The rise of the light weight inflatable awnings

[mentaliss]

excuse the pun! you may or may not see my concern, I was in the market to buy a inflatable awning to use for a couple of months during our stay abroad , that was till I found out that most of the Manufacturers of such are quite deceitful, I say this with regards to the 'Fit For Purpose' issues, I discovered that most of these type awnings start to deteriorate from Sunlight UVA almost immediately their erected, where the deceit comes in is that the majority of the Manufacturers don't tell you in their Marketing brochures that this type of awning is not recommended for prolonged exposure to UVA but once purchased you will find in most cases a warning of such attached to the awning material!!
So what is prolonged exposure.. a few days, week, month, several months......... why when asked do the Manufacturers Rep's tell you that these awnings are not recommended for long term exposure to UVA but fail to make it clear and decisive in their Marketing Material.

 

[DavidG58]

I presume you are talking about a specific awning you have bought

we have a Kampa Air, no such notice or warning came with ours and it still looks fine in terms of degradation,

ours is 2 years old though so this might me a more recent addition

we have other issues but not with the effects of UV

as for what is reasonable for 'prolonged' or 'normal' you would like to think normal would be no more than a week at a time, they are possibly covering themselves from seasonal pitched caravan users where they literally might go up and stay unmoved for months on end, maybe?

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

I think Kampa refer to the Motor Rally Air as not being designed for long term habitation use, as in leaving erected for many weeks to months (as in seasonal pitches), and refer to UVA exposure being a causal factor in colour bleaching (regardless of whether Air or frame). But I could be recalling this incorrectly.

 

[Judge Mental]

Nearly every van around me down in Spain have their tyres on vans covered up on site.....draw your own conclusions!

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

This comes from the Kampa Motor Rally Air doc:-

UV DEGRADATION

Awning fabrics can be weakened by prolonged exposure to sunlight. Under normal holiday use your awning will give long service but use for extended periods in strong sunlight will soon cause deterioration. In those cases it would be wise to use a site as shaded as possible. UV degradation is not covered under the warranty. The warranty does not cover awnings used on permanent or semi-permanent sites, displays or for commercial purposes.

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[hilldweller]

Could be worse, according to their warranty Swift MHs disintegrate in 90 days of European sunshine.

 

[mentaliss]

I presume you are talking about a specific awning you have bought

we have a Kampa Air, no such notice or warning came with ours and it still looks fine in terms of degradation,

ours is 2 years old though so this might me a more recent addition

we have other issues but not with the effects of UV

as for what is reasonable for 'prolonged' or 'normal' you would like to think normal would be no more than a week at a time, they are possibly covering themselves from seasonal pitched caravan users where they literally might go up and stay unmoved for months on end, maybe?

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No, my research was to purchase an air awning, I didn't mention Kampa but since it has be mentioned they too do not clearly state in their marketing Brochures that any of their Air Awnings should not be subjected to 'prolonged' exposure to UVA, kampa within their 2015 Brochure do advertise their all 'Seasons Awning' which is not a Inflatable awning and a very different price so again, it appears that the Manufacturers expect the consumer to be the expert on what you should be aware of.....can I ask does the label attached to the inside of you awning actually state that your warranty could be invalid if found that the awning had been subject to prolonged exposure to UVA......?
My research was not an opinion but real time spent taking to 'expert sales personnel working at awning /caravan/ motorhome sales sites who in a lot of cases believe that inflatable awnings should not be subjected to more than seven days of Sunlight/UVA, does 'Prolonged use' also mean from a possible Warranty claim that an awning being erected many times at different camp sites within a month would be construed as prolonged use???

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Um, does my previous post using an extract form the Kampa documentation for the Motor Rally Air not clarify the situation?
I downloaded this from the interweb before I purchased said awning at the recent NEC show. I suspect most awning fabrics will suffer some UV degradation over time if used frequently.

 

[trophychap]

This is Sedge not Pete.

They certainly do! All tent fabric fades be it canvas or the lightweight materials. Canvas of course becomes porous and needs to be reproofed (Fabsil has been on sale for at least 50 years) Eventually, they just literally disintegrate.

We were members of a club where tents and caravans could be sited from April to October annually. Without protection from a flysheet over the whole thing, a normal (good quality) frame tent would last about 2 to 3 seasons before reproofing, with a fly-sheet for longer. Caravan awnings the same unless you paid more and got really good one with a heavy duty plasticised roof. That's in English sunshine, and only mauling it about (ie erecting and dismantling) once a year.

In terms of weather then, with a season being 26 weeks - that's a whole year's solid use, plus.

 

[Judge Mental]

I have to ask why air..

All depends on what you want out of an awning. IF long stay over winter in Spain, I would look for a conventional cotton one, as winds down here can be formidable. the air ones sound like they are just for touring use and as we all know touring awnings end up in garages, gathering dust till they go on ebay

you can get lighter framed conventional ones but they cost more....

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[RowleyBirkinQC]

I have to ask why air..

All depends on what you want out of an awning. IF long stay over winter in Spain, I would look for a conventional cotton one, as winds down here can be formidable. the air ones sound like they are just for touring use and as we all know touring awnings end up in garages, gathering dust till they go on ebay

you can get lighter framed conventional ones but they cost more....

Purely due to my inherent laziness!

 

[mentaliss]

This comes from the Kampa Motor Rally Air doc:-

UV DEGRADATION

Um, does my previous post using an extract form the Kampa documentation for the Motor Rally Air not clarify the situation?
I downloaded this from the interweb before I purchased said awning at the recent NEC show. I suspect most awning fabrics will suffer some UV degradation over time if used frequently.

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Thanks but where is this document displayed???? there is no such clarification as this in any of Kampa's Marketing 2015 Brochures regarding Air Awnings
which is the point I'm trying to make!!! it appears you did exactly what I said " that the Manufacturers expect the consumer to be the expert on what you should be aware of"....
Personally I am not in an position to right off £600-700 in 2-3 years because a Manufacturer chooses to be liberal with the facts