awning advise please!!

[clartsonly]

Hello, I know I havn't posted for a while now but.....

camping this weekend the wind grabbed my awning when I was packing up flipped it over and hence one of the upright poles flew into the lake

The awning is a little wider than the door, old, in need of at leat 50% of the rubbers as they have snapped has a broken zip and a saggy leaking roof when it rains, there are 5 or 6 good pegs left and the children sleep in a tent outside the awning and the dog in is crate inside the awning. we have a ground sheet that is to big in one direction and too small in the other.

Is this Dylan (1986 T25) hinting that it would like a new awning joined up to it when we go camping? I think for about £50-£60 I could sort out the various issues with the old one, or get a new one from justkampers for £200 with a 4 birth 2/2 inner tent.!

does anyone have any experience of these jk ones? Am I simply looking for retail theropy? my wife might come camping again if we have a decent enough awning / sleeping arrangements.

It appears I may have already talked myself into buying it.

[jason k]

if your gonna get a new one go khyam

[Gunslinger]

I've just bought a Khyam Driveaway 5000. It was £265.00, easy to put up. superbly made and absolutely huge

[mike_gee32]

We've just bought a Khyam motordome sleeper from here http://www.jrleisure.co.uk/products/khy ... -tent/251/ it's a good size and has a decent 4 person sleeping annex built in and the usual Khyam quality.
When we wanted one last year they were nearly £500, I thought £350 was a bargain.

[clartsonly]

thanks for your replys... they are expensive. I really like the idea of having a some tent inners.

Are they simply the top of range as far as awnings go, or are they much better than the JK one?

[mike_gee32]

We bought a traveller frame awning from JK when we first got the van, can't see it on JK's website but the same as this one http://www.jacksons-camping.co.uk/royal/awning.htm. It was okish, a bit of a faff to erect and felt like it was going to blow away when it was windy. Not much space inside either, certainly wouldn't have been usable with the optional inner tent. The biggest problem was that the canvas stretched so when it rained water collected on the roof and it sagged down, stretching it more.
We've now got two kids (2 and 4 mths) and decided that until they are big enough to safely climb up and down in the roof we would rather all sleep in the awning.
We've not been away this year, but have had the awning up in the garden for a few days to play with and I think it will be much better, it's bigger inside, although being a dome the walls curve in a bit - but probably not as much as a tunnel one, and the sleeping area is huge, if you don't want to sleep in it don't use the inner tent and you could store all your stuff in the end and still have a 3m x 3m living area.
I put it up myself, first time, in about 10mins, and took it down as quickly, if you use all the guy ropes I doubt it would move in gale force winds and Khyams are rated as the best you can get.
I've not used the cheaper tunnel awnings but I've seen some bad reports of them, think of it this way we spent £250 on an awning that only lasted 4 seasons and was never quite big enough if the Khyam is as good as everyone thinks it should out last the van! Buy cheap buy twice.

[clartsonly]

I have just bought one of the justkampers ones they were all sold out on jk last night, but I found them on ebay from justkampers.. I fired off a confused email through the bay and the answer was wait until now as they do have only 50 left and the price is reduced to £150..

so if you are interested the ad is here if it only lasts 3 years I will be happy for £150 + 8.50 postage.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0401444736" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mike_gee32]

Thats a good price, should last at least 3 years - even if you don't get on with it you'll get at least half that back on ebay if you time it for the silly season, I sold the old one last summer at the peak and got over £100 for it (and described the faults), I saw people paying £70+ for ripped and damaged tunnel ones.

[clartsonly]

the children are excited about havin a "room" rather than a tent outside the awning.

[catflaps]

Hello,
As a newbie i'm looking to purchase my first awning (amongst many other things). I too like the sound of the Khyam brand because they appear so simple to put up. Can I ask which of the Khyam models works best to have an inner for sleeping AND a private area for porta loo? I'm not sure if peeps usually put the loo inside an inner for privacy or make shift a screen or something?!?
thanks,
Cat

[andisnewsyncro]

Hello,
As a newbie i'm looking to purchase my first awning (amongst many other things). I too like the sound of the Khyam brand because they appear so simple to put up. Can I ask which of the Khyam models works best to have an inner for sleeping AND a private area for porta loo? I'm not sure if peeps usually put the loo inside an inner for privacy or make shift a screen or something?!?
thanks,
Cat

Can't speak personally for Khyam awnings, far too much of a cheapskate for one one of those We have a Royal Traveller tunnel which has been very well used and value for money wise ticks all the boxes; Comes with ground sheet, inner tent, fits the van quite nicely and has survived some extremes of weather

Our toilet lives in the "porch / annexe" bit between the awning & the van next to the back wheel. A skirt made from an old ground sheet goes along the underside of the van to prevent a repeat of the "I can see someone's bum" comment we had once . The rear door of the awning onto the tent can be fully or half opened, so it's easy to just zip it back up for privacy toilet wise. Hope this helps

[Gunslinger]

Yep, ours will live in the space between awning and van too.

[clartsonly]

I use the porta loo at night time the children hold it in until the morning for some reason.

but there is a 90cm gap between van and awning in the jk one I have bought so it seems ideal, and I have already made a skirt for the wheel gap. I just hope buying it at a discount from ebay still includes the "bundle" which I assume means bar and pegs... I am sure I do have the rail figure of eight thing, I bought by mistake some years ago.

incidently rather than me chucking the old awning away does anyone want it, remember it has an upright pole missing ( I am sure you could get one for a tenner from somewhere, the inside zip tag is missing from the door, it needs a few rubbers ( they have been missing for 3 years ), and I modified the rear bit which apparently should have acted like a skirt against the camper but in actual fact acted like a death trap and simply tripped everyone up when they left the camper( the modification means removal with scissors). It is in Bedfordshire if anyone wants it for spares / repair (or simply buying a new pole and putting up with its charm. let me know and as soon as my new one arrives safe and sound you can collect it.

[72BUG]

I use the porta loo at night time the children hold it in until the morning for some reason.

but there is a 90cm gap between van and awning in the jk one I have bought so it seems ideal, and I have already made a skirt for the wheel gap. I just hope buying it at a discount from ebay still includes the "bundle" which I assume means bar and pegs... I am sure I do have the rail figure of eight thing, I bought by mistake some years ago.

incidently rather than me chucking the old awning away does anyone want it, remember it has an upright pole missing ( I am sure you could get one for a tenner from somewhere, the inside zip tag is missing from the door, it needs a few rubbers ( they have been missing for 3 years ), and I modified the rear bit which apparently should have acted like a skirt against the camper but in actual fact acted like a death trap and simply tripped everyone up when they left the camper( the modification means removal with scissors). It is in Bedfordshire if anyone wants it for spares / repair (or simply buying a new pole and putting up with its charm. let me know and as soon as my new one arrives safe and sound you can collect it.

I'll take the old one off your hands please.

I've got a caravan awning I don't use any more so I can probably cobble something together between the 2.

You're a bit far away for me to collect tho but of you wouldn't mind couriering it I would gladly pay the postage.

Thanks

[clartsonly]

I am not sure I can go to all that trouble I was hoping to dump it in my shed then get it out when someone comes round knocking for it, rather than taking it to the tip.