The company produced tents designed for campers who, like the founder, holidayed in the spectacular but challenging Scottish Highlands. The brainchild of Alastair Moodie, Vango was established in the West of Scotland in 1966, when it was headquartered in a small factory in Glasgow. The largest online selection of spares for your Caravan or Motorhome.For anything other than long-term pitching, an air awning would be our first choice. They are also intuitive to erect and may well extend the time older folk can continue caravanning. It takes the leg (and arm) work out of awning building, compared to a traditional pole awning. In the speed test, the Vango Rapide II 350 air awning truly lived up to its name. I reckon we could get this down to 15mins if we had another go. This simplicity resulted in a build-time of just 18mins 33secs. Once it was in the rail, it took about 25 pumps and we had a usable space. Bearing that in mind, we found the Vango intuitive to erect. That said, they are also more substantial and sturdier, so they're ideal for longer-term pitching.Ĭlare and I are relative awning novices, as we don't use awnings when we caravan. Pole awnings tend to be heavier and bigger to store/transport. However, it's the fact that they're much simpler and quicker to erect that wins me over, every time.įor weekend breaks, or even a week or two's holiday, we'd plump for an air awning as it's more convenient in almost every way. Some people might call me lazy, but the last thing I want after a long drive to a campsite is to spend up to an hour building an awning and arguing with Mrs Sootheran however much extra space they may provide.Īnd, I simply can't see 'The Teen' getting involved, without the sort of 'fireworks' that would put New Years' Eve to shame!Īir awnings are lighter, smaller and often cheaper than their pole-based cousins. These extendable steel poles slot into small corner pockets next to the awning rail and hold the foam pads tight to the caravan wall. Pole danceĪlthough it's an air awning, there were two poles left over, and it took a few seconds to work out where they went. We then pegged the porch down and attached the draught skirt. Next, we added the front-to-back, tensioning AirBeam, to increase rigidity. In about eight minutes we had a rigid awning. We pulled it vertical and pegged the two guy ropes to hold it in place. 25 pumps later, and we'd fully inflated the beam. Velcroing in the foam pads created a nice tight fit between awning and van wall.Ĭlare located the single air valve on the front arch, and I attached the pump.
Next, Clare hammered in the awning peg nearest to the van wall, to ensure we didn't have an air gap. The Rapide is light and flexible, though, which made things easier. Smaller folk may benefit from packing a small, aluminium step ladder.
The awning bead slid quickly into the rail and Clare continued to feed it smoothly into the channel, as I pulled it through.Īs an XL gentleman, this proved relatively easy, but I did need the caravan step to reach high enough. We threw erecting a Vango Rapide II 350 air awning against the clock to see just how long this porch awning would take to build. This Scottish manufacturer offers many light, rigid, cost-effective air awnings featuring its AirBeam technology.Īir awnings are much-vaunted for the speed with which you can erect them, so freelancer Clare Kelly and I thought we should put these claims to the test, to see if they're fact or fantasy. No one has embraced the changes more effectively than Vango. There's been a revolution in 'Caravan world' in recent years, and it's come in inflatable air awnings.
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