Just tried out new 2019 Vango Bondi Low motorhome awning and it fits a treat! It is not a drive away so no extra flaps etc. Removable ground sheet
Lightweight and quick to put up with one person. Side doors make the front area lovely and clear to sit in.

7kg bag weight but less if you remove throw over van straps and groundsheet. Neat bag but easy enough to pack away. We have just had it up over night with high winds and rain and it stood up well. Large windows with blinds, fly screen and zip out front.

Really impressed so far. Purchased for £179 from Leisure outlet with an extra saving.

To the forum

Tom & Margaret

Yep, we have been looking at the Vango Bondi as an awning for our 320GT - does it come with a Draft Skirt?

Dave

Another useful snippet - thanks Colin

I bought a Vango Bondi low recently for our Triton as a light weight substitute for our venerable big awning; it is fairly quick to put up, and very suitable for shorter stays. the quality is good, but the material is quite lighweight, however it has good internal cross straps to resist strong winds, which worked well during a 4 night visit to the delightful Carpenter's Farm site near Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. I would say that on a van shorter than the Triton, the curving at the ends could cause difficulties in forming a close fit between the sides and the material. The diagrams in the instruction booklet are not very helpful and seem to be generic; they don't mention the 2 ground level straps holding the bottoms of the sides from spreading, nor the tightening straps at the junction with the van sides, which nicely take up the slack vertically, but do produce a sort of pouch reminiscent of a paunch. The supplied ground sheet is very lightweight; and while it can be clipped into the corners, does not cover the full area of the awning so I will use a proper ground sheet next time.

Having said all that, I would still firmly endorse the Bondi; it is a spin off from the camper van accessories, but just suits the longer Eribas

NickR

Hello Nck,

we also purchased a Vango Bondi Low recently - to fit our 320GT Familia. It fits very well and is very quick to erect.

As you say there are many bitsnbobs (buckles, loops and straps) attached to the awning, none of which are explained in the brochures.

However, the first time we used it the weather was VERY windy where we were in Scotland and as you mention the sides of the awning do not fit well against the "hipped" shape of the van sides.

So after much thought and web searching we settled on a pair of inflatable tubes marketed by Soplair. Each piece comprises two long inflatable tubes separated by a narrow "flat bit" - this accepts the edge of the awning and creates a simpe effective seal - not perfect but adequate. The surplus bit of the inflatable tube bends in beneath the van. Anyway - we are trying it out this week so may be able to include a photo next time

Dave and Taka

Correction to the above - the inflatable tubes are from Sunncamp (not Soplair) and we have found them to be very successful.

Pics available on another thread, but copied here for convenience

DSC_2131 (1320 x 1980).jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)DSC_2133 (1980 x 1320).jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Dave

We just stayed at the Fen Meadows site at Peterborough for 4 nights, and it rained most of them. I was woken by particularly loud drumming on the roof, and looking out into the Bondi awning, saw a huge pool of water bulging the roof down. I shifted that by pushing upwards, and it ran away with a waterfall sound.No water came through the fabric, and during lesser precipitation, the rain seemed to manage to mostly get away. We also experienced a great deal of condensation, which was to be expected from a single sheet of material, but every time I went in the awning, I got a hair wash, as at 6 ft. tall, my head brushes the underside.
Has anybody else figured out a way of tensioning the roof fabric other than sewing a loop to the apex of the curved part and using another guy rope. Otherwise, the awning was nicely tensioned at the sides, and snug fitting to the Eriba Triton 420.

NickR

Nick,

we purchased a couple of generic expandable poles, a couple of large diameter rubber suckers and a plastic "T" piece.

The poles were originally fitted with metal points but I removed these and kept them for another use (see below).

One of the poles has a sucker at the van end and is used to tension the roof away from the van, the other has a plastic "T" fitting on the top end and the other rubber sucker on the bottom - this pole is used to give some vertical tension to the first pole.

We have dry-fitted and it works OK, but not had the opportunity to try in heavy rain.

When sunny it is possible to open the front of the awning using zips at each side and then support the door horizontally with the poles (with original supplied guy ropes and pointy bits re-fitted) to give a rather nice sun-shade.

All for about £18.

HTH

Dave

I've used this awning once on my Triton 430. It was quick and easy to erect and looked smart.

In heavy rain the water poured down the sides of the van at one end above the door from the awning rail connection and also quickly started pooling. Also where the rain was coming through the kador strip it started to track down the inside of the roof material, dripping on to the groundsheet about a metre away from the caravan wall. This was fixed temporarily by putting in a piece of wood between the side marker and the kador strip forcing a reverse angle to stop it running down.

Like others, I found the headroom quite low with the head on my 6.0ft body brushing the roof even close to the van.

I am thinking about adding a high level awning rail about 100mm above the existing to improve the height and the fit. It would also negate the effect of the water running down the side of the van from the kador strip as the original awning rail gutter would presumably collect it.

Ray,

we have not had any water coming in from the Kador/awning rail. I wonder if the awning rail fitted to older vans is of a slightly different design to that on the Triton 430?

We are hoping the addition of the two poles (above) will solve the pooling, but yet to test.

Dave

Hi Dave,

you haven't tested out your two pole anti-pooling fix yet and I hope you have success.

Where did you set your vertical pole to support the horizontal one? I'm guessing at the van wall?