homemade awning is our favorite awning

CruiserCamperChris

I made my own awning for our T@B 400 because the two different ones I bought from All Pro Adventures were impossible for me to slide in to the aluminum awning rails, so I had to return both of them minus a restocking fee and shipping. 

So I bought a heavy duty 6' x 8' tarp with grommet holes along all the sides. It was $20 from MyTarp.com  I also bought some "Quicklinks" and some key rings that added up to another $20. also bought some SaphiRose Adjustable Tarp Poles on Amazon for $40, but you don't have to spend that much. 

Put the Quicklinks and the key rings into the grommets of the tarp, along the 6' side and the 8' side so you can choose which side to use when you go camping. I would also glue the Quicklinks closed because they will eventually vibrate loose. 

Bottom line: It slides in MUCH MUCH easier than either of the awnings we bought from All Pro Adventures. And it really doesn't look bad. We ordered silver on one side and  black on the other, and we are very happy with it. It doesn't hurt that it only costs $80!  Oh, and you can put the poles in the last grommet
for maximum length, or into the the next to the last one to make it shorter and have a little sunshade flap... so it is very adjustable.

Babs

Good job!

Mags80

Love your inexpensive solution. I added keder rail insert to a King Camp canopy and slide it where needed as the sun moves. When you’re on a journey, I see you can probably do the same with the adjustable poles.

georgianwinds

Nicely done. Quite simple and does the job just fine. And for a whole lot less than most of the commercial alternatives. Congrats.

I have acquired a Rhino-rack awning (for free) and would love to figure out a simple way to attach and deploy it.  So, a bag awning attached to my @T@B 320. Your clips may have given me an idea for attaching at the campsite (??) but I was looking for a more permanent attachment solution with the awning remaining in place on the side of the camper while travelling. Any ideas? Let me know. Much appreciated and happy camping.

Marceline

Sort of similar, but after trying the Pahaque awning and visor, I'm really happy with the old-fashioned awning from Marti's Awnings. 

Pintoplumber

@Marceline, I showed this picture to my wife, and she really liked it. What size is yours? I believe we’ll have to get one.

CruiserCamperChris

pintoplumber you need to read my write up. You will see that you can not "get one". You have to buy the supplies and put it together yourself. There is nothing to it. If you can put keys on a keyring, you can put this together yourself. When you read what I wrote, you will see what size I opted for. You can get smaller or larger, but I think my size is just right.

CruiserCamperChris

Marceline, do you have a photo as to how your pretty awning is anchored to the roof of your T@B?

Marceline

Pintoplumber said:

@Marceline, I showed this picture to my wife, and she really liked it. What size is yours? I believe we’ll have to get one.

I’m sorry, I’m not sure (I bought it used) and I don’t have easy access to check for you. I would take a look at the sizes on her website and then use a tape measure against your trailer to figure it out. Maybe something like 6x6? 

You could also call Marti and ask her if she remembers making one for a T@B. 

Marceline

CruiserCamperChris said:

Marceline, do you have a photo as to how your pretty awning is anchored to the roof of your T@B?

It has a bolt rope that slides into the keder rail. Because it’s narrower than the awning or visor it’s easier to feed it into the rail. 

pthomas745

There are things called Awning Hangers that make this easy to do.  There are plenty of threads for DIY Awnings here in the group.

Here are the threads mentioning Awning Hangers with lots of DIY examples.

https://www.google.com/search?q=awning+hangers+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ALiCzsbLQNat4FflMqCdrTfWA8byfxPL5Q:1660319339843&ei=a3b2Yv6QM-agkPIP9LahyAs&ved=0ahUKEwi-8tvD08H5AhVmEEQIHXRbCLkQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=awning+hangers+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EANKBAhBGAFKBAhGGABQiglYzi9gtjVoAXAAeACAAWyIAbUTkgEEMjkuMZgBAKABAcABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz

Another search for DIY Awning.

https://www.google.com/search?q=diy+awning+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ALiCzsbnxtNU4vwVCP1UaKBqWndiUgsSAg:1660319347971&ei=c3b2YsHyOqvbkPIP_MOfyAI&ved=0ahUKEwiB-MvH08H5AhWrLUQIHfzhBykQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=diy+awning+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EANKBAhBGAFKBAhGGABQ2RdYk0BgmkZoAXAAeACAAWGIAZcQkgECMjWYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz

CruiserCamperChris

pthomas745 I have bought and tried those Awning Hangars and they work on the narrow slits in awning housings but they are too small for Keider rails and just fall out. 

pthomas745

They do have to be the right size.  Plenty of them do fit.  You can even make your own.

https://www.popupportal.com/threads/make-your-own-awning-track-hangers.63064/

CruiserCamperChris

@pthomad745 I did make my own. They work. But thank you. I’ll take a look and maybe try them out. I bought several awning hangars and they were all to small. I still haven’t seen any awning hangars large enough to attach to our keider rails. Can post up a link? Do you see a problem with mine. the DIYs you reference do look to be smoother. 

Pintoplumber

@CruiserCamperChris : when you use the @sign and the name, that gives the person you’re talking to a notification that you are talking to them. I was talking to Marceline. Being a guy, I could go for the Harbor Freight look, but my wife wouldn’t let me put it up.

CruiserCamperChris

@Pintoplumber thank you! I hadn’t posted in here in awhile, and forgot all about that. 

pthomas745

@CruiserCamperChris I only added the links and stuff to the awning hangers just for general ideas.  Your solution is perfectly fine, and has added to the overall state of the art!

JohninMissouri

 CruiserCamperChris;    Excellent work!  Photos are especially helpful to help understand the details, and enjoyable to view too.  I copied your work.   Will try it out this week while camping!  

Jeffma

I made a couple of these just to have a few extra hangers and attachment points. However instead of gluing the quicklink threads, I slid a length of shrink tubing over the quicklink nut and shrunk it down. Should keep the quicklink from unscrewing as well as provide a bit more girth to the link when slid into the keder rail.

SLJ

The Quick Links is a great idea for attaching things to the rail. I prefer an SUV awning over the top though so I don't get any rain between the side and awning and the door can stay open.

Jeansor

You could also sew keder rope onto one side of the tarp, that way when it rains there's no rain coming in between the tarp and the trailer. I used keder rope on an suv awning and it works great.