Bought a porch awning

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Well it fits.. (Went away weekend to Cambridge)
needs a bit of modification
I only tide it to the dandy roof bars for a trial
but will make a more permanent fitting to the existing awning rail
a U shaped 1" aluminium channel pop riveted to the awning rail
4 pieces about 8" long

and hope to cut a dart out of the side so it hangs a bit better

but for 50 quid i'm happy......... RIK

With a small > shape section (dart) cut from the top and restitched to the roofline it will be great, don't forget to put some seam sealant tape over the stitching when your done ..... really easy awning to erect too

Thanks Helen .

I've been and got some tenacious tape ready
to cover the restitch I'm hoping this is the right tape,
read about it on the forum.

will post some more pics when its all done.
but that will be a few weeks yet.


Rik..

Tenacious tape is fantastic stuff

My 4/5 came with an awning, which sort of fits. The poles had seen better days and tended to come apart. From Rik's pictures it looks a good fit and easy to pitch. I ordered a gold one to match my 80's brown Dandy.

It may not be a tough as a real dandy PVC one, but will shield some extra space from the dreaded midges and Mozzies. It may even keep the rain out.

Gold should go well with the brown.

Can I join the "I've bought a porch awning" gang

Picked up this Isabella Ventura Cadet. It's the older one with aluminium poles (I think the new ones have a fibreglass pole system?).

Colour should be a good match for my Riva Destiny, I just need to figure out how to fit it. I'm hoping it's as simple as a straight length of awning rail screwed to the side wall.

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peridot wrote:Can I join the "I've bought a porch awning" gang

Picked up this Isabella Ventura Cadet. It's the older one with aluminium poles (I think the new ones have a fibreglass pole system?).

Colour should be a good match for my Riva Destiny, I just need to figure out how to fit it. I'm hoping it's as simple as a straight length of awning rail screwed to the side wall.

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Looks nice it should be simple if the dandy is high enough.

Bent some B+Q brackets to go over the sides of the Dandy and then screwed awning rail to that. This is the result......


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Not an exact match but it is close enough.


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As a previous poster noted the slope of the Dandy roof means that a triangle needs to be cut out to level up the doors. The pitch was too hard to peg out the awing well so it could be made a bit neater without the darts, but I still think they will be needed.


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Although it fits neatly over the door when closed, the door fully opened is too high. For the moment I will just live with it, but I may need to think about making the top of the door fold down. I thought about wider strips of wood to lift the awning rails above the Dandy roofline, but I just used hwat I has lying around in the garage. Also I thin the leverage would put too much stress on the brackets and Dandy sides if I did that.


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Finally a shot of the rails and brackets without the awning attached. I will continue to improve the layout, but as I have nowhere to erect the Dandy at home it will have to be work in progress when I am out using it.

One thing I will try is to add more rail on the left (side without a window). It looks nice centred, but then the entrance is through the middle of the awning area. If I offset to the left, I make better use of the space, but the left edge will be even lower meaning even more material will need to be removed.

One thing I will say it that with the rails in place, putting up the awning is very easy. Just getting it up with the first guys in place was less than 10 minutes solo. Fiddling to get the best fit took longer.

I have used this for three trips now and while it does work, it is not great. The picture on the blue and white (Dart?) shows a tidy fit that I just can't get on my 4/5. I think the 4/5 has a lower roof than the Dart. There is a lot more material that would need to be taken out to make it fit. Also, I think that the Gold version is a smaller footprint as the blue one shown not only looks larger, but has XL printed on the side.

I have been mulling over trying to make a completely custom awning. A bit like the real Dandy one, but in lighter material.....but then I do wonder if lighter is really a good idea. Much as I cursed putting up the awning when I had a Destiny, it was very solid once up. Given that my Destiny also had an annex extension, the awning was probably twice the weight that a 4/5 awning would be. Also with the 4/5 having a lower roof, I can reach it without having to stand on a step. however there is the problem of finding one for sale. I would probably have to buy another Dandy with an awning and then sell it on without one.....I suppose I might also be able to pick up a spare underfloor heater at the same time.

I have the Winter to think about it as I suspect I have had my last Dandy trip for this year.

ChrisP wrote:I have used this for three trips now and while it does work, it is not great. The picture on the blue and white (Dart?) shows a tidy fit that I just can't get on my 4/5. I think the 4/5 has a lower roof than the Dart. There is a lot more material that would need to be taken out to make it fit. Also, I think that the Gold version is a smaller footprint as the blue one shown not only looks larger, but has XL printed on the side.

I have been mulling over trying to make a completely custom awning. A bit like the real Dandy one, but in lighter material.....but then I do wonder if lighter is really a good idea. Much as I cursed putting up the awning when I had a Destiny, it was very solid once up. Given that my Destiny also had an annex extension, the awning was probably twice the weight that a 4/5 awning would be. Also with the 4/5 having a lower roof, I can reach it without having to stand on a step. however there is the problem of finding one for sale. I would probably have to buy another Dandy with an awning and then sell it on without one.....I suppose I might also be able to pick up a spare underfloor heater at the same time.

I have the Winter to think about it as I suspect I have had my last Dandy trip for this year.

If you get yourself a heater the full 12 months are possible.
One was not sold through eBay this week either not bought or sold on the side. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]    Earlier this year someone sold two for £200 apiece.  

I;ll PM you if I see one at a reasonable price we nailed one for peridot at £50 or under a month or two ago.

Have you considered making it fit? I wonder if you could take out a < shape from each side of the roof/side then sew it back up and use tenacious tape to seal the seams ..... it should make it straight at the sides rather than have all that excess making the side doors all floppy.

You could try before you cut anything ..... put it on as it is and then lift the excess towards the roof until the side pulls straight then mark with chalk before cutting out the excess.  

I have now done ours on the Dandy Dart. (the blue and white one),
soon as i get more time i'll post more pictures,

we took it to salisbury last fortnight

and Gulivers world  Milton Keynes with the 2 grand children before that

for a cheap no hassle awning it works well after trimming the darts out of the sides over the doors


                                                                                                      Rik.

Works well, knew it wouldn't take much to make it fit and really simple to put up too ....... looks very smart  

heres a picture of it after
side dart,s been cut out

you can see the difference between the top of the side door and the black roof
see earlier post on this thread.

i'll post fittings pictures over weekend .
                                                     Rik..


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Malvern hills caravan and camping club site

I've just bought myself one, because it'll be easy to put up if we are away just for a weekend  

Yes Helen , I don't think you,ll find one easier to pitch.

well worth a bit of tweaking  and it is waterproof (that got tested at Malvern Hills)

But Salisbury we had 10 days of total sun ..thats a first.

( more pics of fittings to follow)
                                                                          Rik..

We've got ours and for the grand price of £36 ....... it's so compact and light   altering and fitting this will be a doddle    

Tried another one and got quite a good fit. It is a 1-2-Trio. Not a full awning, as some other have used, but an 8' x 6'.

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and here is a shot from the front. This was before I had finished adjusting, so it is not quite as neat.

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Looking at the picture I also forgot to fold back the roof after fitting my awning rail boards.

This is definitely the one for me for a long weekend with the family. The frame seems sturdy. The colour is even a good match.

It took a very long time to pitch as it came with extra poles and no instructions. I am not sure that all the poles were correct, but they worked well on the Dandy and that makes it correct for my use. Hopefully it will be quicker when I get to use it next year.

It looks good, must admit I had my doubts about the roof shape but it looks a lot lower than others of that shape ........ well done  

 looks like a conservatory     a very good colour match

bumping this for new members who may be looking for a short stay solution.

I have one of these the same as Ricks and am going to alter it to fit my designer, we've already used it with the caravan and it's a great size for a few days. We only tried it out for a weekend on the van because we wanted to see how much space it offered before doing any alterations and we had to sort the van out for sale so it was an ideal opportunity.

Just cut out two large darts from the top of the side panels and now need to sew it back together   I'll also put some ties onto a flap that will go under the Dandy roof to tie on.  

This may or may not work out as I guessed where to cut from looking at the pictures     

I'll put pictures up of the way I did it when I get time Helen.

i pop riveted short lengths of aluminum channel to to ours and hooked it over the bat wing metal work.

(it worked a treat)

worth tinkering about with for the price of a cheap easy to erect awning.

.......RIK

Ta dah ...... really compact and lightweight also really easy to put up but we would still use the Dandy awning for longer stays.  It's turned out to be a handy little porch that protects the door and all our stuff plus it gives us an extra sitting space  I removed the awning rail insert and attached by putting clingons along the flap that were left then tied on inside the Dandy as you would with a dandy awning so the dandy doesn't need any attachments. It stood up to the wet weather and even held it's own in some blustery winds.

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