Kampa Air Awning Inflatable for a Caravan
Air awnings are all the rage; we have had a Kampa Air Awning ourselves in the past. Of course, not everyone likes them; you could say that "traditionalists" prefer the pole awnings. It's a very personal choice; the air awnings have the following advantages for me. They are one of the most expensive of caravan accessories
- Easier to erect
- Easier to pack away
- Better in adverse weather conditions
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Just looking at the short list above, better in adverse weather conditions.. I feel a lot happier with a Kampa air awning on the caravan in high winds. I'm a bit paranoid as I have had a metal pole hit me on the head as well as one damage the side of the caravan. Peg them down well enough and they won't fly off.
An awning is often termed "divorce in a bag" by witty caravanners. But not so with a Kampa air awning. Well, I think with our awning I can do it pretty much by myself. I also use a Kampa Gale, which is a 12v compressor and pumps the awning up to the required pressure.
Our Kampa Air Awning weighs in at about 25kg's so it's still quite heavy. But it's all in the one bag. There's no separate bag for poles, which is something you could easily forget. Or at least I could easily forget...
As mentioned earlier, I have had a few mishaps with poled awnings whilst erecting in the wind. I know it is not advisable to do this, however, sometimes you can start out and it's a calm day, then within 30 minutes, you have near gale force wind blowing around your ankles. You can't leave an awning halfway up. The wind also makes an air awning troublesome to erect, however, it's just going to blow around a bit, it's not going to through heavy poles and you and your caravan.
We'd recommend a Kampa Air Awning over a poled version, especially for beginners.