Caravan door shelter.

iana · Guru

Caravan door shelter.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

It's a problem we all have Ian. Your idea sounds good but you would have to go either side of door quite a bit to stop weather getting in from the sides. Due to the top edge of the door you would still be limited as to the angle you could put the cover. Better than nothing though.

When I set up at for any length if time I have ropes and long heavy pegs all around. It has been called "rope city" many times. It has also been through some very rough weather.

Hope your idea works if you go through with it.

Eaglemax · Guru

Im interested in this also. I assume you have a side annex rear door design. If there was a small awning that was held by Velcro and extendable as you lower it but not impede on the door top then it will do the job. My awning is only 2.2 metres long but I rope it down.

RosieW · Guru

We got a 'door cover' made while we were at Kenilworth. Needs 4 - 5 poles (comes out level with awning edge, plus it's high as we are a bus, so needs support), similar number of ropes/pegs, and slots into a sail-rail thingy (yeah, technical terms, I know) like the annex walls, and velcroes to the awning via a special strap thing the bloke made for it. A bugger to put up/take down in wet or windy conditions, but we can get in and out without getting doused.

Desert Dweller · Senior Member

We use very strong ropes & huge pegs along with anti-flappers, despite all of that when things get too rough we roll our awning up as we think the frame can't cope with extremely windy weather. We're seen the results of Prostor & Fiamma type awnings flying over the top of caravans purely because their frames are flimsy. We've noticed people with roll out awnings like ours roll their awning (3 quarters) up then rope & peg them down which provides a small amount of protection over their caravan's door.

Bruce and Bev · Guru

Ive seen the result of awnings left up in high gusty winds and its not pretty. Its not so much the damage it does to the awning, but the side of the RV that the frame is attached to. Sure, its covered by insurance, but how "pre-damage" can the repair work be to the RV frame?

When I know we're in for storms or strong gusty winds, I take the awning down - takes me about 15 mins and the stuff we had under the awning gets put into the ute.

When the awning is up, I have the stabilizer bars that came with the annexe attached. That gives 4 more struts to the awning and then I rope the roller out at each end - one at right angles and the other parallel - giving me four ropes.

I use flat stretchy bungee cords (Masters and Bunnings have them) which are wrapped round the awning roller to stop it slipping and to put torsion in the rope. The pegs are 18 inch star pickets angled so they don't pull easily through the ground with the wind. You can buy them in various lengths from the likes of BCF - galvanized and with a hook at the top end for the rope or spring.

This step-up allows our awning to flap and bounce around a fair bit - just in case the wind gets up when we're out

Cupie · Guru

Bruce and Bev wrote:
Ive seen the result of awnings left up in high gusty winds and its not pretty. Its not so much the damage it does to the awning, but the side of the RV that the frame is attached to. Sure, its covered by insurance, but how "pre-damage" can the repair work be to the RV frame?

When I know we're in for storms or strong gusty winds, I take the awning down - takes me about 15 mins and the stuff we had under the awning gets put into the ute.

When the awning is up, I have the stabilizer bars that came with the annexe attached. That gives 4 more struts to the awning and then I rope the roller out at each end - one at right angles and the other parallel - giving me four ropes.

I use flat stretchy bungee cords (Masters and Bunnings have them) which are wrapped round the awning roller to stop it slipping and to put torsion in the rope. The pegs are 18 inch star pickets angled so they don't pull easily through the ground with the wind. You can buy them in various lengths from the likes of BCF - galvanized and with a hook at the top end for the rope or spring.

This step-up allows our awning to flap and bounce around a fair bit - just in case the wind gets up when we're out

I'm a strong supporter of 'shock absorbers' in guy ropes. Love long coach screw/bolt pegs too.

Having said that, if there is the slightest possibility of wind, I never leave the awning out overnight or if leaving the van ..unless the Annex is fitted.

iana · Guru

When our awning is up, I shake my head in disgust. It has the sail area of a good sized yacht, but the hardware is still the same size as awnings of a much shorter length, meaning that not only if the wind gets under it there will be tremendous forces, but the hardware is correspondingly weaker. If I had my way, it would be coming off and the whole thing cut to half size. After all there will be only two of us.
But yes Dougwe you have seen the problem, unless it has sides, the weather will still come through.
RosieW, I was looking for the correct word for that extrusion, now I have it "sail-rail thingy" that's what I meant.

I've been in two good storms, the Wahine disaster in NZ and the "Ash Wednesday fires" in SA. I have seen the force of wind at work.

dieseltojo · Senior Member

iana and friends, Here is an idea from another forum and is right up your ally, complete with pics. It could be adapted and made to an length you need.

http://www.candm.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=11258

I always worry about deploying the awning. Several times I've had to get out of bed in the wee hours to furl the awning due excessive winds. My view is the awning minimum deployment setting is too big. This minimum setting is when the upper arms are deployed at their shortest position.

To overcome this I made my own discrete upper arms. They are all aluminum and very light. They enable the awning to be deployed and firmly tightened at about 2 feet less than the standard minimum.

To use them the awning is unfurled to a position I marked on the awning. The existing awning arms are left lowered and unused and the new arms then placed in position between the awning mounting bracket on the van and the awning roller or drum. The awning ratchet is then released allowing the awning to recoil and firm up on the new arms - but only to the nearest ratchet locking position. Then the arms are slightly extended with the arm wheel adjuster to remove any slack. Now the awning is tight against the drum locked ratchet.

To further minimize awning flapping (still likely with a taut awning, as with any flat sheet) I fit the 3rd curved arm or rafter in the centre of the awning. This introduces a curve in the awning fabric and kills the Rolf Harris 'wocker board' tendency.

-- Edited by dieseltojo on Saturday 25th of June 2016 09:19:10 PM

iana · Guru

Tomorrow I shall go out and partially extend the awning to see how this might work. Umm couldn't get past the first screen on that caravan motor home sight.

reeb51 · Veteran Member

In wet and windy weather we partly pull the awning out approximately 2 1/2 feet works well in shielding the doorway. Not so much sail area for the wind to catch and limits the area for water to pool on top. It works well, but if to severe conditions of course we put it in.

iana · Guru

Awning over door.jpg This is what I had in mind as an ideal.

dieseltojo · Senior Member

iana wrote:
Tomorrow I shall go out and partially extend the awning to see how this might work. Umm couldn't get past the first screen on that caravan motor home sight.

It is not hard to join even for a look see and is free. Might have a member only block up.