Squiffy
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Apart from fitting an android radio to my and my daughters vans, over the last few days, I also fitted an Fiamma F80s awning on my daughters van.
I purchased it from Jackson Liesure along with the fitting kit, who by the way drop ship from a company called LQK, The delivery was quick apart from the fact that there was a mix up over the order from Jackson to LQK and the fitting kit I had to wait for till yesterday as it was missed off the original order which was delivered last Thursday.
However I have to say that the quality of the awning and the kit was very good. I have fitted 3 awnings in the past so was fairly confident in how to go about it but had forgotten just how heavy these things are. The mountings took about an hour and a half to fit and must be aligned perfectly or the awning rail will not fit, to achieve this I use garden twine tied to an 70mm socket to tention the twine, this is then suspended over the back mounting and the twine I then stretch over the centre and front mountings, I can then assure myself that all my ducks are in a row.
As to actually fitting the awning rail to the mountings, this needs two people with two ladders one front and one back leaning against the roof top edge then both lifting the awning rail and carefully climbing the ladder till being able to lift it onto the mountings at a canted angle to allow the front lip of the awning to engage all along the mounting blocks ( Hence ducks in a row ) then lower the back of the rail down into the rear of the mounts.
Once I had positioned it where I wanted it by sliding it back and forward it is then clamped down with three plates to stop it from moving forward or backward or indeed lifting off at the back.
Sliding it back and forth is quite important to make sure that the drop down awning legs line up with where you fit the mountings for the legs to the side of the van because with a Ducato there is really only one place the front mounting for the leg can go.
I find that these leg mountings are very useful especially on tarmac or concrete parking when it is fairly breezy and just dropping the legs down unsecured is taking a risk. Many a time on boiling hot days especially on the continent being able to pull over in a lay by and deploy the awning using these leg mountings makes the stop over more pleasant
.
All in all these new designed F80s are a very nice piece of kit, really smooth opening and retracting. The cost was a bit heavy but then Thule awnings are even more expensive. The awning and mounting kit plus delivery came to £956.62 plus adhesive glue ( Luckily I had a newly opened sticks like £$%^ )
The fitting of the awning took from about 14:00 to about 17:00 all finished but then I took my time getting the mounts exactly right before proceeding as this is a very important step in the fitting. Phil
I purchased it from Jackson Liesure along with the fitting kit, who by the way drop ship from a company called LQK, The delivery was quick apart from the fact that there was a mix up over the order from Jackson to LQK and the fitting kit I had to wait for till yesterday as it was missed off the original order which was delivered last Thursday.
However I have to say that the quality of the awning and the kit was very good. I have fitted 3 awnings in the past so was fairly confident in how to go about it but had forgotten just how heavy these things are. The mountings took about an hour and a half to fit and must be aligned perfectly or the awning rail will not fit, to achieve this I use garden twine tied to an 70mm socket to tention the twine, this is then suspended over the back mounting and the twine I then stretch over the centre and front mountings, I can then assure myself that all my ducks are in a row.
As to actually fitting the awning rail to the mountings, this needs two people with two ladders one front and one back leaning against the roof top edge then both lifting the awning rail and carefully climbing the ladder till being able to lift it onto the mountings at a canted angle to allow the front lip of the awning to engage all along the mounting blocks ( Hence ducks in a row ) then lower the back of the rail down into the rear of the mounts.
Once I had positioned it where I wanted it by sliding it back and forward it is then clamped down with three plates to stop it from moving forward or backward or indeed lifting off at the back.
Sliding it back and forth is quite important to make sure that the drop down awning legs line up with where you fit the mountings for the legs to the side of the van because with a Ducato there is really only one place the front mounting for the leg can go.
I find that these leg mountings are very useful especially on tarmac or concrete parking when it is fairly breezy and just dropping the legs down unsecured is taking a risk. Many a time on boiling hot days especially on the continent being able to pull over in a lay by and deploy the awning using these leg mountings makes the stop over more pleasant
. All in all these new designed F80s are a very nice piece of kit, really smooth opening and retracting. The cost was a bit heavy but then Thule awnings are even more expensive. The awning and mounting kit plus delivery came to £956.62 plus adhesive glue ( Luckily I had a newly opened sticks like £$%^ )
The fitting of the awning took from about 14:00 to about 17:00 all finished but then I took my time getting the mounts exactly right before proceeding as this is a very important step in the fitting. Phil