I have a 15ft pop top golden eagle caravan I am wondering if the carport position would be the most stable, the van is rear entry and in the cantilevered position I have to walk around the awning to access the awning area.
You could always place forward leg in cantilevered position and the rear leg in upright (carport) position, there is no law stating both legs have to be deployed similarly.
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Possum; AKA:- Ali El-Aziz Mohamed Gundawiathan
Sent from my imperial66 typewriter using carrier pigeon, message sticks and smoke signals.
Most times for ease of use, we leave it attached to van (cantilevered), in the case of a strong wind that blows up, it is quick to roll up.
Having said that, for a long stay, we have used the carport position and guy ropes, mainly so the arm is not in the way of the baby Q when cooking. Bayonet point is just below arm bracket, but have a long S/S hose.
The walking around is a fairly minor inconvenience , It's more about wind lift and twist , given that it is a pop top, which position is more stable . My gut feeling is that the carport position , with the legs pegged would give better load spread, I am however prepared to be wrong (it has happened once before , being wrong I mean , maybe twice although I am not sure about the second).
Thank you Possum3 for your reply other perspectives make you think out of the box.
We generally only use the support rods attached to the van; never detached. This is really only for simplicity and convenience and if the wind picks up, the awning is quickly rolled up and locked. We really only use the awning for shade and to string washing lines along it.
Aussie Traveller states awning legs should remain attached to the caravan if any wind. So we always leave the legs attached. Strong wind its easier and quicker to roll the awning away. The only time I would consider putting the legs in the carport position is if attaching an annex.
You could always place forward leg in cantilevered position and the rear leg in upright (carport) position, there is no law stating both legs have to be deployed similarly.
That is what we do,the leg near the door is in the carport position and the other cantilevered.
If stormy weather is about and we are going to be away from the van we pack away the awning.
Otherwise we batten down every thing,extra pole and extra ropes and sit it out.
The awning on a pop top is to hard to stop flapping unless you go to extreme measures as provided in the photo by PT.
If I was mad enough to buy a poptop I would have the top arm of the awning attached to the roof of the van and use an AFK, in the pic supplied by PT, I would have a detachable pole located where the top arm is now, and an additional 4 or 6 support legs between the roof and top of van.
But because I have a full size van, its very rare for not to deploy my annex in the carport mode, because ducking under the awning roller annoys the crap out of me, but then again Its pretty much if we are stopping at a place for more then a week the annex is allways setup, no matter how had the wind blows or the rain pours down we dont have to scurry around packing everything away if there's a bit of a blow or storm on the way.
One thing you do see in the tropical north, a caravan arrives at the park sets up very thing awning out etc, then on dusk awning in and secured, then repeat it every day.
For us it depends on the stay and the camp-site, but generally we use the carport position.
However, I never put my awning out in either position without guy ropes. I have seen awnings end up folded back over the van and destroyed with a sudden gust of wind on an otherwise still day so always take the precaution of roping it down.
In the carport position I always peg the feet of the legs down as well. We have been through some very strong winds with ours without trouble.
Just a tip if you don't already know. Slope the awning front to back to run the water off it, otherwise the water will pool behind the drum and damage the awning.
If we are staying a while we peg the awning leg down,I made an aluminum plate to go under the foot.
I set everything up then slip the footplate under the awning leg,hammer the pegs into the footplate,less chance of miss hitting and damaging the plastic foot.
Then I finger tighten two screws in the awning leg to the footplate.If a storm comes I can undo the screws pack up the awning,when the storm is over just place the awning leg on the footplate and finger tighten the leg down.
