Kayaker
SILVER Star
My 1972 FJ40 and I participated in this year’s Carolina Relic Run and as a result of having purchased a whopping 20 raffle tickets we won an Iguana roof top awing. I had my eye on one of those Toyota auxiliary gas cans that was up for grabs but instead scored the awning. I had no idea what I won and had worked a deal to trade it (still in the box) for the gas can. After some serious deliberation and consultation with other Crusierheads I left the Relic Run with the awning.
When I got home, I did a search here in the forums to see if there was any information on roof top awnings. I found a few references but not much that was helpful. Consequently I decided to share my experience in a new thread.
The model I won is 7 feet long, about 5” high x 5” wide and weighs about 20 pounds when stored in its weather-tight, zippered case. Deployed it measures 7’ X 7’. It comes with all of the hardware (stainless steel) needed to mount the awning on your existing rack or crossbars. I mounted mine on my aluminum roof rack; a job that required drilling four holes and took about 15 minutes from start to finish.
Once the awning is mounted, deployment is a breeze. These guys obviously use their own stuff because it is well thought out, well designed and well made. Once you unzip the cover, you flip the rolled awning up and out of the way, swing out the two horizontal poles, unroll the awning and slide the poll pins into the aluminum bar attached to the outer end of the awning and extend them out until the awning is tight. The end bar contains two more legs which drop to the vertical position, extend and twist to lock in place. There are two guy lines attached to the end bar and equipped with quick-lock length adjustment fittings. These attach to the two stakes that are provided for anchoring the deployed awning. There are Velcro strips sewn onto either side of the awning which wrap around the horizontal poles to keep the material tight. That’s it. It took me about 10 minutes from start to finish and that was without assistance and without having ever done it before. With two people who know what they’re doing it probably wouldn’t take half that time.
The quality of the materials is outstanding and I have no doubt that this awning will last a long time. For my FJ40, it’s the perfect length. At 7 feet long, it’s exactly the length of the roof. It’s the perfect size for me because I’ll use it at events were I need to stand behind a 6 foot long table and be out of the sun and rain. Mounted on top of my stock suspension FJ40 there’s about seven feet of head room at the high end and only a few inches left at the low end so there’s no need to duck under the awning for most folks.
Take down and stowing this baby took about 4 minutes and everything folds back into its place with no fuss or forcing. Sweet. If you’ve ever set up and taken down one of those free-standing beach awnings you’ll really appreciate this roof top awning and the fact that you didn’t utter a single profanity at any point in the process; try that with your free standing awning.
Ok, here are the obligatory photos that prove it really exists. By the way, the Iguana awning is a great product, but you may want to steer clear of the Iguana winch cover. It has some major design flaws and tends to blow off the winch at about 60 MPH.
When I got home, I did a search here in the forums to see if there was any information on roof top awnings. I found a few references but not much that was helpful. Consequently I decided to share my experience in a new thread.
The model I won is 7 feet long, about 5” high x 5” wide and weighs about 20 pounds when stored in its weather-tight, zippered case. Deployed it measures 7’ X 7’. It comes with all of the hardware (stainless steel) needed to mount the awning on your existing rack or crossbars. I mounted mine on my aluminum roof rack; a job that required drilling four holes and took about 15 minutes from start to finish.
Once the awning is mounted, deployment is a breeze. These guys obviously use their own stuff because it is well thought out, well designed and well made. Once you unzip the cover, you flip the rolled awning up and out of the way, swing out the two horizontal poles, unroll the awning and slide the poll pins into the aluminum bar attached to the outer end of the awning and extend them out until the awning is tight. The end bar contains two more legs which drop to the vertical position, extend and twist to lock in place. There are two guy lines attached to the end bar and equipped with quick-lock length adjustment fittings. These attach to the two stakes that are provided for anchoring the deployed awning. There are Velcro strips sewn onto either side of the awning which wrap around the horizontal poles to keep the material tight. That’s it. It took me about 10 minutes from start to finish and that was without assistance and without having ever done it before. With two people who know what they’re doing it probably wouldn’t take half that time.
The quality of the materials is outstanding and I have no doubt that this awning will last a long time. For my FJ40, it’s the perfect length. At 7 feet long, it’s exactly the length of the roof. It’s the perfect size for me because I’ll use it at events were I need to stand behind a 6 foot long table and be out of the sun and rain. Mounted on top of my stock suspension FJ40 there’s about seven feet of head room at the high end and only a few inches left at the low end so there’s no need to duck under the awning for most folks.
Take down and stowing this baby took about 4 minutes and everything folds back into its place with no fuss or forcing. Sweet. If you’ve ever set up and taken down one of those free-standing beach awnings you’ll really appreciate this roof top awning and the fact that you didn’t utter a single profanity at any point in the process; try that with your free standing awning.
Ok, here are the obligatory photos that prove it really exists. By the way, the Iguana awning is a great product, but you may want to steer clear of the Iguana winch cover. It has some major design flaws and tends to blow off the winch at about 60 MPH.
