We were somewhere in Outback Queensland when a morning of unusually high winds decided to catch our awning and completely demolish it. In order to continue with our travels, we had to fight with the awning, close it back up and strap it down for the rest of our Outback trip. It was not the most ideal part of Australia to be camping without shade, let me tell you!
A quick chat with a caravan repair mob in Townsville had us feeling confident that a replacement would be available for us once we got back to the coast. All we had to do was measure our existing awning and let them know which size we needed.
It sounded like an easy enough task, but up until that moment, I had no idea how to measure a caravan awning correctly.
Where exactly do you take the measurements from…
- the ends of the canvas?
- the outside of the awning arms?
- the inside of the awning arms?
- the length of the caravan?
- … or an entirely different point?
There is a very specific measurement that is required when measuring the caravan awning and it’s probably not the one you think!
Getting the wrong figure will result in a completely different awning to the one you actually need.
Read on to make sure that if you ever find yourself in a position of needing to order a new awning for your caravan, you can feel confident that you’ve got the right measurement!
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How to Measure a Caravan Awning
What you’ll need for measuring a caravan awning:
- Measuring Tape
| The correct way to measure a caravan awning is to measure from the middle of the front awning arm, to the middle of the rear awning arm. |
How to Measure a Caravan Awning:
- Mark the exact middle of the front awning arm
- Mark the exact middle of the rear awning arm
- Measure the distance between those two marked points – from the middle of the front awning arm to the middle of the rear awning arm
- Convert your measurement from millimetres to feet (as close as possible)
DON’T Measure:
❌ Length of awning barrel
❌ Length of vinyl
❌ Length of caravan
❌ From the inside or outside of the awning arms
Caravan awning sizes are generally spoken of in “foot”, so you will need to round your measurement to the nearest number of feet. Below is a handy conversion table to work out what your millimetre measurement will be in feet.
mm to Feet Conversion Table:
| Measurement in mm | Measurement in Feet |
|---|---|
| 2,133 | 7′ |
| 2,438 | 8′ |
| 2,743 | 9′ |
| 3,048 | 10′ |
| 3,352 | 11′ |
| 3,657 | 12′ |
| 3,962 | 13′ |
| 4,267 | 14′ |
| 4,572 | 15′ |
| 4,876 | 16′ |
| 5,181 | 17′ |
| 5,486 | 18′ |
| 5,791 | 19′ |
| 6,096 | 20′ |
| 6,400 | 21′ |
Ordering a New Caravan Awning
When ordering a new caravan awning, you may be given a number of colour combinations to choose from.
General Awning Colour Options:
- WHITE / BLUE fade out
- WHITE / GREY fade out
- WHITE / MAROON fade out
- WHITE / GREY / BLACK fade out
- WHITE / GREY / BLACK stripe
You will also need to know the brand of existing awning on your caravan, so that it can be replaced with an exact match. You should be able to find the brand name printed somewhere on the awning hardware (end caps, metal arms etc.).
Common Caravan Awning Brands:
- Carefree
- Dometic
- Aussie Traveller
- Fiamma
Browse caravan awnings online at Caravan RV Camping.
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Next, find out how to correctly measure caravan lengths in five other important ways.
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