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Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:09 pm

Is it possible to mount an awning to the basket rack rather than he rain gutter on a 91 vanagon? I have a basket rack on my vanagon but would like to also add a awning and roadshower I know the roadshower will mount to the basket rack but I was wondering about the awning?

Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:23 pm

Have to see a picture of your basket rack.

What kind/brand of awning?

I have a Fiamma Awning mounted to Yakima cross bars.

Showing the underside of the crossbar and how the manufacturers bracket is attached at two places. One being to the tube of the crossbar and the other being bolted into the wood platform the crossbars are mounting.

Another benefit is it raises the height of the awning if you are a tall person by the height of the Yakima rack.

Not a great picture of it, but it shows the awning up there. I'm using 3 crossbars at the "B", center and the "C" pillars for locations. The awning does go all the way to the front windshield so that I can sit in the passenger seat with the window open and have shade and rain protection.
The Fiamma instruction want you to mount it at the ends, but testing it where it is mounted I am not feeling any vibration when driving with a the front not being mounted on the end.

I'm not crazy about the idea of drilling a hole in my body to mount an awning. This also allows me to remove it when I'm not going out on roadtrip and not needing it saving a little bit of mpg around town and it's not left there for somebody to steal it.
A very good idea is to buy the security nuts designed to slow down a thief. You're not going to stop them.

Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:28 pm

RoadShower:
We carried one for our first two years (out 40 months now), mounted side to side in the luggage rack, and hose-clamped to all three of the rearward cleats of the luggage rack. I made some "stops" from 1/2" bar stock should all three clamps fail in a panic stop, or vibrate loose (but didn't need to as none ever failed in 700+ days it was on our rig). I used two rubber bungee cords by cutting the ends off and sandwiching the straps under the hose clamps... I used the bungee's two ends as 1x1-inch rubber "bushings" under the shower's ends for cushion.

The reason is that I didn't want roof weight varying if one takes a shower, and I didn't like the idea of 60 outward lbs. on one side either (even though we all want more weight right-wards in a Westy). If you have roof lifts, and a side-mounted RoadShower is empty, you have to pull down 40 lbs. more. This part will make no sense, until you do it. I also didn't want any more weight on the pop top fiberglass than necessary, especially unbalanced weight.

For what it's worth, you can still shower aside of the sliding door should remote, mid-shower escapes into the bus become necessary. Just make sure the shower connections are on the passenger side.

AWNINGS:
I use an awning from Jonce at Fancher's Upholstery. It's been through hell since 7-31-13 of constant travel. It is attached to the rear of the factory Westy pop top lifts with a hook, then to the front right luggage rack cleat. It literally withstood Hurricane Matthew while near Savannah, after at least 1,000 days of hard use... and untold dozens and dozens of windy nights. I had it modified from three to four poles, and connect those with 6mil rope of near-climb-worthy quality to four of these (with these we literally have ten feet of stakes holding the awning down):
https://theclaw.com

I was going to buy a cheaper awning, or a Fiamma, and in both cases am extremely happy with my decision in terms of being tough when under fire.

Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:55 pm

Here's the rack

[/img]

Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:56 pm

I like he ARB awning that would be my first choice

Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:24 pm

I have an arb awning mounted to my Garvin Wilderness Rack. It works. The only issue I have is that there is a space between the rack and the roof, in rain, if my door is open the inside gets wet. I am trying to figure out how to lower the awning. It is a spring project.

you can see the rack and awning here.

Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:33 pm

Jradical2006 wrote: Here's the rack

[/img] Apologies, I thought "Westy" and was dead wrong.

Thu Dec 08, 2016 9:51 pm

ARB sells universal mounts for rectangular roof rack cross bars:
http://store.arbusa.com/ARB-AWNING-BRACKET-UNIVERSAL-813402-P22843.aspx

You could probably make them work if you extended the cross bars.

I ended up buying mounts from vanagonlife:
http://www.vanagonlife.com/theshop/awningbracket

Quality is good, but I like the price and 3 hole mounting of the ARBs better.

Fri Dec 09, 2016 12:37 am

Jradical2006 wrote: Here's the rack

How much room do you have to move the rack over to the left so you can make use of the space on top of the cross bars?
I do not like my stuff sticking out beyond the body so it's easy prey for a tree branch!

Fri Dec 09, 2016 12:49 am

The yakima rain gutter towers are 2 piece. You could unbolt the round bar adapter and slip a bracket between it and the tower to mount a awning lower on it.
I made an adapter spacer out of aluminum and mounted a fiamma F35 to it and spaced the others to match to keep the round bars off of the roof a little higher.

Fri Dec 09, 2016 1:01 am

Here's a pic of the Fiamma brackets for the F35.
The mod # 98655-142 is the better choice as it's one piece leaving nothing to stick up and catch a branch, wind and generally lucks ugly.

I have the F65 model and I used this bracket for it:

You can see how I used it's shape to fit the platform I have on the rack in the earlier photos above.

http://www.fiammausa.com/products/awnings.asp?Fam=F03

Fri Dec 09, 2016 1:26 am

i didn't use a bolt on fiamma bracket kit due to wanting better access to the awning on my lifted van. The spacer and bracket that i made puts the awning about gutter height without mounting it to the the gutter and it has the entire rack and 4 base towers to support the load.
The OP is interested in the ARB offering and their universal style brackets are quite a bit different than fiamma. A lower mounting height will be advantageous with that style awning. .

Fri Dec 09, 2016 2:58 am

syncrodoka wrote: i didn't use a bolt on fiamma bracket kit due to wanting better access to the awning on my lifted van. The spacer and bracket that i made puts the awning about gutter height without mounting it to the the gutter and it has the entire rack and 4 base towers to support the load.
The OP is interested in the ARB offering and their universal style brackets are quite a bit different than fiamma. A lower mounting height will be advantageous with that style awning. .

I missed that about the op's preference.

I was wondering how you made it fit by separating the tower and base and putting the bracket plate in-between and not block the Yakima Handle?
Does the bracket go up so that the handle is clear under it?

Fri Dec 09, 2016 8:32 am

The yakima high rise kit to make the towers taller mounts in the same location that I am describing.
i can't remember if the awning body blocks the tower handles but it likely does. I have had yakima racks on various cars for many years and i never take them off so it is a non-issue. I have had various boxes, baskets, ski attachments, kayak attachments, bike carriers etc but the tower/bar system always stays in place.