Another kind of awning?

[lwehrly]

Ok, Im not sure whether this is a general question or a modification. If I have it in the wrong forum, Moderator..feel free to beam me to a new location. I have an idea and I'd like help figuring out if it has any merit BEFORE I spend precious time messing with it. I have a fiberglass camper shell for a standard pickup bed. It is on my back slope having fallen off the truck. Just enjoy the mental image, I don't even have a good story to go with it! But the glass is broken and the metal all mangled, so I thought to myself...I could use that fiberglass shell to make an awning or cover for my honey! (Boler honey that is.)
The idea is to make something that in the winter would help keep out that pesky rain from all the vents etc, could be attached to ride on top of the trailer, and then could be set up at the campsite like an awning.
Any comments? Am I nuts? Any ideas how to do this...or not?
All help is appreciated!

[Donna D.]

Well if nothing else it's an intersting idea. But not one I'd do. You'd have to really bungy that sucker down to keep it on top of the trailer at freeway speeds and just imagine what is going to happen to your fuel mileage

Remember this KISS principle?

The second part is more doable. Make a kind of "car port" out of it (somehow) and park the trailer under it when at home.

[lwehrly]

OOOOOo...that's an interesting image. Bungy cords not tight enough. Hit a bump. The thing goes up, and down, and up and down.... Oh MY! Like something out of an old Goofy cartoon...yep, that would be me all right. Thanks, Donna for getting me to really think on this.

I had actually thought of a clamp down sort of attachment and thought that with it covering up the cover on the vent, it might actually make it more aerodynamic, since it is smooth.

However, it seems that my Mom is moving in with me soon, and I suspect I'll be lucky to work on my little trailer at all. This project is definitely one that can go on the back burner for a while.

[scott fraser]

Linda, just my two cents worth, but the fiberglass shells I had on my trucks over the years were darn heavy items. Too heavy to be much fun to wrestle with setting up camps and enough weight to do some serious damage if you were to drop it on the roof of your Boler when moving it around. I think you'd be far better off with nice lightweight tarps and some of those collapsible poles they sell at camping stores. Wrap the trailer in the tarps for the winters and use the tarps with the poles for an awning when out with the trailer.