My DIY Awning

DCameraMan

DCameraMan

New member
Hey Guys!

Story:
So I met a german couple in Death Valley last month and turn out they're traveling for 2 years from Newfoundland to Argentina. Anyway, we went our separate ways and couple weeks later they were cruising through San Diego and I offered them a place to stay. Showed them around for a week and made it out to Joshua Tree and Giant... Hotter than sh*t out there. It was awful, until... they pulled an awning out. I forget the brand, but the awning totally saved us from the direct heat, so I instantly knew I needed one. Didn't think too much of them before actually experiencing it. I'm still kinda newb...

The Awning:
After looking around for a while at different awnings for different prices, thought maybe I could make one. Watch a few videos and looked at a few designs and came up with this. All the arms and supports fold up except the one bar that holds the end of the tarp, that bar and the bungees roll up with the tarp. Set up time is 2-3 minutes and cost was around $80. New straps with buckles are in the mail to speed up the process of taking of and putting on the cover.







When my straps come in the mail, i'll make a couple videos of setup/breakdown, and the build process. Let me know what you think!
 
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DCameraMan said:
Hey Guys!

... thought maybe I could make one. ...
... i'll make a couple videos of setup/breakdown, and the build process. Let me know what you think!
Click to expand...

Nice! thanks for starting this thread. I have a few ideas on making one that's not hard-mounted so it can go on either side of the truck and always cover my tailgate (first-gen)... But let's see yours first.

Curious... What material do you use for the tarp? The poles? I'm using telescoping pint roller handle extensions :)

Cheers!
 
RAD4Runner said:
Nice! thanks for starting this thread. I have a few ideas on making one that's not hard-mounted so it can go on either side of the truck and always cover my tailgate (first-gen)... But let's see yours first.

Curious... What material do you use for the tarp? The poles? I'm using telescoping pint roller handle extensions :)

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Yeah I'll probably post my explanation video early next week. It's a "heavy duty" tarp from home depot. $10 or $15, don't remember. It was next to the painting canvas tarps. I decided to go with solid polls instead of extendable to eliminate possibility of failure and to be stronger/cheaper. The cheaper extendable polls i found were too week, and the strong ones were too expensive. Maybe i'm just picky. But the bungees do a good job of pulling the tarp tight. and to change the height I just move the legs out a bit and the whole side lowers. The polls are galvanized metal electrical conduit. $5 per 10 foot poll. 6 polls total. The only thing that will rust is the nuts and bolts over time-easy to replace. and the tarp is only attached at 2 points. also easy to replace. only had to drill 6 holes. Most of the time spent was on coming up with the concept, picking the materials, and hand sewing the front of the black cover that protects it all. oh and screwing in the 10 hose clamps that hold it to the rack. May replace those with U bolts of something someday. Idk. Super happy with it so far though!
 
Cool. Thanks for sharing the video.
What material do you use for the protective bag? I'm also shopping for material. Considering same tarp cover that the lifeguards use for their rescue gear like on this one...
san_diego_lifeguard_truck.png
 
The awning looks good but I think most people go with the commercial options because of the added UV protection. I don't imagine your local tarp from home depot offers that. I could be wrong.

I know my arb awning has uv protection with the material:
ARB Awning 1250 (ARB3110A)
 
RAD4Runner said:
Cool. Thanks for sharing the video.
What material do you use for the protective bag? I'm also shopping for material. Considering same tarp cover that the lifeguards use for their rescue gear like on this one...
san_diego_lifeguard_truck.png
Click to expand...

Oh that's a good idea! Mine is a vinyl fabric that I got from a local fabric store. I I wanted something that was easy to sew
 
ltsr said:
The awning looks good but I think most people go with the commercial options because of the added UV protection. I don't imagine your local tarp from home depot offers that. I could be wrong.

I know my arb awning has uv protection with the material:
ARB Awning 1250 (ARB3110A)
Click to expand...

The UV protection is for the awning itself. It's to let you know the canvas won't deteriorate in the sun. My tarp may not have a UV coating, and it will be sun bleached and sun damaged in a few years, but the tarp is held on my two bolt and is easily replaced for $10. UV protection doesn't mean anything to the person sitting under the awning.
 
Definitely not as eloquent but I'm kicking around getting another Kelty Noah's tarp and rigging it up with a single pole. I'd attach one end of the ridgeline to the roof rack and the other to the pole (probably collapsible). The two other corners would need to be staked down so this setup wouldn't be freestanding.

This is the setup I use when hammock camping and the relatively small tarp provides a LOT of shade and work space.

It looks like the tarp in the video is silver one one side, brown on the other. Maybe it would be cooler if the "reflective" side was up/out.
 
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