Awning build up

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photogod

photogod

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Time for another build up since the board seems a bit slow.

I was deperessed all day yestrday because of not being able to make it to Moab this year and f#@king rain all day. I decided to go ahead and start another project and tonight I started what will be a pretty sweet awning set up. This thing will be free from poles and tiedowns, nothing to trip over in the dark after a few cans of suds and a cigar. :o

The first photo is the start of the swing point. This round stock will have a bolt through and will allow the supports to swing out to the rear and the awning will be rear faceing. This round stock will be mounted on the rear sides of my roof rack. The supports will swing to the front and be secured to the sides of the rack while in transit. I am going to make two extensions, one will join the ends of the supports to keep the spread open and the other will be mid way on the spread to support the awning material and keep it from sagging. The roof rack is 4'2" wide at the rear and the supports will be 10' apart at the ends when secured so the awning will be a bit of a triangle shape.

As you can see in the second photo, I screwed up on the measurements for one of the spacers but, what the heck, it's home made. I didn't notice untill I took the photoso I will go back later and cut it out and redo it.

Comments welcome as always:cheers: Stay tuned for more.
 
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nice. will you be fabbing the awning material too, or using something ready-made?
 
photogod said:
I think I might use a heavy rip stop nylon and velcro to fasten the material to the supports. Now I need to learn to sew!
Click to expand...

Is velcro going to hold up in a stiff wind? The arms look burly as hell, but I would guess 20+ ft of material caught in a gust might bust the velco loose. In any case, it's looking like a nice build, anxious to see the next stage.
 
I have photographed many of those outdoor sun rooms that have light canvas tops with velcro tabs to hold them in place and I have seen the tops rip before the velcro lets loose. I really don't plan to use it in heavy winds but it might sneak up on me. One never knows till it happens, I guess.
 
Hey your doing the same design i had again, man your always one step ahead of me. if only I had my welder. Ive been sketching out designs very similar to the one your showing however a few ideas which you may or maynot like.

Make the arms at such an angle that when one is flipped upside down they would form a perfect rectangle. this would allow you to close the awning and have a flat clean look.

Another cool factor to this is when the material is places tightly on this frame it will create an angle in the middle that will allow rain to run off to one corner.

other ideas would be to use the ideas above and incorperate them into a full length roof rack. basically the rectangles would make up the sides of the roof rack and the front and back bar would give tremendous support to the opened awning.

As for the velcro my design was to purchase the metal or aluminum versions of the clips typically found on back packs. weld them to the arms themselfs. then buy military grade water proof tarp and sew the other side of the clips to that about every foot or so. this would create the strongest hold and allow for really easy take down and set up.

Awww well hopfully ill get around to one this summer if my trailer doesnt take up to much time
 
All good ideas.

I will have the center support rod to keep the rain diverted off to the sides.

I already have the rack made amd on the truck. I am making these supports removeable when not in use to keep drag and noise down a bit.

The clip idea is good but I'm to lazy to do the extra work and the velcro will just wrap on and secure. The KISS principal.

Thanks for the input.:cheers:
 
here's a photo taken of an awning on Mt Pinatubo, Philippines in 2005. I don't have any other info about it other than I took it for fabrication ideas. Hope it could help somebody here looking at the thread.
awning 80 pinatubo.webp
 
Originally posted by archie
here's a photo taken of an awning on Mt Pinatubo, Philippines in 2005.
Click to expand...

Who manufactured that awning in the Philippines? Is that awning available in Banawe?
 
It was the only one I saw in the 4 years I have spent my winters there. It looks like a custom one. I always wanted to have something like that so I could sit in the shade and out off the tropical sun when waiting for people. Fashionably late :). Great for impromtu beer sessions on the street too!
 
Home Made Awning

it's not on my 60, but a Sammi. It's styled after the ARB and attached to the roof rack. Very simple construction with alum. tubing and brackets. The tarp is held on by nylon cord and I plan on changing it over to velcro someday, but it stood up to Moab wind in a canyon so I can't complain.

Good luck!
 
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archie said:
That looks pretty nice! It looks like the arms swing out, is that correct? Do you have any issues with the awning twisting/bending the roof rack in high winds?
Click to expand...

Not yet. It's a fairly short rack compared to one on a 60 so it's very strong. The wind in Moab got really strong before the sun went down and I simply tied off the awning off to the bumpers and it didn't have any problems....as a matter of fact, shortly after this pic the chairs and stove got blown over by a wind gust (terrible beer spillage) but nothing happened to the awning....It got cold and almost rained that night so it was good insurance for the following morning.
 
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Where are the pics? I don't see them.....
 
I posted these in another post but I am to lazy to look for them and the photos might be lost any hoo...

Finished product, thing works like a charm, not intended to set up in heavy wind, sheds rain like a duck, made of regular canvas awning material and velcro, two pieces sewn down the middle, sets up in about a minute... I love it, one of my better projects.

Since I have been using it I have found that the slop in the middle can be removed by expanding the end bars as needed
_DSC0185.webp
_DSC0186.webp
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