canopy

[patti in toronto]

Hi all,
We bought a great boler last fall and have been enjoying working on it over the winter. I would like to buy some awning fabric and the "beading" that runs along the back of pre fabs to make an awning for the boler.
I have not been able to find any online. We are in Toronto. Does anyone know of a source?
We have been so inspired by all of the posts and photos over the year. Thanks to all for sharing!
Patti

[Bonnie n Claude]

I am also in Ontario (Ottawa) and thinking about making an awning for our Boler. What size did you make yours? How long is the track/channel on the trailer and how is it affixed? I was checking for beading and found mention that the 'polyrope' is simply polyethylene or polyurethane tubing.....the stiffer the better. One website suggested 1/4" which would be about 6.35mm and other suggested aout 4.5mm. The suggested going to Home Depot or Lowes and looking at the clear vinyl tubing or going to the local RV dealer and asking if they'll let you pull the bead out of an old awning before they throw it out.

[Victor Benz]

The product both of you are looking for is called "awning welt". A google search will give you lots of sources. here's one.
JT's Top Shop

Vic

[patti in toronto]

Excellent advice. I will admit that I struck out on my own before finding this website and made an awning out of regular fabric. I really love the old style pole and rope awnings. I used polypropylene rope, and it is just not stiff enough to pull through the channel easily. It is like trying to pull a fat, wet noodle through a tube! Yikes! I am happy with the product, but would like to upgrade my "awning welt" (Thanks Victor), and use the proper awning fabric for water resistance.
I will look at the awning welt site, and try to source some awning fabric, and give it another go. It is back on the To Do list!
Our trailer already has the channel attached. I am assuming that it is riveted on like the other things. It is 6 feet long. I got all fancy, because my awning was just a prototype, and made the awning 10 feet long. I used plumbing tubing, with the corners at top to hold up the extra 4 feet. We felt that it would make a great cooking cover. However, it was saggier than I wished, and did look a bit odd. It seemed to oddly elongate the trailer at the end that it protruded, so I will make the final one 7 or 8 feet long.
I never thought of using tubing. I was just at the Canadian tire last night looking at tubing for something else. I needed a flexible tubing, and they did have a lot of fairly stiff stuff... so maybe...
It feels like we are tossing out the hypotheses, and trying to solve some complicated physics problem here. Here to hoping we win!!

[Bonnie n Claude]

If you do use the tubing you may want to consider some sort of talcum powder on it to make it more slippery. Don't know about awnings but in other sewing projects I have found powdering the 'solid" bits I needed to thread through a casing worked better.

[patti in toronto]

I did look up the welt that victor suggested, and it has a tab portion on it. I assume that this adds extra strength to the fabric, so that the fabric does not rip off at the channel. That would be a high friction spot, so that makes sense.
Since it is there, I think that I will splurge and buy the welting.

I saw awning fabric at the same spot, however it says that it is only water resistant, and not waterproof. Are awnings not waterproof generally? And have you sourced out any awning fabric? I saw some nice sunbrella fabric in toronto, but it also said only water resistant. Do you have any knowlege in this area?

Thanks!!
Patti

[Bonnie n Claude]

Please let me know if you have any challenges with your sewing maching needle going through the fabric and the welting. Regarding waterproofing, I've not purchased more costly fabric. I have used the waterproofing available from Mountain Equipment Co-Op on nylon and on denim and it works but needs to be reapplied from time-to-time which may be a bit of a pain. Good luck sourcing fabric.

Roy B., a member on this site, suggested getting an awning on Kijijii and using the fabric from it. If your sewing machine has a heavy duty motor that would be a good option. (I once burned my sewing machine motor so am a tad more cautious than most.)

[Hazel in Sk]

Our 'new to us' Trillium came with an awning. We put it up and weren't very impressed by it. It is 10 fet long but has some extra cloth and the ropes that slide into the channel flapping away at each end. We couldn't figure out what we were supposed to do with those. Any suggestions?

It was pretty much impossible to tighten the lines to the poles sufficiently to stretch out the material. It looked like it would gather rain into the centre 'sag' instead of shedding it!

I'm going totry to find some of that lightweight ripstop nylon and make a smaller awning. This (we hope) will velcro to our canopy and avoid having all the lines across the campsite.

If it works out I'll post a few photos.

[patti in toronto]

Well on my prototypye, we used 3/4 inch plumbing tubing in white to make a roof frame and legs instead of tent poles... not the copper tubing due to weight. On our previous trailer with a pole and rope system, the roof always sagged and gathered water too.
The tubing did add rigidity to the roof in a more even way. We are also playing around with using three front poles, two shorter ones at the sides and a taller one in the middle to form a peak to help shed water.
I hope to hook up with roy this weekend who has a trillium awning to sell, that I could use as supplies. I will continue to work out my design... (ohhh that I enough money to buy anything and everything that I wanted for my little boler!!) and see if I can figure out how to post pics... or not if I fall flat on my face!! Since it is the same trillium awning as yours, maybe i will have some luck and can offer advice!
I don't understand what you are going to do with the ripstop nylon. It is not waterproof, but would give sun protection. Are you going to put it on top of your awning? or use it instead of the awning?

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by Hazel in Sk

It is 10 fet long but has some extra cloth and the ropes that slide into the channel flapping away at each end. We couldn't figure out what we were supposed to do with those. Any suggestions?

It was pretty much impossible to tighten the lines to the poles sufficiently to stretch out the material. It looked like it would gather rain into the centre 'sag' instead of shedding it!

I've seen people tie an extra piece of rope to the rope ends and then tie one to the bumper and the other end on the A frame.

If you have 3 poles you peak the center like patti suggested, if 2 you lower one corner in the rain to let the water run off. Usually the corner furthest from the door.

Originally Posted by patti in toronto

Since it is the same trillium awning as yours, maybe i will have some luck and can offer advice!

It is an 8' awning, you have a boler, she has a Trillium there will be a difference.

[Hazel in Sk]

A friend sewed a windbreaker with ripstop nylon and it is waterproof - acts a lot like Goretex but cheaper! I'm going to try making a smaller awning that will be attached to the Trillium and stretch across to our 10x10 King Canopy. The canopy already has the soft strip of velcro so I'll attach the other spiky strip and see what happens.

Experimenting should help exercise our brains - and backs etc!

[Donna D.]

Ripstop and Goretex... leak. Well maybe not the fabric itself, but where it has holes... like where it's sewn. The only absolutely waterproof stuff... is whole plastic.... and that doesn't last "forever." Anyone remember Army tents that smelled awful and for heavens sake don't touch the sides when it rained! It's all about expectations. The fewer holes the better. Sunbrella is good and so is ripstop, but it does have limitations.

[Hazel in Sk]

I guess my words weren't precise enough! This wee awning is mainly to provide a walkway from the camper to the King Canopy. Completely waterproof isn't a necessity. We figured we could use seam sealer and/or waterproofing compound to make a bit of material 'good enough'. Thanks for all the helpful feedback.

[Cat futrell]

Saw this a while ago while researching lightweight tarps for backpacking. It is a waterproofing method.

DIY Silnylon - YouTube

[Hazel in Sk]

Cat - this is definitely going in my 'keeper' file. Useful info for sure. Will pass it on to some tenting friends too as I know they want a lightweight tarp.