Kampa Sunshine Pro Air
I have a Kampa air awning which I like but I'm considering buying a Kampa Sunshine Pro Air Canopy for shorter breaks. I appreciate there are cheaper alternatives but favour air poles rather than the usual steel poles which can cause damage if there is a sudden gust of wind. My Hymer caravan has a fairly low awning rail and although the full awning has plenty of clearance for the door opening due to its shaped roof the canopy style might be lower especially on downward sloping pitches as there is no possibility of raising the air 'legs' like you can with steel poles. I would appreciate views of anyone who has used an air canopy, particularly this model
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What model of Hymer caravan do you have?
Colin
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Hi, looked at this canopy last year but have decided that for what I want, something for short breaks of a couple of days, I will likely get a Sunncamp Swift canopy.
One factor was that when we had a Fiamma roll out canopy we always found that the shelter it gave was minimal when windy so wanted a canopy with sides.
The standard, steel poles, is around £130 and the air version about £100 more.
Chatting to friends while on a rally last year one suggested, as this is something likely to be used very infrequently, looking at Facebook Marketplace, and I was surprised to find some bargains, but as is the way, also some that were more than I could buy for brand new.
My wife's comment on hearing the discussion was "what, another awning!"
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Colin, caravan is a Hymer Nova GL 590. The awning rail is lower than the roof top and 4inches (100mm) above the door top. As mentioned in my opening post it takes the Kampa air awning ok without fouling the door but the roof of the awning does have a raised profile. The Kampa Sunshine air canopy has a raised archway at the front which may help maintain enough height.
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Yes, there have been elements of the 'divorce in a bag'scenario over the years!
Similar to you ours would be used for those trips which at the moment we would not bother taking an awning for.
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My awning rail is only 30mm above the top of my door so understand where you are coming from.
I also use a Kampa Pop-Air full awning but for short breaks do not use it. I think the Pro Air Canopy is a bit of overkill for something that should be lightweight, simple, cheapish and easy to put up. For these reasons we use an Isabella Shadow or sunny times and a Sunncamp Swift for if the weather is poor. The later keeps the majority of weather off the side of the van. A "new" 3.0m Shadow came up on Gumtree a few days ago at the bargain price of £100. Carriage on this would be about £10.
Each only weigh 4 to 5 kg and live in the van.
I have found both our Isabella and Sunncamp are good in wind. The later put up with a severe storm early 2019 on an exposed Devon hillside when others had to take awnings down. As it has a 150mm gap between the bottom of it and the floor the wind tends to blow through.
Both should give you the clearance you require to open the door. With my vastly reduced distance above the door mine sometimes just touch.
Colin
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"But Colin says that a Isabella Sun Shine, Isabella Magnum and a Sunncamp Swift are NOT enough-we need an Isabella Shadow as well".
On paper the Shadow looked as if it might work, I can use on the van on its own and attach to the Magnum as a sun shade, but its small size means that in anything other than flat calm its not a lot of use to provide shelter, shade maybe but even then we found the shadow cast was often way outside the footprint.
Your picture is good as often the pics are at an angle or not actually taken when on a van and the depth should provide shelter, unless the wind direction is head on at the opening.
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I am fortunate in that our van is small and I can generally site it as I want, even heaven forbid on a C&MC site, as I can follow fire gap spacings etc. Several Eriba owners have in the past been in consultation with the Club regarding the nose-in, nose out, cross pitching scenarios and they are permissible, despite what some site wardens have said. This may seem a bit antisocial but it is for a reason.
Ideally I pitch East to West to either follow the sun or shade from it. If I now it's going to be windy the opposite side to the door always goes against the wind.
Colin
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Re pitching direction we have lots of photos taken on club sites, a few years back, and in all we are across the pitch.
This is how we always pitch if possible and we do it for the simple reason that we feel it is more sociable.
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