Date:         Tue, 9 May 2000 19:29:26 EDT
Reply-To:     Ssittservl@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Catalina 2500 Awning Installation
Comments: To: john@dataknight.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

>  Yesterday our A&E Dometic Catalina 2500 awning finally arrived and I
>  wasted no time getting it installed on our '85 Westy. Three van adaptor
>  brackets were supplied in the kit and, while it said only two were
>  needed, I installed all three.

I did the same thing with ours.  I figured that way, if one bracket failed,
the awning would probably stay at least somewhat securely attached to
the van, whereas if I only had two then a bracket failure would probably
end up wrenching the drip rail off pretty quickly.

>  (The one awning I saw at EveryBus had all
>  three brackets installed.) I had raised the top to make it easier to
>  install the awning. Installation went fairly smooth until it came time
>  to lower the top. It seems that the outer edge of the top hits the nut
>  holding the awning case to the center bracket (just aft of the sliding
>  door). It also might be hitting the nut at the rear bracket -- but it
>  was getting dark and I wasn't about to open it up again. While I was
>  able to "shift" the top enough to close it, I am concerned that repeated
>  open/close cycles will eventually damage the top.

Mine doesn't do that - no clearance problems at all.  I'll take a look at mine
tonight and see if I notice anything helpful.

>  I will remove the offending nut & bolt tonight but I would like to hear
>  from others who have installed this awning to their bus. Did you use two
>  or three brackets? Did you secure the case to 1, 2 or 3 brackets? Any
>  clearance problems? How did you solve them? Also, I'd be interested in
>  any tips/tricks to use/care/etc. you may have found.

I wrapped the "tongue" of the bracket that goes into the drip rail
with cold shrink tape, to keep from scratching the paint.  For the
same reason, I coated most of the lower bracket (except for the
clamp screw area and the existing rubber boot) with a couple of
coats of liquid electrical tape.  The standard rubber boots aren't
enough - for one or two of my clamps, the curve of the van side
is such that the metal portion of the bracket above the boot, rather
than the boot iteslf, touches the side.  Plus, the most visible
portions of the bracket are now black, (because of the liquid
electrical tape), and that looks better against my dark gray van.

What I really wanted to coat the brackets with was that vinyl "dip"
stuff you can get in hardware stores to coat the handles of
tools and such.  At the time, though, no place locally had black,
and I just couldn't see having bright red or yellow brackets.

I glued the odd little nuts (that the clamp screws screw into) onto
the brackets, which makes it a little easier to tighten or loosen the
clamp screws to put the awning on or take it off.  Plus, of course,
I never have to worry about losing the nut.

Similarly, I wrapped a tiny bit of cold shrink tape around the clamp
screws just above the hole in the lower bracket.  This allows them
to turn freely, but keeps them captive in the bracket, so I can't
lose them either.

The odd clamp screw nuts have gotten rusty after a year - they're the
only part of the awning to show any noticable wear or corrosion.  If
I'd realized they were going to do that, I'd have coated them with
something.  The screws still turn freely, though.

I didn't use the lower leg brackets - I didn't want to drill into the
side of the van.  and there didn't really seem to be any advantage
over the "carport" configuration with the legs on the ground.

>  We really love the awning. Setup and takedown is easy and there is ample
>  vertical clearance for my 6'1" frame. Now let it rain while we're
>  camping...

I routinely put it up and take it down by myself - takes about 5 minutes.  I
thought the instructions were not the best, but once I figured out what they
were trying to get at it was easy.  I also leave the pole at home, and
instead use one of the stakes to slide the open-the-case/release-the-legs
latches, and just hold the "unroll" strap in my hand.

I'm very happy with the awning.

>  John
>  '85 Westy (no name...yet)

                                                     -Steven Sittser