Awning thoughts and opinions

Captain Yoghurtpot

Captain Yoghurtpot

Joined
Apr 13, 2019
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VW 2005 T5 Campervan
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Since September 2018
Good Morning Fellow funsters.
Having recently moved from a coachbuilt 5.7m overcab motorhome to a VW camper for personal usage reasons I have a dilemma and would welcome opinions on my thoughts, good or bad or indifferent.
I have a thick skin.
Our Quest 4 Pro screenhouse was very useful when we had the motorhome and I am sure would be equally as much use with our newer van.....BUT......
It is very long and will not fit in the VW other than being wedged at a angle behind the sliding door, making access and being secure whilst travelling somewhat difficult and possibly unsafe.
I am therefore thinking of going for a drive away awning of the inflatable type ,( we can easily drive away from the quest as it's not attached unless I use the quest vehicle connector panel, which is a bit fiddly) , but an inflatable, whilst perhaps heavier, would be an all-in-one connection to the awning rail on the van and could be used with a Cador strip.
The quest screenhouse would therefore be sold, but the inflatable awning I believe would be more than easily stored for travelling in a safer and useful way as it would be smaller and possibly square/ rectangular.
Any thoughts or comments would be welcome as I have read that inflatable awnings can cope better in windy conditions as they can flex, as opposed to our quest, which is more rigid as it is flexi-poled.
Look forward to your comments, and if any, recommendations on drive away inflatable awnings for a VW T5 campervan ( Transporter).
Thanks.
 
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Although not a drive away awning, but we tried a blow up type shelter like a Quest due to the same problem of Quest's storage length, but we found the blow up to be extremely bulky and heavy when packed and after a couple of time using it we gave it up as a bad job and moved it on.
 
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We had, and sold, an inflatable drive away awning.
We bought it hoping it would be quick and easy to erect, which it was, but in fact not much quicker than our previous metal framed awning.
We sold it as it was heavy and cumbersome, being one piece we could not distribute the weight as we could with the metal pole awning. This made stowage difficult.
Before the metal pole awning we had one of those flexible fibreglass pole awnings. In hindsight this was probably our best awning, lightweight and easily stowed, although sometimes hard to erect on a windy day.
We had the awnings so we had somewhere to sit in the evenings without disturbing our young child. He is now an adult and no longer travels with us. We do not have an awning now.
 
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When i had a small van . I had a REIMO TOUR AWNING took about !0 to 15 mins to put up.
And weighed a lot less than a blow up . And did not take up a lot of space in the van unlike a blow up.
Happy Season 3 GIF by The Office
 
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I wouldn't recommend a blow up awning. I bought a hexagnal one from the NEC show just before lockdown but was very dissapointed at how heavy and cumbersome it was. I was lucky enough get more than I'd paid for it on eBay and subsequently bought one of these. https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/6-man-camping-living-area-arpenaz-base-m/_/R-p-157674 Quality isn't great but only takes about 10 minutes to put up and does the job.
 
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Well we have both an air awning vango Kela tall 2 and also a quest same as yours.
We have never driven away fro our drive away awning, mainly as we use it for sleeping accommodation for grandkids and john takes his car for transport. We did at one time take it away when we went abroad, but the quest is so much better fo short stays, but as you say, cumbersome to carry in a VW.
As an aside I had a doblo, with a poled drive away awning, am sure it would have been great but never bothered for just me, Son who now has the van takes pone of his tents if they need extra space.
So much about us and our usage.
Friends had a VW for a couple of years and used the same awning as we have, just not the tall version, had no problems with storage and it was used often.
The awning i had for doblo was similar to the one Muncy has, but find the poled version less stable in high winds. The vango goes up in minutes, it's the pegging out that can take the time 🤣 Oh and I am able to put the vango up on my own, takes alot longer then due to my height.
 
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Can you afix the Quest to the roof or the rear ?
I'm sure I've seen one carried inside a wide plastic drain pipe that was carried sideways on the inside of the bike rack
 
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Had a Vango kela air on our T6, was quick and easy to put up pita to put away especially if wet. Depends on your set up we had a Rib bed so fitted in back. When there was 4 of us had a tow bar bike rack and it fitted on that with chairs etc.
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Thanks for the replies so far folks.
We CAN get the quest in our campervan but it's positioning for travel is not ideal, internally, and I really don't want to start fixing stuff to the outside for travelling.
I am intrigued as to what these "cinch" hub units are. So thanks to Wombles for the heads up.
I shall take a look.
 
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Anything blow up always let a bit of air out if it's going to be very warm. Have seen two explode in the sun in the last two years.
 
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I sold my Quest for the very same reason as you - downsized to a small pvc. I have recently bought the Cinch hub that Wombles has referred to and it is great, used at the Malvern show this weekend and am delighted with it. It’s very versatile and because there are 4 of us using it we have the storage unit accessory on one side which enabled us to set up our drinks table and still sit 4 in the main hub.!
 
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Cal54 said:
I sold my Quest for the very same reason as you - downsized to a small pvc. I have recently bought the Cinch hub that Wombles has referred to and it is great, used at the Malvern show this weekend and am delighted with it. It’s very versatile and because there are 4 of us using it we have the storage unit accessory on one side which enabled us to set up our drinks table and still sit 4 in the main hub.!
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Hi CAL.
Yes, looks as if this may be the way we are going.
The quest is excellent.......BUT stowage is our problem now is a safe and usable manner.
Also, the quest only has 1 opening for access, ie the front door/ panel is the only part which unzipps fully , despite all the other panel's being capable of being unzipped for air flow but not for being removed as that is where the structure of the unit is derived from.
The Cinch seems to have at least 2 " entrances" or areas where additions can be attached which for us and our use,would be beneficial, plus it's collapsed size would make stowage much easier.
I am intrigued also as to the availability and use of the connecting " tunnel" which can connect to our vans awning rail, this making it possibly a drive away again if not used free standing.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Food for thought I think👍.
 
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Captain Yoghurtpot - no experience of the van connector but can advise all 4 sides can be opened. The sides don’t actually come off but roll up into an attached pocket - very tidy.
Have a look at the U Tube videos - they show how easy it is to collapse.
Good luck - I’m delighted with my purchase.

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When we had a campervan and even with a pvc we towed a small trailer which was a great help with storage
 
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