[aaronmcd]

Installed the awning today! It is bolted to angled brackets that bolt onto unistrut rack. To deploy, I unzip cover, rotate out the front and rear arms, and hold them with tension straps back to the other side of the roof rack. Took a bit over 4 minutes to setup or take down. Also has legs and guy lines in case it's windy.

 

[Sather]

Ooooh, I like that. Can you reach everything to deploy & stow from the step?

 

[aaronmcd]

Ooooh, I like that. Can you reach everything to deploy & stow from the step?

I have to lean my telescoping ladder on the open sliding door (or use any item I can stand on) to access the rear to unzip the cover fully and grab the arm with a tension strap.
1: open sliding door, remove ladder, lean ladder on sliding door
2: stand in sliding door, unzip cover halfway
3: stand on ladder, fully unzip cover, remove Velcro straps holding canvas rolled up, hook strap in end of front arm, and pull it out
4: back to sliding door to hook strap on other arm and pull it out
5: walk around van with each strap, stand in driver door to attach front strap, stand in rear door to attach rear strap

I had my wife time me, and I did not hurry, but did have it all planned out in my head. I was pleasantly surprised how fast it was including getting the ladder out from the gear drawer.

When packing up, it helped to be able to stand out on the sidewalk and reach the arms to align them better, but I think I'll figure out a good method to pull them in from the van.

 

[Boondogger]

I was wondering how your ceiling is holding up. I have a similar plan for my ceiling but thought it would need to have about 5 rivnuts across each aluminum strap. Do the thin ply and straps move much when going over bumps? Thanks.

 

[aaronmcd]

I was wondering how your ceiling is holding up. I have a similar plan for my ceiling but thought it would need to have about 5 rivnuts across each aluminum strap. Do the thin ply and straps move much when going over bumps? Thanks.

The aluminum isn't super tight on the panels aren't super tight, if I push up on them they can move a bit. But it's fine, and I don't notice the ceiling on bumps. There's much more in here that moves when I go over bumps too fast - like everything in drawers and cabinets. I prefer how they look without the bolts in the middle and would probably do it the same way again. I did put 5 bolts in the very front and 3 in the very back because those are bolted to threaded inserts in wood that is glued to the ceiling and I wanted to distribute load a bit.