Sun canopy for caravans
Hi I'm looking to buy a sun canopy for my coachman pastiche. We have a air awing we use for longer holidays but we are wanting a sun canopy for shorter holidays just to store chairs bikes ect. We have looked at few makes including Isabella shadow, suncamp and kampa zip revo. Just needing help from what everyone thinks
Thanks
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We have the Shadow. It works really well, is strong and easy to put up.
To my mind the benefit to the Shadow, over the Fiamma which I also have, is the ease with which I can swap it with my main awning.
The Shadow can be stored in the van whilst I am using my main awning, which you can't do with the Fiamma which is very rigid and heavy.
It used to be a choice between canopy or awning; now I can have both with me and use whichever is the most appropriate.
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With have a Thule wind out canopy that can turn into an awning when necessary. Not cheap though.....
David
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Clearly the Thule wind-out has to be allowed for off the "user payload". what David is its weight as I feel this is not trivial?
The longest Shadow the 5 metre is 5.3 kgs though this can be carried in the car if available weight allowance is critical.
The Shadows only come out 2 metres, so storing chairs under them would not ensure these don't get damp from blown rain, though seem to keep the worst of the dew off. I frequently leave my Thors folded and stored vertical on their sides under mine unless rain is possible, then I don't.
You can add the front and or the side "Nets" which would give far better blown damp protection.
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Thanks, much as I would have thought.
i would suggest there can be few mainstream UK caravans that could lose an extra 42 kg let alone 58, out of their payload?
Most owners will want a battery at say 22 and a mover at 35 + kgs and want to carry more than a dumpy cylinder of propane, so over a 100 kgs has gone from the user payload before any bedding, clothes crocks etc. Then there is its affect on side to side tyre loading.
Adding that large and concentrated mass high up, over 2.5 metres off the road and asymmetrically, is inevitably a bad characteristic for rolling stability.
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We have just bought a Sunncamp Swift canopy as an alternative to our Isabella awning for short stays. It’s easy to put up and surprisingly roomy. Not the most robust on offer but represents good value for money at just over £100 for the smallest version. Worth a look!
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We have a Vango 3m sun canopy for our Coachman, there is also a 4m one as well. We would recommend it, we can put it up in 10 minutes, very lightweight only needs 4 pegs. Stands up to high winds very well and rain. Won't break the bank buying it either.
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You are absolutely right Ocsid. Our Thule canopy is around 32kg. That together with the motormover is just about covered by the weight upgrade we were given on the Valencia. We do, however carry quite a bit in the car these days - in fact most of the outside stuff, including aquaroll and wastemaster. However, we have recently moved to a really small collapsible bucket which is based on the 'ballcock' idea which we use for serviced pitches - saves bulk and weight
David
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We use an Isabella Shadow 4metre. Good quality product easy to put up.
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We use a a Dorema Monaco sun canopy, fits the full length of the caravan unlike others mentioned. Light, easy to put up. Withstands thunderstorms, but can be removed in seconds.
To make even more use of the canopy on short stays we have just bought a Dometic / Kampa air break, a 5 section, 8m long inflatable wind break that we attach to the rear grab handle on the caravan via the fitted strap, peg at bottom and set up such that it forms a wall around the poles of the sun canopy to enclose the space. As when we used traditional windbreaks and the fiamma roll out canopy on the MH, this set up provides cool air into the enclosure from the gap between windbreak and canopy when very warm weather. Very similar to natural convection as found when camping in the bottom of the Grand Canyon with the Colorado river running next to your pillow.
We use the air break in the garden at home to form a wall around the seating unit, attaching the strap to the conservatory door to start.
Camping kit is not just for use on site.
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