Mrs Aitch Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Hi, we have a Bailey 765 with a Vango Kela Tall air beam technology drive away awning which is great when we camp for 5 days or more. However, we currently connect it to the van by the straps that you throw over the roof and peg in, which is quite difficult to do and have to stand on a table to get the straps over, not ideal. We are looking to have a Fiamma roll out awning fitted as I believe this will allow the connection of the Kela via a bead and channel. There are a few questions I need answers to before going ahead with it. Does anyone attach theirs in this way? How easy is it to connect? Is the full roll out awning required or can we get away with just the channel being fitted to the van? Does it leave large wind gaps doing it this way? This is my first post so apologies for the the questions and the long winded message! I look forward to reading all your comments and suggestions. Cheers, Mrs Aitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budgie823 Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Hi Mrs Aitch and welcome to the forum. We have an inflatable driveaway awning which can also be fitted in different ways. We have a roll out awning fitted but, before using this method with the channel bead, we attempted the method of throwing the guy lines over the van. We had huge problems getting the lines over and it almost put my wife off the idea of motorhoming altogether. I decided it would be best to try the method of attaching it to the roll out awning and, after a bit of practice, have found it to be quite straightforward and only takes a few minutes. I don't think you will need the full awning as the channel should suffice. However the full awning can be rolled out a couple of feet and makes it a little easier to reach comfortably and then can be wound back in. Also we don't experience any wind gaps as there is a canopy between the vehicle side and the entrance into the inflatable. Worth a go and, if you persevere, you should find it works very well. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Aitch Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 Thank you so much for this reply, it is very useful and I do understand where your wife is coming from! We may well go for the full roll out awning as we are hoping to do more 'weekend jaunts' this year and I think the drive away will be too much hassle just for a couple of days away! Thanks again and enjoy the season. :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Hi.. Having a wind-out awning fitted just so that you can attach the drive-away does initially seem a little OTT.. However, as it's a new van, in the overall scheme of things, it may be the best route to take... ...come the time to change the van, they do tend to be one of the things that some look for. (whereas just a length of awning "C" or "J" rail, may be seen by some as a bit of a "half-way house"..?.and if it's screwed on, there'll be a lot more holes in the side of the van). We used our Fiamma and Omnistor wind-outs to attach a porch awning and also a basic canopy tarp (I shouldn't matter for a drive-away because you won't be "threading" it in but be aware that the Fiamma grooves are smaller than a "standard" awning bead and on the Ominstore we had, the groove was on the inside, so it had to remain slightly open/unlatched) A previous thread: https://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Awnings-your-views-please-/34515/ P.S When we tried out using the throw-over strap method to attach the drive-away we had(but never used in anger), to help get it over the roof, I tied a length of cord through a tennis ball and then attached it to the strap...I'd throw it and the OH stood the other side and made sure it didn't clack anyone and the extra cord meant the ball didn't swing back into the van. (..it still didn't stop it from getting snagged and tangled on the roof vents and aerial, when I came to pull them back off tho'!) Oh yes..and Welcome! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Lee Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 We had a Movelite drive away which we threaded into the channel on our Omnistor wind out. We experience a lot of high winds here and found that it tugged at the Omnistor and rattled and banged, keeping us awake at night. I was afraid the awning would pull the Omnistor off the side of the van so we stopped using it. Just be aware. The Movelite had two different sizes of bead to fit the different channels. Maybe yours is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Rowan Lee - 2015-02-17 1:58 PM We had a Movelite drive away which we threaded into the channel on our Omnistor wind out. Did you not "drive away" from yours?..or are you just a ruddy good driver?... (lol) (we couldn't envisage ourselves ever driving away from ours, so we sold it, unused, :$ ) I never really liked fixing back to our wind-outs, for the reasons you stated and with the Omnistor, I used to wrap a strap around each end to help keep it closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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