Awning attachment, robust enough for winter?

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Awnings, canopies, sunshades and windbreaks � Making the most of that expensive pitch �

Awning attachment, robust enough for winter?

in Making the most of that expensive pitch Sat May 31, 2025 11:06 am
by Albatros •

| 2 Posts

First post, hi :)

Looking for our first caravan after a lifetime of traditional canvas tent camping now we can go away outside the school UK holidays. Looking at mostly off season camping on smaller sites for some peace and quiet

After initially dismissing Eriba as "not very practical" (words that have come back to haunt us) we now realise that almost everything about the mid sized Eribas would be perfect for us

But I am worried about the awning attachment, specifically the roof pole attaching to the awning rail eg Isabella and Walker awnings.

That attachment method seems to put a lot of stress on a small area in a way that usual caravan awning attachments don't. And camper van style awnings just don't seem to be suited to winter use

Anyone had issues in bad weather, with pole / awning or awning rail / leaks from this? Or am I over thinking / over worrying?

RE: Awning attachment, robust enough for winter?

in Making the most of that expensive pitch Sat May 31, 2025 11:14 am
by eribaMotters •

| 5.836 Posts

Eriba production started back in the late 1950's and as far as I know the awning rail brackets have been used as a method of attachment in the vast majority of cases since these very early days. They are screwed through into the caravans steel space frame and |I have heard no incident of them failing. In a heavy wind I would expect the awning chord to be pulled out of the track or rip first, just as in a "normal" caravan.

Colin

Forum Administrator aka Oscar - Audi A3 1.5 petrol - oh dear me, I've gone to the darkish side and bought a Feeling after 4 Tourings

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RE: Awning attachment, robust enough for winter?

in Making the most of that expensive pitch Sat May 31, 2025 2:46 pm
by Simboc2004 •

| 1.022 Posts

If you buy an air awning, such as the commonly used Kampa ones for Eriba (we have one), then there is no pole attachment to the caravan and no bracket fixing - the only attachment to the caravan is through the awning rail. All awnings can leak a bit through the awning rail, but this is mostly due to capillary action through the rail connection. This can be reduced (almost stopped) by various techniques detailed elsewhere on this forum - treating the connection fabric with Fabsil or similar helps, or using Blutak in the awning rail at the end of the awning chord, which prevents water being pulled into the awning itself... I have done both those and it definitely makes seepage much, much better. Also you can buy rubber upstand profiles that go on the awning rail above the connection slot, which help redirect water running off the roof, to either end of the awning chord.

If you use a sun canopy type of awning (such as the popular Isabella Shadow) with poles that go back to the wall of the caravan to support end panels, etc, then Isabella make special brackets (Fix On mk2) that push against the wall without using screws or glue to hold them on - I have just bought some (recommended by Colin above) and will try them out next week.

New to us, our 2016 Eriba 540 Troll, leading our Volvo V40 astray...

Last edited Sat May 31, 2025 2:50 pm | Scroll up