconds...

- Base Seconds (no longer available it seems)... but maybe findable on ebay.

- Base Seconds Full. On two sides it has 'hoods' that allow smaller pop ups to bridge into the main one. This would suit people who want to add one or two sleeping tents, e.g. for kids. If you don't, you might want to remove these (stanley knife job). For a while these were 'discontinued' and discounted down to as little as £70 (possibly even less). Bizarrely, they've been un-discontinued and gone back up to a new high of £149.00

(For either of those, you can optionally add a liner, to make it usable for sleeping.)

- Base Seconds XL. Much bigger version of the ordinary Base Seconds. No hoods. In some ways this the ideal model if you don't want to add smaller sleeping tents. It can open on all four sides with no alterations, and is much roomier. The most expensive though at £199


I have a Base Seconds Full, left over from tenting days. It goes up in 2 minutes, easily doable for a solo traveller like me. Ground sheet if you need it. Packs away in five. Because of the overhangs, it goes fairly snug to the van (but doesn't attach obviously). Like all of the sides, the van side can be zipped up if you want to drive away.

As mentioned above, it could seat 4, but a bit snug. Realistically, the XL is the one to consider if there's more than two of you.

The other great thing about these is the build quality, and being pop-ups, there's nothing to lose or break. The flex in the integral spars also means it's good in strong wind. It goes with it, rather than acts as a sail.

[mwheatley]

I had a thought with the Base XL that if you wanted it to be attached to the van then I can't imagine it would cost too much to take it to a mend a tent type place & ask them make a drive away tunnel for it.

[paulo999]

I had a thought with the Base XL that if you wanted it to be attached to the van then I can't imagine it would cost too much to take it to a mend a tent type place & ask them make a drive away tunnel for it.

Yep, that could work.

(Although with the built in overhangs handily fitting the curve of the van, I wonder whether it would be worth the effort.)

[mwheatley]

True, but I don't think the large Base XL has the flappy bits. So I suppose it's a trade off between cover and space. My thought was that a decent lightweight drive away awning will cost at least 250 pounds, so 199 pounds for the Base XL + cost of extra tunnel sewing would leave you with a quick, lightweight drive away awning that will take seconds to put up.

If I end up doing it myself I will post up some pics.

[paulo999]

True, but I don't think the large Base XL has the flappy bits.

Just checked... no... they are there alright. (I mean the ones up top, not the low level ones for joining small pop ups)

Not to say there isn't merit in your idea though. Definitely post some pics up if you do it.

The XL: