Leg-less roof rack awning

[G100]

I came up with the same idea for the awning setup when building my old truck and now I have a new and improved setup on my new truck, still slowly working on the new one, not really planing on doing both sides just one side and the rear. My awning can be setup on either side, which is really nice. For the vertical walls, I don't really need or want them on the side awning, just planing on putting walls on the rear part by my doors, so that I have kinda of a changing room. I was going to make them removable with zippers.

To solve the rain issue you guys are discussing, a couple of angled supports makes my awning like a pitched roof, the water all runs off the sides. Of course the water that runs off the back side then runs down the side of my car which is where most of my stuff is, but its just something you have to deal with. You must solve the water collection issue, cause it gets real heavy really quick and don't forget about making it strong enough to withstand some wind, it doesn't take much wind to rip an awning off the side of you car, I've seen it. I have gone through some pretty heavy storms with my setup on my old truck and it worked great, my new one should be better but hasn't seen much fowl weather yet.

My old setup.


My new setup.

[40tude]

So how do these awnings look collapsed? Do they roll up somehow for going down the road? Any more progress?

[jronwood]

Here is a custom rack, tarp awning on my old 550. It worked well. I kept the bed, just need to shorten it. Sides swing up and I attached a perfed tube t ocantilever out and voila. The interior rack under the tarp was designed to side load/unload wood and furniture in the rain. I will have to look for a picture with it up. It is rolled u in these pics, the bed side flips down as well. Jronwood

truckbody1.jpgtruckbody2.jpg

[ab1985]

It's an interesting concept the op has. I really don't need that much shade/cover, but it would be nice to have an integrated solution that covers one side and the rear of the vehicle where I cook. I'd love an off-the-shelf option with coverage similar to the Foxwing but with the ease of setup of the Hannibal or AO awning. I'll be watching to see what you come up with.

[JasonRedwood]

Subscribed. I like the awning you made G100. I also dig the rhino-rack awning. Im not into all the pole supports but i do like the 270 degrees of shade.

[jay8s]

Ay updates?

[zukrider]

negative. the suburban is a goner. and my other rigs are not ready either. soon hopefully

[6x6pinz]

this guy did one with the swing out style/no down poles but it looks like it would just be easier to put poles down and be done with it.
http://forum.ih8mud.com/camping-outd...ning-done.html

Not sure what the attraction to not having the "legs" is.

[LaOutbackTrail]

I've had a very similar idea brewing. I drew this up a few months ago, I've been rebuilding the truck, so this project isn't the highest priority. Once I drive it out of the garage in a week or two, I'll begin work on it.


My support bars would be ~82" long with the gusseted design you've shown, using 1" square tubing. After thinking about the drawing more, I do not think there will be such a harsh angle to the front of the vehicle on drivers side. I literally made a model out of coffee stirring straws and and half a stack of sticky notes cut to size. I found that with the shape and layout that you see above, I will have fewer moving parts, and most/all parts would be the same length. I'm considering making the canvas reversible, and adding a fourth arm on the passenger side so that I can flip the canvas over and it work on that side as well.... in case the camp site does not allow for the vehicle to turn around to properly position the coverage.

But, if I go to the extent of adding the third arm and flipping the canvas, I might as well have made the awning go 3/4 of the way around instead of the half shown above. But the other side of the coin is that I don't feel its necessary, and storage space is already at a premium. A canvas tarp that either size will take up a fair amount of room and only add to the weight.

[Mc Taco]

Not sure what the attraction to not having the "legs" is.

I like that I don't need to stake mine. Sadly mine gets used more often for work than play lately. Setting up shade for on an asphalt lot. Boss doesn't want peg holes on the grinder.