Drive away awnings

nickstjt · Jul 11, 2012

it took me about a year to decide whether to buy a Cali and which model and options, so I thought that I could relax now. Not so! It is almost more work trying to decide on the "extra" bits! As there will be 2 adults, 2 kids (9 & 10) and 1 dog (Jack Russell) I think we would benefit from a drive-away awning. One with a built-in groundsheet would be good, and although we don't plan to sleep in it we would like to keep that option open. What I don't really understand (having not seen one in the flesh) is how they attach so you can still drive-away? One I found on the web (Kampa Travel Pod Mini ) said that options for attaching were:
6mm Beading on Tunnel or
Sleeve and Pole with Clamp
Can also be Thrown Over and Pegged on the
Opposite Side of your Vehicle

If I have the roof raised, will the "throw over" option work? I doubt it. I can't really understand the others. As a child we used a caravan with an awning that attached via a beading, but I thought you had to feed it in quite carefully starting at one end before erecting the awning so I can't see how you could do this when the awning was actually up. And would I need some kind of channel to attach to the car/awning cassette to take the beading?

We do have the wind-out awning so maybe something which tucks in over the awning cassette and down between it and the van? Presumably you don't use the wind-out awning with the drive-away awning?

Can someone explain these options to me please - its driving me nuts!
Thanks,
--Nick

Martin · Jul 11, 2012

Nick, try this thread viewtopic.php?f=83&t=1478&p=11276&hilit=kador#p11276

nickstjt · Jul 11, 2012

Hi Martin,
Thanks - I did search the forum, honest! So I think that this post is the key one:

The gusset strip makes the whole thing much easier, especially when returning to an already erect awning, as you can slide the strip between both awnings instraed of having to feed the two together whilst someone slowly moves the vehicle - again, this will be clear when you are actually needing to do it.

So I wind out the awning a little and I can see a channel underneath - the 6mm beading would slide along that directly (which sounds hard to do when you drive away and come back) or get a fig of 8 strip and a double beaded awning strip - the fig of 8 joins the drive-away beading to the beading strip, and the beading strip attaches to the cassette. When i want to drive away, I feed out the "double-beading awning strip" (just pull at one end?). Is that it?
Thanks,
--Nick

Martin · Jul 11, 2012

Hi Nick, yes to make it into a full 'drive away' awning you will need the figure of 8 as this allows you to easily clip and unclip the awning without the need to feed the beading into the awning channel each time. It is one of those things that makes much more sense when you see it in the flesh.

Pistolknight · Jul 11, 2012

When i want to drive away, I feed out the "double-beading awning strip" (just pull at one end?). Is that it?

It's as easy as that, takes 10s.

janepage · Feb 22, 2013

Re: Drive away awnings - which one!??

Hi all

Been looking for a while for a drive away awning to suit our needs.

I've read about the Khyam's and seen the Movelite and the Quest Elite today.

I need an awning that can be put up by one adult. The Quest Elite seemed to fit that bill, only thing was it only seems to come in one size and that wasn't very big....

Any ideas? I've off to the camping & caravan show Sunday but will probably come back even more confused!

I've also heard of inflatable ones....

Thanks

Cali-Topper · Feb 22, 2013

It could be worth considering our new side panels with windows and doors.

Many of the people that have been purchasing these had originally wanted a drive away awning.

The benefit of our sets:

- They take up a fraction of the space when packed away compared to a D/A awning
- You do not need to put the full set up so you have several combinations
- The material is very high quality, so there is nothing that will be broken or ripped
- They take literally minutes to put up and take down

More info on our thread viewtopic.php?f=83&t=2563

Scoobydoo · Feb 22, 2013

I have just this week ordered the full set
With the door. I chose these because I am on my own and don't think I will manage a full awning
As I will be able to put this up myself. It looks really good and look forward to receiving mine.
Thanx

calitony · Feb 23, 2013

I bought a movelite square but was very disappointed with it. I did manage to sell it at quite a good price and immediately bought a khaym motordome. Fantastic! Easy to put up in 5 minutes and put down in about 10 mins from start to finish. It attaches to the slide in slot on the roll out awning with the figure of 8 strip. I usually roll out the awning about 1 metre to give us a dry spot between the van and the Khyam. But you must tie the roll out awning down properly. I hope this helps. Good luck.