Outwell country road awning

[Rapidair65]

We have just returned from our first trip out in our new V6 and we had a lot of difficulty with the gusset that connects our country road awning to the van. The sides seem a lot narrower than the top which leaves a lot of loose material attached to the gutter (we use a figure eight). The material balloons up and pulls the elasticated ends inward. This has damaged the paint on the rear quarter of the van and the noise from the flapping material keeps you awake at night. I realise that there has to be some extra material to allow the awning to fit different height vans but has anyone experienced this problem with the Outwell country road attached to a Bongo and is there a solution to stop the flapping? If I move the van further away from the awning to take up the loose material, the elasticated end section will not reach the van and a gap is left which allows more wind in! Help!!

[Jillygumbo]

It sounds as though you may have one for a coachbuilt van rather than a bongo, ie taller? Don't know what you can do about it though.

[Rapidair65]

We purchased the awning through the bongo shop so it should be the standard not the tall version.

[helen&tony]

Hi
Have you got a photo of it pitched and attached...it could be one of a number of adjustments!
Cheers
Helen

[Rapidair65]

The wife took one yesterday. I will try to post it tonight.

[Simon Jones]

Perhaps the figure of 8 strips are not long enough to use up enough of the bead to shorten the vertical sides?

[Rapidair65]

Downloaded the pictures, all taken with the gusset rolled up unfortunately! The sides were pegged just behind the front wheel and under the back bumper. With the shortening straps pulled tight the elastic kept the awning tight against the van until the top section 'ballooned' up. This pulled the ends in and caused the buckles to rub against the paint. There seemed to be a lot of slack material once the straps had been tightened.

[Rapidair65]

Fixed it!! The awning was not positioned correctly. I used three 30 inch figure eights and the outwell supplied pole. The gusset is now fairly tight and the awning runs from just after the sliding door (open of course) to just behind the front wheel. The pole, fitted in the sleeve, rolls on top of the figure eight and is held with two clamps. A bit belt and braces but it seems to work. Our next outing is to the Woodlands site at Ashbourne in April so we'll see if it works "in the field". Many thanks to all who replied to my post.

[helen&tony]

Hi
Glad you're sorted...I think we all guessed that it only needed "tweaking"...once you suss it out, it's easy every time
Cheers
Helen

[cmm303]

Does clamping the pole in the sleeve make the fig 8 redundant?

I have similar options with my awning. Clamping higher than the gutter would take up some slack and give more gradient to avoid rain puddling. But not thought of a way of doing this. Could the brackets concealed by the AFT be used in some way?

[Rapidair65]

We left the awning attached with the figure eights but as the sleeve is on the awning side of the gusset, it has the effect of shortening it when the pole is rolled on top of the figure eight and clamped front and rear. The figure eight also helps protect your vans paint.
As an aside, we found some additional poles in our awning bag. They are four section spring loaded and about six feet six inches long with a spike at one end and a plastic cover/foot at the other. There were two in the bag. Any ideas what their purpose is? The outwell pitching instructions do not mention them.

[roosmith]

They are for opening up a door (one of them will have eyelets in the corners) and propping up as an awning extension/sun shade, you'll have a couple of spare guys too, that you loop over the top of the spike, that you have put through the eyelet in the door (hope that makes sense!)