Awning usefulness
- Thread starter rhyary
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
I have a Hannibal awning on the rear and a Bus Depot awning I sometimes use on the side. The Hannibal is indestructible. It laughs at wind. Easy to deploy with no legs or guy lines. The Bus Depot is awesome for the price but I don't like setting it up. I'll either replace it with another Hannibal or make something similar myself. I really like the shade/shelter and plan to have walls and a connection between both awnings at some point. My goal is to be able to deploy or pack in just a minute or two.
Old pics:
Old pics:
Autohome Columbus XL (length), small (width). I like how fast and simple it is to deploy. My only bitch and it seems all the RTTs have glaring deficiencies in one form or another: The fabric is noisy in >20mph wind.
This looks better in person than it does in this photo, but this is a sweet little combo that CVT has. The ground tent attaches to an extrusion at the end of the awning. The only thing better would be if the ground tent were 99" instead of 79. And if you've not seen that Volvo in person you're missing out.
How has the Fiamma awning held up over the years for you? Would you recommend it?
alia176
SILVER Star
Those who installed Awning and side walls; can you report some practical experience ?
1. Would you buy it again?
> yup and did it three times
. Two 90deg awnings, about to buy my second 270deg awning. I have two rigs!
2. Do you deploy it frequently
>yup, for lunch stops, for rain, sun, etc
3. Is it a hassle to use
> why do you think I'm buying my fourth awning? Learned some things and the market is offering features that appeal to me, which helps.
4. Did it hold under windy, rain, sand conditions?
>Yup, no worrries if staked down properly and common sense is used. Waking up in the morning to everything nice and dry is quite nice.
5. Did you sleep in it as substitution to tent or RTT?
>i have walls but never slept under it.
6. Did it interfere with wheeling, got caught on branches?
>the bag shows signs of scrapes with limbs.
I've also used it to help someone work on their vehicle by providing shade and relief from the rain. Trail repairs can be stressful but when you can provide some protection from the elements, it tends to lower the stress level a tad.
This purchase is totally an extravagant purchase but it does enhance the camping experience to a degree you've never felt. Given that the market is filling up with used awnings, now is the time to get into it w/o a lot of coin.
1. Would you buy it again?
> yup and did it three times
. Two 90deg awnings, about to buy my second 270deg awning. I have two rigs!2. Do you deploy it frequently
>yup, for lunch stops, for rain, sun, etc
3. Is it a hassle to use
> why do you think I'm buying my fourth awning? Learned some things and the market is offering features that appeal to me, which helps.
4. Did it hold under windy, rain, sand conditions?
>Yup, no worrries if staked down properly and common sense is used. Waking up in the morning to everything nice and dry is quite nice.
5. Did you sleep in it as substitution to tent or RTT?
>i have walls but never slept under it.
6. Did it interfere with wheeling, got caught on branches?
>the bag shows signs of scrapes with limbs.
I've also used it to help someone work on their vehicle by providing shade and relief from the rain. Trail repairs can be stressful but when you can provide some protection from the elements, it tends to lower the stress level a tad.
This purchase is totally an extravagant purchase but it does enhance the camping experience to a degree you've never felt. Given that the market is filling up with used awnings, now is the time to get into it w/o a lot of coin.
Last edited:
REKCUT
SILVER Star
I have a foxwing 270 and use it all the time. Have 4 tapered side walls and use it as base camp for any trip with more than just myself. Once you get used to it I can deploy awning in 5 min and a little more to put up. Side walls are not bad either. The one thing that keeps me from using it more is that you have to tie it down or the wind will break the poles off the swing pin. Designed to be a weak link. If had to do it over I would step up get a Darche awing as you can use it without poles. Just hook both ends to a bumper. If you want to use the poles they are attached to the awning for quick deployment. There are numerous times i would deploy it in a parking lot with friends but tying it up is a pain.
The only down side is the darche is almost twice the price.
The only down side is the darche is almost twice the price.
REKCUT
SILVER Star
REKCUT
SILVER Star
It opens over the hatch and past the tire carrier as pictured. Makes for a very large room to get out of the elements.
REKCUT
SILVER Star
REKCUT
SILVER Star
REKCUT
SILVER Star
While I would probably move up to a Darche awning, I will absolutely always have some type of awning on my truck. I may even buy a Darche and use in summer without walls and switch back to the Foxwing for winter camping use as I have to much $$$ invested in the Foxwing to move full boat over. So far the Darche and the foxwing are the only ones that will cover the hatch and tire carrier. 23 zero is nice and advertises you can use it with hatch open but it doesn't completely cover the opening and I sleep in the back mostly.
REKCUT
SILVER Star
This pic shows a Foxwing next to a Darche. Darche goes all the way to front bumper while Foxwing only goes to front door.
The Fiamma F45 has worked out to and above my expectations. The tough aluminum housing has taken substantial beatings from low lying branches apart of some of the goat trails we seem to find ourselves on regularly
. It worked out so well I purchased the 10' 65 variant for our little Escape 15A trailer last year.After having a couple spare tire bags with HD marine type fabric and even larger #10 YKK zippers succumb to weather & UV degradation (not to mention the maintenance of same), I appreciate not having to deal with fabric & zipper UV, dirt/dust degradation apart of the aluminum housing on the Fiammas.
Awesome info Sir! Thank you.The Fiamma F45 has worked out to and above my expectations. The tough aluminum housing has taken substantial beatings from low lying branches apart of some of the goat trails we seem to find ourselves on regularly
After having a couple spare tire bags with HD marine type fabric and even larger #10 YKK zippers succumb to weather & UV degradation (not to mention the maintenance of same), I appreciate not having to deal with fabric & zipper UV, dirt/dust degradation apart of the aluminum housing on the Fiammas.
So am I reading this correctly, the F45 is 8.8’ long?
I’m going to dig through your build thread to see how it looks mounted on the truck. Did not realize you sold the 100 a while back.
I still have and use my UZJ100 aka spressoWAGON! Long story and it involved a woman
...but save to say Julie, my new gal 
, is pro LandCruiser so it ain't going downstream anytime soon!Here's a photo from a weekend trip we did a few weeks ago...
I am fairly certain mine is the 260cm length. Ideally it would be nice to have the 50cm longer extension of the 308cm length but its ~18" longer...
Awesome photo. Thank you for posting that and glad you didn’t get rid of the hundy!
One more, with a different perspective, from another trip last summer. It poured down rain in this camp spot a little later after this photo was taken. And 4 of us gathered under the deployed Fiamma and kept dry. Enough. 
