Leaking Kampa Air Pro 390 awning
Purchased product last year from Towsure recommended product list.
First time used in rain and water poured in ever where possible! (video evidence provided to supplier.)
Anyone aware of this information provided by Kampa (not before purchase) that you are required to soak awning several times before its watertight ?? or seasoning, we have owned several awnings never had this issue (others all watertight)
Following info has just been supplied to me today after several weeks back and forth trying to resolve.
The Keder
This is the seam that joints the beading to the main awning, it is sully a dark grey strip of material with white
cotton thread. There is no tape on these seams. The thread used is a special swell thread, that after three
or four soakings will become permanently swell to fill the stitching holes and seal the seam from rainwater.
However, if you do not wish to wait for this to happen also known as the ‘weathering process’, a Seam
Sealer can be applied. You can source Seam Sealants via most camping stores, both instore and online.
Spoke with a neighbour who happened to have a same make air awning they had exactly the same issue but had unfortunately purchased theirs on Ebay. Wish I had reviewed this product before purchase, Trustpilot has many negative reviews on Kampa.
I'm trying to resolve this with Towsure and Kampa but have had obstacles put in the way, they certainly haven't made it easy, awning is within warranty and we have now passed to consumer advice just fed up.
Comments
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The first time my Isabella Commodore got wet it leaked on the seam with the awning bead strip. I phoned Isabella and they said pretty much what you have been told, that the stitching will swell up and seal after the first time it gets really wet, and if i wanted to i could spray it with a waterproofing product.
I didn't bother with the spray and sure enough next time it rained there were no leaks whatsoever and hasn't been any for the following 8 years, so if I was you I wouldn't worry too much.
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We have used Kampa awnings for the last seven years - now on our third - a 390 Grande. We did experience a few 'dribbles' from a couple of the seams on our first one when it first got wet, but this didn't happen again. There is a note in the instruction book to the effect that this might happen. The others have been absolutely fine and I found the after-sales service from Kampa to be excellent when we had a slight problem with our very first one.
Condensation is another matter - and will occur with any awning made of an impermeable fabric. It's just a question of learning to manage it. Our lightweight Sunncamp - which we use in winter - and is made of a more 'nylon' type material is far worse in this respect.
I think Kampa make excellent awnings and as Whittakerr says, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
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I bought a Kampa Pop Air in 2017. It was a disaster as it did not fit. Kampa aftersales was very good and attempted to rectify the problem, which unfortunately they could not so the awning was returned. In 2019 version 2 came out which I bought and this does fit.
Most, if not all awnings will leak on the stitching due to the reasons Kampa have stated. I have in the past speeded up the process by soaking the awning chord with an awning proofing spray.
The condensation mentioned above is due to the non breathable fabric. On the occasion this has occurred I have left the top 100mm of the awning front open and it has virtually eliminated the problem.
For the price point these awnings are a good product and I would buy another.
Colin
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