Awnings in last weekend's storm!

[Wild Hippies]

If anyone else is new to caravanning like us, you may or may not be sure what to do with your awning if a storm is forecast. With the forecasts for the storm last weekend to have winds in excess of 60mph, I can confirm awnings (and tents) where we were staying did not fare very well. The great awning graveyard has a few new additions, as you can see on the latest Wild Hippies blog post.

Does anyone know if there is a generally safe maximum windspeed for awnings or is it product / caravan specific?

 

[138go]

Lot depends where you are pitched. If you are tucked in behind a hedge or awning on leeward side of MH then you are better off than on the top of a hill with no protection.

So the answer to your question is .. 42

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Two pitches down from us last Friday had their Omnistore stolen whilst they were asleep

To be accurate, they only took the fabric bit(tore it off to remove leaving the cassette on the roof) and one of the legs....cant see what they hoped to gain, and then they left it in the field next door,....numpties

The thieves also drank 4 bottles of wine whilst carrying out the act and left the empties strewn around the pitch
They also let some flashy and bangy fireworks off whilst carrying out the deed

Occupants never heard a thing, must have been gassed or sumfink

 

[Pausim]

If a storm is forecast i.e. Force 10, the only safe thing to do is is take the awning down. I was at a site in Brighton for one once. It was well forecast and in the news before it arrived. The wardens knocked on every caravan and motorhome with an awning out and asked them to take it down. A few ignored them, my immediate neighbour included. By the early hours they were desperately trying to recover their belongings which were being ripped out of the already destroyed awning. I don’t think any awnings survived the night intact. Sorry no sympathy, except for all the others on the site who were woken up by flapping, tearing and the third party damage caused by the debris.

 

[Auntyjan]

I don't know if the storm was not quite as ferocious in Herefordshire as elsewhere but we were having a large BBQ with family and friends in one of our fields. My inflatable awning and my sisters poled tent were unharmed (both by Vango), my gazebo was equally untouched (Gala tents) but my nieces large tunnel tent was flattened at one point (make unknown). It was decidedly soggy underfoot but luckily remained dry overhead for the actual duration of the party.

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[Allanm]

We lost our awning on our Autosleeper a few years ago on what appeared to be a calm day. It was pegged down. A sudden gust of wind took it over the roof of the van and deposited it on the other side.
Luckily, there was no damage to the van, but I learned a valuable lesson. Don’t put the awning out. Or if you do, never leave it out on its own, and peg it down well.

 

[Wildbill]

Hope the wheel is OK now?
Bill

 

[Anthea M]

We always take our swimming in at night whatever the weather.
Never leave it unattended. We have seen a 4 week old awuning trashed after the weight of a rain storm ripped it in two.

 

[Hawkstone]

We always peg down and use the storm straps whatever the weather, gives us extra security. As soon as it starts to flap noisily it comes in and we nearly always roll it in at night. Nothing worse than a 3am am wind in.

 

[treetops1]

The safety maximum is fear ,if it does not feel right with the wind it’s not.Take it in and relax, tomorrow is another day .Being there and lost the tee shirt lol.

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[TheBig1]

I admit that in the past I was outside the van at 3am, in just my pants, soaking wet and winding in a flapping awning in a thunderstorm. these days it goes in at night or if any threat of wind and gets pegged and strapped when we put it out

best part of 20 years ago we were in our motorhome on a hillside just outside Bude in cornwall. we got hit by the tail end of a hurricane. winds so strong that caravans got tipped, awnings destroyed and a german tourist injured her back when hit by a flying tent pole.

 

[DBK]

Caravan awnings are pretty storm proof in my experience if they are well pegged down. MH awnings, or perhaps more accurately MH sunshades, are near useless in a storm if the wind can get under them.

As already mentioned, if they start flapping wind them in and tell yourself to do it earlier next time.

 

[Wild Hippies]

Thanks for all the replies. The warden here at Skysea in Port Eynon was very helpful here on the night of the storm... helping various people out at 2am and even putting a family up in a static as their tent had collapsed.

 

[GPW]

a valuable lesson. Don’t put the awning out.

For this reason despite a very good special offer I decided not to bother having an awning fitted at all. My answer to too much sun is a small parasol that plugs into a fold-out table-n-4chairs set, or going to a cafe.

It's really just a peace of mind thing as I'd hate to have to go outside in a rainstorm and also I thought that the van would be better in side winds (on PVC's they are clipped right on top), driving down south on Friday last week with the huge side winds proved that at least as standard (sans awning) the van is pretty immune to wind when driving.

 

[LesW]

We don't do awnings, to much faffing about, but do use the sunshade fitted, takes about 5 mins to wind it in, why take a chance?

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[Grianan]

We’re just coming to the last few days of our first 2 weeks away in our van. We’ve used the wind out awning quite a lot - usually with storm straps (though not just now as it’s calm and sheltered) but we have wound it in if the weather has changed and overnight. It’s a 5 minute job max.
On Sunday night there was an almighty electrical storm ... we were just north of Regensburg. It pelted it down, and was so windy the van was rocking. The place we were at had tents set up for the season ... a gazebo ended up in the river and 2 A-frames were destroyed. A German guy we’d been chatting to had made the mistake of leaving his roof light open ... it was torn off and his van flooded. We have seen a lot of vans here which leave their wind outs open overnight, strapped down.

 

[GPW]

A German guy we’d been chatting to had made the mistake of leaving his roof light open ... it was torn off and his van flooded.

Ouch!
I had all mine tightly shut and everytime the van shook in the wind I hoped they were strong enough! Not at all surprised he lost his, they're pretty feeble when open - much less anchor points in general and a lever for the wind to act against!

 

[Allanm]

For this reason despite a very good special offer I decided not to bother having an awning fitted at all. My answer to too much sun is a small parasol that plugs into a fold-out table-n-4chairs set, or going to a cafe.

It's really just a peace of mind thing as I'd hate to have to go outside in a rainstorm and also I thought that the van would be better in side winds (on PVC's they are clipped right on top), driving down south on Friday last week with the huge side winds proved that at least as standard (sans awning) the van is pretty immune to wind when driving.

Wise decision. Our came already fitted, in 9 months, I think we have used it 3 times. Much cooler to sit in the shade of a tree, if there’s one nearby.

 

[GPW]

Wise decision. Our came already fitted, in 9 months, I think we have used it 3 times. Much cooler to sit in the shade of a tree, if there’s one nearby.

I'd also be far too lazy to open the back doors to get the handle and actually wind it in or out LOL. Good point about trees, they have active cooling too! (Photosynthesis removes energy from the light). I used trees for lying under in Spain last year - they helped, the heat went straight through my tent layers like it wasn't there.

 

[robnchris]

We treat or wind out sun canopy as we would a sail on our yacht, if you are thing about putting a reef in then put two, or in the case of an awning take it all in.

Far too many incidents already told of "If only" or "I wish i had"

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, most of us which already have a degree in.

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[Spriddler]

The safety maximum is fear ,if it does not feel right with the wind it’s not.Take it in and relax, tomorrow is another day .Being there and lost the tee shirt lol.

robnchris Exactly. When I was sailing offshore I followed the advice of a very experienced sailing acquaintance (Sir Robin K-J) that the time to take in a reef is when you first think about it. I do the same with awnings.
Another of his wisdoms was that when you are outdoors at the mercy of the elements never ignore a hunch, since the mind/body senses situations subconsciously which you may not immediately recognise.