ARB Awning

[ProbablyNotIan]

[Hazey]

How does it feel now after adding the additional bracket? I'm waiting on the ARB aluminum awning to be delivered, and have the three bracket gowesty setup ready to install soon - decided to go with the third after reading your initial post.

Excited for some shaded summer camping.
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91 Multivan Stock

[ProbablyNotIan]

Added the third GoWesty bracket.

Even with only ~1,000 miles, I was seeing a little bit of stress in the t-slot.

If you're going to go with the hard case, do not just use two brackets.

40 lbs doesn't seem like a lot, but stretched over 8 feet down bumpy roads will do a lot of stress in the middle.

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The Brown Van

Senior Platform Engineer | USSF Grassroots Educator | USSF National C License

[pnwkayaker]

[ProbablyNotIan]

Finished the install this morning in a rain storm, which seemed somewhat poetic.

I was able to do the install mostly by myself. My partner came out for about 3 minutes to help me tighten a bolt. Might actually make a quick video on how I did it, not that I recommend anyone try it.

Not even moving down the road with it, I can see how there needs to be a third bracket, so I guess I'm putting in another order to GoWesty.
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The Brown Van

Senior Platform Engineer | USSF Grassroots Educator | USSF National C License

[Crooked Designer]

[snuf]

[Xevin]

[ProbablyNotIan]

[Xevin]

[4Gears4Tires]

I would run it into the rear side vents. That's what I did with my solar panel wiring.

$299 for a hard case is a great price.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[ProbablyNotIan]

Sorry to bring this back from the dead...

I just picked up an ARB hard case awning for my van after months of looking and trying to find the right deal.

The silver version is currently $299 directly from ARB.

Anyways, for those of you that have this awning, how are you running the wiring for the light bar inside of it?

I would like to have a semi-permanent solution so I'm not constantly running a cable around and I'd prefer to have it wired into the back of the van instead of the front. Obviously, the way the awning itself is setup uses a screw on connector for the light bar so the whole cable/controller isn't rolled up into the awning.
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The Brown Van

Senior Platform Engineer | USSF Grassroots Educator | USSF National C License

[Timwhy]

[Vanlife Geek]

And the experiment continues! On this camp, for the first time I used all three of the 3-wall tent sections added to the screen room for extra rain and wind protection. For the side section with the door, I rolled up one side to keep as much view as possible, but could roll it down and zip it up when it rained. It rained a lot during this trip and the additional protection was fantastic. They also create quite a bit of extra protected space for tripods, water containers, etc. The two front corners are exposed to the elements, but it still offers a ton of extra protection.

A couple of night/star shots just for grins

Drone view from above. My goofy tarp setup on the driver's side is working great for additional weather protected space and is the perfect place for my gas generator and other stuff I want to keep out of my "living area".

With the entry area all rolled down and me pondering about how much of a pain it will be to enter via the zippered entrance, with another zippered entrance to the screen room right behind it. A tripping accident just waiting to happen... Trippy Zippers!

Then it occurred to me that I can just enter through the side... much easier!

All staked down and ready for wind and rain. This also pulls the wall out a bit and makes entering from the side a little easier.

View from the inside showing exposed corner. Note that the two windows on the 3-wall tent have two sections. The bottom half is clear plastic and the top half is mesh. I roll mine half way to maintain a view while keeping the rain out. They can be rolled all the way up if the weather is nice for even more views and allow the breezes to flow through better.

I think I have taken the screen room/3-wall tent experiment about as far as I can take it now. I'm very happy with the results. The screen room by itself it great until it rains hard with any wind. The rain hits the fine mesh of the screen room and "mists" everything inside. This really keeps that to a minimum. I suppose the newer ARB "Awning Room" accomplishes a similar result, but this is what I already own.
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Vanlife Geek
Current:
1986 Syncro Westy
Previous:
1983 Westy
1981 Westy
1972 Bug (Last year you could buy a new one for under $2,000)
1965/66 Bug (2 bugs from a junk yard combined to make 1 functional bug)
1959 Bug (Pre Gas Gauge Era)

[Abscate]

Ouch. $355 for the ARB FROM GW and out of stock/ no date

capitalism is a harsh teacher
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🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[Baja Don]

Get the NAPA 8x8 Maxi Trac awning instead!
It's a virtually identical copy of the ARB awning, but it's only $100
I paid $106 out the door at NAPA and I've compared it side by side with the ARB and they are identical.

Also, save another $80+ and make your own brackets from a set of old beetle bumper brackets!
A couple of cuts, drill one hole, a few bends, and they are perfect!

[bryanarchy]

We've done about 30 days with our ARB this year and love it. No big complaints other than as hard as we try, it feels damned near impossible to roll it up evenly. I also cringe a bit when I see the plastic hinges flex when the swing-out arms are hanging during setup.

This weekend, however, we did a couple days at a lake with a huge wasp issue. Knowing it might be an issue, we brought along the clip-in tent and it was so amazing. The wasps were the worst we've ever experienced and without the tent, the whole trip woulda been a wash.

Overall, the tent seems pretty versatile and I'm looking forward to giving it some more play. By the looks of Vanlife Geeks's setup, he's got a tarp under the tent, which I think I'd also do in the future.

[Vanlife Geek]

I know this video can be found elsewhere on the Samba, but I thought some of the ARB Awning folks might enjoy seeing my setup from the air. This video is all from my drone (DJI Mavic Mini) and has many shots of the awning setup, among some scenery and dog footage. I also fly the drone into the tent to take a quick look around. The video features the 3-wall tent at my first camp and the screen room, with the front wall of the tent attached to the screen room at the other two camps. And of course, the rear Add a Room and my goofy tarp setup on the driver's side. The aerial views really help illustrate how much extra living space the awnings can provide.

Link

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Vanlife Geek
Current:
1986 Syncro Westy
Previous:
1983 Westy
1981 Westy
1972 Bug (Last year you could buy a new one for under $2,000)
1965/66 Bug (2 bugs from a junk yard combined to make 1 functional bug)
1959 Bug (Pre Gas Gauge Era)

[Vanlife Geek]

[candyman]