Awning rail advice for new Broadway

Hi lads.
I am in need of your collective grey matter please to sort out a problem which has come up from Autosleeper on the manufacture of our new Broadway FB.
We are expecting to take delivery at the end of March from SMC and have requested they fit an awning rail at 2.50 metres
height, so we can still use our Rally pro porch awning which we had on our caravan. The awning has only been used once and we like it.
Our request was for Autosleeper to lower the porch light above habitation door slightly to accommodate the rail but Autosleeper have said there is no wood in the side of the body at this level to attach a rail and if we had one fitted it could invalidate our warranty.
Both the dealer SMC and Autosleeper have come up with the following alternatives.
1/ Replace the Omnistor canopy with a Fiamma version which does have a groove to fit an awning at no extra cost.

2/ SMC will fit the awning rail as my original request and Autosleeper will get them to fit the porch light slightly lower, but this will be at my own risk of endangering my warranty.
3/ Ditch the awning

I am inclined to go for option 1 and after finding out from ebay that you can get a figure of 8 adapter to connect awning rails together, I am thinking that you would have to lower your canopy slightly for this to achieve the correct height, thus meaning surely the awning would be away from the van at the sides.
I think both you and I are now totally confused and I really need your grey cells to work on this one please.

Raybow

Hi there,

A few months back Lidl were selling battery powered LED lamps that are about 300mm long x 60mm high x 30mm deep.

We bought two and when the awning is out they rest on the channel of the awning and point in towards the caravan.

They provide enough light to do anything but read inside the Windblocker and tuck into the Windblocker bag when it is packed away.

After about 48 hours of use we have only changed the batteries once.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Had a Fiamma awning on the side of my Neuvo when first purchased and use it often on a site with front and side ends Fiamma heavy duty 'wall blockers' as they describe them (3 in total to create an awning room effect with windows)

What puzzles me is that they simply told you that a Fiamma awning has a rail to fit presumably an awning The awning has a groove only along the front bit that winds out. This provides the fixing for a front wall only.

To enable the fixing of the specially made end walls I had to purchase two additional round tubular telescopic end rafter rails that fit between the van and the top corners (The wall top seam slides through and this what holds them up in place. I also have an additional centre square section rafter for the roof centre section (all Fiamma spares)

The resulting room is always useful and flexible as we can decide whether to use 1-2 or all three walls subject to weather/wind conditions.
A manufactured complete awning as used on a caravan is a slightly different animal though)

One last point - my Fiamma side and end walls all came with tie tags 'laces' to secure the corners to the awning legs. I soon replaced these with easily used velcro tabs as it was so tedious tying and untying the original daft lace ups.

The other consideration is that all these Fiamma spares on top of a new roll out awning itself (plus blocker ends, rafters etc ) could possibly well exceed the price of a good quality new drive away awning However we like the convenience and flexibility of this Fiamma set up on ours.

Hope this may help a little towards your final decision.

Might it be better to sell the caravan awning and use the money to purchase an awning which has been designed for motorhomes. You are likely to end up with a far better solution rather than compromising on something which doesn't reall fit or do the jb correctly.
Presumably if it hasn't ben used much it will be in good condition and saleable. On the other hand if it hasn't been used much then possibly it will be used even less on a motorhome especially if the erection is not straightforward.
I would recommend a wind out awning with add on sides that are easy to install.

Hi Raybow.
If it were my decision, I would keep with the factory fit wind out awning. Don't do anything to potentially mess up the warranty.
I agree with matchlessman in that I would purchase a drive away awning, if you want extra space and find a way to connect the tunnel to the van. I realise your rollout awning is high up but you should be able to find a way to fix a tall drive away awning either to the back of the rollout awning (but you will need some portable steps to stand on), or use one where the tunnel material can be pulled over the roof.

But do you really need a tent type awning with such a nice size van ?
Isn't that the one of the nice things about having a good size van, you can leave all that stuff to the smaller campervans?
Good luck whatever you decide.
Regards
John

Many thanks lads for all your suggestions. I am going to have a re-think and discuss it with the dealer.

After spending all this money for the wagon I suppose I should not skimp on an awning.

Raybow

I would let them fit the Fiamma Awning at the factory and use a Transition strip between your awning and the Fiamma Windo out awning - If you must keep your caravan awning.
That said the inbuilt Omnister awning on our Windsor has the same groove that we are able to fit the Windblocker front into.

I say if you must, seriously as there will be a weight issue with the caravan awning and AS vans are not noted for their generous loading allowances and something like the Windblocker mentioned by Dutto will be a lot lighter and take up less space, and is a lot lighter to erect and take down when you move the van

In my view you should not take a risk with the water ingress warranty. Mounting a rail in a position that does not have enough timber to support is asking for trouble as you will put stress on the bodywork.

I would make use of the inbuilt awning.