Drive away awning on a PVC (1 Viewer)

[Ed Scratcher]

I actually use my awning!
unfortunately when I bought it I didn’t realise the problem a sliding door would give. The back of the door catches on the top of the awning when you try to open it.
Tried winding the Fiamma canopy (aka awning) out a few inches, which not only defeats the purpose of the thing, but concerned me over the fiamma mechanics.
I can’t be the first to have this problem, anybody got any bright ideas. By the way I don’t count throwing it away a bright idea.

 

[Lenny HB]

I wonder if it's been fitted using the wrong brackets so it's sitting too low. Normally on a PVC they are mounted high up on the curve of the roof well clear of the door.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Mine is up high, like this

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[Nanniemate]

mines not, different to Riverbankannie I have to wind in and out with the door closed but once the awning is out the door will open and close freely. Just have to remember to close the door before winding it back in

 

[Riverbankannie]

mines not, different to Riverbankannie I have to wind in and out with the door closed but once the awning is out the door will open and close freely. Just have to remember to close the door before winding it back in

We have to wind out and in with the door closed too. I’m not sure that is the poster’s problem.

 

[old-mo]

Mine winds in and out with the door open... But it looks to be set a little higher than your Riverbankannie ..

Toying with getting a small awning... so will watch this thread with interest..

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[carolyn]

We have to wind ours in and out with the door closed. We have an IH just like Riverbankannie but our awning was fitted by Hillside awnings after we bought the van as we dithered. Interestingly they recommend a 4 m awning rather than the 3.7 m awning that IH fit (same price) due to the position of the fitting attachments on the van. Something to do with twisting, can’t remember exactly. The 4m one does come forward a bit more over the bit where the leading edge of the sliding door and the rear edge of the passenger door is. I always thought this would be a problem area with an awning on our previous IH which had the 3.7 m awning.

I think that Vantage fit a 4 metre Fiamma awning on their vans old-mo , they certainly do on their new ones. I think that helps with the material getting tangled at the rear as well when you slide the door open. We did look at them but then bought a Quest pop up, the awnings brought back too many memories of putting up our trailer tent when the children were small. We were usually not speaking by the end of the first evening!

 

[old-mo]

I think that Vantage fit a 4 metre Fiamma awning on their vans @old-mo

Yes.... Fiamma 4 mtr....
But there is only about an inch clearance of the door when winding in or out..

 

[steveh57]

Although I've not got a PVC, on our van I find the driveaway awning fixing kit absolutely useless as I cannot get the tunnel roof taught, hence water pools. Has your driveaway got straps that would go over the top of your canopy and give you the additional height on the tunnel to enable you to operate your sliding door.

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[carolyn]

Yes.... Fiamma 4 mtr....
But there is only about an inch clearance of the door when winding in or out..

We looked at some of the driveaway awnings when we used to go to Beni for a few weeks but they made your footprint enormous and would virtually fill a plot even with a PVC. These were the inflatable ones as we wanted to avoid poles. We don’t really think we’d do that sort of holiday again anyway, staying for 6 weeks at a time so no need. The small ones do seem to end up not being wide enough because of the sliding door as the OP has found.

I have seen a few people put a “stop” on their sliding door so that it doesn’t open fully when they have a small awning up. Wombles found a good source for one. We bought one, but being so good at DIY it remains in the packet somewhere!

 

[Riverbankannie]

I have seen a few people put a “stop” on their sliding door so that it doesn’t open fully when they have a small awning up. @Wombles found a good source for one. We bought one, but being so good at DIY it remains in the packet somewhere!

I put a wine botle cork in the existing holes as a stop when required.
The sliding door fouling the awning is only a problem for that short time when the awning is unsupported by legs.

 

[AndyPK]

I put a wine botle cork in the existing holes as a stop when required.
The sliding door fouling the awning is only a problem for that short time when the awning is unsupported by legs.

Doesn’t that mean you have to drink the wine then to stop it going off……..?

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[TheMachMan]

We have the same problem. We just use a tennis ball to stop the sliding door opening fully and catching.
not a big issue.

 

[Wombles]

We have the same problem. We just use a tennis ball to stop the sliding door opening fully and catching.
not a big issue.

Tried a tennis ball & a squash ball but kept popping out if parked on a slope so fitted the Stopsy https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...r-van-sliding-door-with-discount-code.186618/ which carolyn mentioned above & it's one of our favourite mods.

 

[GAVLAD]

I had a drive away awning (Kyham) when we had a classic VW Baywindow camper.
What you’re trying to avoid did happen to us.
The sliding door top corner caught the awning tunnel roof and ripped it.
We did get it repaired.
I put it down to not siting the campervan in the same position after going out in it.
I started marking where the wheels were with dome (groundsheet) pegs to help align the van more accurately after that.
The tent repairer suggested making a connector strip out of strengthened material with sewn in figure of eight beading to attach between the van and awning channel but to do so in this instance would make the side panels of the tunnel move further away from the van sides.
You could try some narrow diameter pipe insulation onto the sliding door corner, but it’s remembering to put it on and take it off when you go out.

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[Bobby-gg]

Yes, this corner here - it's the length of the driveaway attachment that dictates where it ends
<Broken link removed>

So I've got a stop to allow the door to be opened either halfway or completely open when the awning isn't fitted

What I have found is that the original wind out canopy mounts fitted by ih on ours rolled the canopy over the side, I recently replaced mine with Thule one's as I used a second set on the drivers side for fitting a solar panel on the roof and the new one's lifted the canopy more over the roof, giving a little more height to the kador rail

 

[Lumpy]

No complicated door stops for me, fully adjustable and easily replaceable and available in all countries ;-) Awning wise we are the same Fiamma F65 sliding door needs to be shut when opening or closing. I do not have a drive away awning at the moment but have been looking so have noted that it must be longer than the sliding door position if used when fully open.

 

[Chris CM]

I think some of us are talking at cross purposes here. I think the op was referring to a drive away awning, not the wind out awning. There is no way the door should catch on a wind out awning, if it does then it’s been wrongly fitted, as for a drive away I think most of them aren’t wide enough to cover the sliding door opening and open position of the door, certainly on a Ducato sized PVC. Our drive away fouls the door when fully open, I use a tennis ball in the track to stop the door hitting the awning when opened, this still gives plenty of room for ingress/egress as the kitchen covers half the doorway.

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[solaris]

When we had a drive away awning, inflatable, I put a bit of pipe insulation along top of door at corner to stop it ripping. Bit of a faff in fact whole awning was. Another great idea consigned to attic and sold. Have a wind out Thule at moment. Leading edge of metal will catch top of door so close door.. To hold door in a set position, try using a cut down wine cork. If you cut it slightly wrong, get another. I’ve been trying for years for the perfect shaped cork. Morrison’s deliver replacements each week

 

[Ed Scratcher]

Thanks for all your inputs! It is the tunnel of an inflatable awning(tent) that attaches to the wind out Fiamma awning(canopy) kador strip. As suggested, basically the width of the inflatable awning/tent has to exceed the door travel. If not it catches. Or as suggested you need to limit the travel with a stop. As I have no kitchen in the doorway I like it fully open to interact with those in the awning/tent which can be open too. Can’t be bothered to mess about with putting paddingoff and on, so I was hoping some clever bod had invented a gizmo/ bracket to hold that bit away from the door top. The search goes on!

 

[Bobby-gg]

Thanks for all your inputs! It is the tunnel of an inflatable awning(tent) that attaches to the wind out Fiamma awning(canopy) kador strip. As suggested, basically the width of the inflatable awning/tent has to exceed the door travel. If not it catches. Or as suggested you need to limit the travel with a stop. As I have no kitchen in the doorway I like it fully open to interact with those in the awning/tent which can be open too. Can’t be bothered to mess about with putting paddingoff and on, so I was hoping some clever bod had invented a gizmo/ bracket to hold that bit away from the door top. The search goes on!

Bungee cord pulling the corner of the awning out attached to the far end of the wind out awning?

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[Minxy]

Thanks for all your inputs! It is the tunnel of an inflatable awning(tent) that attaches to the wind out Fiamma awning(canopy) kador strip. As suggested, basically the width of the inflatable awning/tent has to exceed the door travel. If not it catches. Or as suggested you need to limit the travel with a stop. As I have no kitchen in the doorway I like it fully open to interact with those in the awning/tent which can be open too. Can’t be bothered to mess about with putting paddingoff and on, so I was hoping some clever bod had invented a gizmo/ bracket to hold that bit away from the door top. The search goes on!

What you need is a 'pole' that you can use to form a slight arch from the back of the awning itself to the underside of the Fiamma awning casing, the arching would then hold the tunnel fabric up above the door when it's opened, think along the lines of what the Fiamma awning curved rafter does but with bamboo, a long piece of dowel, plastic etc, even a fibre tent pole (easier to store as they split into sections) ... basically anything that you can put under tension to form a curve, you could then sew a 'pocket' into the DA awning for the end that goes there so you don't tear it (put rubbers on each end anyway to protect the awning and side of the van).

 

[Odd job]

I never attached the awning, I put it a few inches away from the PVC and rolled up the tunnel, it does mean a few drips of rain when it's wet but easier to drive away and back and no worries about the door.

 

[carolyn]

I never attached the awning, I put it a few inches away from the PVC and rolled up the tunnel, it does mean a few drips of rain when it's wet but easier to drive away and back and no worries about the door.

I think that’s why so many of us have ended up with the cheap and easy Quest, especially the new one with the sides that are built in!

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[Herbyventures]

We've recently bought a driveaway awning for our van conversion, it attaches to a rail on the roof. We agonised over the placing of that and worried a lot because we are hobbits and we were concerned we'd never be able to attach the awning. We bought some very slimline step ladders which fit in our wardrobe to get over that and then discovered that to fit the width of the open door and height of the van we had a choice of only three types of awning. Went for a Quest Falcon, no groundsheet but quite a few sites don't allow them anyway. It fits and it JUST clears the door when fully open (it touches slightly if the ground is uneven, might consider some of the ideas on here for a stopper or door corner protection just in case). We even managed our first ever drive away and just about managed to park in the right place when we came back, (with a bit of repegging). So I am completely sold on the driveway awning thing now. Shame our second trip was to a site where the hard standings were so hard we couldn't put it up! (on the other hand watching someone else rather ineptly using a drill and a reluctant partner to put theirs up kept me amused for quite some time)