As some may be aware I'm taking off for a week-long trip in Florida and having discovered the very nice Florida state park system I'm going to be camping for 6 of the 7 nights. No problem, I'm all set with my nice new spring-hung cot, little fold-up table, and my experience gained last year as to what I need to bring (little) versus what I can leave behind (a lot). One thing I would have liked to have had was an awning for the van to provide a bit of shelter if it rains. I looked around on the web and there are many available. I didn't like any of them for one reason or another and I was a bit taken aback by the price of the suckers. So, being a person with a bit of free time and figuring I can rig up something that is easily attachable to/removable from the van, easy to set up and take down, and costs as close to $0.00 as I can make it. Well, I made one that I'm rather pleased with and got it done for $6.84 in new materials, using a brand new tarp I bought for something some time ago and found on the shelf in the garage a couple of weeks ago. All in all... I'm rather pleased :)
OK... that's the handsome frame mounted onto the pretty useless cargo rack. A couple of u-bolts and a bit of chiseling (of the wood) and I've got myself a frame that goes on in less than 5 minutes and is removable just as easily. Whether or not it's going to fly off at highway speeds is yet to be found out but my confidence is high that all will stay in place. But what about protecting the paint on the top of the van, you might ask. Well...
... this model is equipped with nice heavy duty real rubber bumpers. These pretty suckers protect the van and due to there aggressive tread pattern there should be no slipping. Thanks for letting me take the blown bicycle tire, David. I knew I'd use it for something some day, just not this soon :)
It took less than 45 seconds to hang the tarp from the mounts on the top of the frame. This was my second attempt, actually. It's pretty windy today and the tarp was blowing off the mounts. I needed something easy to put on but that would stay in place to hold the tarp until I got the poles up. So...
... I went back to the bicycle tire and crafted myself some rubber hold downs. These soon to be patented slit rubber all purpose hold downs will be available soon. Again, thanks for the tire, David :)
Poles up and secured and all is ready to go. Total time to erect... less than 3 minutes by myself. Note the color coordination of the frame and poles. Nothing less than first class.
Same shot, this time with the side door open. Plenty of coverage and plenty of room to stand upright within 4 feet of the door or so... a bit of bending over approaching the poles. Now I'm ready to try this sucker out and I am definitely looking forward to it :)
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