I stay in my 1969
Caravel almost exclusively at state and federal camping areas that are well
wooded, so this awning has worked well for me for over the past ten years. My
trailer mechanic calls it the red neck
solution.
While it isn't as pretty as a ZipDee or as nice as a vintage awning, it gets
the job done and costs very little. Here is what you need to get started:
8 X 10 blue tarp
wooden dowels <
package of Hanger Awns
http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?skunum=8014
Several feet of rope
and some light cord.
Tie a Hanger Awn to each of the grommet holes on the
appropriate side of the tarp except for the grommet hole at the left side.
Leaving
the hole unattached will ease the overall attachment of the awning.
Working from the right side as you face the trailer, bypass
the first grommet hole where you did not attach an Awn, feed the first Awn
into
the barrel of the awning holder. Follow that
with an appropriately cut wooden dowel.
The dowel serves as a spacer to keep the Awns from moving once you have
the awning up.
Fit the next Awn and dowel, etc. You will have to cut the dowels to fit your
grommet spacing. Again what you are doing is creating spacers with the
dowel pieces. For my Caravel I have
three pieces about 30 each and one short piece less than a foot long.
Finish by inserting a Hanger Awn from the left side and
secure it to the final grommet hole that remains.Tie each corner of the awning
to appropriate trees and you
have enough awning for a picnic table and bicycle.
Helpful things to have when putting up the awning:
Three step ladder
Hiking staff to push the Awns around
Picnic table/bench to stand on.
> Yes it might indeed be but I am reluctant to order from them as I only
> got them to quit sending the bazillion catalogs/year a couple of years
> ago and I don't want to tempt them again. I think Airstream Dreams has
> the simple ones as well. I usually travel alone and putting one on
> seems like a 2-person job.
> jw