We're here at the Motorhome and Caravan Show 2019 and we're just coming onto the
Outwell stand where we're going to speak to Andy about what to look for if
you're wanting an awning for your motorhome or campervan.
So here we are with Andy.
Hi Andy. So, what's the most common kind of question people ask when
they're looking for an awning for their motorhome?
The biggest thing we ever get
asked is, how does it attach to my vehicle? So, what I'd like to do now is just
run through some different things about how it attaches and also some things you
need to have some information on that will help you when you buy the awning as well.
So, from your point of view what you need to bring with you is the type of van you've
got and then what you've got on the van that might assist you to attach the
awning to it. So, if you've got a wind out awning you need to know what make that
wind out awning is and you need to know what height it is actually on your van,
because this will make you being able to choose your awning much simpler.
What we'll now go through is, all the different ways you can attach any
drive away awning to your vehicle.
So, if we come around the side of the awning you'll
see quite a lot options that you'll find on the awning already. Most awnings
will come with a strap that you can quite simply throw over the top of your
van, peg down on the far side, and you'll be able to use the awning straight away.
There's some other features you'll find... Quite a lot of awnings have a
channel that you can then drop a pole into that can clamp into the guttering
on your van - if you've got more of an old T2 type van with the guttering you'll
be able to just drop it in and clamp it on.
You'll also see here some velcro straps.
These velcro straps are if you've got bars on the top of your van. Again, you
can velcro those around the bars and you're attached.
The best way really
to attach is through, what you would call, a C channel. So if you've got a wind out
awning you'll find all the wind out awnings have what they call a small C
channel. So it's half of this. You can also get rails mounted onto your vehicle.
So, what you'll end up is with a small groove like this that the drive away awning
will be able to attach them to.
Now the most confusing thing then is that
people say, how do we drive away? So what you need is this fantastic little piece
of kit here, which comes with three strips of this plastic and then long
strip of this connecting fabric here. So quite simply, what you do when you get
your awning out of the bag - and here's a little tip for everybody - when you first
buy an awning, when you get it out of the bag of video yourself getting it out the
bag the first time. It makes it so much easier, because you can then play that
back to yourself, and roll it back up the same way, so it goes back in the bag
better.
So these pieces of kit...Once you've got your awning out of the bag you
find the beading that you'll find on the end of all the awnings, you put these pieces of
plastic here onto the end of the awning. What you then simply do is
thread this piece of fabric here into the plastic and then you will mount that
onto your vehicle. If it's a wind out awning, quite simply wind it down to where
you can reach it, wind it in and then slot it back. That is the most secure way
to connect the drive away awning onto your vehicle.
What you're then gonna do when
you want to drive away is again wind this down to where you can reach it and
quite simply pull this piece of fabric out. This drops down, so what you'll do
then is, your back area here will roll up and stay nice and neat against your awning
and you can drive away for the day. Here's another great simple tip - before
you drive away, if you get your levellers for your
van and peg make them exactly where your front wheels are, it's much simpler then
to just drive right back up to your two levellers and you're in exactly the same
position. All you'll then do is unwind this and reconnect the strips. First time
you do it - 20 minutes. You'll soon have it down to about 5 minutes!
We talked earlier about a tip if you're throwing some straps over the van?
I've had many a time on a campsite watching people trying to throwing these straps
over vans in windy weather. So simple tip is to get a tennis ball, put a
put a little snip in the tennis ball, stick the end of this into the tennis
ball then quite simply throw the tennis ball over. But don't tell anybody else until
you've had at least ten minutes' fun first!
Okay that's great, so any more top tips and
anymore features about this particular awning that you want to talk about?
Yeah, one of the good things about all these, all the extra bits that are put on the awning
but you know the simple tips here, if you're not gonna use these bull bars
quite simply there's pockets there to just hide them away so they're not gonna
blow and catch in the wind.
This here awning is the new top of the range awning
a very versatile awning. It's got a removable canopy here so you
can actually have this canopy on either side of the vehicle so you're not
limited as to which way your vehicle will face so left and right and
backwards or forwards. The other great benefit of this awning is you can move
the door. Instead of if you need a sun canopy here which is great, however if you need
the extra living space what you can do then is quite simply move the door here
and reattach here so it gives you a much bigger awning.
That's brilliant. Thanks very much for your time Andy.