Drive Away Tent Awning FAQ
How does a drive away tent awning work?
Drive away awnings are designed around a tent that can be fully closed and left on site, on the rear of this tent is a tunnel that is designed to attach to the camper, it consists of a roof section that can be attached to the gutter of the camper and two sides, the edge of which are normally elasticised and pull into the side of the camper by pegging them to the ground underneath the camper.
How will my awning fit to my camper?
It is important that you buy an awning with the correct gutter attachment method for your camper.
Modern drive away tent awnings use one of two methods of attachment to campers;
a) “Figure of 8”- the edge of the awning has a piped edge onto which you slide a plastic extrusion, this then clips onto the gutter.
Or
b) “Pole and clamps”- the edge of the awning has a pocket machined along its length, a pole is inserted into this sleeve and the pole then dropped into the gutter and held in by clamps.
All our awnings use one of the above methods and most of them have the facility for both systems, (we can modify awnings by adding a piped edge for the fig of 8 method if required)
Click to zoom
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This table shows how our awnings are supplied; |
||
Awning |
Supplied as standard |
Optional |
| Royal Traveller Tunnel | Pole and clamps | Has a piped edge, requires 3 pieces of plastic figure 8 |
| Royal Traveller Traditional | Pole and clamps | Has a piped edge, requires 3 pieces of plastic figure 8 |
| Reimo Tour Action II | Pole and clamps | We can add a piped edge if required, 3 pieces of plastic figure of 8 required |
| Khyam Motordome | Figure of 8 | Has a pocket but needs a kit of pole and clamps |
Why does it matter which method of attachment I have for my tent awning?
Pole and clamps
This is the most common method and works in most cases, it needs a gutter for the pole to drop into hence problems occur if;
- a high top has been fitted and this has filled the gutter up
- an elevating roof has been fitted that does not leave the gutter clear when the roof is elevated
Figure of 8
This works great as long as the gutter is large enough and of an angle to stop the figure of 8 sliding off
So whats best for my camper?
Our experience has shown the following works best on the VW campers
Split screen; use the pole and clamp type as figure of 8 tends to fall off due to the shallow gutter angle
Bay window; pole and clamp and fig of 8 both work a treat
but beware if you have a 68-74 type Devon elevating roof the pole wont fit in the gutter so use the figure of 8 method
T25 (T3) Brick; pole and clamp is best, figure of 8 will work but some models have a black beading that stops the figure 8 fixing on.
T4; This van was not produced with a gutter by Volkswagen so a gutter rail needs fitting to the van to then allow the fitting of a drive away awning by a pole and clamps. See here