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Old 09-10-2018, 06:07 PM   #1
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Fiamma 45s mounting on fiberglass hightop

Hello SMB forum, I'm the owner of a new-to-me 2001 E250 Sportsmobile with aero fiberglass high top.

I've read all the threads/sagas regarding Fiamma mounting and brackets, but fiberglass high top seems to be somewhat unique. So, sorry for another Fiamma installation thread...

I’m not sure if Sportsmobile or someone aftermarket installed the Fiamma awning.

On our second trip, we had a disaster with the Fiamma awning, a huge gust of wind blew the open awning up and over the van, bent the awning body all up and severely bent the two mounting brackets. Amazingly, the brackets bent but didn’t seem to damage the fiberglass hightop to which they were attached.

I've attached a few pictures.

Net-net, I have ordered and received a replacement Fiamma 45s awning. I was planning to use the original installation holes in the hightop, but the new awning has three mounting brackets rather than two, and the two that are the same size as the original brackets only have one screw hole in the center bottom rather than the two holes in the original brackets.

I contacted Sportsmobile and they said the brackets in the picture were the ones that the original awning came with, and to contact Fiamma with any questions. I thought I'd ask this community first.

What I'd love would be a plug-and-play solution with similar brackets with two screw holes rather than one, as obviously 50% less screws isn't going to cut it. Was thinking about drilling two holes in the new brackets but that doesn't seem like an elegant solution.

So I guess I can drill two more holes in the high-top to install the center bracket. If so, when originally installed by Sportsmobile or someone else, they installed rubber grommets between the bracket and the roof...seems partially as a spacer and partially for weatherproofing...any suggestions for that will be welcome. I've seen some homemade solutions on the various threads.

Or is there a Fiamma bracket that works with my fiberglass high top?
Like this: https://www.fiammastore.com/Fiamma-F...dapter-Bracket This link seems to be UK as it’s showing in UK pounds...can’t find anything in the US

Lastly, the Fiamma instructions seem counter to the spacing used when the original awning was installed...they specify wider spacing than was originally installed. Meaning, the instructions show installation of the outer two brackets attached adjacent to the canvas frame mechanism, but SMB installed the awning narrower that that and it didn't seem to be a problem until it blew over the top of the van.

Anyone out there using Fiamma 45s on fiberglass hightop? Anyone know of or can direct me to someone with the plug-and-play brackets from the original installation, with two screw holes, and that I can safely install with two rather than three brackets...granted the third middle bracket is quite beefy and my sense is that I probably should use it, but I see lots of installations with only two brackets.

Thanks for any help!


Blaine
Attached Thumbnails
Fiamma mounting bracket 1.jpg   Fiamma mounting bracket 2.jpg   Fiamma mounting bracket 3.jpg   Fiamma mounting bracket 4.jpg  

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Old 09-11-2018, 08:42 PM   #2
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Thank you @1der in SF for hooking me up! One day on SportsmobileForum and my problems were solved! Really appreciate your help today!
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Old 09-11-2018, 10:41 PM   #3
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Thank you and welcome to you and H to our awesome community! You two are the very type of people that are here, so it is so nice to have even more.


Let's find some time to make some trips together. There are a large number of van owners in the Bay Area, we need to get some meet ups going and not let life get in the way.


Check the forum often, lots of good stuff / info to be had and some of the time, not even about vans. Cheers and look forward to seeing more of you two!


ps: Definitely post up a couple of pictures of the new awning, it looks sweet! Maybe one of the puppy, too
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Old 09-12-2018, 06:13 AM   #4
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There are a large number of van owners in the Bay Area, we need to get some meet ups going and not let life get in the way.
Couldn’t agree more!
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Old 09-12-2018, 09:38 AM   #5
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Thank you @1der in SF for hooking me up! One day on SportsmobileForum and my problems were solved! Really appreciate your help today!
How were they solved? I saw no reply to that extent.
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Old 09-12-2018, 10:13 AM   #6
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@1der: Again, you are the best and looking forward to future gatherings! I will post some pix ASAP

@Jeffrey: Hiding behind my shame, it turns out that I did indeed have the correct brackets from the factory to use on my fiberglass hightop. @1der was kind enough to not shame me into acknowledging that fact, and he helped me with the install. I consider myself fairly handy, but working with large metal parts on the exterior of a vehicle isn’t something I’ve done before and I had frozen in the heat of battle. So awesome that @1der was available for triage. Net-net, it was indeed a plug and play with the parts Fiamma sent me.
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