Shady Boy out of fashion? (light-weight awning, that is)

[michaelasnider]

[chase4food]

[Jake de Villiers]

Wolfgang lives just up the hill from me in Crescent Heights.

He offered me a neighbour discount when I was looking for an awning (which was really nice of him) but I didn't like the amount of solar energy that's transmitted straight through the Shady Boy fabric.

My TransAwn 2000 makes a much deeper, darker shade and that's important when field camping at a bluegrass festival.

It also has holes in the feet to take tent stakes when camping in windy locations - very nice to have!
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[djkeev]

[djkeev]

[michaelasnider]

I think the conversation for long set-up times was in regard to the BusDepot easy-awning?

ShadyBoy is incredibly easy to set up, as I said above, in under 4 minutes by myself.

[chase4food]

[Californio]

My only problem with the SB awning is that the fiberglass poles break. A 40 mph gust of wind in some remote location of Death Valley and the thing is bent backwards over the roof, no matter what straps you put on it. I ended up making metal poles that I pound into the ground with a sledge hammer, each one with a welded bracket you can pile boulders over as additional hold down. The problem is, as someone said, these are sails.

[chase4food]

[Californio]

What's amazing is that those fiberglass poles can bend like they do at all. Once you've had it flip the whole way over a few times, though, they start to break at the ends and it's downhill from there.

I do like the SB awning because it's so compact and well-engineered. Just not for super high winds, but then what awning is?

[WestyBob]

Yes ... to re-emphasize awnings of any type should not be up in high winds anywhere. If you decide to go hiking or something away from the rig it helps to adjust the awning accordingly before departure.

One thing I recall from the 'old daze' and older designed awnings is the clamp on styles in winds like that experienced in the Mojave like the Santa Ana's often ripped them right off. More than several times I recall reading about someone just tossing their now-damaged awning off to the side of the road, perhaps being emotionally overwhelmed by the windy driving experience and not giving a rip about their awning at the time.

When I bought my SB that was a consideration -- I also had tremors of concern about drilling holes but for the SB they were small ones under the pop-top that could be easily repaired/reversed if necessary and I really felt better having that SB 'on there' for those western 'hurricane' experiences that always seem to find me. My standing joke to friends was the winds may rip off my wheels, glass and pop-top but the last thing still on the rig will be that SB, dammit.

I'm not up on the latest Fiamma/ARB type awnings and attachment mechanisms so perhaps that's all been improved upon over the last 20 years, and if you live in a low wind area and never intend to visit places with much of that then it's all moot in the consideration process, but going down the Columbia Gorge near my 'hood and more than multiple dozens of places out here you better make sure whatever awning you select is really held down.

For example my SB came with a single snap that holds the casing close but I also have two thick outdoor velcro straps on either end as extra insurance. It's not coming off nor opening up even if it was on the outside of the Space Shuttle while blasting off into space.