awning? to have or not

silverweed

silverweed

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Sad times, happy times. Just put down deposit on a 2001 Hymer but will be sad to wave goodbye to our first baby, a McLouis. It's done us proud as a first mh for the past 4 summers. The hymer does not have an awning - do we bite the bullet and put one on or go without. What's the opinion, is it a must have or not?
 
Awning

Hi Silverweed
Well i can tell you , we have a Hymer B614 with Awning and we love it, even in summer ( UK ) you want to sit outside in-between the showers!!!!! we are also buying a safari room in the cominmg weeks for winter, gives you a little extra space. Not something you can use Wild camping though!!:blah::blah::blah:

Col :danger::danger:
 
That's the problem. We are mainly wild campers and i think the thought of not having one for those rare times we may use it is worse probably is worse then the fact. We only used the last one a hand full of times. But I knew it was there if needed, like a security blanket
 
This has to be a personal choice, when we bought our Frankia we had one fitted & we used it, we decided not to have one fitted to our Adria (considering the weight) & we haven't missed it. I wouldn't rate it as a must have, my list of must have things are - re-fillable gas bottle - solar panel - water filter - fixed bed - garage, but I'm sure everybody would have a different priority list.

BTW forgot to mention we are probably trading our van for a Rapido A class that has an awning, it also has a sat. system, TV, tow bar, micro wave etc... the only thing it didn't have from my list was the re-fillable gas which I have already taken off my current van.
 
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Depends on how much wild camping you do ? we had one on our Bongo and because it was a small van it was very useful and we used mostly campsites (no toilet/heating etc). Our second van didn't have one but because we were self contained and it was bigger than the Bongo we wilded more and wouldn't be able to use anyway most of the time. Now on the third and haven't got one on this either. See how you get on without it.

Enjoy your new motorhome
 
in my many[yawn] years i never had one,got one as a freebie recently and still wondering when i'd use it
 
Do you actually mean an awning or a roll out canopy, Fiamma, Omnistore etc ? A canopy is a good idea for shade and rain cover and you can get a light weight Awning, Suncamp etc to slide into the Canopy Rail and peg it down , we have one but I hate the thing,my wife loves it so what chance do I have LOL.Personal choice really, [ except mine has been curtailed ].LOL ;);)
 
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We have a huge awning but never use it as it acts like a Spinnaker on a yacht. In fact we recently bought a Gazebo and have used it a couple of times. It is much easier to erect and you can choose to have the sides up or just the roof. It works for us.
 
I wouldn't bother. The times when it rains, it tends to be windy as well so the awnings need to be taken down anyway, just when you want them :(
 
Depends on where you do most your traveling. Very useful in some places, not so much in the UK.
 
If the van is a fair size I don't really think you need one.
 
We've got the roll out, which we've only used once because normally it is too windy or the parking place is unsuitable and we also have a safari room, that we've never used because we never seem to actually remember take all of it with us :raofl:
 
We used a drive away awning this weekend at the ladies meet. One of the girls brought it.
In this instance it was a godsend as it did rain a little in the evenings and was a great place for everyone to congregate.

It was a bit of a pain to put up and took four of us (dare comment if you think you're brave enough!) as the struts were very awkward to feed through and pin down.

I've always fancied a fiamma wind-out or similar but only because our van must have had one previously and the roof fittings are still there.
If i really had to have one it would be a wind-out, I think.

For communal do's or pitched for a while on a proper site then a bigger awning would be good, but, as others have said, we mostly wild camp so have no need.
Conclusion: depends on how and where you camp and how useful it will be for you personally.
 
Yes it's a wind out that we had on the last van and really we never used it much. I must admit I know I'm too lazy to bother with a full safari room, couldn't be bothered to spend the time putting it up and then having to fold it all away to fit back in the bag (which somehow it never does). Your right I think I'll leave it and look to more pressing priorities such as the must have solar panels
 
Hi,

I only ever wildcamp in the UK, and only use Aires in France, but after constant nagging from the missus I brought an Awning - try for months to get a 2nd hand one but they were asking silly money, and none were local. So I bit the bullet and paid £350 for a new one.

Only ever used it a few times but have admit the missus was right - they are very useful.

Once you have it, you have it!

Matthew
 
temp 005.jpg I have been having trouble loading pictures , never had a problem before , I notice others are having a problem too so this is a test really, and also a picture of our awning for the OP.
 
I used to have an awning but i last saw it on the front of a lorry when i camped in a lay-by :dance:
 
The Awning we have now is going to be too big for our next van so we are planning to have the centre section removed and made smaller, or that is the plan of HWMBO, I would just as soon chuck the whole thing in the bin, we do months away wilding and never use an awning, but if we camp on a site for a week or more my Darling wife wants the awning up, Womans logic, don't you just love it ? LOL
 
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