My Homemade Awning

[Bosque Bill]

UPDATE

I used my new awning scheme for the first time in the field last week and made one modification to the procedure which helped. When erected as in my original post, though with the larger tarp, it was somewhat susceptible to medium winds. This was due to the edge along the roof rising up and causing the tarp to "sail." I took it down that first evening as the slapping sound was annoying.

I thought about the issue overnight and the next morning I raised the tarp, but with a second tensioning line running to the rear of the camper to the tarp edge along the roof. That line, combined with the one running to the front, pulled the tarp edge taut. This kept the wind from lifting the tarp, making the entire arrangement more stable with no noise of slapping tarp or carabiners. If you look carefully in the enlarged photo below, you can see the aft tensioning line.

The photo of the arrangement was taken late in the afternoon. Consequently, the ground is no longer in the shade, though the camper is shaded which was my main concern. You will notice there is plenty of shade on the other side of the camper and that's where I set up my chair and table. You can also see my 100W, deployable solar panel - I intend to describe my system in another post, it worked very well.

 

[GroovyDad]

Looks great! Have you experimented with a removable panel that you can attach when the sun gets low? I thought about making such a panel, but then I scrapped my plans because I felt it would be complicating things. I just do like you do and move to the other side of the camper when the sun's low.

 

[ETAV8R]

Wanted to share some pics of my most recent trip to DVNP and my awning experiment. It works great other than in dire winds. During windy conditions I took it down but covered my table and items near my truck by securing the tarp over the items. So it does double duty. I tried to figure out how to set up my larger tarp but the W thing began and it would have been an exercise in futility. The awning works and is a fraction of the price of other awnings. There was a lot of moisture in the valley during new years and the tarp got the condensation where the things underneath did not.







This was after a breezy evening and one corner was blown off.

 

[Bill D]

Nice setup ETAV8R. I like how you can adjust the pitch and the height with the telescopic poles.

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem but...
My GF loves to build big fires. We live in Canada and winter camp.
My homemade tarp option has a few small holes burnt in it from embers.
No big deal, I'll buy another $10 tarp when it's warn out.
That being said, if I had a factory tarp option I'd be petty upset if it got burn marks and small holes. I'd patch them, but there is something to be said for an inexpensive tarp option. Sap can also be an issue.

 

[2thdr]

Nice setup ETAV8R. I like how you can adjust the pitch and the height with the telescopic poles.

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem but...
My GF loves to build big fires. We live in Canada and winter camp.
My homemade tarp option has a few small holes burnt in it from embers.
No big deal, I'll buy another $10 tarp when it's warn out.
That being said, if I had a factory tarp option I'd be petty upset if it got burn marks and small holes. I'd patch them, but there is something to be said for an inexpensive tarp option. Sap can also be an issue.

Worse yet if the embers burned holes in the FWC pop-up fabric! I love this thread! Thanks to all for ideas for my rear awning project. My camper came with the side awning.

 

[PackRat]

Two bamboo poles
Duct tape
Clothes hanger wire
Cotton line
pup-tent tent pegs (orange vee-style)
small tarp

For the summer it didn't need to be tied off to that frame some PO put on there so here is what I rigged up: