Awnings - All you need to know

Posted by Katie Martin on 8th Jun 2023

Awnings - All you need to know

Awnings - All you need to know

Are you new to Vanlife or looking all over the internet for an awning to expand your Vanlife experience? We know how daunting it can be when there are so many different Awnings available so we’ve put together an all-you-need-to-know guide about OLPRO’s wide range of awnings…

How do you know what awning to pick for your vehicle?

As a general consensus, we have awnings that can fit a range of vehicles, whether that be a campervan, motorhome or caravan.

Van Awnings

If you’re specifically looking for an awning for a van, have a category on our website which shows you which awnings we have available per van, you can view this by looking at our main categories page on the top of the website.

If you need further details about whether one of our awnings will fit your van/motorhome, you can view our guide to Driveaway Awnings here.

As a quick guide, all awnings we sell in our standard range will fit a vehicle of the height range 190cm-250cm. You can view all our standard awnings here.

If your vehicle is taller than this and is within the range of 250cm-290cm, you would need an awning from our XL range, you can view these here.

If your vehicle is slightly lower than 190cm (180cm or higher) we’d recommend our Cubo Breeze Campervan Awning, but beware that the tunnel will slant downward and have the potential to be baggy due to not reaching to its height range.

Caravan Awnings

We do sell awnings for caravans and these will fit all standard caravans, you can view our awnings available here.

How to attach an awning to my vehicle?

Whether you’ve picked the perfect awning for you or not, here’s how you can attach an awning to your vehicle.

Awning rail

We’d recommend having an awning rail attachment to your vehicle. This will ultimately make the attachment process really easy and will enable you to driveaway from your awning with ease.

If you choose to have an awning rail on your vehicle, you will then need to purchase a driveaway kit. Driveaway kits are really useful as they make attaching and detaching your tunnel really easy.

We sell two different types of driveaway kits below so make sure you pick the right length for your awning rail. All of our awning tunnels are 6mm in length so you will need to either pick the 4mm – 6mm for your vehicle or the 6mm - 6mm driveaway kit.

You can watch our How to use a Driveaway Kit for Campervan awnings here.

Haven’t got an awning rail?

If you haven’t got an awning rail or are not planning on getting one, don’t worry, we’ve got alternative options just for you.

Firstly, all our awnings come with throw-over straps so you can instead use these to ‘attach’ your tunnel to your vehicle. You essentially attach these straps to the clips on the tunnel, make them as long as you can, put them over the top/sides of your vehicle and then peg down and make them taught.

We do also sell a Magnetic Driveaway Kit that is great for attaching to the top of your vehicle. However, be aware that if you are pitching in windy conditions, we do recommend that you use your throw-over straps as well, as windy conditions can sometimes not keep your Magnetic Driveaway Kit in place.

Choosing the perfect awning for you…

Picking an awning for you can be an incredibly big decision and there are a lot of factors to consider when picking the right one for your wants and needs.

If you want a quick and easy way of picking you’re awning, we have a product finder quiz that will help you narrow down the perfect product for you through set questions, you can take the quiz here.

If you want some advice on the best awnings we sell, keep reading…

Campervan Awnings – The Cocoon Breeze

OLPRO’s most popular Campervan Awning is the Cocoon Breeze Campervan Awning. It comes in 4 different colourways, giving you the option to match your awning to your vehicle!

The Cocoon Breeze Awning is a large-sized awning that offers plenty of living and sleeping space. It includes a 5-berth inner bedroom tent that is removable as well as having a removable divider inside to make it one large bedroom.

The Cocoon Breeze Campervan Awning is incredibly easy to pitch due to OLPRO’s air-beam technology, setting a pitching time of just 15 minutes! Features also include bright guy lines to avoid tripping in the dark, a cable entry point for those who want electricity inside their awning, as well as made from OLPRO’s standard 5,000mm Hydrostatic head fabric and 150D Oxford Polyester.

You can shop the Cocoon Breeze Campervan Awning here.

What makes the Cocoon such a firm favourite, is its versatility to add extra accessories to make it a real home from home. With the option to add a carpet, footprint, extension, and universal door. You can shop the Cocoon Breeze Campervan Awning Accessories here.

If you’re looking to purchase more than just the Cocoon Breeze Awning, we offer Awning packages that get you everything you want from your set-up whilst saving you some extra money! You can shop our Cocoon Breeze Awning packages here.

If you’re more of a poled awning person, you can shop the Poled Cocoon Breeze here.

Campervan Awnings – The Hive Breeze

Looking for an awning that offers sleeping but doesn’t compromise on living space? OLPRO’s Hive Breeze Campervan Awning has taken the camping world by storm with its unique six-sided, five-square windows giving you a 360-degree view of the campsite as well as roof skylights that let light into your awning during the day and stars at night…

What’s so great about the OLPRO Hive Breeze Campervan Awning, is that the bedroom is an attached sleeping pod, this doesn’t take up additional living space meaning you have a lot of room to feel like you’re at home.

The Hive Breeze features two access doors on either side of the tunnel that connects to your campervan, so there’s no need to walk through the awning to have access to your van. Perfect for those who like to keep their muddy shoes out of the van!

As with our Cocoon Breeze, the Hive Breeze uses OLPRO’s air-beam technology. The Hive Breeze is easy to pitch with just one inflation point for the main living area and a separate inflation point for the attached bedroom. You can have the Hive pitched up within 20 minutes making it a breeze!

You can shop the Hive Breeze Campervan Awning here.

To make the Hive Breeze feel even more like home, you can order its very own footprint groundsheet and carpet in a package here.

If you prefer poles to air beams, you can shop the Hive Poled Campervan Awning here.

Campervan Awnings – The Cubo Breeze

If you’re looking for space, the Cubo Breeze Campervan Awning is perfect for you. With a 310cm x 310cm size, it’s perfect for those looking for space for storing your camping accessories or wanting somewhere to dine under protection when the weather’s not so great.

With a pitching time of just 10 minutes, the Cubo Breeze Campervan Awning is one of our fastest-pitching awnings that can be assembled by just one person. With OLPRO’s air-beam technology, pitching has never been easier and will ensure a quick pitch so you can enjoy your trip as soon as possible.

You can shop your Cubo Breeze Campervan Awning here.

You can also shop from our range of Cubo Breeze Campervan Packages which include the awning, groundsheet and carpet here.

If you love the sound of the Cubo Breeze, but prefer poles, you can shop the poled version here.