I just went out and bought 8 ft of awning track to install on my 13ft trillium, On the new track hole spacing is about every 6 inches.
I do not want to drill holes every 6"
My roof is bare never drilled, no awning track
any help with should I drill or not. Is there any super bonding adheasive?

On my Boler I drilled holes through the fibreglass where the existing holes on the track were located. I then riveted the track to the trailer, using butyl tape as a sealant. As well, since my awning is heavier, I drilled larger holes at the ends and in the middle and secured with larger stainless bolts.

On the inside I patched the drill holes in the ensolite with caulking and painted.

My wife and I are talking about adding some sort of awning (we'll likely look for the simplest solution e.g. tarp with rope border) to our Trillium so I've been poking about the web to see what folks have done. One of the things I've wondered about is where the track should be located.

Craig, how "high" will you be mounting the track and how will you be locating it in the "front to back" direction?

Dave

Something to keep in mind, attach it high enough so you could have a bag awning one day if you choose. Ours is mounted on a couple of inches above the door, no chance for a bad awning I am suspecting.

Dave

edit: spelling error.

Sorry, I have to ask... a bad awning one day? Is this a bad awning day (like a bad hair day, but bigger? Oh, a bag awning - yup, makes sense now.

I wondered the same thing, I sure glad I did not have any coffee in my mouth when I read your reply to find out what Dave was meaning to say ...
I'd be needing a new keyboard to respond.
Life sure would be boring without typo's ... there have been some good ones this weekend. Wonder if it has anything to do with the beer?

Hi David,

I actually have an awning to give away. Our Trillium came with a slide in awning with 3 pole system. It's a complete pain in the butt as you need to setup guide lines to the poles. The problem is that most pads in our provincial parks are so hard you can't put in a peg to hold the guide lines. I am going to buy an awning from

We are still in Vancouver on our way back to the Island. I was going to post the awning as free if someone paid for shipping. You want it?

Hi Booker,
Is the awning spoken for yet? If not I'll happily pay the shipping.

ART...

I have not done any drilling yet, I might not go this route and get one of those carnival style pop up sun shelters and snug that up close to the trillium

What works in that situation is to bring a stack of small buckets that you fill with rocks, water, or whatever works.

Tie a line to each buck bail, then install a boater's cleat to each awning pole.

Our water supply is several plastic jerry cans that are carried in the back of the Jimmy. From these we fill one-gallon bottles for use in the Scamp. If the weather warrants it, I will use a couple of the six gallon bottles filled on the awning ends. Normally a gallon size works great.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76boler/2666086131/

I suspect that there is no adhesive around that would both hold an awning down (lots o' weight there) and not do more damage to your gelcoat than drilling a few carefully prepared holes. There are more sorts of tapes, caulks and sealants than there are adhesives.
My opinion? Do what the manufacturers do... drill the holes and put on the track. And carefully place butyl tape or a good caulk/sealant in the process.

When I installed a A&E bag awning I placed the track 5" above the door rain guard It gave the correct clearence to clear the door when it is opened

Reece from Escape did a wonderful job on installing a bag awning on a 13' boler that I saw at the Oregon gathering. (Space B10 this year). He drilled about every other hole and used a product called Snap Caps to cover the pulled rivet heads on the inside and clear silicone on the top side.
I have ordered snap caps online and plan on installing my 7' A&E Trimline bag awning the same way.

Randy Scheid
Tumalo, Oregon
'72 boler 13'

I did not want to drill the roof of my Trillium 1976.
So I had use belts (straps).
It works perfectly. No holes! I got the belts at MEC.
Not expensive.

I read somewhere that there is a rail that you can use to make two tracks out of one. Does anyone know where they can be purchased?

I don't know if this would work but 3M makes a tape called Very High Bond. Some of it, like the 3M 4920 VHB [ http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_6041.asp ] has a tensile strength of 160 lbs. I don't really know what this means but I do know that there was a gentleman on the Casita Forum that added width to his bed using this type tape (not necessarily the same model no.) to hold the L brackets for the extra wood boards to lay on.