Because of the incredible rise in travel costs and the ongoing world meltdown, we decided to forego our usual multi-trip plans for this year and take a four month pitch at our local Naturist Camp instead. This would give us a permanent residency at the site, and even though it’s only a stones throw from where we live, it would provide a permanent vacation location for us.
To live comfortably in a small van on a permanent pitch would require us to buy some sort of awning or tent. As the roll out Markise is only good for nice weather and no wind as we have found out before! And looking into the possibilities was an absolute minefield.
After a month of research we finally decided on a drive away tent like awning that would supposedly fit our van. Cutting a long story short we returned two of these awning tents back after finding out from the supplier, who had recommended them to us in the first place, that they would not work with our particular van. So after already taking residency for a couple of weeks and realising that the roll out Markise was just not going to work long term, I decided that there was only one option and that was to buy an awning specifically made for our van.
Westfield Mars Awning for Fiat Ducato L4H2 Van
The Westfield brand has been around for years with a quality product line that we can vouch for. We are still using the chairs we bought over 15 years ago! The Mars awning has been specifically developed for the Ducato van and the somewhat troublesome, for an awning anyway, large sliding door.
The awning itself is 3.3m long and fits perfectly into a 4m roof mounted Markise rail so that the front side wall runs down the vans door pillar and the rear side wall clears the sliding door when opened.
The awning is 2.5m deep and a clear inside height of between 2.4m and 2.55m depending on your wheel size and Markise position, or if you are up on ramps on the sliding door side. It incorporates an Air Tube system which is both very easy to inflate and surprisingly stable when pitched properly.
The awning is slid into the slightly opened Markise which is the only action that may require two people and then the Markise is retracted back into the closed position. Next is to inflate the single point on the middle tube so that the awning is self standing. If you intend to use it only as a sun shade and open canopy then it can be pegged out in mediately. But if you want to use it as an enclosed awning, first you must simply zip in the side walls and front panels before pegging the awning down so that the correct tension for opening and closing the panels is achieved.
The first attempt maybe took an hour when being very methodical but further attempts had it fully installed in less than 30 minutes done alone. Only requiring a second person to help to slide the awning on to the Markise rail.
It is made from high quality rip-stop material, comes with a 2 year guarantee and is packed into two transport bags:
1) 100×24×24cm weighing 10kg
2) 95×42×35cm weighing 11 kg
So combined a relatively small packed size and weight for such a large item.
The removable side walls are each equipped with a door and window with mosquito net and privacy blinds. Both front walls can also be used for access and have privacy blinds. And of course one or all panels can be completely removed giving you the versatility to adapt to the changing weather or using it as a totally open space. And when all walls are in place, there is sufficient ventilation provided in the top corners of the awning, as well as from under the van, and also where the awning runs down the side of the van which obviously cannot be completely weather tight anyway.
Verdict
We have had the awning set-up and in use for over 6 weeks now and in that time we have also experienced the full range of weather here in southern Austria. Everything from minus temperatures, ice and frost, high winds, storms, and most recently 35 degrees and blazing sun. And in all of this it has performed flawlessly.
The only one slight problem we have had is that one zip stitching has torn a few cm’s and will have to be repaired. Other than that we cannot fault the design and quality of the Westfield Mars Awning. It has been perfect for our personal requirements and more than spacious enough for our lifestyle.
I don’t think that we would use it for a short trip of only a few days as the Markise would be sufficient, or for a very long tour of multi locations as we would put more value on having the extra space in the vans storage. But for a trip of a week or more staying in one place or for what we are doing this summer and taking a residency at a local campsite, it is absolutely perfect.
The rrp of €1200 is quite a substantial outlay but most suppliers have it for sale for between 850-900€ and for this price its a sound investment and something we are very happy we decided to commit to.
A highly recommended awning if you have a Fiat Ducato type camper van and most definitely 5 stars from us. Something we very rarely give!
Happy camping from Ryan & Leela
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