Just bought a T6 van after pretty much years of procrastinating. Got a good deal on 2017 LWB and excited to be picking it up tomorrow. Finally finished my summer house so need another mini project 🙂

Plan is to remove bulkhead, insulate, carpet line, 2 side windows, full width bed and some front unit behind the seats. Split power thingy and may put in a swivel unit later for the front seats. Timing (in hobby stylee) is to do it at my leisure over the next 12 months, cash permitting.

Thoughts turned to doing some of the jobs “cheaply” so that I can use the van this summer with a drive away awning and get some weekends in.
Any recommendations on Drive away awnings? not to big.

Cheers

T6 forum is the place.

Its A place. Always interested in the experience of people who I share hobbies with on here as to their recommendations.

A friend of mine went for an Olpro like this

Cocoon Breeze Inflatable Campervan Awning

I think I’m going to get the same (but in a different colour so we don’t look too weird)

Cheap and quick? – extra rubber door seals and rubber strip for dashboard/windscreen black slot of doom.

The inflatable Vango Keela go up very quickly thats what we have but no shelter on the big outside door 🙁

Two strong opinons from me:

1) The Khyam Motordome awnings are amazing. Stupidly quick to put up. Bagged to weather proof in about 120 seconds if you go for it. Really really good snaplock pole things.

2) Don’t buy an actual awning, just buy a big tent. Big square tent if you want, but just a tent. We bought the roofrail and the connecter8s and all that nonsense and only ever connected the van to the awning once. It’s a waste of time. It makes leaving and departing a pain in the arse. It makes it gloomy in the van; it taks four times as long to actually get outside as you have to walk through the awning. And last but not least you lose most of the storage space in the awning as you have to keep the path between van and front door clear of obstructions.
We just pitch the awning about 4m from the van facing it with the tent porch bit facing the van.

Well for all the things technical I’d ask there. more expertise and a larger population of t6 owners.
But hey IT desk jockeys gotta hang with their Audi crew.

Does anyone know why awnings can’t be inflated with exhaust gasses? Sure, they’re not the sort of thing you want your tent full of, but with an appropriate pressure valve (to avoid overfilling), you could get an awning put up in seconds, then just point it away from you (like you would a car exhaust) when you deflate it..

Decathlon

I have one of these and it’s been brilliant

I can’t think why you wouldn’t want your slightly porous and very flammable fabric structure full of super-hot poison gas….

If only cars had the ability to provide electrical power to small compressor.

Yeah a big sock of hot poisonous gas….

A manual pumps only minutes to inflate anyway as it’s high com low pressure

If you’re after a barely used Vango Keela III awning, my brother is selling his.
All the work can be done well and pretty cheaply if you do a lot yourself and your not in a rush.
Rock n Roll bed will be the biggest spend.
I still recommend a caravelle rear seat on the proper VW rails.
Loved it in mine when I had it.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Not sure why that hundredidiot guy has got his knickers in a bunch.

@thegeneralist thats really interesting thanks. Makes perfect sense what you say.

Yes Bed will be the biggest spend and wont get that until the van is insulated, wired for lights, power etc so may knock something together for a temp bed for now (or a good, Ikea one suggested on the T6 forum for now :-)) then do that job next spring once the inside is ready.

@sturdylad my brother has that setup and recommends it. May go for that option long term. He does have a pop top and has 2 young kids. My youngest is 6ft and 12 stone so unless we have a tent/awning he wont be with us 🙂

We had the 4 man tent version of the Kyham Motordome. It does go up really nicely and is like a frame tent as opposed to a domed tent where you can only stand in the highest parts. However the downside is it pretty bulky when packed so you will want to consider storage space for it.

Not sure why that hundredidiot guy has got his knickers in a bunch.

Probably only here for the ebike threads.

WHile you’re doing the electrics, fit a hook up. We’ve got ours under the bonnet.

Get your electrical gubbins from here:

https://www.travelvolts.net/

I bought that cheap (£200) Decathlon inflatable awning linked above. I’ll be sleeping in it next weekend (it’s that or in the back of a windowless uninsulated van). I’ve only put it up in the house so far but it looks great for the money. It doesn’t come with a pump, so factor that in (<£10). Inflating takes a couple of minutes (max) using one of those cheap large capacity stirrup pumps. Seems a good option if you’re keeping costs down.

Our daughter has the Decathlon one and thinks it ideal for weekends away and race events

When we go with her she would rather slum it in the motorhome with us 😉