Well, there goes the awning! (1 Viewer)

[TheBig1]

That sounded like a really good idea to me as we have a fairly new Kampa Rally Pro awning from using our caravan and I was faced with selling that at some loss and buying a new awning for the motorhome.

[HI]I found a firm that did this but they quoted me £600 to fit a new rail[/HI] .

I must admit I had absolutely no idea how much such a modification would cost but at that price we'll just carry on with the original plan.

just seen your post
they must think you just came in on a banana boat with prices like that

try £25 plus half hours labour to fit it
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some places just take the pee price wise for work

 

[Mack100]

Hi Mack100, before you revert to plan A, it may be worth trying your Kampa Rallye Pro. I too have that model from my caravan. It is a 'just' fit with my Autotrail Apache high line, as there is some forgiveness with the ladder pegging points and the double mud walls. Would probably be difficult if levelling ramps were in use on awning side, but on level ground or slightly ascending, it is fine.
Well worth checking before you sell as they are a great awning. Mine is the 330 and fits the 4mtr omnistore rail perfectly for length. :thumb:

Thanks for that, I'm more than willing to give it a bash. As you say it's a great awning and if I can get it to fit then I'd be very happy.

just seen your post
they must think you just came in on a banana boat with prices like that

try £25 plus half hours labour to fit it
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some places just take the pee price wise for work

Thanks for the link, I'm not totally sure I like the idea of screwing things into the side of our motorhome but given decent instructions I might have a go.

 

[TheBig1]

Thanks for that, I'm more than willing to give it a bash. As you say it's a great awning and if I can get it to fit then I'd be very happy.



Thanks for the link, I'm not totally sure I like the idea of screwing things into the side of our motorhome but given decent instructions I might have a go.

dependant on the type of construction of your van, you can sometimes "glue" the rail on with sikaflex. this is only really suited to grp type walls not aluminium

to fit it normally, you need to
clean the side of the van thoroughly
carefully mark the position of the new rail using non permanent felt tip along its length
cut rail to length, taper each end to remove corners and file smooth any rough edges
lay the rail flat across a couple of tables or on a clean floor face down
on the back apply mastic on a roll of a suitable width probably 20mm
with an assistant stick the rail to the side of the van along your ready made marks
using a small drill bit put pilot holes into the predrilled holes on the rail
screw in stainless steel self tapping screws along the length of the rail but dont overtighten
allow to settle and the mastic tape to stop oozing
using an old credit card remove any excess mastic and clean up with white spirit on a rag
job done

a workshop can do it in 1/2 hr but for diy, allow an hour. the longest job is putting in the stainless self tappers every 6 inches

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[Mack100]

Crikey, thanks for taking the time Big1, that's very comprehensive

 

[irnbru]

What a shame about your awning but I guess if you are both safe then that's the main thing. Awnings can be replaced, lives cant.

We were in a similar situation a few months ago when the wind was so severe it was ripping the MH cover. Mum got blown over and the cover made the bin so know how gutted you must be feeling.

 

[joner8888]

This changing weather is going to drive the migrating motorhomers even farther south soon.
Next stop Gambia--it`s always nice there:thumb:

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[Teasy2007]

Well the saga continues!

When we lost the awning we finally decided that we would have a Kampa Air. We wanted the 260L rather than the 390 so it would be easier to take down, in another emergency!

We ordered the awning, from Awnings Direct, made sure they had our address in La Manga, paid the international postage - and they very kindly sent it to our home address, dumped the parcel in front of our car and left without getting a signature! Luckily our neighbour eventually noticed it, phoned our son and he explained to us why it had not arrived in La Manga!

After many phone calls and emails they collected it from our Son's works and sent it on to Almafra, where we were moving to the following week. I emailed Almafra and asked if they could accept it even though we were not on the site, and they agreed. 10 days later we arrived at Almafra but the parcel had not arrived. We were getting 'rather p*****d off by now. Numerous emails later and it eventually arrived.

However, the box was open at the top and bottom, when we picked it up the Kampa awning was bursting through the bottom. Still the Kampa bag was there as well as the outhouse we had ordered for a kitchen tent so we took it back to the pitch and unpacked the Kampa. Within a couple of minutes we realised that the pump was missing! You can imagine that the air was a bit blue!

I sent even more emails, some with photographs of the box to show that it was in a very poor state. Awnings direct informed us that there should be a pump, they were sure one was present when it left them and they could not understand how it had disappeared. I explained that the box was only held together with one piece of sellotape and everything was easily accessible from the top, or bottom.

Just to make everything a disaster, when we opened the Outhouse we realized that the groundsheet was separate and was definitely not what we wanted.

It has now been 24 hours since I asked Ian of Awnings direct what they were going to do about the missing pump, bearing in mind we will be moving onto Benicassim in a couple of weeks! I have still not received a reply.

The moral of this story seems to be, don't leave your awning up in the wind, and certainly do not order a replacement whilst you are away!!!

Ginny

 

[Minxy]

It has now been 24 hours since I asked Ian of Awnings direct what they were going to do about the missing pump, bearing in mind we will be moving onto Benicassim in a couple of weeks! I have still not received a reply.

If it is just a hand pump then it is nothing special, its just a standard double action hand pump and can be got anywhere so you should be able to get one there without a problem and it will certainly be the cheapest option overall, and quickest too - certainly no more than €10 I would think. We have one for pumping up our inflatable canoes/kayaks and they are very easy and quick to use, I would think it probably takes us longer to blow up the canoes (3 mins) than it would for you to blow up the awning with one! :thumb:

 

[Minxy]

As an aside to this, I accidentally found out that Outdoor Revolution and Sunncamp also do their own version of 'pump up' awnings:

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[dshague]

by gum ginny and mike you two have your share of bad luck over the years .:Angry:
i have been looking at john cross good price with fun discount .http://www.johnscross.co.uk/vango-kela-airaway.html
good luck hope you are both keeping well see you soon

 

[Teasy2007]

I didn't think it could get worse!

Well, we had lots of help with the awning, we managed to put it into the awning rail ok, but then I looked at the bottom of the awning skirt and saw it swinging in the wind, about 3 inches from the floor.

We measured from the awning rail to the triangle at the base and found it was more or less 250. certainly not the 250 - 270 cms which the Motor Rally 260L is supposed to be.

A Kampa owner who was lending us the pump said, they have sent you the wrong awning, that's a caravan Kampa Air!

It clearly states Kampa Motor Rally Air 260L on the front of the awning and the box.

It took us the rest of the afternoon to pack it, squeeze it into the bag and then the box. We used loads of gaffar tape to get it sealed, at least it wont come apart on the way back to UK

When I reported our findings to Awnings direct Ian suggested we put it up, inflate it, peg it down and then sent them photos! I respectfully said we would not be doing that and that he should get in touch with Kampa and find out if there could have been a problem with identifying the awning.

We have not heard anything from them yet today.

Has anyone else had a similar problem??

Ginny

 

[dshague]

Just checked and the awnning com's with a built-in ground sheet .what you see on you tube is the foot print sheet pegged down first. Ginny is the built-in ground sheet breathable.some campsites only exctp breathable sheets

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[Minxy]

Well, we had lots of help with the awning, we managed to put it into the awning rail ok, but then I looked at the bottom of the awning skirt and saw it swinging in the wind, about 3 inches from the floor.

We measured from the awning rail to the triangle at the base and found it was more or less 250. certainly not the 250 - 270 cms which the Motor Rally 260L is supposed to be.

I'm not sure but I could swear I remember some other purchasers having a similar problem with 'short' awnings a while back ... can't remember on which forum though ... sorry!