Limpet system for air awnings
can anyone tell me if they have used this system on air awning & if it works. We have an air awning 2015 model & wanted to see if using this would create a closer fit to the Motorhome.
Comments
-
Hi Tambo,
We recently bought a Kampa Air Awning due to us spending long periods of time in Spain. I have never in almost 25 years of owning motorhomes had an awning before. It was very simple to erect and very happy with it. Anyway, to answer your question, I bought 4 packs of the Limpets and the punch for cutting the holes to install as the awning I bought was reduced by 75% due to being a 2016 model and not being "limpet" ready which basically meant the holes precut.
I used the limpets to attach the awning to the van on the side sections. I installed 4 on each side as the awning is large at 3.10m high and also used them to secure the draft skirt along the length of the van to make the awning more draft proof.
I have had mixed results. The ones which are meant to hold the awning side walls in place are not very good. From what I can gather the limpets are very secure if you try and pull them off by pulling them directly away from the van. However, as soon as any side ways movement occurs they pull away very easily. It has become a daily task for me to re-secure all eight of them every morning. I also have a pole on each side which was per-limpet and this works far better.
As for the draft skirt the limpets perform better here. They still fall off every couple of days but are fit for purpose and have done a good job.
If your awning has poles to hold it against the van my advice would be don't bother with the limpets
0 -
I brought a set of eight together with the hole punch and fitter them to my Kampa Air Pro 330.
The hole punch worked well and was easy to use.
Due to a warning in the instructions not to over-tighten they didn't hold very well at first. I then tried wetting the suction face and tightening them up hard and they then stayed in place during some quite windy weather.
I'm very satisfied with them and will now leave the side poles at home.
0 -
I tried the same as dmiller555 and found 2 of them actually snapped internally. They were okay when I put them on but found them broken a few hours later. The clear suction cup snapped at the part where it attaches to the screw thread. My fault as they all have a piece of paper attached saying do not over tighten.
0 -
The problem is that "over tighten" is rather vague as one persons tight may be another's loose.
Perhaps I should buy some spares?
0 -
Hi, side question, sorry to hijack, how did you get on measuring what height your awning needed to be? Did you level the van and measure from floor to the kadar rail it slots into? And how do you find it for keeping weather out as it has no groundsheet? And lastly what do you use as a groundsheet? Thanks!
(We have the Vango option and find it great but a little cramped)
0 -
Craig,
I had little choice in the measurements as the biggest awning Kampa make in the Motor Ace Pro range is the XXXL which fits up to a height of 310cm. The distance between the ground and the rail when measured was 305cm on my van on a fairly level pitch.
As you identify this would be on a level pitch. A number of pitches we have been on the self levelling has raised the front of the van considerably causing the distance to increase. The skirt along the awning is quite long and has never been raised to the point where it would be off the ground. The issue it did cause was the awning appeared twisted due to it being high at the van side and lower at the front and this made the zip hard to open and close.
My first solution was to manually level the van best I could without lifting the van too high which was a compromise as we were not always level and that was not acceptable. The solution I came up with was to have an extension made for where the awning attaches to the Thule wind out awning. It is basically a piece of canvas 12 inches wide with 4mm awning bead stitched on both sides. I use a figure of eight 4mm x 6mm to attach it to the awning and the other 4mm slides into the Thule rail. This gives me an additional 12 inches to play with. It took a lot of thought on how wide I should make the extension, but opted to go to the max given I can always raise the van but cannot lower and it has worked very well.
If you are trying to decide the length to go for and you have the luxury of 2 sizes, I would suggest you measure the height from the ground to the rail with the van on the max height of your levelling blocks. Just like my extension, you can always add height but cannot make lower. So work on what you feel will be the maximum height you will have the van and ultimately the max distance between the ground and the awning rail. You always measure it on level ground with no blocks and with luck the both heights will fall into the min and max of a size they make. If it does not I suggest you go for the bigger size. As said you can always add height but cannot take it away.
With regard to the ground sheet, I bought the factory manufactured soft feel carpet. I have no idea about water ingress as we have only used it in Spain and so far have not had an issue as we have had no rain ( I should not have said that as the heavens open), but do see it being a bit of a problem when it does happen.
The one thing we did buy as an extra was the inner roof liner (can be seen in the photos) and we were amazed how much condensation it catches. Most mornings it is very wet, but soon dries out when the sun comes up.
Cannot fault the awning and it is very simple to install. Takes me around 10 minutes from taking out of the bag. The only issue or concern I have is the weight, I’m very conscious after sliding it onto the Thule rail how heavy it is and how much pressure it puts on the awning gear. My awning is electric and I worry how much strain it puts on the motor as it winds in, to the extent I have the other half support it with the cleaning brush to remove the weight and lessen the load as it winds in. It would be the same if you were winding in with extra strain on the gears.
Ebay have some great deals on Kampa 2016 models at the moment.
0 -
Brilliant, many thanks for that!!!!!! No rain eh? How I look forward to packing in work!!!
0 -
I was / am thinking of using limpets, or even a couple of Draper type suction handles for lifting glass.
My initial thought is, what does the suction do to the gel coats on most modern finishes on m/homes ?
Would it cause cracking or lift the gel coat ?
Rgds
0 -
By what I can see the Limpet system has been designed in such away they should not cause damage to the van. Each one comes with a warning not to over tighten and in the event that you do they seem to shear and snap. That may not be the case with a GPR van, but from experience of GRP they are far more resilient to dents and dings than aluminium ones.
I worked on the premise that the majority of users will be people with caravans and the aluminium sides used on those are far softer than that used on my Niesmann so it should not cause an issue.
I would however be very carful using the heavy duty tile/glass lifter suckers. They must exert a huge pressure onto one area and are not designed for motorhomes or caravans and think they w potentially cause damage.
0 -
Thank- you all for your replies. We tried limpet system on Motorhome would not fix to Motorhome for skirting but would fix higher up on Motorhome body so we will use it when we need our blow up awning.I think the difference was where we were putting the skirting the bottom of Motorhome has different body material also was a curved shape. So we added a awning rail to get round this works well & looks tidy.
0 -
Bought some last week and fitted them to the side of our Eldiss caravan and due to the warning of do not overtighten on the packaging ( but it doesn't tell you why) I was very cautious when tightening and subsequently they almost all fell off before morning .So a little more pressure was applied and they stayed on for three days - impressive. Panic set in when I removed them only to find that all of them have damaged the paintwork on the van leaving a white circle of either raised or damaged paintwork. I must stress these limpets were not over tightened as some people have stated they sheer off. Has anyone else had this problem because I am of the impression these are not safe for caravans with alloy sides and would recommend strongly not to use them it may have proved costly for me and Kampa will be contacted.
0 -
I've used them on two Lunar caravans without any problem and they have been in place for up to a week.
0 -
Thanks for your comments I will try one of the circles with some car polish and see what transpires. Thinking logically the caravan manufacturers would not promote anything being fixed to the caravan side for warranty reasons alone so the limpets are a risk and I wish I hadn't bothered. Will keep you posted.
0 -
Having further examined the bodywork on my Elddis I can confirm that the hard edge of the limpet does compress the alloy and leaves a witness mark that can't be removed unless they are filled and retouched. I did not over tighten the limpets only enough to get them to hold so I would recommend that fellow caravaners/motorhomers take care with these gadgets I won't waste my time with Kampa customer services because obviously they will quote the over tightening disclaimer on the packaging which is very vague but nicely covers the company ! Basically you can exert a lot of compression pressure using limpets before you get anywhere near over tightening perhaps Elddis alloy is thinner than other manufacturers but I doubt it - take extreme care especially if it's a new caravan like mine!
0 -
ive seen many of these devices advertised as 'dent removers' so obviously have a serious amount of leverage.
some caravan/MH sides are GRP and i guess this might be OK. ours are aluminium and may be a bit 'fragile' for 'dent removing' treatment when there is no dent to remove....
0 -
Not a very good advert for Elddis.
I've just double checked ours which are holding our awning and they are fine after a wet and windy night with no sign of marking of the aluminium sides of the caravan.
0 -
I have a new Kampa 330 air and bought the Limpets. They do the job very well. HOWEVER !! when I went to remove one of them which was over the graphic sticker, it had damaged the graphic leaving a 40mm ring of the graphic removed. Not a pleasant sight on a 2 year old caravan. Before any comment, I did not over tighten it, just enough to take up the slack on the screw head + 1/4 of a turn.
I am trying now to have a repair to the graphic, but they come as a complete set for the caravan at £486.......That's no joke.
I am now looking at the Badge which fits on the Gas locker box door, to place over the damage. This is less than £20
I also notice that where the limpets were straight onto the caravan wall, they have left a witness ring which wont come out with a wax polish. I think it has removed the silver seal coating which I had put on from new.
My advice.....Leave well alone. Get the vertical poles snug around the buffer on the wall.
0 -
What about using a CMC sticker, there must be lots of spares about?
0 -
I'm so pleased I looked on here today as we have the same awning as you Stewartwebr and the same problem, I can't wait to show OH when he gets in as he was getting so frustrated with it re the height. We also support ours with a brush or me standing on steps when we erect it
Thank you for your detailed reply it's a great help to us, can I ask where you got your extension made or did you manage it yourself? sorry to deviate from OP0 -
I wrote to Kampa explaining the damage limpets can cause to some alloy sided caravans and asked them to change the wording on their packaging . Up to now ( a month ) I have had no reply from the company which is not very impressive after spending over £ 1500 on their products , they don't have an e-mail contact and want you to ring customer services or write - bit of a joke company to deal with. I notice someone posted a link to a service bulletin regarding limpets and decals but all they wanted was to sell a hole punch so you can avoid placing them over one. The limpet product is not not fully fit for purpose and I would advise to avoid them and I am also thinking the same about Kampa.
0 -
Having just purchased a new Coachman VIP in March, a Kampa 330 air pro to go with it in June, I decided Limpets seemed like a great idea. As you'll know this is a large outlay.
Having used Limpets for the first time we found some became detached after a day or two, especially the Limpet secured wheel cover. Not wanting to over tighten them, I simply loosened then back off, and reattached using about 1/4 turn. Despite this we found them to be very effective.
However, upon removal I noticed around 12 white ring marks left on the bodywork. I tried polishing the marks out, but that had no effect.
So contacted Kampa who responded quite quickly, and they advised that the rings will disappear in the sun within a few days, but the process can be sped up by using a domestic hairdryer. Unfortunately his had no effect either.
Like others I also believe the item not fit for purpose, as the fitment has damaged the new caravan.
I have written another email Kampa.
0
