Awnings are great accessories to have for your caravan outfit, as they help to extend the amount of covered floor space you have. They protect you from the elements, by providing shade when the sun is really beaming down and a dry area to stay when its raining down. Depending on the quality of your awning, it may also provide a reasonable amount of protection against high winds and storms.
However, your awning will only continue to properly fulfil its role as a covered extension of your caravan, if it is kept in good repair. That means you need to maintain it properly. Unfortunately, due to natural wear and tear over time, awnings will in time suffer from tears, knicks and other damages.
When you have a damaged awning, depending on the extent of the damage, you really have three different options open to you – you can buy a new one, have it repaired by a professional company or try and carry out the repairs yourself.
Taking the those first two options, buying a new awning might be necessary if the extent of the damage and the cost of the repairs is more than the cost of a new one. However, it may be better to consider having it repaired, as it will mean you will get longer out of your awning and will dramatically reduce the costs.
Hiring a professional is another option you should think carefully about. If the problems with the awning are so great or more technical than you can deal with, it could be worth hiring someone who knows what they are doing. Again, though, this will be expensive and will likely be charged based on the extent of the damage.
By far, the best option, particularly if you have an awning that only has small issues and wear and tear. Awning repair kit, depending on the model and make, normally include adhesive like awning repair tape, patches and repair solution. If you need to carry out some repairs on your caravan awning, you need to find the most suitable awning repair kit. As there are quite a lot of different products out there, we’ve put together a list of what we feel at Caravan Helper are the best.
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Awning Repair Kits (Some Choices)
Kampa are a brand of caravan and camping accessories and equipment manufacturer we’ve featured on Caravan Helper often. They are known for designing and producing exceptionally high-quality products that meet their very strict and exacting standards.
This tent & awning repair kit includes everything you need to repair rips and holes in most materials and fabrics. You get 2 sachets of repair solution (5g), 2 x repair tape patches (75mm diameter) and 1 reel of repair tape (500mm). The kit is also supplied with an alcohol wipe sachet and a spatula/spreader.
The repair tape has a very high tensile strength so can put up with the modern strains affecting awnings, especially those damaged. The patches and all other parts of the kit are completely air and waterproof. We really like the fact the repair solution can also be used in place of a seam sealant to repair those areas where the material is separating with more serious rips.
From the cool named company, Crocodile Trading, our next item is a reel of awning repair tape that can be cut to the length you need when you order. It is made from industrial-grade materials and is suitable for all those waterproofed repairs to help extend your awning’s lifespan. IT’s self-adhesive and can cope with high levels of tensile pressure, If necessary. As you’d expect, it provides an air and watertight solution to those damages. Because it has an almost completely transparent finish, it’s almost completely invisible and therefore, won’t ruin the look and feel of your caravan or its awning.
Similarly, to the Kampa Tent & Awning Repair Kit], this pack consists of self-adhesive TUFF tape patches and some tubing of flexible adhesive to use when repairing your awning. This means you can make those quick and simple repairs, such as dripping seams, dripping stitching, small rips and leaks. As well as tents and awnings, it can also be used to fix and repair caravan awning groundsheets.
As you may have gathered by its name, this kit is all about self-adhesive stickers for use in repairing just about anything from dinghies to tents and of course caravan awnings. They measure at two different sizes, 70 x 70mm and 140 x 140mm. Each sticker is made from high-quality nylon fabric and is not just 100% waterproof, as you may have guessed, but also flexible too.
Not only will the material or its colour not fade during the summer, but it will also handle the cooler weather of the wintertime too. IT also benefits from not becoming overly porous even once its been used for numerous years.
To meet the US and EU standards and RoHS certification rules and regulations. They are made from industrial strength and quality non-toxic adhesive. It’s extremely durable and very easy to use and apply.
Gorilla Glue Clear Repair Tape is an excellent product and solution to damaged awnings. The company that’s famous for its strong and reliable products has produced this easy to use and apply multi-purpose, heavy-duty and high-performance tape that benefits from being very clear and is perfect for protecting, holding, sealing, patching and fixing different surfaces. It will even stick to uneven and rough surfaces not just smooth materials. You are simply able to tear it with your hand, so you don’t need to deal with scissors or anything else.
It is both UV resistant and weatherproof so will keep your awning in good condition and help to get more use out of it, even if it’s damaged.
Another great and practical product from Stormsure, the caravan and awning repair kit can help you repair splits caused by anything from overloading to over inflation, depending on the material, item or material. The kit consists of self-adhesive TUFF tape for windows (15cm), Stormsure TUFF (50cm), Stormsure Circular TUFF patch (75mm diameter), Stormsure Flexible Clear Repair Adhesive (15g) along with disposable gloves, alcohol wipe and a plastic spatula.
Suitable for all holes, leaks and tears, like all the others featured in our guide.
So, rather than immediately think you need to replace your awning or pay the often extremely high prices companies want for their skills and experience to carry out the work for you, you should consider one of the handy awning repair kit options above.
Even if carrying out some quick and easy DIY repairs on the awning extends its life by another 6-months, we think that makes it worth investing. Who knows, you could even extend it further and get another couple of years use out of it before you need to replace it completely. What’s the worst that could happen? You try and need to replace anyway? At least you gave it a shot!