The Bush Company 270 Max awning

[concretejungle]

I posted this over on Expo portal but thought I would add it here as well.

After at least a year of trying to decide on replacing my trusty ARB 2500 awning (it just works really well, add the screen room and it's hard to beat) or trying something new. After my last camping trip where it rained the entire weekend and I was cooking off my tailgate exposed to the rain, I decided to try one of the wrap around awnings.

After a lot of reading and research I felt like the bush company 270 was the easiest to set up, easiest to take down, provides excellent cover and doesn't need legs. So with that decision made, one showed up at the house.

I'm running three rino rack HD load bars. This was fine for the ARB but the Bush Company awning places an amazing amount of stress on those bars. All the weight of the awning is pressing on the bars. So I had to fabricate some serious mounting brackets that could handle the stresses. I even added some boxed strength on the sides of the brackets and added one additional bolt further in. I think this will work as it's pretty stout but time will tell if I need another load bar or not. If you have a full rack then I think you will have no issues at all.

Here are a few pics of the awning installed and the mounting brackets.

 

[concretejungle]

a few more pics.

 

[concretejungle]

 

[concretejungle]

There were a few things that I think are important to note.

First off, this is not a bolt on application! I guess if you have one of their RTT then it might bolt up easier but everything else will require some thought and fab work. I had to source the bolts and all hardware. I had to figure out and make the brackets. With that said, they do make L brackets that I could have purchased but I wasn't sold on them and I was even told that if you bought them you would need to add some gussets to them to strengthen them. This is assuming they are available since it seems like now everything is on backorder.

Secondly, the bag is a little frustrating. The bag comes with no holes for the bolts. So I had to partially mount, take down and fab, re-mount, take down, repeat about 5 times to get everything to fit right, then remove it again so I could cut holes in the back of the bag for the bolts. I understand why they did it since there are so many different ways people will mount the awning..... but ARB had a much easier solution. So I hope the bush company is paying attention to that.

Last item, it's big!! Side by side, packed up, this thing is at least 3 times the size of my ARB 2500. It's at least 3 times as heavy too.

 

[gnob]

I almost wish I'd waited a few months and grabbed the Max vs XT.
I'm using their L brackets (4), and they're fine thus far.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[RyanR]

How is the setup and pack up? I used my old IronMan awning (essentially same design as the ARB) a LOT because it was so easy and fast to deploy and pack up. It appears this self supported batwing design would be similar, tensioning the two straps vs staking two guy lines but want to hear your take having owned both.

 

[kcjaz]

Hey @concretejungle, how's the XT Max holding up? I just installed one on my 200. I totally agree with your comments on it being a bit of a project to mount. I've had it on and off about 4 times now and am still not done done as I need to fab some shims and drill some holes. Looks like you only used two mounting brackets? I used the three L brackets the kit came with but I'm thinking I may add two more. Videos I've seen show guys doing pullups on the arms. Maybe I'll be ok with 3 after I get it all completely installed.

 

[concretejungle]

Hey @concretejungle, how's the XT Max holding up? I just installed one on my 200. I totally agree with your comments on it being a bit of a project to mount. I've had it on and off about 4 times now and am still not done done as I need to fab some shims and drill some holes. Looks like you only used two mounting brackets? I used the three L brackets the kit came with but I'm thinking I may add two more. Videos I've seen show guys doing pullups on the arms. Maybe I'll be ok with 3 after I get it all completely installed.

The awning is holding up great. The bag is not. It's fading pretty bad from the sun and I would expect by the end of this coming summer it might start to tear and fray. We will see. I think the new bags are more PVC or some type of more weatherproof material.

I did make a point to tell the bush company booth at Overland East this year that the mounting process for their awnings is the worst in the industry as far as I'm concerned. the guy laughed but agreed and even admitted that he hates mounting the awnings! He said they ended up having to do that because the original design was more like the other awnings with the mounting track and they were threatened to be sued, so they changed the design.

I should also add that right now I have their AX27 RTT and the awning mounted to the tent is super stout! I'm using two mounting brackets on the RTT and that is plenty. You just need to be sure that they are mounted towards the ends of the awning to support the loads.

 

[concretejungle]

How is the setup and pack up? I used my old IronMan awning (essentially same design as the ARB) a LOT because it was so easy and fast to deploy and pack up. It appears this self supported batwing design would be similar, tensioning the two straps vs staking two guy lines but want to hear your take having owned both.

sorry I missed these questions! I think the setup and pack up are still extremely easy and quick. The only time I've had an issue with the pack-up was on the beach one time when I had a pretty good wind directly on the awning side of the truck. The wind made it very difficult but I would guess it would have made any of the awning models tuff to pack up.

 

[concretejungle]

Here is a pic of the current set up with it mounted to the tent.

One more item I would toss out is don't waste your money on the wall kit. Is it super high quality, YES. Is it built to last, YES. Is it like packing a dead body and carrying it around and total overkill and more work than it's worth, YES.