Doremo Starcamp magnum 260 porch awning

[Unknown]

Hi All,

If anyone has one of these (or the 360), could they please let me know
how long each of the fibre poles is fully assembled, in total from the
plastic tip down to the end of the alloy furrel which goes to the
ground please.

My awning is lifted up too far at the front, so the skirt barely
touches the ground and pushed too far away from the caravan walls
making it near impossible to get the side cushions to seal against the
caravan wall. In addition the zips at either end are under tremendous
strain, due to bowing out away from the caravan's wall.

My suspicion is that the fibre poles are simply supplied too long, by
around 100+mm.

I have spoken to Doremo and they seem unable to advise what length the
poles are supposed to be, to ensure a correct fit. Instead they claimed
I was simply putting it up wrong.

I have had this awning a couple of years, but only used it so far on a
side to side sloping site, with the awning on the high side of the
caravan - which I initially blamed for the issue, but having just set
it up on my reasonably level lawn at home, I still have the same
issues.

[Neil]

Hi,

I can't answer your question from personal knowledge of this awning, BUT
the next time I go to my local caravan/camping accessories store, I'll
see if they've got one of those erected on show, and measure it for you.
Of course I cannot be sure they will have one up - but you never know!

If they haven't, chances are they will have a replacement pole in stock,
which I could measure.

Neil

[Unknown]

Neil formulated the question :

> Hi,
>
> I can't answer your question from personal knowledge of this awning, BUT the
> next time I go to my local caravan/camping accessories store, I'll see if
> they've got one of those erected on show, and measure it for you. Of course I
> cannot be sure they will have one up - but you never know!
>
> If they haven't, chances are they will have a replacement pole in stock,
> which I could measure.

Thanks, but I managed to eventually get a response from Doremo, who
suggested the specified length is 3.944M. Which compares near enough to
the 3.93M I measured mine to.

I had only used it on one site since purchase, which has a slight side
to side - the awning side higher than the other side of the van, by
around 2 inches or so. I blamed that for the problem I was having with
the awning...

The skirt at the front barely touching the ground; lower edge nearest
the caravan under a lot of pressure being pulled away from the van by
the poles; zip in the side doors under a lot of strain; roof of awning
being almost level and collecting a pool of water; the curve of the
fibre poles swelling to high at the roof and bellying out at the front
- as if my caravan height was too low for the awning.

Whilst away in the caravan on site, I tried making shallow holes in the
ground, for the three poles to drop into, which helped a little, so I
decided to set it all up at home on my back lawn, which is reasonably
level, to have a better look at the issue.

I have now chopped 5" from each pole length, which has sorted out all
of the problems listed above. It now sits absolutely perfectly.

So it seems it was the awning at fault, rather than the pole lengths,
though I don't know how. I bought it as a new, but ex-demo awning. I
don't think PU materials can normally shrink and there were no
indications of it having been repaired etc.. So I'm puzzled as to why
it was short.

At first I was blaming the poles, that they might have supplied it with
the wrong poles when I bought it - hence my trying to find out how long
they should be.

Whilst set up in my garden, I have taken the opportunity to add a
couple of improvements to it...

I had a similar style of awning where the fibre pole ends managed to
force their way through the pocket ends of the awning, at the roof. I
have added three 20mm hard plastic sockets to the ends of the pole
pockets to prevent that happening to this one.

I was struggling to hammer pegs in under the caravan, where the awning
side cushions need to be pulled close to seal to the caravan wall. I
have added guy lines to the ends of the ladders, long enough to take
the guys under the caravan, so I can peg them out at the far side of
the caravan.

[Neil]

Glad you got it sorted. It would have been unusual to have all 3 poles
the wrong length from new, but I see now that it could quite possibly
have been bundled together with the wrong pole set, upon being taken
down from display/demo. We know that coated nylon shrinks and stretches
with the level of dampness - but coated polyester doesn't. So, as you
say, an error in manufacture!

I think there are always improvements we can see to our awnings and
tents - I suppose if they were designed in the first place, by people
who actually use them, that would reduce the need for modifications
significantly!

Neil.