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Driveaway Awning - Air Tent: What's the best for a MP?

M

Matty.P

New Member
Hi All,
I'm a new member, but have been a MP owner for over 2 years now.

My van has a sun canopy fixed awning at present, but I am on the hunt to replace this with a driveaway awning - air tent. There is obviously a vast array of brands and models out there, but I was wondering if anyone has experience of such a product and if anyone can recommend a product for me?
The main purpose for my purchase will be for an extra / bigger living area whilst away for weekends in the van, as well as providing an extra storage area whilst away. Tents with sleeping quarters would be a bonus but not essential.
At the same time - if there is any member out there looking for a fixed awning sun canopy, I will be looking to sell the awning currently attached to my van.

Kind Regards,
Matty.P
 
S

SteveR

Active Member
Matty.P said:
Hi All,
I'm a new member, but have been a MP owner for over 2 years now.

My van has a sun canopy fixed awning at present, but I am on the hunt to replace this with a driveaway awning - air tent. There is obviously a vast array of brands and models out there, but I was wondering if anyone has experience of such a product and if anyone can recommend a product for me?
The main purpose for my purchase will be for an extra / bigger living area whilst away for weekends in the van, as well as providing an extra storage area whilst away. Tents with sleeping quarters would be a bonus but not essential.
At the same time - if there is any member out there looking for a fixed awning sun canopy, I will be looking to sell the awning currently attached to my van.

Kind Regards,
Matty.P
Click to expand...
Hi @Matty.P welcome to the forum

Why replace the canopy? Assuming it is the standard wind out awning it will have a Keder groove that you can attach a driveway awning too. You have the best of both worlds then
Have a look at this thread with some other awning info

Cheers
Steve
 
M

Matty.P

New Member
Many thanks both for your quick and informative responses. You'll have to forgive me, I am a complete novice to awnings / driveaway tents.

After looking at a few of the products and kits, and @TMC, trying to zoom in to your picture, it appears as though the kit for the driveaway tent is fitted to the fixed sun canopy awning - is this correct?
If so, does this leave a slight gap between the air tent and the van itself when set up?

I have just now taken a quick pic of my van - assuming I was to get the products recommended above, would I use the kit via where the red arrow is indicating? And would the section highlighted via the yellow arrow be for if there was no fixed sun canopy present?
(apologies for the dirty vehicle - don't worry, it will be gleaming again come the weekend :) )
 

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TMC

TMC

Member
Yes, thats exactly what Steve was referring to. The driveaway awning has a kadar strip on its 'tunnel' section that attaches to your vehicle by sliding in the channel you have indicated. You don't actually need the driveaway kit I referenced but it does make it a lot easier to connect and disconnect the awning when you want to leave the site for a few hours. When the tunnel is disconnected the awning is all zipped up like a tent. I haven't really got a picture that shows it well but you might be able to tell from this. The white kadar strip hanging beyond the end of the windout awning is the connector strip from the kit. It has been threaded through the tunnel indicated by your arrow. The grey strip it is connected to on the drivaway is also a kadar strip and could have been threaded through your channel without the white connector.

If you go down this route don't get hung up by 4mm or 6mm kadar. I'm pretty sure the channel on your windout is 6mm but either way, both the driveaway awning and connector kit have 4 and 6mm kadar options

Whether using a kit or connecting directly, there is no gap between awning and vehicle (in my experience). We have used the MP in bad weather (we live in England!) but not winter storms and it has stayed dry.
 

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TMC

TMC

Member
I meant to add that yes, your yellow arrow very nicely shows the channel for accepting a kadar strip that is on all MPs so that even those without a windout awning can attach a driveaway
 
M

Matty.P

New Member
Many thanks for all of your help and advice!
I think I'm going to go with the tent you recommended above - I will be similar to yourself in that I will use the tent in bad weather, but I won't use it during the middle of winter / go away for a weekend that I know is going to be stormy etc.

One final question if I may - to 'blow up' your tent, do you use any special device or do you do this manually? And either way, how long on average would you say it takes to put up and take down?
 
TMC

TMC

Member
It comes with a pump (manual) though you can buy an electric one too I think. I can recommend the Family Tent Shop Guildford (I have never been - they ship stuff to me, including an item to a Peak District camp site whilst we were staying there!)

Theres a rather rubbish YouTube at https://thefamilytentshop.com/product/outdoor-revolution-cayman-air-low-awning/ but it does give you an idea of the awning. I reckon we can have it up in less then 10 minutes, but will invariably spend hours adjusting and tweaking guy lines! You pump it up via a single air inlet and in deflates very quickly via it too. Folding/rolling it neatly so it fits in its carry bag is a bit of an art but at least then it doesn't mess everything else up if its wet or muddy.

I know others on the Forum have had success with the Vango range too
 
S

SteveR

Active Member
Matty.P said:
Many thanks for all of your help and advice!
I think I'm going to go with the tent you recommended above - I will be similar to yourself in that I will use the tent in bad weather, but I won't use it during the middle of winter / go away for a weekend that I know is going to be stormy etc.

One final question if I may - to 'blow up' your tent, do you use any special device or do you do this manually? And either way, how long on average would you say it takes to put up and take down?
Click to expand...
My Kampa awning is still for sale in the classifieds here if you want to take a look as there are a couple of pictures albeit not many.
Might help you get a view of what to expect.

As @TMC says, takes about 10 minutes to inflate and adjust although maybe another 20 minutes or so to peg it out depending on how generous you are with the pegs :) You can buy a 12v pump but to be honest, I never bothered as it doesn't take much effort or time to manually inflate.

I also bought an additional Keder attachment kit as I find attaching to the wind-out awning worked better with 6mm rather than 4mm. For the non-awning van channel maybe 4mm would be ok

Hope this helps
Steve
 
M

Matty.P

New Member
Many thanks for the above. . .however, even though I'm English, I'm actually based north of the border, so I'll be looking for delivery of a product
 
M

Marlin

New Member
VIP Member
Matty.P said:
Hi All,
I'm a new member, but have been a MP owner for over 2 years now.

My van has a sun canopy fixed awning at present, but I am on the hunt to replace this with a driveaway awning - air tent. There is obviously a vast array of brands and models out there, but I was wondering if anyone has experience of such a product and if anyone can recommend a product for me?
The main purpose for my purchase will be for an extra / bigger living area whilst away for weekends in the van, as well as providing an extra storage area whilst away. Tents with sleeping quarters would be a bonus but not essential.
At the same time - if there is any member out there looking for a fixed awning sun canopy, I will be looking to sell the awning currently attached to my van.

Kind Regards,
Matty.P
Click to expand...
Hi Matty
This may be of interest to you, I’ve just recently purchased a 2019 MP, which didn’t have a wind out awning, but I was able to get hold of a Outdoor Revolution Cayman Cuba inflatable awning. We’ve subsequently come to the conclusion that this isn’t what we need, so are looking to sell it.
We would however like to buy a wind out awning, preferably a Thule.
The inflatable drive away awning has been used just the once, was only purchased brand new in September 2021, and is complete with all the original bits.
I’ve attached a photo of the handbook so you can see what it looks like.
We’re looking to get £350 for it.
So now to your awning, what make and size is it, and how much are you looking for?
Hopefully hear from you soon,
All the best,
Martin
 

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M

Matty.P

New Member
Marlin said:
Hi Matty
This may be of interest to you, I’ve just recently purchased a 2019 MP, which didn’t have a wind out awning, but I was able to get hold of a Outdoor Revolution Cayman Cuba inflatable awning. We’ve subsequently come to the conclusion that this isn’t what we need, so are looking to sell it.
We would however like to buy a wind out awning, preferably a Thule.
The inflatable drive away awning has been used just the once, was only purchased brand new in September 2021, and is complete with all the original bits.
I’ve attached a photo of the handbook so you can see what it looks like.
We’re looking to get £350 for it.
So now to your awning, what make and size is it, and how much are you looking for?
Hopefully hear from you soon,
All the best,
Martin
Click to expand...
Hi Martin,
Thanks for the message, but I went ahead and purchased a drive away tent in January, and have also decided to keep the wind out awning for now and see how things go this spring summer with both.
Kind Regards
Matty
 
T

Thomo

New Member
Webbah said:
This is a bit pricey, but the one on my list. You mention the "best" in the title so thought you might want to check this one out too:

Click to expand...
Hi, I have been in contact with Sven at GYBE - Germany this week enquiring BUT they do not supply to the UK i am afraid. They do not have any company to cover the warranty. He mentioned to me 'We need a kiteshop which is able to repair kites. When you have this, the we have the key to this problem.'
It is a same as the Bus Tent looks very good.
 
T

TheDon

New Member
Matty.P said:
Hi All,
I'm a new member, but have been a MP owner for over 2 years now.

My van has a sun canopy fixed awning at present, but I am on the hunt to replace this with a driveaway awning - air tent. There is obviously a vast array of brands and models out there, but I was wondering if anyone has experience of such a product and if anyone can recommend a product for me?
The main purpose for my purchase will be for an extra / bigger living area whilst away for weekends in the van, as well as providing an extra storage area whilst away. Tents with sleeping quarters would be a bonus but not essential.
At the same time - if there is any member out there looking for a fixed awning sun canopy, I will be looking to sell the awning currently attached to my van.

Kind Regards,
Matty.P
Click to expand...
Hi Matty

reconsider selling your canopy.
We have an Outwell stand alone tent /awning and pitch it away from The Don (our MB) and use the roll out to have a sitting /dining area.
 
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