Date:         Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:41:26 -0700
Reply-To:     "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\" Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\" Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: The best awning
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

(Second post: I got a message from the listserver that the first attempt
was rejected for some reason.)

I'm using a Shadyboy. It's not a Fiamma in terms of setup and teardown,
and there are two problems with it that I find exasperating, but it's a
big improvement over the GoWesty one, which is quite clunky to
set up and tear down.

The two problems with the Shadyboy are:

1. I bought the optional poles to prevent downdrafts from blowing the
awning down to the ground (and I'm glad I did). These fiberglass poles,
unlike the regular ones that the awning came with, have invisible glass
fibers sticking out of them and every time I handle them I end up with
tiny, invisible rods of glass in my hands, which is irritating. I've
learned to use gloves when I handle them. I will probably wrap them with
thinwall heatshrink tubing and then they'll be fine.

2. The container tube that mounts over the door is about 1/3rd length of
the fully deployed awning. The fore and aft portions of the awning are
held against the side of the van with poles inserted into the front and
rear ends of the container tube thing and extend fore and aft. This
works fine: it's clean and sturdy. When stowing the awning, you fold the
fore and aft portions of the fabric over the center portion, like
folding a piece of paper into thirds. There are two tiny hooks, like bra
hooks, that are meant to hold the folds in place up on the opened
container while you are rolling the awning with its poles up into it,
but the hooks never hold. I've tried bulldog clips, and they don't work
either. Maybe Shadyboy has improved on this detail, but as it stands,
it's frustrating. A second person is needed to keep the folds in place
during the stowing operation.