Sun/rain awning

I personally cannot stand heat!!! I am one of those people that when the sun beams down, I perspire just sitting in my seat and not moving. So for some time now I wanted to get one of those sun/rain awnings that attatches to the side of the roof rack and you can pull out with a minimum of fuss. Friday I got one, yesterday I mounted the brackets and today I mounted it and took it for a test run.

This is the apperance of the awning in the folded, packed away postion and how it looks on the car.



This following is what it looks like in the open position.



You can see that it has a good amount of shade underneath, with a width of 2.5m and rolling out 2.1m in length, and the seller also said it was waterproof. I opted for the spring loaded version rather than the manual rollup version. All up it cost $180. Delivery is $25 more, but I picked it up from Oakleigh South, Melbourne and saved that.

I am not affiliated with the company or the seller, it's just that I thought it was good value for money, hence my post here for interested members that may be considering one of these.

Forgot to mention, legs are telescopic and fold up into dedicated spots in the awning. Two ropes and 2 pegs are included, but you only need to connect these on windy days. Total time for setup was 4.20min and the same for foldup. I would imagine it would be quicker next time as that was my first time and I was going along fairly slowly and learning as I was going. With a 2nd person there, I would say the time would be under a minute for either setup or foldup.

That looks and very reasonably priced to. instant shade good one Costa. no more getting cooked by the that's a winner in my book. thanks for sharing.

Cheers.

Mike.

Thanks Mike, I recon you may be having a bit too much fun with the new emoticons though...

G`day Con ,

Mate - what a fantastic addition to the bush bus ... ,
Question for ya ? - when you say it is spring loaded i would assume that is for the retraction stage to make it easier when packing up . I certainly hope it is as this is the type i would be looking at .
Also is the cover of a canvas type rip stop ?

Looks great though bro ...

Cheers

Hi Gullyhunter,
When I pull it out, it comes out all the way and stays there on it's own. Of course I have to put the poles in to hold it up and there are other poles to give it an even tight top. The spring doesn't hold it out, so there's no worries about it needing to be tight or tense. When I want to put it back in the cover, I simply tug on the awning and then I need to follow it back in to it's cover quickly. It's really quite good. The add does say it's ripstop canvas, but it's not the heavy canvas as on my camper, it almost looks like pvc but with the webbing through it. I have attached an expired add from the same seller. Although they generally go for more, I called the guy direct and got the "buy it now" price of $180. The one in the add sold after I had bought mine, $7 cheaper, but this is the cheapest he has sold one and really for the $7 I'm not too concerned. If I had bid, it probably would've gone over the $180 anyway.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/330879194090?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Almost a no brainer for those extremely fortunate members undertaking a WA trip this year.

Hey Costa thats a neat piece of shade to carry around, and put up when ever you want. Excellent bit of kit.

cheers dave

Son in Law has just fitted this one to his 4WD http://www.tigerz11.com.au/product-category/awnings/side-awning-2m-x-2-5m.html and is quite happy with it, a different size (2 X 2.5M) and $20 more expensive but the link gives a good idea of how they work.
http://www.tigerz11.com.au/product-category/awnings/side-awning-2m-x-2-5m.html

Can't fault the tigez11 stuff bicter. Recently bought their 160l/m monster air compressor. They had a special on at the time, normally $270ish with a deflator, down to about $150. Good quality and strong. I'd say their awnings are the same and now that they've knocked $100 to bring it to $199, that's really good. I wanted a springloaded one though and they don't seem to have that. I'm sure your son-in-law will be very happy with his purchase though.

Thanks for posting the link as I was dong it trial and error way, although it's really not rocket science, still good to see the pros do it.

PS The kit comes with 2 L-shaped mounts. I bought an extra one off him for $5 and a couple of bolts from the hardware store. He said it wasn't necessary, but I like to do things with just that little bit extra, just in case...

Gday Costasdee,

Those shade awnings are worth there weight in gold i reckon, every second car up here in hedland has one.

Little tip for ya mate- make sure you weigh/tie the legs down-no matter what. Ive seen a couple (my own included) wrecked/damaged by wind bursts. I was out detecting one day when a violent summer storm ripped through the area, only lasted 5 mins, but i was a couple of km's from the car-when i got back the awning was on the roof and one of the side poles had ripped clean through the aluminium bracket. Its still usable but i wasnt real impressed I always tie/weigh it down now!

Thanks for the tip pilbarachad I was hoping I didn't need to but now I'll definately be doing the tie downs when I wonder off. Weighs about 14 odd kilos, I'd love that in gold!

got to 2nd Chad, came back to my ute once and the awning was wrapped up over my roof with bent poles. Always tie the legs down no matter how light the wind as it only takes one gust.
Brilliant bit of gear non the less.

Same goes for caravan awnings.
ALWAYS tie them down
Also, always have one leg upright and the other (usually entry door end)at the angle.
Food for thought
spinna

Not sure why you would have one leg on an angle spinna, is that so one side is a little lower incase it rains so the water can run off?

Hi Costas
This method supports the awning with the greatest strength. Does not effect the pitch of the awning.
Cheers spinna

Hi Mate, I have one also and just added the fully enclose fly screen. Great for $98 delivered

Now them bloody WA flys have to piss someone else off.

Cheers

I can just see you sitting inside under your awning..
And all those flies that will be buzzing around in there with you 

Haha. I have 10 cans spray inside so that will stuff em up.

As already mentioned probably 25% of WA 4WD's wagons have these onboard. We haven't got one on our ute, the canopy gives enough shade at cuppa time.
After skinned knuckles trying to hammer feeble tent pegs into the rocky ground to hold the van awning down a mate suggested what he uses, "star pickets."
Cut them with a tapered point about 400m long, drill a hole in the top and connect a awning spring and fix your rope to these.
Another handy way of controlling the "willy willys" is to secure one of your water containers (full of course) to each pole to hold it down.