Awnings

[Sabrinascamper]

Several investments later in freestanding sun blocking shelters for our camping expeditions we are exhausted. The very best one, Coleman 16’ dome, was 80 lbs steel ‘shock’ poles took two of us 45 min to assemble, and was just tooooo much trouble. By the way if you want it it’s available. Recently we got a small 16’ triangular sunblock shelter with very light weight shock poles...50% spf. It is HOT under it. I know I know get on with it. We’re looking for current info on awnings that are connected to the scamp side. Easily deployment and stowing a must...not to mention effective for sunblock.

[Casita Greg]

Well, I don't have a Scamp, but I see no reason why what I did wouldn't work on your trailer as well.
I never liked the original factory Fiamma awning, and so I removed it and sold it. IMO, good riddance.
I have now added a section of Keder rail on the side of my trailer and made myself a slide-in removable awning from a very heavy duty 8' X 10' "farm tarp" and a length of commercially available Keder slide-in tape, which I sewed to the tarp on one short end. It's not made like those cheapo tarps from the Big Box stores. This one is really sturdy, but folds up to about the size of a large book. I use a couple of telescoping aluminum poles on the outboard end and guy it down, usually to the picnic table that I pull up under it.

(If we are planning to stay somewhere for several days, we set up our Clam screen shelter, but for short trips or "overnight" this works just fine for us.)
It's mounted with 1/4" X 20 stainless machine screws and fender washers with nylock nuts inside. All the mounting bolts are hidden inside the upper compartments, so none of them are visible when you walk in. The rail and all screw holes are sealed to prevent water intrusion. What I like about this awning is that it actually fits tight to the trailer. The Fiamma was a PITA and always leaked down the side of the trailer. (Note: No need to comment on the many ways to seal the gap. Been there, done them all.) Even when it didn't leak it made for a very difficult area to clean out. To me, everything about it was so wrong on so many levels. Trying to adapt an awning designed to be mounted on a flat vertical surface to a rounded exterior glass trailer not only didn't work well, but I also thought it looked like some ugly afterthought piece of crap. Just my tastes. I think the lines of the trailer look much more symmetrical and cleaner without that Fiamma awning hanging up in the air.

http://www.perfectfit.com/154247/pro...il-Insert.html

[Jon in AZ]

Shady Boy might be worth a look. No personal experience- our 10x10 First-Up serves us well for now- but appears lightweight, simple to deploy with no mechanical parts to wear out, and forgiving of wind gusts. More for shade than rain, as it has the same gap issue Greg describes.

[John in Santa Cruz]

The 10' wide Fiamma F40i on our Casita 16 works just fine.

The Carefree of Colorado 12 foot wide awning on our Escape works even better.

[Byron Kinnaman]

The best free standing shelter I've found is Paha Que.
light weight and relatively easy to set up.

[Sabrinascamper]

Kedar system: i love how unobtrusive the rail is! Seems affordable. Wonder on my shorter both lengthwise and heightwise if I’ll run into problems?
Thank you for your quick response.i have finally figured how to respond.

The shady boy is too$$$$ for us I like the idea. and I thank you for your post.

I’m for gaining some intel on the Kedar... door swing under it, where to get some poles, etc.

Thanks everyone!

[TheWanderers]

Greg's answer seems to be the easiest and most bomb proof. I like the idea that you can use what ever material you want and can attach that fabric to the Keder slide-in tape. This seems like a very workable idea that would meet your criteria of fast & easy.

We installed a Shady Boy on our Scamp and we loved it! It's not "fast" and my wife had trouble deploying/stowing it alone because she in not as tall as I am. I'm 6'3" and it was a breeze for me! Speaking of breezes, we left it up in almost all weather and it performed very well. Wind and rain had very little affect on the Shady Boy. However, the Shady Boy does not seal to the face of the camper. Therefore, there was the normal amount of water running down the face of the Scamp when it rained. I can imagine that this would bother most people but it worked well for us: good shade, good water shedding ability and stable in wind/rain. We used the stainless steel bolts and washers with nylock nuts like Greg did and the install was easy. Of course we added a generous portion of butyl tape to the back of the mounting hardware.

We have replaced our Scamp with a Bigfoot that has a retractable awning that rolls up and we really enjoy this "new" feature for it's ease of use and larger coverage. The Shady Boy was about 10' square and the new awning is almost 12'. We have discussed the idea of replacing the roll up awning (was broken when we brought it home) with a Shady Boy but it wouldn't work for us unless we pack a 12' ladder because of the height of the camper, so, we're stuck with the roll-up type (added new fabric and torsion arm). That'll work for us!

Happy Camping!

bill (not laura)

[trainman]

Originally Posted by Casita Greg

Well, I don't have a Scamp, but I see no reason why what I did wouldn't work on your trailer as well.
I never liked the original factory Fiamma awning, and so I removed it and sold it. IMO, good riddance.
I have now added a section of Keder rail on the side of my trailer and made myself a slide-in removable awning from a very heavy duty 8' X 10' "farm tarp" and a length of commercially available Keder slide-in tape, which I sewed to the tarp on one short end. It's not made like those cheapo tarps from the Big Box stores. This one is really sturdy, but folds up to about the size of a large book. I use a couple of telescoping aluminum poles on the outboard end and guy it down, usually to the picnic table that I pull up under it.

(If we are planning to stay somewhere for several days, we set up our Clam screen shelter, but for short trips or "overnight" this works just fine for us.)
It's mounted with 1/4" X 20 stainless machine screws and fender washers with nylock nuts inside. All the mounting bolts are hidden inside the upper compartments, so none of them are visible when you walk in. The rail and all screw holes are sealed to prevent water intrusion. What I like about this awning is that it actually fits tight to the trailer. The Fiamma was a PITA and always leaked down the side of the trailer. (Note: No need to comment on the many ways to seal the gap. Been there, done them all.) Even when it didn't leak it made for a very difficult area to clean out. To me, everything about it was so wrong on so many levels. Trying to adapt an awning designed to be mounted on a flat vertical surface to a rounded exterior glass trailer not only didn't work well, but I also thought it looked like some ugly afterthought piece of crap. Just my tastes. I think the lines of the trailer look much more symmetrical and cleaner without that Fiamma awning hanging up in the air.

Keder Awning Rail Insert

I'm with you 100% thoughts on the Awing, or trailer is new and we just received our Clam last week. We are heading out to Colorado this Friday and can't wait to setup the Clam and enjoy it with the Little Red Campfire in the evening with friends. We will camp at 8000 ft. and just east of Durango.

trainman

[Jon in AZ]

I've been keeping my eye out for an 8x8' freestanding dome canopy that I can modify by adding a keder welt on one side to attach to a keder rail on the trailer. Ideally it'll have shock-corded fiberglass poles for better wind resistance, a dome to shed rain, and a fairly lightweight fabric for compact storage. I regret passing on one for $29 at Tractor Supply a while back. I had decided at the time it was too insubstantial to work as a freestanding canopy, but realized later it might work well attached to the trailer.

Some people use heavy-duty suction cups instead of the awning rail for a no-holes attachment.

I still like my 45 lb. First-Up awning for multi-day stays at the beach or the mountains, but I'm thinking ahead to a planned West Coast tour where we'll be moving around more and possibly encountering more rain than we're accustomed to in the Southwest.

[mary and bob]

We have a Shademaker bag awning on our Uhaul CT13. Only thing I don't like is because it is short it is only available with the twist lock poles. Possibly available with the slide lock poles by special order but projection length is shorter.

[trainman]

Being a retired body shop mgr. for over 35 years I think with the double sticky tape on the market today you could tape that channel rail to the trailer. I would run the tape the total length of the rail, I would not skip from one piece of tape to another. Both the trailer and channel would need to be clean and free of dirty, oil, etc. The fiberglass on the trailer when the channel would stick needs to be buffed (by hand is ok) with a mild buffing compound to insure you will be sticking the tape to pure clean fiberglass. If your trailer has oxidation in that area it needs to be brought back to original luster. I would use the 3-M white tape, the one with the very thin foam between the two sticky sides. I would test fit the channel by holding it up where you want it and using masking tape to get it straight and inline where it goes, then using masking tape put the tape next to the channel so when you remove it you have something to line the channel up with. This is critical as this tape really does stick and trying to pull the channel backup for re-aliment could result in a bent channel. I would have no problem in doing a light weight canopy this way, or just a light weight tarp, you will be surprised how strong it will be. I would also want my channel to be somewhere in the 3/4" wide range, for proper tape holding power.

trainman

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Sabrinascamper

Kedar system: i love how unobtrusive the rail is! Seems affordable. Wonder on my shorter both lengthwise and heightwise if I’ll run into problems?
Thank you for your quick response.i have finally figured how to respond.

The shady boy is too$$$$ for us I like the idea. and I thank you for your post.

I’m for gaining some intel on the Kedar... door swing under it, where to get some poles, etc.

Thanks everyone!

If you are primarily after shade and don't want heat build up you should make your awning out of an weave shade cloth rather than standard close woven awning fabrics. It is better for windy conditions as because the wind can pass through it there is less force against the material and that means it won't rip, tear, or pull the Keder rail off the trailer.



There are a lot of variations of shade cloth around. Sailrite has some a new variation in stock in a selection of colors along with matching woven edging. A less expensive source is from the garden nursery supplies. You can even get aluminum coated shade cloth which helps reflect the heat.



As you are not trying to keep the water out to install it into the Keder track you don't need a full length Keder rope header. You just need to put a series of grommets into the edge of the cloth and use some slide fittings that hook into those holes. You can make the slides yourself with items from the hardware store such as 1/4 diameter nylon bushings some washers and rope that can pass through the nylon bushings. Or you can purchase some slides. Here is a link to some fairly inexpensive Keder rail slides that screw through the grommets in tarps or shade cloth. https://www.sailmakerssupply.com/pro...es/awning-rail


If you want a small heat reflective tarp with a shiny Mylar face on one side those too are available in a 5' x 7' size. You can sew two of them together for a 10' length. They are made with laminations of aluminized Mylar, a scrim and then plastic on the other side. This laminated construction makes them reusable for a number or years. Eventually the aluminum coating does get worn away at which time you just buy new tarps.
Here are some options for them from Amazon, note that one version is made with Aluminet which is a type of shade cloth, others of them are solid materials. For the best heat reflection be sure that the description states that it has aluminum in the coating. Remember the shiny side faces the sun if you are trying to reflect its heat or if you want to stay warmer face the shiny side towards your body. https://www.sailmakerssupply.com/pro...es/awning-rail

[John in Santa Cruz]

There's also a material called Aluminet, which is an aluminized mylar shade cloth... this reflects like 70% of the sunshine, while allowing airflow. My amateur astronomer friends are quite fond of this for camp-out star parties where there's no shade, and solid hot sun from sunrise to sunset.

here's a source of it...
http://www.greenhouses-etc.net/equipment/aluminet.htm

this is a tent and popup awning covered with aluminet....

[John in Santa Cruz]

then there's my kid's "Desert Storm" grade military surplus shade struct. this is setup at half height, it can be considerably taller...