Awning or not?

[Gnarvan]

I spent a couple of days camped at Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington. While I was there I spent a little time working on a few projects.

I set up an Outfitter Wing Tarp to work as an Awning. I'm not sure I can actually call this an awning though. It's a more complicated setup than your normal awning. I wasn't real happy with the setup and will change it around next time I try it. I really needed a third oar. I'm thinking I'll use a 9 1/2 foot oar for the center and a 9' oar on each side. This should help drain the rain better.

Shameless plug alert.....
This is a link to the Outfitter Tarp. These tarps are made locally in Hood River Oregon by a boating buddy of mine. Check out some of his rafting adventure trips. He's working on a trip to Siberia sometime soon.

http://www.riverhardware.com/shop/outfitter-wing-tarp

Northwest Rafting Company link.....Siberia trip
http://www.nwrafting.com/

Pictures of Gnarvan all tarped up.

View from the side


View from the front


Tarpless

[BIGVANS]

The oars MAKE the awning! That’s Awesome! (Do you still use those oars or are they retired?)

[daveb]

I don't use my awning much but when I do I love it. It's great in rain and sun when there is no wind but that is the main problem with them, you never know when that burst of wind will come knockin. I definately will not walk too far away from the van when it's deployed. The other problem is you can't just drive off. They aren't difficult to put away but it still is something else to deal with when moving the vehicle. If I'm base camping, I always set up tarps and string them to trees. Besides I want to enjoy the fire if it's raining and if a hole is burned into a 25 dollar tarp, so what. I carry nylon tarps for siding on the Awning or the tarp setup.



When I'm jumping from camp to camp daily, I'll use my awning if needed because I'm moving off the next day anyway but I almost always put it away before bedtime. JMO

[Gnarvan]

Originally Posted by BIGVANS

The oars MAKE the awning! That’s Awesome! (Do you still use those oars or are they retired?)

I still use the oar shafts. I did grab a couple of blades out of the retirement pile for the the awning experiment. The outfitter tarp is designed to be set up using oars. There is a ring sewn into each corner of the wing that slides onto an oar handle but won't slide down the shaft. The wing isn't square or rectangular but is shaped to be set up in in strong winds. The four corners have a point to them with a tiedown loop in the middle between the corners. This allows you to set up the wing with angles in the surface to help deflect the wind. If set up properly they can handle a pretty stout wind.

[Zeta]

Love my 8' Fiamma, use it all the time with Eli's brackets. Bought it from Van Cafe in Santa Cruz--they also have ten footers: http://www.van-cafe.com/home/van/page_7 ... ckets.html

Z


http://www.tomsinclair.net

[LenS]

We always take an awning with us. When its raining it goes up first and down last. Good for unpacking and packing under. Can keep most thing dry that need to be dry. Good for cooking under in the rain.