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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

We are deep in winter here in Austria. The van cover is on and everything is under a meter of snow patiently waiting for the weather to break so we can get back on the road. We are both using this travel downtime wisely. Leela is busy painting and organising new exhibitions all around her busy work life and I am trying to create her a website that is worthy of advertising her creative abilities as well as using this time to make some upgrades to the van ready for our re-start.

Headlights

The Fiat van is amazing. The driving experience is better than your average car and the engine is so smooth. But if you only have the base model it is supplied with standard headlights and not LED. And whilst driving in the dark these are actually really poor and give terrible lighting on dark roads or in bad weather.

I had looked at replacing the bulbs for LED but after a lot of research found that it is actually illegal to put LED bulbs in a headlight of a vehicle that was not originally designed to take them. So now I have changed the dip and main beam to upgraded Halogen bulbs from Osram that claim to be the next best thing. And on testing them there is definitely a huge difference between them and the standard fitted bulbs. I can now see where I am driving.

Campervan Security

Last on our upgrade list was the very big and important question of camper van security. Last year we spent most of our time staying either at campsites or choosing park-up’s that were as safe as possible. We took far too many chances leaving our valuables around and even though we don’t have expensive laptops and camera equipment, our wallets, passports and phones are all interesting to the average thief or opportunist unsavoury passerby.

Security Safe

We have been searching for a small safe but nothing would fit or go exactly where we wanted and have finally found the right one. We both detest violence and especially guns but the only safe that would accommodate our needs was indeed a handgun safe from Rottner. We found a model that would fit where we wanted and it has the advantage of being pretty secure.

Thitronik Campervan Alarm

And last on the security and something that I have been pondering and researching for over a year now is a habitat alarm system. All new vans come with a pretty good door deadbolt and vehicle security alarm as standard but of course once you cut huge holes in the side and roof and fit plastic windows the security drops somewhat dramatically for attempted break-ins. Thus the requirement for much better living area security.

There is so much crap out there it’s unreal and trying to make sense of it all is a minefield. Austria, unlike Wales, does not have a Thatcham system for vehicle alarm quality and the insurance companies offer no discount for fitting such a device which is also quite disappointing. So installation is up to you as well as the choice of a quality product.

After trying a few cheap options that I really would not recommend we looked at complete alarm systems designed specifically for camper vans of which there is only really a choice of two in Austria.

Pandora alarms are just ridiculously expensive and offer no different options to Thitronik. Both are overly complicated with App options that are unnecessary and asking for trouble. As well as being stupidly overpriced.

But we finally settled on the Thitronik system just because of price as both functioned the same. And after getting a price from our local handler, I decided to do it myself and save over €1700 in installation costs alone.

Installation was slow, precise and very stressful. I fitted the components that were necessary for us and now the habitat area of the van is protected and wired/operated with the Fiat standard key system.

A word about self installation. Yes you save between €1200 – €1700 on labour costs which is incredibly substantial but you really must be very competent and patient. The mistakes can be somewhat expensive also.

We are hopefully done with modifications and upgrades so we can now concentrate on travel. Once the winter calms down a little that is and as always your comments and questions are really appreciated. Maybe you have found better security solutions, and if so we would love to hear from you.

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Thitronik update:

Having now used the alarm for over a year throughout Europe I can confirm that it functions very well and has saved us at least one definite break-in if not several. The incident in question happened when travelling in Wales (unfortunately) and although the thieving toerag managed to physically break the side window, the alarm was enough to send him running.

The attempt did cost €75 in repair costs but a whole lot less than the damage he could have caused if he had managed to get inside of the Camper.

So we can recommend the Thitronik system although don’t bother with the Bluetooth and Tracker as their functions do not justify the extra cost. The bluetooth is never used and a cheaper and more functional tracker is available. The Gas Alarm is also a little temperamental seemingly being set-off in random situations. But we do use it as it could be a life saver and just put up with the occasional false alarm.